Charles Berthoud (pronounced BEAR-too) is a British bassist who has been playing for close to a decade. Inspired by the greats such as Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooton and Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Berthoud moved to the U.S. where he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and graduated with high honors.
While in school, Berthoud picked up classical piano and learned contemporary guitar techniques to apply to bass. He studied with Jim Stinnett and learned two-handed tapping which he later wrote about in his first instructional book.
Now with three albums under his belt, Berthoud has become a world class performer. His YouTube channel boasts nearly a half-million followers who frequently request new songs for him to record. With the recent passing of Eddie Van Halen, hundreds of people have been prodding him to shed some of the band’s songs, and naturally, the most popular selection was Eddie’s classic guitar solo from Van Halen’s first album, “Eruption.”
Of course, “Eruption” is played on electric guitar, not bass, so Berthoud had to do some serious homework to accomplish this mission. He uses some cool effects which he doesn’t reveal, but what is apparent is the Hipshot™(a “switch” used to quickly tune down) that he has affixed for all four strings.
It takes a minute to get to the performance in this clip, but the whole four-and-a-half video is worth the watch. He makes it fun and entertaining, and does a remarkably good job at replicating Eddie’s seminal masterpiece. On bass. It’s difficult enough on guitar, and we haven’t seen too many people even do it this well with six strings. Check out the clip below, and then share this article! 🙂
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