RIP EVH

Very sad, but watching this bio I couldn't help but notice he always had a cigarette burning.

I read an interview someone did with him a couple years ago, when he was first diagnosed and he said he believed the cancer was caused by the metal pick he used and would hold in his mouth when he was only using his fingers to play. I believe that’s also mentioned in the TMZ story today, when they first broke the news of his passing. I’m not sure how he came to that conclusion but I certainly don’t think the smoking helped. Then again, George Burns smoked cigars like a chimney and he lived to 103, so who knows. Sadly, he’s gone and he was taken much too early by a horrible disease.
 
Last edited:
The first time I actually saw Eddie play was on a Saturday night show ("Rock Concert" maybe?). This was before MTV so those late shows were among the few moments that I could see some of these bands playing. It was an "AHA!" moment when I saw him using fretboard tapping. Prior to that the guitar players in my small town had no idea how he was playing some of those solos.
 
He ruled, I wish he did so much more I feel like he didnt leave us with enough music. I hope he has hundreds of hours of licks and riffs recorded somewhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Man still can believe it ,I've been listening to and playing Van Halen for 42 years. Just got through playing beautiful girls, then filing frets on a guitar and my wife came out to my shop and told me.:cry:
 
I remember when that 1st album came out...

It was like a shock to the system in the guitar world. It blew up the concept of what you could do with the guitar. Not just his playing, but the combination of 'balls out' drumming, high harmonies, over the top vocals, and a guitar virtuoso blasting away. It sent EVERY guitarist scurrying for their instrument to see if they could come close to replicating 1% of that magic.

He once was asked who he modeled his guitar playing on. He said 'Hell, I don't know...but I did find out last year that I know every Clapton solo ever played...and didn't know it.'

Many of the things he did were done before (hell, Chet Atkins did some fancy tapping,) but he took it in a direction that no human could predict and turned it into pure magic. Musician, songwriter, wunderkind.

R

Edit: Also, 40+ years later, we are STILL chasing that tone.
 
Rip Eddie
Wow I can’t believe another rock god is gone.
I saw him at the lake wood amphitheater in Atlanta with the red rocker they were awesome.
2021 has got to be a better year.
 
Last edited:
In junior high school, I took a gymnastics class where the coach let the kids play their records while we were working out. The two brand new records that were on heavy rotation and stuck with me were 2112 and Van Halen. Both were new records at the time, and they rocked my world. Honestly I didn't know which record was which for a while, and I thought early on that "Eruption" was 1.) Rush, and 2.) synthesizers.

Well, I got that sorted out in due time, and Van Halen was the first album (LP) I bought as a teenager with my own money. And holy hell, did it rock my world! Once I actually understood that what I was hearing on "Eruption" was one dude with a guitar, my whole world changed, and I was hooked! For all the attention his leads get, I think his rhythm playing was the best part of what he did. Just the groove and the attitude that came through in those albums up through about 1984 still blows me away. After the Roth era, I think he laid back a lot more, didn't have the anger and fire, and his playing didn't grab me as much. I'll not knock the Van Hagar era, because Sammy was great in his own way, but it didn't call to me as much as the earlier stuff.

I still marvel at how f!?cking on it Eddie was in the early days, if you can catch some of the earliest video footage from their live performance, the band was tight, hungry, and on fire. I think he used the guitar as a way to play the amp like nobody else had before.

He changed everything about how rock guitarists do what they do. I'll never play as well as he did, but he left his indelible mark on me, mostly in how I attack the amp and love it when it punches back. Oh, it hurts to know that he's gone.
 
For all the attention his leads get, I think his rhythm playing was the best part of what he did. Just the groove and the attitude that came through in those albums up through about 1984 still blows me away.
Eddie was a superb rhythm guitarist. Rarest of all, he could play world-class lead and world-class rhythm, all while being the only guitarist in the band, holding down both parts at once.

He was also the first major guitarist to use a long-scale guitar into a high-gain amp. Just one of the ways he broke new sonic ground.
 
Devastated, seriously devastated.
Simply put, there was no one like him. Millions of imitators, only one Edward.
He got me started, no question. It was his tone, his songs, his mastery that shook me awake.
RIP Edward 🎸🎶
 
Speechless! Such a huge influence to my playing and a reason for wanting to keep playing. RIP Eddie, Play eternal!
 
Back
Top Bottom