Vivian Campbell

  • Thread starter Thread starter MrFlexx
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JohnnyGtar said:
It was his solo in "Stagefright" on Pyromania that made the Leppard guys go "Hey, this guys rips. Maybe we should let him do another solo on another song and see how he does." and I think the solo in "Photograph" is a classic. Back then, he was fire. Now? Shrug. LOL
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He was really good at that point no doubt. Good melody and little burst of speed here or there plus he fit especially well with Clark.

But somewhere along the line he started fancying himself as a shredder and it's completely ruined him. Basically all he has is a couple fast jumbled licks and he try's to blaze them all the time. It's embarrassing but I'm sure he could care less considering the size of his bank account.
 
shar-vell Dan said:
Collen : "thats me sustainah" .... LOL. Sez that every interview.
Well i can't fault the guy he's true to his brands.
And at least they play some older hits that put them on the map.
The boys from Sheffield. I sure do miss Steve Clark. My local shop mid 80's had his sig LPC. Couldn't believe the coolness.

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Fantastic writer, composer and solid player. Most of the really cool guitar parts in Lep songs he came up with. Helluva performer as well. I remember listening to the radio, getting ready to walk into Atlanta Discount Music years ago and they reported his death.

Dude had massive stage fright issue's which is just crazy considering how great a performer he was though. Both Pete Willis and Steve were raging alcoholics. You know Willis had to be terrible to be around when he was loaded for him getting the boot because Elliott stated they would have never kicked out Clark.
 
napalmdeath said:
I saw Phil Collen do a clinic at a local store here in Tampa, and I was horrified. I quite frankly thought then, and still think today that his lead playing sucks. Period. He would just spazz out, get lost, lose what key he was in, and total annoying amateur noodling. If there was ever a poster boy for overrated, he'd be on the cover. Sure, he wrote great songs, great riffs, etc.. But, he flat out sucks as a lead guitarist. Vivian absolutely blows him out of the water.
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Saw him at a G3 a few years ago.. him, Petrucci, and Satch. No offense, but he was out of place there., He is NOT a shredder by any means., and he did sound like amateur noodling when he tried to trade fast licks with those guys.

Having said that - he is wayyyy more musically successful than I will ever be. I DID think his solo in Photograph fit very well, But I was a bigger fan of Wills & Clark as a team.
 


Love the band always have, prolly always will.
But the first few albums were "blood n guts" Marshall to the wall.
 
I never really accepted Vivian in Def Leppard or Whitesnake. To me he'll always be DIO. His solo on Last in Line is one of my favorites.
 
SFW said:
It's his original 70s Les Paul. He is running a set of Duncan 59s that MJ wound for him.

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Nice. Thx. Do you know if those 59's are different from the standard ones?
 
His pickups 9/10 times are the same as Phil’s a Dimarzio Super Distortion
 
jabps said:
Alot of respect for Viv, put his ego aside years ago to be second to Collen and represent Clark on the classics pretty faithfully. And a steady paycheck to play rock star for several decades obviously helps. Still kills me though knowing he can blow Collen into the weeds who's playing frankly just bugs the shit out of me. That said it was great to see Whitesnake with Viv and Adrian in pure gunslinger mode back in the day as well.
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I'm the same way. Collen's playing has always bugged the shit out of me too! Too funny.
 
JohnnyGtar said:
Go to the 3:30 mark. He used DiMarzio X2N's in neck and bridge for Holy Diver. This vid is for his Epiphone guitar, but he talks about what was in his Gibson back then.

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JohnnyGtar said:
Go to the 3:30 mark. He used DiMarzio X2N's in neck and bridge for Holy Diver. This vid is for his Epiphone guitar, but he talks about what was in his Gibson back then.

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Guitar mags back in the day, he said it was Duncan invader, JCM 800 with GT 1’s and a boss sd1. Said he couldn’t get gain from the Marshalls…
 
jabps said:
He was really good at that point no doubt. Good melody and little burst of speed here or there plus he fit especially well with Clark.

But somewhere along the line he started fancying himself as a shredder and it's completely ruined him. Basically all he has is a couple fast jumbled licks and he try's to blaze them all the time. It's embarrassing but I'm sure he could care less considering the size of his bank account.
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I agree. Phil is not a shredder.
 
JohnnyGtar said:
Go to the 3:30 mark. He used DiMarzio X2N's in neck and bridge for Holy Diver. This vid is for his Epiphone guitar, but he talks about what was in his Gibson back then.

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It had x2N's back then... It's had about 11 pickups since then....
 
Wayniac3 said:
Saw him at a G3 a few years ago.. him, Petrucci, and Satch. No offense, but he was out of place there., He is NOT a shredder by any means., and he did sound like amateur noodling when he tried to trade fast licks with those guys.

Having said that - he is wayyyy more musically successful than I will ever be. I DID think his solo in Photograph fit very well, But I was a bigger fan of Wills & Clark as a team.
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Yeah. This. There was a video a year or two ago on RT with Phil, Joe and ? Vai maybe. And Phil was a toddler among men.. where Satriani and Vai did what they do best…. I can’t remember if Phil’s shirt was off. That is maybe his best trick in the bag
 
jabps said:
Alot of respect for Viv, put his ego aside years ago to be second to Collen and represent Clark on the classics pretty faithfully. And a steady paycheck to play rock star for several decades obviously helps. Still kills me though knowing he can blow Collen into the weeds who's playing frankly just bugs the shit out of me. That said it was great to see Whitesnake with Viv and Adrian in pure gunslinger mode back in the day as well
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Agree - he has been clocking in for a check for years. Easy money for him. I get it. We all get old.
 
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