A true genius dancing on a volcano with his amp. The tone, delay and timing....if he's a fraction off the feedback would snowball it into a car-crash in various places. AND all the while rooted in the Blues while flirting with the Classical. It's what all the flashy, faster pretenders that came after could never quite emulate.
This solo is the greatest live guitar playing of all time. It's a symphony. Incredibly orchestrated and delivered with unhuman precision and feel. The versatility he has and the skill level is so far beyond a Hendrix or Clapton or SRV. And let's not forget that he created all these new sounds and techniques. Tapping was around a bit before but what he did with it was a whole new way to create entire pieces of music with it so that was his invention. No doubt the greatest ever
Yep... the harmonic bending and sad section where he played "Cathedral" is simply phenomenal. Extremely hard to pull off. He does it with ease. Or at least he made it look easy!
That’s ah interesting point ! I will think on it , with his classical influence Is a composer in the strictest sense or is it just the genius ability ? Great point Darren , now I need coffee 😊😎👍
Nobody can do the things that Eddie Van Halen could do on a guitar. He took parts from several different guitars. Made the sound that he wanted from it. Which he called the brown sound. He made a single guitar sound like 10 other instruments. He was pure genius. There will never be another Eddie Van Halen. RIP We miss you.
This Eruption solo was part of his backyard party shows in the San Gabriel Valley. I saw him perform it at the Pasadena Civic in 78 before touring the self titled album that came out that summer "Van Halen". I got to see them perform it again in 83 at the US Festival and it's been the same pure work of artistic genius since the first time. Yes, I definitely heard Beethoven influence way back then too.
Thanks for doing this and welcome to heaven Allen. EVH may be gone but his genius will live on forever! When I hear about the lack of a tribute for Ed, all I think is every time I hear Eddie play is a tribute to my ears!
You are right. Eddie and his older brother Alex (drummer) are classically trained musicians. Each could play a myriad of instruments, mostly taught to them by their father. Thus the classical elements in this solo. Your music and influence lives on Eddie.
Ed not only never had a guitar lesson, but couldn't read music. As a child he and his brother Alex were classically trained on piano, but Ed never learned to read. Even his teacher didn't know. He was a complete play-by-ear student. He would watch and listen, and then emulate what he heard. His teacher found out one day by accident while teaching him a piece of music. He instructed Eddie to turn the page for him as he played when he reached the end of each page. Eddie had no clue, and had no idea when to turn. Having reached the end of the page, Eddie failed to turn, and the teacher asked why. That's when Eddie sheepishly admitted he couldn't read music. The teacher was obviously shocked and not too happy. But, Eddie was clearly a prodigy and won numerous classical piano competitions as a kid. So, how angry could he really have been with a budding genius as a student?
The thing is before Eddie the tapping and speed style wasn't done to the extent that he brought it to. When the first Van Halen album came out in 1978 nobody heard anybody play the guitar like this. This led to the Steve Vai and everyone else who does this style. He was the first.
I remember one of my friends bringing the first Van Halen album into school on a cassette tape and a few of us gathered round listening to it on an old portable tape recorder. At the time it sounded like something from another planet , so different from anything we'd ever heard before.
Edward Van Halen never took guitar lessons . thats why we have tablature to explain what he does on guitar. that solo was taken from 1986. thank you so much for your interest in him
Good reaction Alan. Actually, there are several songs in this solo, not just Eruption. The one that you said sound sad & beautiful is Cathedral. I saw in an interview, he said he made these funny sounds & techniques using his fingers because back then he coudn't afford to buy a wah wah pedal.
@@alan-reacts65 i think you should check out Van Halen's classics such as Hot for Teacher or Panama to see how he implement those techniques into a song. Cuz he doesn't do those techniques to show off, it's just, that's the way he play guitar. Or check out Michael Jackson's Beat It, Eddie played & arranged the guitar part. Btw, thanks for responding.
Two guitarist share the spot for my #1 slot of GOAT. Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The section he played where you felt sadness is called Cathedral and is off the Diver Down album. EVH was more than a master guitarist, he was an innovator who created personal guitars. He nicknamed his iconic, signature red and white stripped guitar Frankenstein due to it being built from parts.
I’d struggle to disagree with you my friend EVH and SRV but there are just so many amazing guitarists .. Rory Gallagher/ Albert king / Tommy Emmanuel/ soooo many from differing genres .. but EVH and SRV 😎👍
@@alan-reacts65 Couldn't agree more. Too many greats to list. Those 2 are just my personal #1's. With SRV I feel you would be hard pressed to find another that plays with the amount of perfection, purpose and emotion combined. I'll admit with EVH I may be a bit biased 😁 as I worshiped him as a young teen. I was hooked the first time I heard their 1st album at around age 12.
I believe it was Steve Vai who once said....paraphrasing here, that the two biggest game changers in the guitar world were Hendrix and EVH. Can't argue with that one...
@@alan-reacts65 I remember when my really cool, older sis brought home Are You Experienced, and it was like an alien landing from another planet...10 years old, but my late mother was a music professor, so we were exposed to everything. Then she brought home Zep 1, and I remember the sonic impact of Page's playing...can't totally ignore his contributions...but then VH1 came out when I was in college...gee-zuz, that had close to the impact of Hendrix, but if you were alive in 1967 and old enough to digest everything going on with music, Hendrix, IMHO, was still the trailblazer, especially at that point with the music scene. All I can say is, what a time it was to be alive!
Great reaction! There's a great video with Ed at the the Smithsonian Museum, where he mentions Jimmy Page giving him the idea for the tapping. You should check it out, he even does some playing.✌🎸🤘🙏👍❤❤❤
I came on to suggest the Smithsonian interview as well. He explains his classical training (you were correct in hearing the influences... even named his son Wolfgang!) and then how he pieced together his Frankenstrat guitar (built and modified many times until he had the sounds he heard in his mind). As others have said, he never learned to read music, learned by ear and watching others. EVH was a musical genius on many levels. Rock in Power, Eddie!
If you look at Matt Bellamy ( muse ) I’m not comparing him to Ed , but he’s had his guitar built purposefully for the sounds he hears 😎👍 he’s also a brilliant guitarist ..
I don't know about you but I don't like the term "best or g.o.a.t." in describing a guitarist. Each one has his or her own style of playing and can play anything you put in front of them. Ted Nugent once said that when he asked Eddie to let him play through his rig, he still sounded like Ted! Eddie is by far my favourite but I recognize there are some great players out there. I was introduced to the 1st Van Halen record in 7th grade (1979) and it inspired me so much that I got my first guitar a week later!😁🤘🎸✌🙏❤❤👍
The first Van Halen album was like lightning in a bottle! They struck on a sound with David Lee Roth on that record that was never duplicated (by them or others). The Sammy Hagar era is kind of a sad postscript to Van Halen's peak. With David Lee, the songs were stoopid, sure, but at least they were self-aware. Sammy wrote some REALLY embarassing songs with Van Halen (look no further than "Pound Cake!") Keep up the great reactions, Alan! I'm still hoping to see you react to Morphine "All Your Way" one of these days!
I stayed with prog rock, blues and jazz and skipped disco and hard rock, then listened to punk and new wave, then the Enya goth evanescence female vocalists in the 90s 2000, then I skipped grunge and rap. I liked some motown. Then in recent years I explored hard rock and found out it has blues an funk in it. I plan to check metal in say 2025 and rap in 2030. Maybe I'll do hip-hop in 2023.
You gained a new suby! Eddie =\//-/= has been my Idol since I was 14! I'm 60 now so just a few years! You should check out "Respect the Wind" from the movie soundtrack to "Twister" 🌪 Eddie & Alex did that song for them! It's great!
@@alan-reacts65 Hope to see the reaction video! I love it! Not sure if you knew 316, that's a song Eddie did for Wolfgang when he was still in Valerie's belly. It's Wolfgang's Birthday, 3/16/91. Eddie has been in my music collection since practically day 1! Enjoy and have a safe & happy time(s)
Brand new Nemophila single called Adabana just released today and (in my humble unbiased Nemophila opinion) it may just be their best yet. Hope you will check it out, this one is epic!!
Eddie was great. No doubt ! But there's another who's name is synonymous with the guitar . And is on most people's guitar god list. Mr. Stevie Ray Vaughn, if you haven't seen him do Texas flood live at El Macombo that's a must
Alan 😊👍 that’s a great point , and tbh I knew SRV a little but not in depth , and your first post about pink Floyd tool etc , because of a request for tool ( I had no clue ) I’ve now been to see them live in Manchester uk on the 2nd May , did a giveaway of tour T shirts and I’m going to see Nightwish in November ( same reason ) and Beth Hart next March ( again sane reason) so keep giving me ideas and my friend I will follow 😎😊👍
