Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen was authored by longtime Guitar World contributor Steve Rosen, and is available now
Titled Tonechaser – Understanding Edward: My 26-Year Journey with Edward Van Halen, the hardcover, 580-page tome chronicles the author's close, decades-long friendship with one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
The book was compiled from hours of interviews and discussions over the years, conducted in the guitar legend's Hollywood Hills guesthouse, his 5150 studio, and even in airplanes.
Tonechaser's front and back covers were shot by the legendary Van Halen photographer Neil Zlozower, who also provided interior photographs.
Rosen – who has also authored books on Jeff Beck, Free/Bad Company, Black Sabbath and Randy Rhoads – says that he was initially tapped to write Van Halen's authorized biography in 1985, though that book never came to fruition.
“I chose that title, Tonechaser, because Edward once described himself in that way," Rosen said of the book's title in a press release. "I thought it was such a beautiful, fragile, and poignant word for him to use in his pursuit of the ever-elusive Brown Sound. I also thought it worked on another level in terms of the 'tone' of his life and being a guitar player, bandmember, husband, father and icon.
“I had never heard Edward ever use that phrase anywhere else and, in fact, after interviewing hundreds and hundreds of guitar players, I've never heard one of them ever use that word to describe what they do.”
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Tonechaser is available now for $47. To purchase a copy, step right this way.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.