EVH, I don't get it...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joeytpg
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Joeytpg

Joeytpg

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I must be looking to get shot around here :lol: :LOL:

I respect everyone's opinion, I'm not a guy that'll try to push down your throat what my pov is on things, but I don't understand the EVH stuff that much. I didn't "grow" up in the 80s (was born in 1981) so the 90s was my thing, which should explain a lot about why I don't get it, but still.... listening to Van Halen and Eddie's stuff I don't get why he was sooooooo idolized. He could definitely play, but his style is just not my thing at all.

Now, I didn't use to like Hendrix and now I totally LOVE HIM..... I wasn't looking in the right places..... now I've seen the light.

Can you point me to a few "ground braking videos" of Eddie so I can "get it" ?

I feel a little void as a guitarist because I don't quite get the hype, like I should get it but I don't.


Go easy on me please :aww:
 
Hey played on Beat It for gods sake, what else do you need. :thumbsup:

ps: he did some kind of card/parlor trick with two hands on the neck which was a bit different when we whipped it out. :lol: :LOL:

 
listen to women and children first, front to back, cranked.
 
PURE MAGIC - Plain & Simple

EVH_VHII_studio_poster.jpg
 
It doesn't matter if you get him or not. You like what you like. I like him because of his overall sense of rhythm. Very loose but with bite. Some of his leads are very creative with their note choices and mixtures of rhythmic phrases. I think he reached his Roth era peak with his leads and rhythm on 1984 for sure. His actual tone may be favored by many others on earlier records. The solo in Hot for Teacher swings like a Mutha. I'd be satisfied just nailing his rhythm playing let alone his leads.
 
Oh man between this and your avatar your dead to this forum :lol: :LOL:

From 1978 to 1984 he was the king of rock guitar period.




Watch at :22.............those moments do not happen anymore and dare y0ou to find one from the past several years.

I am going through a total rebirth of listening to old VH, dime a plexi with low outpup pups and after a while it will come.
 
skoora":11skibgv said:
It doesn't matter if you get him or not. You like what you like. I like him because of his overall sense of rhythm. Very loose but with bite. Some of his leads are very creative with their note choices and mixtures of rhythmic phrases. I think he reached his Roth era peak with his leads and rhythm on 1984 for sure. His actual tone may be favored by many others on earlier records. The solo in Hot for Teacher swings like a Mutha. I'd be satisfied just nailing his rhythm playing let alone his leads.
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Yep well put his rhythm swings like no other, love it. Here's my attempt you may enjoy https://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=9637379
 
I didn't "grow" up in the 80s (was born in 1981) so the 90s was my thing, which should explain a lot about why I don't get it
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I was born in 1970, so VHI starting with Running with the Devil was totally edgy when it came out, a shock to the parents. The guitar tone on that first album had so much more ferocity than the peers. You Really Got Me was only a few years old from the Kinks, who were edgy themselves, but on VHI the intensity blew my head off. Atomic Punk- what the hell is he doing in the beginning? This was like 20 years before Tom Morello. ACDC, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard were awesome in the late 70s, but at that time no one could shred Rock Guitar anything close to EVH. It was tortuises and the hare.


Can you point me to a few "ground braking videos" of Eddie so I can "get it" ?
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Another generational issue....videos didn't come into vogue until around Billie Jean early 80s. EVH didn't appear on the Beat It video. By the time VH made videos it was 1984 and they were a full party band- good stuff though, still shredding the competition. Yngwie, Vai, and the mid-late 80s shredders were just about to launch, but make no mistake- they all studied VH techniques.

EVH is a real pioneer; for the newer generations to appreciate, you have to recognize the historical comparisons.

I never liked Jimi when I was young, but sometime in my 20s I saw the light- that guy was a beast for his time period. That final 1972 disc House of the Rising Sun (released around 1997) kicks some serious ass- none of that hideous bee buzz guitar tone- and Jimi shines brightly.
 
What you probably don't get is that EVH started a legion of clones in the 80's and most popular
rock bands had guitarists that tried to sound like him or cop his style. So, in that respect, you may not get
it because so many 80's rock bands had guys with chops like his.

But he is an innovator who came out with a different style than anyone else at the time. He is responsible for
the popularizing, inter alia, the Floyd Rose tremolo and the strat w/ a humbucker (superstrat).
 
Hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

There have been so many imitators of Eddie that now his genius from back then is no longer realized. It is like showing an Atari 2600 game to someone playing Call of Duty online. You can't explain the magnitude of how exciting a gaming system like the Atari was back then because gamers have so much now.

Eddie set so many "firsts" whether it be his tone, volume swells with the knob (Cathedral), tapping, etc. The guy ate and shat the guitar. Valerie Bertinelli said he would move his fingers in his sleep like he was playing. Eddie Van Halen just breathes tone.
 
This is how I look at it, YMMV.

There was guitar, there was rock and roll, blues, etc.

Jimi Hendrix hit the scene, and guitar, rock, blues was changed/different. BH / AH = Before Hendrix / After Hendrix. just compare the BH/AH guitar sounds and playing...

For me, the next time there was a significant change in rock guitar, was EVH. I had never heard of VH, I went to see Black Sabbath for their Never Say Die tour in '78. The opening act was VH, we had never heard of them before, never on the radio, in the magazines, and there was no internet. We were in shock and awe...DLR's arial splits, and I remember EVH playing amazing, never seen or heard solos and techniques (I was about row 10 on the floor on EVH's side); and I remember EVH playing, running back to his amp and running up the front of it, flipping over, and running back toward the audience, and sliding as if he was sliding into home plate...all way playing these never before seen or heard riffs and leads. Everyone of my friends and I had VH-I within days, hard to find as they were a new band... I was a huge Sabbath fan, even with Ozzy, bloated with alchohol, in an orange jumpsuit with white fringe on the arms and legs, crazy feedback and noise from Iommi's guitars, and I had to admit VH blew BS away that night.

So, it was BE / AE = Before Eddie / After Eddie. Rock guitar changed in a major way IMO/IME. YMMV

The last change, again IMO, for me, was less for guitar playing but in sound. I had heard Kill 'Em All and thought it was great, but Ride the Lightning, then Master of Puppets...I had not heard a metal sound as good; for me, it instantly made my favs Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, MSG, Accept, etc. sound dated. Metal, IMO, changed..the sound of metal pre-metallica was very different post-metallica.

All in my opinion. You just need to listen to mid-70s (75-78) rock / hard rock / guitar bands...Aerosmith, Montrose, Derringer, I can't recall all these bands or guitarists; 78 is when VH-I was released IIRC, at least that is the year I saw the Never Say Die tour....listen to hard rock guitar bands in 79 and beyond, and IMO EVH's influenced much of it.

All IMO. YMMV. and your experience and interpretation is likely different....but this is my personal view of what I experienced first hand (well most of it...I had relatives that were listening to Hendrix, while he was alive, I was alive too, but very young.)
 
Joeytpg,

I can relate. Growing up, I never really got in EVH's music myself, although unlike you, I could always see how/why he was idolized. It wasn't until much later in my life that I really found an appreciation for his style and his music. Even today though, I still don't rate him as one of my fave players/influences. Who knows, maybe you'll have a similar experience one day, where you'll just get off on a EVH stint. I believe I actually began to appreicate his work more with Sammy, than Dave at first.....even though, I always knew that he wrote his best music with DLR. Now, I can go either way, depending on the mood I'm in.
 
Joeytpg":1lge2oe2 said:
I must be looking to get shot around here :lol: :LOL:

I respect everyone's opinion, I'm not a guy that'll try to push down your throat what my pov is on things, but I don't understand the EVH stuff that much. I didn't "grow" up in the 80s (was born in 1981) so the 90s was my thing, which should explain a lot about why I don't get it, but still.... listening to Van Halen and Eddie's stuff I don't get why he was sooooooo idolized. He could definitely play, but his style is just not my thing at all.

Now, I didn't use to like Hendrix and now I totally LOVE HIM..... I wasn't looking in the right places..... now I've seen the light.

Can you point me to a few "ground braking videos" of Eddie so I can "get it" ?

I feel a little void as a guitarist because I don't quite get the hype, like I should get it but I don't.


Go easy on me please :aww:
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Hey, so you don't get it about EVH. Doesn't matter, man - it isn't important if you do or don't get it ever. You know what you like - enjoy that! I don't get a lot of shit that other people worship either...

Steve
 
man i envy you, you get too go back and discover what a real trailblazer this dude really was. even though i'm not the biggest fan, it was the sound that made up my youth. i remember watching that label with the jungle background on that warner bros album !! and listening to eurption and letting my mind wonder to try to imagine how he made those sounds! :thumbsup: before i turn this into my own wonder years episode , he still demands respect.
 
For those who don't get or appreciate EVH's influence on rock guitar (I have no problem with this FWIW. I think if you experienced the before EVH and after EVH first hand, even if you don't like it or appreciate it, you would be able to see hear the change, impact and influence of EVH...like night vs. day IMO. Nearly every rock guitarist that came after EVH was influenced by him, even if they don't admit it! :yes: ):

I can't really think of anyone since EVH (or Hendrix before that) who has had as much of a game changing influence on rock guitar.

Who was the last major game changer in "rock/metal" guitar since EVH? (I'm probably too old / out of touch so I missed it). Seriously, I'd like to know who he/she/they are, and listen to some of their playing...since I clearly missed it.
 
thanks for all the cool explanations guys, it's nice to see how each of you feel about EVH personally.

I didn't mean to disrespect a master like him, I knew he was groundbreaking for the time, but in my case I've always been driven by composition and songwriting. I just don't like Van Halen's Music that much so it doesn't let me get into EVH as a player FULL ON.

I started appreciating Jimi when I started liking the songs, same with Stevie Ray V. and Buddy Guy.......
 
He's fu@king Eddie Van Halen, what's there not to get? :confused:
 
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