He was first known in 1978, when he was 23 years old and his band Van Halen made their first record, which included the solo “Eruption”. His guitar playing is known almost absolutely for that, basically it revolutionized Rock n’ Roll and guitar playing and many more things are said about it, but I’ll quote Guitar World Magazine: “When the wildly innovative instrumental was released in 1978, hit the rock guitar community like a hydrogen bomb. Two-handed tapping, gonzo whammy bar dips, artificial harmonics—with Van Halen’s masterly application of these and other techniques, “Eruption” made every other six-stringer look like a third-stringer” (guitarworld.com). In other words, no one had ever played like that before, with the same speed, precision and innovative techniques such as tapping, his most known. Today, he is considered by many music magazines as the second best guitarist ever, usually after Jimi Hendrix. (why!? D:)
But what I love about this guy,-- I mean, what a lot of people admire on him, is how his playing can reflect that he loves what he does and this has enriched his playing and composition of songs. He just smiles a lot… :) He has said XD, when they asked him what he thought about while playing onstage: “Nothing. It’s like having sex, actually, I swear to God. It’s definitely my first love”.
He used to play drums before, but then he switched with his brother Alex, who used to play guitar and is in the band too, when he was 12. He started to play at that age, and he would escape from school to go home and practice all day o.o, so he learned to play by himself, never took a lesson in his life (how the hell). One thing he did that not every guitarist has done, is that he built his own guitars, most of them, and they are so cool : D haha. He wouldn’t find a guitar he liked, so he made one out of the remaining pieces of different guitars that a factory had dropped, and painted it…and he made the most amazing and original guitar I have ever seen :D haha well, to me: The Frankenstrat (because it was made of parts just like Frankenstein ;). Then he made another one by cutting an Ibanez Destroyer with a saw o.o, The Shark.
At that time his playing was very innovative, so that Guitar World Magazine awarded him with the best guitarist of the year like three years in a row :) (1978-1980). His playing was very original because of the effects he created and used, for example animal sounds; he uses all these effects in the songs, something that no one did before, they just played the guitar very well. Finally, what I love about his playing is how well he does it and the feelings he transmits with it; his songs just make me happy—ok, I don’t know very well how to explain it myself so I will add this quote from Les Paul, very respected guitarist that invented o: multi-track recording, because he just says it perfectly!:
“Eddie’s finger tapping and vibrato work were innovative. It’s something he developed that made him different than all other guitar players. Extremely different. He mastered it very well. Eddie proves a fellow can create his own thing, something that´s recognizable. (..) It´s good to see someone out there that plays his way. That is what makes the man stand out from the boy. (…) It seems like he had his own thing going. And that alone, by itself, makes it very interesting. And the fact that he does it very well means he’s expressing a lot of things he had inside him that others don’t have. They just don’t play that way”
—Les Paul (Zlozower, Neil).
Awesome songs (maybe heavy too, hehe) I would recommend to prove all the subjective nonsense I have just said are: Unchained, Romeo Delight, Feel your Love Tonight, Mean Street and Beautiful Girls ;)
Works Cited
“50 Greatest Guitar Solos”. Guitarworld.com. Guitar World. January 29, 2009. Web. October 16, 2011.
Zlozower, Neil. Van Halen: A visual history 1978-1984. California: Chronicle Books, 2008.
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