RIP Eddie Van Halen

darthed1981

You can see EVH's influence over every heavy guitar player since, from Death Metal to mainstream bands like, well Muse.

A legend of the axe, RIP Eddie.

HerrMetal

I don't feel I have the necessary eloquence to do justice to what I feel about Eddies passing. Simply expressed, for me there was just a tangible joy about his playing, every phrase, every trick, every new sound that would lift you up and bring a smile to your face. That is a truly wonderful gift. RIP.

Gassage

stickyfiddle said:

Gassage said:

I was thinking about this last night- guitar has 9 or 10 deities- the Mount Rushmore players. People who literally trancend the instrument, and whether or not you're fans of their music personally, you still worship them because you know how significant, skilled or important they are.

He is one of those deities. I wasn't a huge listener of his music, but hell, I'm in awe of what he did and how many players he made go and start playing. A sad, sad, day.

Yep. I was trying to narrow it down to 4 and couldn't quite get there, but Hendrix and EVH were unquestionably the 2 who need to be there. 

This probably deserves its own thread...

Chuck Berry

Jimi Hendrix

Chet Atkins

EVH.

bloodandtears

1984 was the most played cassette in my car..  that's today's listening sorted..

RIP EVH!

GrahamG

 Eddie Van Halen ,i'm an old bastard & I had been playing for 20  years when I 1st heard Van Halen & had Guitar heroes of my own,but he was the most influential amazing player on earth ever.
I am shocked that there are "this thread has been moved" comments,this should be in every section in every Guitar based forum,as a real tribute.

not_the_dj

GrahamG said:

I am shocked that there are "this thread has been moved" comments,this should be in every section in every Guitar based forum,as a real tribute.

Wisdom to that. This is a shocking moment for the guitar world, and people are moaning about admin!

RevMatt

RIP Eddie - a massive part of my musical history and one of the smiley-est guitarists ever :-)

hollywoodrox

Kebabkid said:

I've listened to a few VH tunes tonight and things like the into to 'Mean Street' still floor me. However, my favorite off-the-wall solo is Eddie's one on 'One foot out the door' also from the Fair Warning album - it kicks in at 0.55' but boy, did the guy have killer rhythm work and some of the best out there. Still can't believe this

One of my fave albums fair warning

John_A

The best IMO by a country mile.  A great loss. RIP Eddie

jacksonunited

This one hit me really hard... I knew he had been ill for a while, but I didn't expect so see that message on Wolf's Instagram last night. It really stopped me in my tracks.

I too listen to VH every single day and a few of his songs are in my daily repertoire of things i play when I pick up a guitar. I have his guitars, amps and my pedalboard is adorned with EVH signature pedals. I don't know how I feel about it all really, empty is probably the closest emotion.

It's so incredibly sad. Like many people, he was the reason I wanted to play guitar (along with Richie Sambora but thats another story)

He liked one of my instagram posts once - that made all my teenage fanboy dreams come true. At least we have the music and thats one hell of a legacy.

randella

Sad news, hit me last night when I heard it.  Still remember the first time I heard Eruption, WTF moment.  I also remember that you couldn't walk in to a guitar shop in the 80's without hearing someone else playing it .

It says a lot about his talent that, for all the guitarists he influenced, very very few made their own mark.

This is a lovely story about the man, told by Dweezil Zappa.  Well worth ten minutes.

hubobulous

Judgement Day is just one of the tracks that sums EVH up for me. The use of the trem as a signature rhythm element and the tapping in a different style to his Eruption lines, but in a musical way.

rlw

I guess it's an age thing but as far as I'm aware, the only EVH tune I know is Jump and that's it.  Clearly a great player and influencer but zero impact on me.  Weird.

RIP EVH.

Brad

This has saddened me more that I’d ever have realised. 

I only properly checked out Eddie after I was already big into the likes of Vai, Satriani and the rest. But even then, his name was always there in the background, the music waiting to be explored. 

And whilst being late to the party and not being an avid fan, it was never lost on me how he didn’t just pave the way, he utterly blazed the trail for those guys that I loved. Not only that, but his championing of Allan Holdsworth was really something too. 

I’m envious of those who discovered him at the time, that really must’ve been something. 

A friend said he went to see the Sabbath 10 year anniversary tour with Van Halen absolutely stealing the show, despite being the support act and no one over here really knowing who they were at the time. 

Not only a brilliant soloist, but a really underrated rhythm player too. I’m a great believer that you can hear a musicians personality in their playing and all I ever heard was infectious joy in his playing and Van Halen were one of those bands that just made me feel better whenever I heard their tunes. 

What a guy!

Springywheel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhbGSprvfbE&app=desktop

LightB4sound

Shocked by this news.

For me, whilst incredibly important musicians have passed recently, this is the first who was one of my idols and heroes. In part responsible for my musical and career path in life. It feels strange to mourn someone you have never met, but then you realise that they were there everyday during my teenage years, posters, videos, albums.

I had 3 copies of the Live without a Net video as I wore two of them out. To me it was the blue print on how to put on a Rock and Roll show, but more than that, the look of joy on their faces throughout, the energy.

Thanks for the music Eddie, you changed everything. RIP

adamino

Sheer sadness.

digitalkettle

p90fool said:

I bought the first album when it came out simply because the cover looked like a rock band (I'd never heard of them) and it was jaw dropping...

@p90fool I've only bought a few albums on spec like that...but imagine putting that one on the turntable for the first time back in the day! It would, highly appropriately, be your very own 'George McFly meets Sony Walkman' moment

Probably for only the second time in my life, I feel a sense of guitar hero loss...the last time was Allan Holdsworth.

Danny1969

I actually got VH2 before I brought the first album. Spanish Fly was the jaw dropper on that album, a lot harder to play then Eruption and done on a classical guitar. 

Listening to the radio and basically all they can say is "Van Halen, best known for Jump" ..... er with 2 seconds of research they would have realised the most renowned guitarist since Jimi Hendrix had died. So glad I pay my license fee

beed84

A pioneer leaves us with a profound meaning of what a guitar can actually do. Let there be tears, and let there be rock! RIP Eddie  \M/