Rip evh.

[false_aesthetic]

One of the best memories of my teenage years is driving around with a girl in Muskego Wisco listening to Jump.
A few years later I got to see Van Halen (with Gary Cherone) at the Rosemont Horizon (now the Allstate Arena). I loved it, what did I know, I was 16.

2020 continues with sucker punches.

[Bob Ross]

While I was never a huge Van Halen fan I recognize his iconic status and huge impact on the instrument, and I have immense respect for how he changed rock guitar. A true milestone; much like Charlie Christian, and Jimi Hendrix, and a remarkably small number of other players (maybe) you can meaningfully divide the evolution of the instrument into pre-Eddie and post-Eddie.

Also: Cancer sucks.

[72gmc]

Even as a dumb motocross ridin' kid I liked that he would do things, and try to do things, that were not typical. People raved about Eruption and how heavy he could play, and that was all true, but the stuff that sounded like quieter moments in the studio--his instrumentals that led into Secrets and Little Guitars and Women in Love and others--that sounded, to me, like a guy who just loved to play guitar.

He caused me to gain a better ear, and more appreciation for the individual artists in a band.

[deano]

Man. I am 20 years too young to have loved him in his day, but I was a fan from the moment I saw Back to the Future. By the time I played guitar, I was always trying to master EVH licks. My best was the intro of "Mean Street," in which he tapped harmonics. My fav EVH sound.

[72gmc]

Fair Warning and Women and Children First are two albums that have a lot of fun Eddie experimentation. Just a band doing its thing.

[mowens]

Shortly after my wife got hers, I remember someone commissioned this homage.
http://cycling.zanconato.com/2011/10...ngs-and-tires/

[deano]

Fair Warning and Women and Children First are two albums that have a lot of fun Eddie experimentation. Just a band doing its thing.

Hot take: I once would have said this is blasphemy but the VH songs and albums I like best in the cold light of morning are all Van Hagar era.

[72gmc]

Hot take: I once would have said this is blasphemy but the VH songs and albums I like best in the cold light of morning are all Van Hagar era.

To my fan's ear, the work with Sammy led to different sounds than he might have found if nothing had ever changed. Sammy's voice worked better with Eddie's guitar than traditionalists might like to admit.

[Clyde]

Huge fan and super sad. Glad I got to see him a few times with the real VH.

[Saab2000]

I like SH by himself, not with VH. But If that comparison is going to be made I’ll take DLR all day, every day.

But this is about EVH and Runnin’ with the Devil may be best first song, first album ever. It’s still a great rock song 42 years later. His guitar mastery was that of a true virtuoso. RIP

[deano]

To my fan's ear, the work with Sammy led to different sounds than he might have found if nothing had ever changed. Sammy's voice worked better with Eddie's guitar than traditionalists might like to admit.

I heard Dave once said to the brothers VH, "People can't dance to your sh!t"... Dave's era was boppin', but to me it does feel like they were really groovin' by the time the Sammy stuff happened.

[Diablo de Acero]

I remember seeing them open for Black Sabbath the first through in 78/79? Eddie was off the rails!

[BBB]

Van Halen were probably my favourite band in my early to mid to late teens. I liked it all from the early stuff through to the first three Hagar albums. Eruption, the opening to Atomic Punk (surely copied in some way by Guns & Roses), most of Women & Children First and then bits and pieces of 5150, OU812 and For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge were all great. For some reason, the last album in that list reminds me of the '91 TdF and doing hill repeats in the rain with the guitar from Poundcake running through my ears. The things you remember!

[zachateseverything]

Van Halen is in a weird spot for me. I'm too young to have really experienced their music when it had a ton of cultural relevance and my parents are slightly too old for Van Halen to have featured heavy in their rotation. Still, I somehow ended up with a cassette tape of 1984 I kept in my car for all the times my CD to tape adapter was on the fritz and I didn't want to listen to the radio.

The think that constantly amazes me about EVH as a guitar player is that no matter how much everyone raved about him, he was still always somehow under-rated. Yeah, people point to the real high flying and ground breaking lead guitar work like Eruption, but his rhythm work was just as incredible. His control of dynamics. The way his guitar often sounded like it was on the verge of exploding into a million pieces but it still sounded musical. It's just insane.

In the 80's guitar shredders were a dime a dozen. There were tons of players capable of doing technically impressive stuff, but it just didn't have that resonance. Like a guy like Yngwie Malmsteen can play 1000 mph but none of the notes actually stick in your brain. Similar story with Steve Vai. He's a great player by every measure but just doesn't have the ear to write a pop hook. Eddie was different. I put him in the same category as a guy like BB King where every note matters, every lick is interesting, and the second you hear him playing on an album you just know it's him. It doesn't matter if it's the solo from beat it, him blasting the main riff on that Kinks cover, or something off of 1984 or Fair Warning as soon as the pick hits the string you knew it was him.

[Diablo de Acero]

The think that constantly amazes me about EVH as a guitar player is that no matter how much everyone raved about him, he was still always somehow under-rated. Yeah, people point to the real high flying and ground breaking lead guitar work like Eruption, but his rhythm work was just as incredible. His control of dynamics. The way his guitar often sounded like it was on the verge of exploding into a million pieces but it still sounded musical. It's just insane.

In the 80's guitar shredders were a dime a dozen. There were tons of players capable of doing technically impressive stuff, but it just didn't have that resonance. Like a guy like Yngwie Malmsteen can play 1000 mph but none of the notes actually stick in your brain. Similar story with Steve Vai. He's a great player by every measure but just doesn't have the ear to write a pop hook. Eddie was different. I put him in the same category as a guy like BB King where every note matters, every lick is interesting, and the second you hear him playing on an album you just know it's him. It doesn't matter if it's the solo from beat it, him blasting the main riff on that Kinks cover, or something off of 1984 or Fair Warning as soon as the pick hits the string you knew it was him.

Agreed. His sense of timing also was just insane. I think it was because he played drums also. He played with (toyed) timing like a jazz musician, but in a Southern Californian hard rock platform.

He was truly an individual in his playing style also. There are just not that many players you can recognize from the first note.

[Diablo de Acero]

fullsizeoutput_dc4.jpeg

[CJones]

Frankenstein_VanHalen.jpg

[rmplum]

One of my favorites:

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-l...an-halen/n9553