Born: January 14, 1967
Place: Bayonne, New Jersey
Zakk Wylde is an American lead guitarist, singer, songwriter and a pianist. He is the lead guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. He was also the lead guitarist and the vocalist for the band Pride & Glory. However, Pride & Glory dissolved after a single album in 1994. He is the founder of the Black Label Society. In 1998, Zakk formed the Black Label Society which is a heavy metal band with nine albums released till date.
Wylde plays the guitar from the age of 15. He formerly worked at the Silverton Music in New Jersey. Zakk recalls that he used to practice sometimes 12 hours per day. He used to practice all through the night after he came back from school till he went to school the next day.
His first band was the local band “Stone Henge”. He then moved on to play with the New Jersey band “Zyris”.
Zykk Wylde’s girlfriend Barbaranee came to know tht Ozzy is hiring a new guitarist. This promted her to force Wylde to have an audition for Ozzy. When he was 19 years old, Wylde sent a demo tape to Ozzy. In 1987, Ozzy hired him as his lead guitarist and co-writer. Zakk was hired to replace Jake E. Lee.
Zakk guitar playing is a combination of pinch harmonics and vibratos. He mostly uses the minor pentatonic scale. He uses strict alternative picking playing rapid box patterns.
Zakk Wylde uses a Dunlop Zakk Wylde Signature set of strings. His pickups include an EMG 81 and EMG 85 hummer. Amplifiers include models like JCM800 2203 and 2204 from the Marshalls. Zakk has his personal Signature JCM800ZW Amp which has been replaced by GT 6550 tubes.
Zakk tunes his guitar differently. He has a variety of tunings from the standard, the dropped D, Eb, the dropped A, the dropped G and the dropped B tuning.
Strings: Wylde Dunlop Icon Series. (.010 .013 .017 .036 .052 .060)
GBWZLO (.011 .014 .018 .036 .052 .070) (Studio Purpose)