The #37 Guitarist of the Rock Era: Zakk Wylde

#37 is a rapid-fire guitarist who has come a long way in a relatively short time.  His playing has garnered attention from guitarists themselves:

#37:  Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society

(From Fields of Rock 2007)
26 years as an active guitarist

Zachary Phillip Wylde was born January 14, 1967 in Bayonne, New Jersey.  He was the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and founded the group Black Label Society.  

 

Wylde began playing guitar at age 14 and went to Jackson Memorial High School in Jackson, New Jersey.  He has said he practiced guitar for as much as 12 hours per day.  Zakk's first group was Stone Henge and then Zyris.  In 1987, Wylde sent a demo tape of his playing to Ozzy Osbourne and was hired to replace Jake E. Lee.  Lee had come in when Randy Rhoads died, and Rhoads is one of Wylde's biggest influences.
 

Wylde recorded on the album No Rest for the Wicked and in 1989, the group performed at the Moscow Music Peace Festival.  In 1991, Osbourne released No More Tears, then captured a Grammy for "I Don't Want to Change the World" from the album Live and Loud for the Best Metal Performance of 1994.


Meanwhile, Wylde had formed a solo band, Pride & Glory, which played a mixture of southern blues-rock and heavy metal.  Pride & Glory released an album then disbanded in 1994.
 

In 1995, Osbourne released Ozzmosis, which reached #4 on the album chart and went double platinum.  Before the subsequent tour, Wylde was considering an offer to join Guns N' Roses and unable to wait on his decision, Osbourne replaced Zakk.

Wylde  did join GNR, but released a solo album, Book of Shadows, in 1996 instead.  He then formed the group Black Label Society.  The group released their debut, Sonic Brew in Japan in 1998 and the rest of the world in 1999.   Black Label Society followed with Stronger Than Death and then 1919 Eternal in 2002.  Mike Inez joined the group for Ozzfest 2001 and then Robert Trujillo took over on bass the following year.


In 2003, Trujillo left for Metallica and eventually James LoMenzo joined the band after the release of The Blessed Hellride and Hangover Music, Volume VI.  Wylde played every instrument except drums on Black Label's first four albums.


In 2005, the group signed with Artemis Records and released the album Mafia.  Later that year, LoMenzo left to join Megadeth and original bassist John DeServio rejoined Black Label.  The next year, the group signed with Roadrunner Records and released Shot to Hell.  Black Label headlined the 2006 Ozzfest on the second stage, and Wylde played for Osbourne on some dates.
 

Osbourne brought Wylde back in as his guitarist for the album Black Rain in 2007.  Wylde has been credited for bringing a high level of energy and passion to live performances.

Black Label Society recently released The Song Remains Not the Same, conceived, created and compiled by Wylde as a tribute to one of Zakk's favorite groups, Led Zeppelin.

Wylde relies considerably on vibrato, which he plays by using the wrist more than the fingers.  Zakk has a rapid and accurate alternate picking style, generating random harmonics by scraping his picking hand and ring across the string while doing an open trill.  Eddie Van Halen is known for this, and there is a good chance that Wylde picked this up from Eddie.  Wylde's phrasing is rooted in pentonics, which is a five-note scale as opposed to the common seven-note scale, the major or minor scale that most people are familiar with.

 

Wylde was drawn to his Gibson Les Paul custom known as "The Grail".  The guitar fell from the back of a truck while transporting equipment across Texas, but was recently returned to Wylde.  The guitar has a bulls-eye graphic.  Wylde plays a replica of Rhoads' Flying V.  Zakk's signature Les Pauls include a red flame maple bulls-eye model, a black and antique-white bulls-eye, an orange buzz-saw model and a "camo" bulls-eye with mother of pearl neck inlays.  Wylde also has a custom Dean Splittail with a mud splatter bulls-eye graphic and a signature Splittail-shaped Gibson called the "ZV".  


Wylde loves Marshall amplifiers and uses JCM 800's with twin 4 x 12 cabinets loaded with EVM12L 300W Black Label Speakers.  


He uses an on-stage pedal board with a Dunlop Wylde Wah, a Dunlop Rotovibe, an MXR Wylde Phase, and MXR Wylde Overdrive, and MXR Carbon Copy Delay, and MXR EVH Flanger and an MXR Black Label Chorus.


Wylde has played guitar for other artists, including Damageplan, Fozzy and Derek Sherinian.


On January 17, 2006, Wylde was recognized at the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame in a salute to his career as a musician and his contribution to the music industry.  In 2010, Wylde was named "Best Guitarist" at the Revolver Awards.
 

Though not widely known, Wylde has gained considerable respect within the music industry and among guitar players.  Wylde takes position #37 for the Rock Era*...