Randy Rhoads stories

Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:50 am

frank wrote:a little background on this. randy tuning his guitar was an experience!

first, he would tune his low 'e' string by ear. he'd cut loose with some blindingly fast arpeggios in the key of e. then he'd tune his 'a' string and run up the neck in the key of a, bending his notes, accenting hammer-ons and incredibly fast pull-offs. now, he's ready to tune his 'd' string, followed by some very rude harmonics and trills thrown in for good measure. and so on until his guitar was tuned. now, for "warm ups", he might play a blues progression, with some eloquent lead work to loosen up, flipping his toggle and playing with feedback.

he got his powerful sound out of a fender harvard amp, a mxr dist+ and his les paul.

Great stuff !

frank · Post by **frank** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 2:51 am

i took lessons for about two years. until randy left for england. i was so happy for and proud of him. finally getting the recognition i knew he deserved.

anyways, the lessons were always at his house on amherst drive. i don't know why that was, i never questioned it or thought it odd. i recently asked delores if any other students came to the house and she told me no. i remember her coming home from work in the evening and there we would be, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, chain smoking and playing guitar.

he had a doberman named killer which had the most ferocious bark. killer was kept in the dining room which was a raised area off of the living room and fenced off with wrought iron. killer would throw himself at the fence and scare the hell out of me. kathy says he was just a big baby. i don't think so.

and then there was zero. zero was an old fat blond labrador retriever. zero would wander around bored. eventually he would plop down between us and make me pet him. kathy said he was real mean. go figure.

frank · Post by **frank** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:04 am

the funny thing is, i never saw him in slob mode like most people. even if he was in just a t-shirt and jeans, he always managed to look elegant if you can picture that. he wore girls clothes because he was so small and the fashion at the time was skin tight. he was fascinating to watch because he had so much confidence and poise. he was delicate without being too effeminate and was so comfortable in his own skin that it was hard to believe that he was only twenty-one. he was very focused in whatever he did too.

frank · Post by **frank** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:16 am

he had this fender harvard amp. it was real old, like from the fifties. the tolex (tweed?) had been stripped off and the bare wood had been varnished. it looked pretty cool and boy could he make it scream. sometimes the volume got away from him and the neighbors were always coming over to complain. one time he's playing away and suddenly he stops. a couple of seconds later we hear the front door pounding. he gets up to answer the door and i can hear a man just reading him the riot act. up one side and down the other. afterwards, he comes back and quietly sits down.
"well, he wasn't very nice!" at that moment he struck me as a six year old who had just been chastised.

Sarab · Post by **Sarab** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:22 am

so how long after that did he keep it down?

frank · Post by **frank** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 3:26 am

Sarab wrote: so how long after that did he keep it down?

hah. it never lasted.

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 4:13 am

Okay, Frank, I've got a question for you? Kelly Garni told me a story and I wondered if you could relate in any way.

Apparently when Doug (Kelle) offered to take Randy and Kelly to see Alice Cooper for the first time - in Long Beach, I believe - the boys were as excited about the opening act as they were about seeing Alice. Now, most people have heard that Black Oak Arkansas was the opening band and Randy and Kelly loved them. In fact, Quiet Riot later opened for Black Oak and I believe it was during the time that Tommy Aldridge was the drummer.

The interesting thing is that the opening act was scheduled to be a band called Savage Grace. Kelly and Randy really liked a song they did called Lady On The Mountain which was apparently on the radio a lot at the time. They were quite upset when they found out that Savage Grace was being replaced by Black Oak Arkansas and were determined to not like BOA. That lasted until the show started, of course.

Kelly also told me that he and Randy spent hours getting their look perfect for the show. Perfect clothes, perfect hair... and then Doug drove them to the show in a convertable and their hair was ruined by the time they arrived in Long Beach!

So, Frank, do you remember Savage Grace?

frank · Post by **frank** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 2:51 am

no paul i'm not familiar with them and randy never mentioned them to me.

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 5:06 am

Hmmm... I wish I had a way to post that song.... I found the CDs for Kelly about a year ago and made a copy for myself... anyone know how I can post Lady of the Mountain.

Sarab · Post by **Sarab** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:01 am

Paul, I think Joe is trying to find a way to attach files.
Give him a couple of days to figure it out.

Paul Wolfe · Post by **Paul Wolfe** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:02 am

Sarab wrote:Paul, I think Joe is trying to find a way to attach files.
Give him a couple of days to figure it out.

BUt then I might have to follow through and actually share stuff....

Sarab · Post by **Sarab** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:33 am

Yeah, I know. I'm actually working on something to share. Not musically, of course, since I've become musically challenged since I haven't had a piano for 12 years.
But as soon as I'm finished, I'll share. So you have to also.

wyldeone · Post by **wyldeone** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:12 am

RockyRhoads wrote:Okay, Frank, I've got a question for you? Kelly Garni told me a story and I wondered if you could relate in any way.

Apparently when Doug (Kelle) offered to take Randy and Kelly to see Alice Cooper for the first time - in Long Beach, I believe - the boys were as excited about the opening act as they were about seeing Alice. Now, most people have heard that Black Oak Arkansas was the opening band and Randy and Kelly loved them. In fact, Quiet Riot later opened for Black Oak and I believe it was during the time that Tommy Aldridge was the drummer.

The interesting thing is that the opening act was scheduled to be a band called Savage Grace. Kelly and Randy really liked a song they did called Lady On The Mountain which was apparently on the radio a lot at the time. They were quite upset when they found out that Savage Grace was being replaced by Black Oak Arkansas and were determined to not like BOA. That lasted until the show started, of course.

Kelly also told me that he and Randy spent hours getting their look perfect for the show. Perfect clothes, perfect hair... and then Doug drove them to the show in a convertable and their hair was ruined by the time they arrived in Long Beach!

So, Frank, do you remember Savage Grace?

Somewhere in a old artical in a hit parde magazine with a tribute to Randy I could swear that Kelle (RR Brother) said that Randy came up with the name Savage Grace for that band?? I always remembered that because I used to listen to Savage Grace.. But that was some time ago and Im gonna be 44 and my memory is kinda shot!! This was the metal band Savage Grace not the 70s band..

Randy Magic · Post by **Randy Magic** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:51 pm

OK, here's one I told a while back, but it one of my favorites:

Randy and Jan came up to Crestline, CA. where my family would vacation each summer, and would stay with us for 1-2 days. One time, the three of us were hanging out in front of the old arcade (now a hardware store) and a few guys driving by yelled something at Randy (because he looked so feminine and was usually wearing pants made for women because his waist was so slim). Anyway, Randy whispered in my ear to tell the guys to "shove it up their ass sideways," and, I did. Being all of 5-6 years old the guys were not sure what to do, and ulimately, did nothing.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving later that same year (1975, I believe), with all of us gathered around the dinner tables, about to say Grace...and, what do you think I shouted out...yep, "shove it up your ass sideways!"

Jan later told me that her and Randy quitely, and quickly, left the dinner right after that - of course, all I remember afterwards was the soap in my mouth when we got home later that night.

More to come...

Ell · Post by **Ell** » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:04 pm

frank wrote:i took lessons for about two years. until randy left for england. i was so happy for and proud of him. finally getting the recognition i knew he deserved.

anyways, the lessons were always at his house on amherst drive. i don't know why that was, i never questioned it or thought it odd. i recently asked delores if any other students came to the house and she told me no. i remember her coming home from work in the evening and there we would be, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, chain smoking and playing guitar.

he had a doberman named killer which had the most ferocious bark. killer was kept in the dining room which was a raised area off of the living room and fenced off with wrought iron. killer would throw himself at the fence and scare the hell out of me. kathy says he was just a big baby. i don't think so.

and then there was zero. zero was an old fat blond labrador retriever. zero would wander around bored. eventually he would plop down between us and make me pet him. kathy said he was real mean. go figure.

You have so many stories! It's really awesome having you on here.