http://www.73-79fordtruck...uption.mpg

Love Eddie.

He has massive ego problems though, doesn't he?

2freaky4church1 said:

no i think jimi hendrix is the badest of the guitar and prince too. have a problem with it e-mail me

^

There CAN be more than one you know.



Yes, I really like Eddie.

mynameisnotsusan said:

http://www.guitars101.com...-20-a.html

Eddie was at his best with Dave in the Band. The Women and Children First album is just fucking amazing, the best VH album.. never mind the debut! I just hope we get to hear another great VH album, i don't care who it's with.
[Edited 5/16/06 13:05pm]

I grew up on Van Halen. Eddie was to my generation what Jimi was to his. He set the world on fire and had the same impact on other guitarists in a similar fashion as Hendrix had on his peers. Also, Eddie scared the shit out of other guitar players, just like Jimi did. That's one reason I dig him. Eddie was someone, for me anyways, to strive for. Really, I think Eddie is even better than a lot of cats give him credit for. He's definately far more versatile than he's credited for. He's so much more than just all flash. His licks and his phrasing, more than anything, is off the hook. Many of his rock leads, he can play in his sleep. It's his tone "the brown sound" he's so famous for, along with just flat out good chops, that sets him apart. I think one reason he's so great is because he enjoys playing the guitar. Like Santana, these cats really enjoy the act of playing. It's a spiritual thing, really. Something that GOD has blessed u with and it just flows out of u. Of course, the more u play and the closer u get to that "flow", in time, it'll become like a waterfall. It'll just gush out, but you'll be able to control it. That's one thing that makes Eddie so good, like Hendrix, is his control of his playing. Eddie many times in his solos, will burn off a fast run and then stop on a dime with some tasty blues lick and then burn up again with another run. His stop and go style shows control that many cats from his era, the 80's, just simply didn't have.

Eddie is good, or should I say was...he's a bit lame nowdays, he still can play but his playing hasn't been on fire since about 20 years ago...the best thing he's ever recorded is "Spanish fly" from the second Van Halen album, a lot more impressive than "Eruption" if you ask me...

Jimi and Eddie are both very important to guitar playing. This is just my opinion.

To me they both came out like they were from Venus and raised the bar.

A lot of people came afterwards and ran with what they started but Jimi and Edward in each of their eras gave the guitar a shot in the arm.


[Edited 5/16/06 16:21pm]

The most important innovators of rock guitar are

1. Jimi in the 60's

2. EVH in the 70's

3. Yngwie Malmsteen in the 80's
[Edited 5/16/06 15:34pm]

E.V.H pretty much re-invented rock and roll guitar in the late 1970's. He popularized the two handed technique, whammy dives, and inspired a lot of cats to play Strat style electrics with humbuckers. He also got a lot of guitarists hip to having a full round sound and tone.

I agree with Brutha B. E.V.H influenced a lot of cats, but some of them missed the mark of what Eddie was doing. Some cats used his style for flash and effect. Eddie was coming straight from the soul.

More guitar: Guns And Roses meet Jeff Beck

http://www.youtube.com/wa...eff%20beck

manthevan said:

I agree. I wouldn't call these 3 the best or my favorite guitarists. But in terms of guitar innovation they seem like the most important to me.

SPYZFAN1 said:

He's also a great inventor. Eddie invented the fine tuning system for the floyd rose bridge!

Stevie Ray Vaughan!! He was amazing. Prince even admired Stevie.. well that's what I was told. Eddie's OK.

2freaky4church1 said:

It's amazing how baroque this sounds. In classical music, this is called a credenza, where the orchestra drops out and the violinist shows off all kinds of crazy runs and fancy fingerwork. I've heard several violinists surpass this performance by Eddie but not many guitarists. Very clean and rapid fingering. I like the plucking technique up on the fingerboard.




typo edit
[Edited 5/16/06 20:15pm]

blackguitaristz said:

Do you know if he was classically trained?

carlcranshaw said:

This one is even better. It seems more artful and paced. Anyone else hear similarities to this piece?

http://www.synergyduo.com...occata.mp3

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by JS Bach

heartbeatocean said:

He was, but in an interview he said that he couldn't read sheet music... he just won these piano recitals by watching his teacher play! Here's the interview:

http://www.vhlinks.com/pa...w1099.html

coolcat said:

Whoa - his first statement goes like this:

Okay, there was church music, then Bach popularized tempered tunings, and now we're playing chainsaws on stage and lighting them on fire. How's that? [laughs] Basically, since Bach there's really been nothing new under the sun.

I knew I heard Bach in there!

But yeah, that's insane that he won competitions playing Mozart but never learned how to read music! I can't imagine. That's pure genius

It's also amazing that he was a child prodigy on piano and plays cello. I'd love to hear that.

carlcranshaw said:

Great read. Of course it's Sammy's view and I read David Lee Roth's book as well and both show Eddie as selfish, petty, paranoid, and insecure.

It's a little like Prince, the guy is so talented you forgive their personality eff-ups.

The band have kinda gone to shit though.

A lot of people sleep on EVH's rhythm playing - he's really one of the best rhythm guitarists around - listen to something like Judgement Day from the Live: Right Here, Right Now set, or the guitar behind the solo on Feel Your Love Tonight (from VH) to get an idea of that.

Another great thing about Eddie is that he isn't hooked on using fifths in constructing his riffs. It's rare to hear a VH song based around powerchords. If only more rock guitarists took that lesson, the form would be a lot more interesting.

Yeah, Eddie is such a GREAT rhythm player and riff writer - as far as guitar playing goes, he's one of the best all-around packages I've ever heard the pleasure of hearing. I can put on that first Van Halen record and listen to every song - that whole album is classic.

Plus, when you see him live, you can just tell how much he loves playing.

*I had the BIGGEST crush on Valerie Bertinelli Just wanted to mention that...

Yea, but check out this other dude, doing an almost perfect imitation of the solo from MJ's Beat It.

http://home.arcor.de/mega...20solo.mpg

I think that's the guitar player from Megadeth.

Hell, this solo beats the one I showed you by a mile.

http://msxml.excite.com/i.../-/417/top

click first one.

Boy gets pretty evil during the last six minutes.

Does he beat Prince?

2freaky4church1 said:

Fricken YEAH!!!! This is MUCH better!!!

I notice a few things:

1) He's extremely relaxed and organic with the guitar, like it's a part of his body.

2) There is a DEFINITE gothic organ Bach reference at the beginning.

3) This solo shares some exact phrasings and notes from the solos above, which means he's probably not improvising a whole lot.

4) The Bach reference is less extended than in the others, and his tonalities become almost avant-garde...the only way you could identify some of this as "rock and roll" is just the electric grind, but not necessarily the nature and tonalities of the licks. I wouldn't be surprised if he was influence by some 20th century Russian classical composers as well... In other words, the emphasis is not melodic.

5) He does a lot of different things in this solo, changes attitudes, styles, alternates fast fingerings and fermatas (long holds on a note)...creates space, shape and structure...kind of the way he moves to different parts of the stage

6) I love the part where he beats on the fingerboard percussively and what were those high pitched squeals...plucking up by the tuning pegs or something?

THIS ROCKS, Freaky, man I'm sure getting off on this. Where's theAudience?

blackguitaristz said:

I can see everything you're talking about here. But what's this "brown sound" you speak of? What does that mean?