RIP Eddie Van Halen (1 Viewer)

Ahh Rory Gallagher smokes 'em all :ezbill:

Clapton was once asked what it felt like to be the world's greatest guitarist. He replied "I' don't know, you'd have to ask Rory Gallagher" Very under-rated, but in stark contrast to EVH, Gallagher was also one of the nicest, most down-to-earth and lest self-promoting musicians out there. Check out Irish Tour '74

Those top lists look very different when musicians rate musicians.
You hear 2 pieces, one sounds amazing, the other sounds good, then a musician will tell you how the latter blew their mind, and go on a rant spoken in Sumerian as to why.
 
Those top lists look very different when musicians rate musicians.
You hear 2 pieces, one sounds amazing, the other sounds good, then a musician will tell you how the latter blew their mind, and go on a rant spoken in Sumerian as to why.
I’ve always believed that when it comes down to it rock guitarists are a lot less than someone who is a classical guitarist. Rock goes for show, and a whole lot of other things, but holding to structure, composition and such, generally lacking. Which is why even though he had such a short career Randy Rhodes is so amazing. Coming from a classically trained background out him at a different level. Page is heavily experimental, and best of the bunch at emotion in his playing. Although if you watch him in the O2 concert where he is clean and sober, his technical skill is astounding also.
To me Eddie, along with being a master showman, is that he simply knew how to put good music together. Wether it was VH or if it was rearranging Beat It while Jones and Jackson were out of the room. He knew what sounded good. He really didn’t invent anything, the tapping has been around forever, However, as much as Eddie complained about Roth, Roth was equally important in the showmanship of VH.
 
So much Van Halen growing up, this one really sucks, Rest in Power EVH...
 
I remember exactly when I first heard Running with the Devil and the Kinks cover of You Really Got Me. A friend bought the LP and burned a cassette for us to cruise and listen to. I was floored by it. We were Wayne and Garthing all over town. Great memories. Great album.

I'll echo others - cancer sucks.
 
That was when Alice in Chains were still kind of glam-rock, late 80s Bon Jovi/GNR-esque type of band. Before Nirvana's Nevermind and the Seattle grunge scene of anti-materialism, newer-edged PNW sense of isolation, and nihilism and an edgier, louder form of punk revolutionized the American musical and entertainment scene until the mid-1990s.

Facelift (1990) actually predated Nevermind (1991) by a year, although Bleach(1989) was a year earlier, that album has been largely forgotten, and Nirvana and the whole grunge scene didn't really explode until around 1992. AiC were definitely NOT copycat grunge - they were just as responsible for the new sound and "look" as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam. Although Nirvana most certainly had the single biggest influence on the later copycat grunge bands that emerged/changed their sound from 1993-1996.

Also of note, Nirvana's sound wasn't really all that unique, it was largely borrowed from The Melvins, as well as elements of The Pixies - but neither of those bands had widespread success. From what I've heard of The Melvins, they had an interesting sound, but seemed to have forgotten to actually write music, and their lead vocals .... OMG (and not in a good way)

Sorry about the hijack ... for me personally, Eddie was the GOAT

Here is my favorite tune of his

 
I’ve always believed that when it comes down to it rock guitarists are a lot less than someone who is a classical guitarist. Rock goes for show, and a whole lot of other things, but holding to structure, composition and such, generally lacking. Which is why even though he had such a short career Randy Rhodes is so amazing. Coming from a classically trained background out him at a different level. Page is heavily experimental, and best of the bunch at emotion in his playing. Although if you watch him in the O2 concert where he is clean and sober, his technical skill is astounding also.
To me Eddie, along with being a master showman, is that he simply knew how to put good music together. Wether it was VH or if it was rearranging Beat It while Jones and Jackson were out of the room. He knew what sounded good. He really didn’t invent anything, the tapping has been around forever, However, as much as Eddie complained about Roth, Roth was equally important in the showmanship of VH.

Classical guitarists are more technically proficient than pretty much every rock guitarist - if I remember this right, even Eddie had a story about how he wrote "Spanish Fly" he said something like it would have been too difficult for him to pull off, but he came up with some shortcut/cheat, but that would not have been necessary for a good classical guitarist.

The challenge that rock guitarists have, is generating a unique sound, and not just "sounding just like X" (although sometimes, you can get away with just doing that). They also have to gel with the rest of a band, which is something that classical guitarists may not necessarily need to do.
 
He really didn’t invent anything, the tapping has been around forever, However, as much as Eddie complained about Roth, Roth was equally important in the showmanship of VH.

Yes, it seems alot of folks assume he invented tapping but Allen Holdsworth was the first I've ever heard doing it. He was a huge influence on a young EVH....

EVH definitely brought it to the mainstream, damn...still can't believe he is gone....
 
Yes, it seems alot of folks assume he invented tapping but Allen Holdsworth was the first I've ever heard doing it. He was a huge influence on a young EVH....

EVH definitely brought it to the mainstream, damn...still can't believe he is gone....

Yep, EVH was the first I ever saw doing the tapping technique. And not only could he do it with ease, he made it sound great and added another dimension to the music. Van Halen was a big part of the reason I became a rock and heavy metal fan.
 
Yes, it seems alot of folks assume he invented tapping but Allen Holdsworth was the first I've ever heard doing it. He was a huge influence on a young EVH....

EVH definitely brought it to the mainstream, damn...still can't believe he is gone....

EVH said he got the idea from watching Jimmy Page
 
I’ve been watching a ton of EVH videos on YouTube the last 24 hours with Delta moving past. One of his comments really sticks out when he was talking about his style and how everyone does it now. Something along the lines of, ‘I never had a guitar lesson. I didn’t do it by the book. I think you limit yourself and the evolution when you don’t have your own style’
 
I’ve been watching a ton of EVH videos on YouTube the last 24 hours with Delta moving past. One of his comments really sticks out when he was talking about his style and how everyone does it now. Something along the lines of, ‘I never had a guitar lesson. I didn’t do it by the book. I think you limit yourself and the evolution when you don’t have your own style’

Which is funny because his music sense was really good. I liked that his style along with the band thought outside the box. Their music sounds great across multiple generations of fans.
 

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