EVH, I don't get it...

[JakeAC5253]

Although I don't really listen to VH stuff nowadays, I credit Eddie with lighting a fire under my ass and ultimately making me pick up the guitar in the first place. I listened to a whole bunch of shit music that was popular at the time I was in high school, KoRn, Eminem, Nirvana, Puddle of Mudd, Linkin Park.. don't hate, it was actually popular at the time.

One day when rummaging through my mom's old albums I came back with a bunch of old rubbers to spin (ok, they were CD's, I'm not that old). It was like next, next, next, but when I got to VH1, I felt the need to stop and listen back. It was like truly hearing the electric guitar for the first time, now I knew what it sounded like, and it had a voice of its own. It caught my ear because it wasn't stuck in the background playing some buried hook or sludgy overdistorted riff just to give the vocals something to sing over, it was RIGHT THERE! And I was hooked, I had to listen to that album all day every day. For a while I didn't even listen to other music, I just listened to VH1 and tried to figure out what he was doing.

Fast forward a bit, I had my first electric guitar and shit combo amp. Screw open chords, I'm too cool for that, I want to play VH stuff. And that was it right there, it was the whole attitude of the thing. He wasn't playing the guitar to fit the music, it was like he wanted to be heard at all times and he knew how to do it lyrically and without becoming stale or generic. He had a certain disrespect for the instrument, that was appealing. In the middle of a solo he would just say fuck it, I'm doing a dive bomb and I don't care who has something to say about it. I don't really subscribe to the "he was an innovator" angle of it, I just think he had an attitude that he's got to be the best and he's always got to improve himself in the process.

Like I said, I'm not much of a VH fanboy anymore, I've sort of moved on, but he was and is a huge influence on my playing style. It's audible sometimes in my jamming, riffing, and song writing. Just the little 'flair' that I learned from him comes through me whether I want it to or not.

 

[thiswaythatway]

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.......

Well there's something to that. Van Halen never really wrote great songs. What's their single best song? I say pick one out of a hat.

But just watch Van Halen and you see who every other rock band in the 80's was trying to copy. And while i didn't think they had the best songs, a David Lee Roth fronted Van Halen back in the early 80's is one of the concerts i would wish to see if i had some magical wishes to use.


FWIW, i always thought and still do think that Randy Rhoads was a better musician and guitar player. And he had one of the best live solo's because it was short and sweet and not as self indulgent as everyone else's.

 

[glassjaw7]

I was born in '81 too, so many of my musical idols are from the late 80's and early 90's. That said, I totally am blown away with what EVH did with the guitar. You have to keep in mind that there wasn't really anyone doing what he was did with the guitar before him. Sure there were shredders, but he had that sound. He took shred and made it accessible, and he did it with a flair that no one else had done before.

I'm not a big fan of many VH songs, and I think DLR is one of the lamest and fruitiest singers to ever come out of rock and roll. I just respect Eddie as a player and an innovator.

 

[Chubtone]

I don't get Michael Jordan. I mean, he's no Meadowlark Lemon.

 

[Greazygeo]

I grew up with it...still don't get it.

 

[Rogue]

I must be looking to get shot around here

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

As I was reading this I was going to bring up Hendrix, and how I didn't "get it" when I was growing up. It appears you have already seen the light with JH, as I think a lot of guys from my generation did after the fact. That was old hat. Yeah, knew the guy's name, but there were EVHs and Steve Vais out there. Hendrix? Just wasn't into it. And then I "saw the light", as you put it. It's really just that simple. Once I was past the "not my style" and starting digging more and more of his stuff, I began to understand why Hendrix is THE name in rock guitar.

Perhaps a similar process will happen with you and EVH. It's not your thing and you just don't get it, I totally get that. The thing with Hendrix and Eddie is very similar. While their fretboard flash was groundbreaking for the time, it was their unorthodox and totally unconventional approach to playing guitar and songwriting that has their names permanently in legend status. I love all era of Eddie. The man probably couldn't show you a E7th chord, but man could he somehow manage to seemlessly piece together unconventional (not to mention cool) rhythm parts into something that made sense in the context of a song. Nobody writes songs like Eddie. The same of Hendrix.

I think once you start realizing and recognizing those things, the rest will become apparent. Then it'll hit you that no one else was doing this stuff at the time. If you can't get into popular VH, pick up Fair Warning. Or perhaps even 1984. Some really different stuff on those albums that may not be as edgy as more popular VH. VHIII gets a lot of flack from VH fans, for reasons I'm not sure I'll ever comprehend, but it's got some great guitar work that is more 90s-ish than classic-ish. I really can't recommend an era that is better or worse, except for porn era Eddie..stay away from that. Eddie's strength has always been his approach to songwriting and that is present on every album he's ever done. Start there.

 

[TalentlessIdiot]

i WAS a teen-age'er in the 80s and i never got into VH, or any of the 80s "Butt-metal" bands
and frankly, when ever i hear VH (or any other shreddy-weedly-sweepy guitar for that matter) a shiver runs up my spine, and i get a gag-reflex
i certenly don't mean to disparage anybody else's appreciation for their music.
personal taste is unaccountable.

btw, if you are a Hendrix-Kook (like i am) you should check out

https://www.youtube.com/user/prophetjimi
http://www.rockprophecy.com/

this guy has decoded the Hendrix Prophecies

edit: you like what you like, and you don't like what you don't like.
some people love chocolate ice cream. i don't care for it.
some people have spiders for pets. spiders freak me out
some people don't care for led zeppelin. i don't understand that.
some people like to live in big cities. some people like to live in the mountains

there really is no explaining why you like one thing or another. i can't explain why i'm a hendrix-kook. i don't care if people don't care about hendrix. doesn't bother me.

edit: the ANTI- Van Halen:

I must be looking to get shot around here

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

 

[Ayrton]

Born in '70 here and while I love Ed's sense of rhythm, and most of those classic riffs, I never drank the Kool Aid either.

I went from KISS to Ozzy/Randy to Black Flag by the time I was 17.

 

[TalentlessIdiot]

He's fu@king Eddie Van Halen, what's there not to get?

i heard that he cures cancer
so that's at least one reason to appreciate EVH

edit:
come to think of it, i vaguely remember reading an interview that EVH didn't care for Jimi Hendrix at all.
so that makes me wonder about quantum physics, and like how like, "solid matter" is really just vibration frequencies? and our bodies are really not real at all. and we're all just resonant frequencies.
and Hendrix created a "group of frequencies"
and EVH created a "group of frequencies"
so its like, if your body sympathetically resonates with one group... say the "Hendrix-frequencies"
and then EVH maybe then subconsiously created his own "group of frequencies" to cause dis-harmony with the "hendrix-frequencies".
then it would be natural for a Hendrix-Kook to not really resonate with the EVH "frequencies"

edit: i had a dog back in the early 80s, and he would get seriously mean and nasty and want to attack me when ever i put on The Who Tommy record.

 

[Shark Diver]

I'm so glad I grew up when I did. Older brothers getting me into The '60's and '70s tunes, been a teenager in the '80s and early 20s for the '90s.

I guess I understand your sentiment Joey, but it's sort of like saying I don't get the internet, cell phones, computers, penicillin...

 

[skoora]

Hot for teacher has the best guitar solo ever in it, only Hendrix is better..

I agree. His timing is very jazzy and difficult to nail down as it's pure feel and not some 32nd/64th note, precision snore fest. It's why VH stands way above because all the shredders that followed didn't really get him at all. They were all speed and no soul/swing. I sometimes wonder if Yngwie influenced players of that era more, just without the Harmonic minor approach. I don't remember any players after Randy that sounded anything like Randy.

It's not an age thing. I, like quite a few others here, was born in 1970. I still love Chuck Berry, The Kinks, Scotty Moore and Little Richard from the moment I heard them as a kid. I didn't hear Sabbath, Hendrix or Deep Purple etc until after VH1 came out and loved them all. I discovered VH1 around 1983. Growing up in the ass end of Australia didn't help being current with the U.S.

If music is timeless it doesn't matter if the techniques are old hat or not, it's just if the music moves you.

 

[70strathead]

reallly depends on how deep you want to go with it. dont listen to just popular solo's on utube, listen to the inspiring/deep cuts and stuff. play a note for note clip of "hang m high" or "i'm the one" or" take your whiskey home" ( just for beginners) as an example, from start to finish, in tempo and note for note with swing aspect then u will see.. What makes Ed so unique is his ability to make stuff sound simple, his tremendous ability to lay in the pocket as clapton did with Cream, and his unique phrasing that is what sets him apart to anyone including his imitaters...if you really want to make sense of this and dedicate your time because it will take u time, or else dont even go there half assed because most young kids DON'T get it becasue they are not listening to the right stuff.

 

[Gorehog]

I must be looking to get shot around here

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

i'm with you.i grew up in the 80s.yet never a big VH fan.i own I and WACF.just because i thought they would show me the light.i could just not get into the tunes.i do appreciate his playing.but i'd rather listen to other things.

 

[Sheik_Yerbouti]

One of the two most important and influential rock guitarists who ever lived along with Hendrix, creator of the single most imitated and sought-after tone in rock music, writer of some of the most epic riffs ever recorded and the single most famous and studied rock guitar solo ever in Eruption, that's a lot not to "get", even if it's not your personal favorite style or is "before your time", but to each his own, I suppose.

 

[kasperjensen]

Fair enough. No one says you have to like EVH.

It's just like food really. It's completely up to your taste what you like and don't. And I don't believe you can be forced to change your mind. Nor should you be.

 

[stephen sawall]

I grew up with it...still don't get it.

+1 .... I mean it is OK. Seen him live several times up till about 90. I was never impressed. Most of the time he was horrible live when I saw him. Pathetic a few times .... Jump ???

If you are not impressed by Eruption chances are you will never "get it". There are lots of musicians that feel the same as me .... most say nothing because many people seem to take some personal emotional effect from the subject. Like you called their children ugly or something.

 

[Gorehog]

One of the two most important and influential rock guitarists who ever lived along with Hendrix, creator of the single most imitated and sought-after tone in rock music, writer of some of the most epic riffs ever recorded and the single most famous and studied rock guitar solo ever in Eruption, that's a lot not to "get", even if it's not your personal favorite style or is "before your time", but to each his own, I suppose.

well i can't use the "before my time" excuse.i'm 41.i liked the 2nd generation stuff Ratt,Dokken etc.teen yrs.

picked up guitar in '85.i was as much into ac/dc and aerosmith as i was d.r.i. and black flag.

 

[Andee Blacksugar]

Nothing wrong with not getting it. Although I strongly recommend that you keep trying.

 

[gbsmusic]

Oh man between this and your avatar your dead to this forum

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

 

[metalsoup]

Certainly, one hallmark of any great guitarist is a signature style & tone that is immediately recognizable anytime you hear it. Eddie definitely has that.

But for me the most fundamental, indeed visceral, characteristic that makes EVH’s riffing so captivating is his attack. On VH1, he transcended all his contemporaries with the way he took the guitar and made it a fire-breathing monster. To this day, I’m still in awe as I listen to the way he just gouges those strings and how that translates through his amp and cab into incredible musical aggression. He flat out owns the sonic playing field on that album. When he’s done, there’s nothing left standing. The more I play the guitar, the more respect I have for that astounding display of mastery of the instrument.