R.I.P. Edward Van Halen

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A Legend.  Iconic. 

My wee Eddie story:
Was introduced to him by our album engineer in 1987 at the old 'Uncle Charlie's' in Corte Madera.  Guitar  player and I hung out all night with him and Neal Schon, and then did a 'sh*t-faced-on-vodka' little jam on the stage there.


65 is no age to die, sucks!

 
1980 Van Halen killed it in "Roklahoma"...David Lee was so drunk he was incoherent, but Eddie made it a show to remember....Pat Benatar, Doobie Brothers, Sammy Hagar, UFO, I can't remember the rest, but the best part of the entire event was Eddies guitar chops...
 
My first Halen concert was Day on the Green, Oakland,  Sunday, July 23, 1978.

The bill was

AC/DC
Van Halen
Pat Travers
Foreigner
Aerosmith

unfortunately, four of the bands were completely devastated in front of 50,000 people.

saw them probably 3 more times, once with Black Sabbath, what a show!

they rocked the San Jose Civic so bad that the building was condemned after the show. People were rockin so hard up in the balcony that it almost came loose.

A lot of listening hours tallied up with those guys, starting with 8 track tapes in the car. Eddie was fast alright, but not all of his solos were speedy. Which was a good thing because it meant that you could cover a few of their songs without looking like too much of a slouch.

Working in a guitar shop I hear his influence every day!

Rock on Eddie!



 
RIP Eddie, a great guitar player.

Since Les paul provably there is no one with more innovations in the instrument. modern guitar would be much different today.
 
I wonder at times if Eddie was not responsible for an entire range of "acoustic" styles...his "hammer on" technique while probably not exclusively his invention has probably helped create the entire genre of music that has evolved into musicians like Mike Daws and Michael Hedges...

I was a guitarist back in the 70's and the primary style was more "Phil Keaggy and Leo Kottke" I cannot think of anyone who nudged the acoustic style more by way of style and probably doesn't get noticed.
 
When I was a child, the first album that got me into rock was 1984 by Van Halen, It was and still is one of my favorite albums ever, I was a hardcore Van Halen fan, used to own all of their records, its so sad that he is gone.
 
Eddie was more than just an inventive player, he was very hands on about all aspects of his "sound". I recall all the back and forth when James Brown was designing the 5150 amp in partnership with Eddie for Peavey. Eddie was not a design engineer, but he knew what result he wanted to hear and doggedly pursued that. Eddie participated in things as fundamental as the wood used in the guitar cabinet. While he may not have understood all the why's, he knew "what" he wanted to hear.

While James was the Peavey circuit design engineer, he worked interactively with Eddie to tweak the sound. I recall James having to fly out to Eddie's 5150 studios with prototypes multiple times, in addition to Eddie visiting Meridian too (less times).

RIP

JR

PS: This same James Brown is lead designer over the current Fender EVH division. 
 
iomegaman said:
... probably helped create the entire genre of music that has evolved into musicians like Mike Daws and Michael Hedges...

... I cannot think of anyone who nudged the acoustic style more by way of style and probably doesn't get noticed.

I'd never actually thought about EVH's influence on acoustic playing technique before but, now you bring it up, it seems very plausible. 
 
 

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