Guitar Tricks Insider April/May Digital Edition | Page 23

COVER STORY

COVER STORY

Eddie
Van
Hallen
by Mike Mettler

“MY SOLOS ARE ALL
SPONTANEOUS.
I DON’T PRACTICE OR
GET READY. IF IT FEELS
GOOD AT THE END OF
THE DAY, THAT’S IT.”
To say Eddie Van Halen reinvented lead guitar
playing would be like saying the sky is blue.
When Van Halen’s ultra-energetic, self-titled
debut album hit the shelves in February, 1978,
it instantly galvanized the ears, hearts, and
fingers of guitar players in a way no one had
since the heyday of Jimi Hendrix. In fact, it
only took 1 minute and 42 seconds for Eddie to
leapfrog to the top of the fretboard brigade with
a little instrumental known as “Eruption.”

or get ready. If it feels good at the end of the
day, that’s it.”
These continual bursts of creativity are rooted
in the man’s DNA along with the classical
influences from playing piano with his brother
Alex. “You play piano with two hands. It’s
natural,” Eddie observed. “My dad was a
professional musician and we heard a lot of
classical music and jazz.”
That indelible DNA connection with his drummer
brother has also led to some great moments in
the band’s canon. “Alex and I are the rhythm
section in Van Halen,” noted Eddie. “When we
write the songs it’s usually Al and me jamming.
I’ll give you a typical example. Let’s say we
just came off a tour. Two weeks later, I call up
Al and say, “What are you doing? I’m bored.”
He says, “Why don’t you come over and jam?”
That’s where the music comes from. Al and I
just go in and jam, and we come up with songs.
We’ll play one riff for an hour just because

“Eruption” is a maverick instrumental tour
de force that showcased Eddie’s innovative
execution of rapid-fire, two-handed tapping
triads born out of a classical music structure –
all played with much aplomb on the man’s selfengineered Frankenstrat guitar (more on that in
a bit). “Eruption” catapulted a tapping technique
previously only touched upon by the likes of
Harvey Mandel, Genesis’ Steve Hackett, and
Queen’s Brian May into a stratosphere where
only EVH could take it. In no short order, those
aforementioned 102 seconds of “Eruption”
quickly set the template for the ensuing
dominant thrust of ’80s lead guitar.
If that wasn’t enough, Van Halen also proved to
be a master at reconfiguring compositions as
evidenced by the hard charged recasting of The
Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” (Van Halen, 1978),
the nylon-string histrionics of “Spanish Fly” (Van
Halen II, 1979), the elephantine tribal roar of
“Everybody Wants Some!” (Women and Children
First, 1980), and the uber-flanged wrath of
“Unchained” (Fair Warning, 1981). “If we need
a part, I’ll come up with one,” Eddie explained.
“My solos are all spontaneous. I don’t practice
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APR/MAY

Eruption Live in London June 1, 1978 – Van Halen

APR/MAY

DIGITAL EDITION

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