The guitarist Zakk Wylde first achieved fame back in the late 80s when he became the guitarist of Ozzy Osbourne’s band. Since 2022 he’s been touring with Pantera, alongside the classic members Rex Brown (Bass), Phil Anselmo (Vocals) and the Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante.
In an interview with “Talk Toomey” podcast (Transcribed by Blabbermouth), Wylde talked about the challenge of paying tribute to the late Pantera co-founder and guitarist Dimebag Darrell. He said the musician was in the same league as Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix and Randy Rhoads.
Zakk Wylde compares Dimebag to Van Halen, Hendrix and Rhoads
“What I just found really awesome was Dime’s… I mean, the reason why we’re still talking about Dime’s greatness, and [that of] all the guys that we love, whether it’s King Edward, St. Rhoads, Jimi Hendrix, all the guys, it’s what they wrote.”
“Aside Dime’s great technique, how amazing he was, and how fast he could play, everything like that, it’s what he wrote… Dime’s writing, his chord choices and everything, it’s just, like, ‘Oh, wow. That’s definitely really cool.’ So, a lot of unexpected pre-choruses and things like that.”
“Going through, learning the whole catalog, and the deeper cuts, I was, like, ‘Wow. This one’s pretty cool.’ I mean, even the pre-chorus to ‘Walk’, or just the opening riff — a lot of a lot of the chord choices would end up becoming… They’re dissonant, where that’s obviously what Dime’s going for, as opposed to a more ear-pleasing chord choice (that) would sound routine, and you could just tell Dime was (thinking), ‘No, that’s what everybody expects us to go.”
“So, let’s go here. Everyone expects us to make a left turn. So, let’s make a right…’ Yeah, that’s what I found, learning all the material and everything like that. So, for sure. That, to me, is what puts Dime in that league with all the guys we love, whether it’s Jimi Hendrix, whether it’s Eddie and Randy. It’s his writing,” Zakk Wylde said.