You will never be as good as Eddie Van Halen...

[Stramm8]

your tone will never be as good, your timing and feel will never be as good, you will never make playing the guitar look so effortless and you will never be able to take a pull off of a Marlboro while it's attached to your guitar and not miss a beat. Case in point:

I am not a Sammy era fan at all but this just kills. Makes me think he should have loaded an emg in his Kramer too

Hate to disagree but ...My tone is as good or better and when I smoked I made Eddie look like this was his first cigarette . As far as the rest goes ...yea ya got me there .
While I agree VH was a great player at one time I never cared for his phrasing all that much . since we agree that no one can be Eddie can all you guys that constantly make VH copy clips move on to playing something else .

 

[Gainzilla]

BTW, Im still up in the air about NAMM this year but due to the fact that Im up my eyeballs in work ( which is a very good thing) It isnt looking like its going to happen this year which sucks. I miss hanging with you , Steve, Curt and Hesam in the worst way, ITS BEEN TOO FRIGGIN LONG!!!

I didn't think there was even a chance of you coming this year but it would be great to see you if you can pull it! Grab Ralphie by the hair and drag him along like your caveman wife!!!

Im trying Bro but these days, Im absolutely swamped and the added responsobilities of being a dad makes it that much more difficult. Draggin Ralphie out would be a feat in and of itself because a) hes an ornery obstinate SOB and b) despite our physical mismatch, he has this ability to be unmovable.... If not this year, I should be able to make next year work..

 

[Rogue]

This may be one of the most absurd statements ever IMO...quite the opposite. As great as Eddie was/is, I've always viewed him as a clown when it came to his looks. Baggy pink parachute pants? Clamdigger overalls with Ronald McDonald knee stockings? Juan Epstein hairdo? I'm hard pressed to think of a hard rock guitarist who looked less cool.

And he could do it and still look cool. You can't. Hence the statement.

 

[Gainzilla]

This may be one of the most absurd statements ever IMO...quite the opposite. As great as Eddie was/is, I've always viewed him as a clown when it came to his looks. Baggy pink parachute pants? Clamdigger overalls with Ronald McDonald knee stockings? Juan Epstein hairdo? I'm hard pressed to think of a hard rock guitarist who looked less cool.

And he could do it and still look cool. You can't. Hence the statement.

I agree but Bill, If what you said about EVH was true, youve obviously never seen Vinnie Vincent...

 

[Bob Savage]

Im trying Bro but these days, Im absolutely swamped and the added responsobilities of being a dad makes it that much more difficult. Draggin Ralphie out would be a feat in and of itself because a) hes an ornery obstinate SOB and b) despite our physical mismatch, he has this ability to be unmovable.... If not this year, I should be able to make next year work..

I hear you... looking forward to next time, whenever it is.

And yeah, Ralphie's ornery for sure.

 

[Shawn Lutz]

If you don't do a lot of tapping regularly you will start to run out of juice like Gilbert was saying. I was playing "Flying high again" the other day after years of not playing that solo...used to play it all of the time way back when but my hand was starting to run out of gas towards the end of the tapping part

In my opinion a few cats changed the game....Hendrix, Eddie/Randy and Yngwie. I'm sure everyone will have different players.

As far as the OP track...although some great guitar work 1984 was the last VH album I bought Not a fan of Van Hagar

 

[Shawn Lutz]

Im trying Bro but these days, Im absolutely swamped and the added responsobilities of being a dad makes it that much more difficult. Draggin Ralphie out would be a feat in and of itself because a) hes an ornery obstinate SOB and b) despite our physical mismatch, he has this ability to be unmovable.... If not this year, I should be able to make next year work..

I hear you... looking forward to next time, whenever it is.

And yeah, Ralphie's ornery for sure.

lol....is that from Warriors? ...come out to play

 

[Bob Savage]

lol....is that from Warriors? ...come out to play

Yep, the true warriors. It's on topic too because EVH is behind Ralph.

 

[Rogue]

might as well enjoy.

 

[guitarmike]

Spend time learning his music and you quickly realize how much talent Eddie had. Call it what you want, they looked the way you looked in the 80's, if you lived through it, no big deal. If you missed it, you lose. There has not been a guitar player since VH and Randy R. that successfully brought cool guitar to the masses. Everyone under 50 knows Crazy Train and Running with the Devil, the magic it took to create that kind of music is long gone, it died by 1994. Sure lots of good stuff out there now but none of it has the crossover appeal that will keep it alive for 40 years.

 

[311boogieman]

I saw him a few months ago.

Still plays great and just has the mojo playing the style he invented, the one that changed guitar playing forever.

And he does not let cancer, divorce, and that annoying spider monkey twat DLR get a brother down....

+311

I saw him this past year too and he killed it.

Frickin nailed it.

And +1 to his ability as a song writer. Awesome songs.

As far as the OP track...although some great guitar work 1984 was the last VH album I bought Not a fan of Van Hagar

Do yourself a favor and go by 'A Different Kind of Truth'

 

[gibson5413]

I never thought Eddie was a master technician on the guitar. What made him a special guitarist for me was his timing and execution. Even though his playing plateaued he owned the area he played in.

 

[Gainzilla]

Im trying Bro but these days, Im absolutely swamped and the added responsobilities of being a dad makes it that much more difficult. Draggin Ralphie out would be a feat in and of itself because a) hes an ornery obstinate SOB and b) despite our physical mismatch, he has this ability to be unmovable.... If not this year, I should be able to make next year work..

I hear you... looking forward to next time, whenever it is.

And yeah, Ralphie's ornery for sure.

LOLOLOLOL!!!!! I never saw that!!!! Come to think of it, he submitted to the Atomic Wedgie without any resistance whatsoever...

 

[rupe]

This may be one of the most absurd statements ever IMO...quite the opposite. As great as Eddie was/is, I've always viewed him as a clown when it came to his looks. Baggy pink parachute pants? Clamdigger overalls with Ronald McDonald knee stockings? Juan Epstein hairdo? I'm hard pressed to think of a hard rock guitarist who looked less cool.

And he could do it and still look cool. You can't. Hence the statement.

You're half right...I definitely can't make those things look cool, but neither did your mancrush Eddie

 

[Anonymous]

This may be one of the most absurd statements ever IMO...quite the opposite. As great as Eddie was/is, I've always viewed him as a clown when it came to his looks. Baggy pink parachute pants? Clamdigger overalls with Ronald McDonald knee stockings? Juan Epstein hairdo? I'm hard pressed to think of a hard rock guitarist who looked less cool.

Always looked pretty cool in the early days to me:

And... Juan Epstein hairdo? Please... every guitar player in LA had this perfectly coifed hairdo in the 80s:

Steve

 

[Motorpud]

neither did your mancrush Eddie

 

[Rogue]

You're half right...I definitely can't make those things look cool, but neither did your mancrush Eddie

 

[Mr. Willy]

I'm just reluctant to say any band who has been as successful as van halen has wrote songs that were "nothing special" when I have never written a chart topping song. Seems like a very arrogant thing to do. This is, of course, my humble opinion.

I never understood this point of view, nor do i think it's relevant. You don't have to have a "chart topping song" to love or hate a band or musician. If that were the case, then you couldn't enjoy a burger unless you work at burger king or new car unless you work at Ford. There would be very few people who would be allowed to like or dislike anything.

It seems like a defense mechanism that fan boys use to stop people from saying anything negative or not sharing enthusiasm when it comes to their heroes.

Of course it's irrelevant just like your opinion is irrelevant. I'm not saying that one should like or dislike a song based on its chart position. I don't follow popular music at all, couldn't tell you what song is #1 nor do I care. I just think it's arrogant for someone who has never even been on that level to criticize a musician who has had any amount of success in that area. "One hit wonders" included. This is my opinion and it's relevant to no one but me.

 

[Mr. Willy]

I'll give him his due. He didn't influence me one iota however. The whole tapping thing was annoying.

He's not on the same planet as Jimi though. Sorry if it chaps asses but in 200- years Jimi will still be around.
Jimi made history with his guitar and did it a decade earlier. He made lasting musical statements that reflected the era. VH represented a backyard keg party into huge arenas.

EVH has no Are You Experienced, Axis, BOG, Electric Ladyland. He has the debut album. His lead work was all flash, no soul, it said nothing, other than , look this is flash. A few runs broken up by G string whammy dives.

Got all the albums. Great listening but no game changer, IMO

Eddie no soul? Completely disagree. To each his own on that point. But I don't think any other player besides Eddie influenced so many guitarists like Jimi did. Jimi changed the way guitarists approached lead guitar. So did Eddie. So did Yngwie for that matter, and Randy too. But, IMHO, the only guitarist to have as much influence on guitar playing and changing the game like Jimi did in his day is EVH.

 

[Doubleneck]

Eddies rhythm playing and timing is absolutely superb ... doesn't get mentioned often.