I’ve Never Heard Anything Like This | Van Halen Eruption Guitar Solo FIRST TIME REACTION 

The video doesn't even capture the magic of seeing him perform live. I was lucky to see him in concert.

RIP Eddie

The man changed guitar forever, legend.

Fourteen years old and waiting in line for the doors to open. When they opened, run to get as close to the stage as possible. This was my experience seeing Van Halen in 1981 in Portland, Oregon. The excitement and anticipation of seeing them never lessened over all the years. Joy and fun are what kept bringing me back. After the show cruising to the party in an American muscle car while the DJ played Van Halen on the radio talking about the killer show. I'm 57 now, but in an instant, I'm 14 and there again. Some of the best moments of my life. Here's to staying young on the inside and never losing that childlike excitement! God bless Van Halen. God, enjoy the soul of Eddie Van Halen.

That's his brother, Alex Van Halen, on the drums. They were born in the Netherlands, their father was a Dutch musician & their mother was Indonesian. They moved to the US when they were kids, didn't speak much English and got bullied sometimes. Eddie's middle name 'Lodewijk' is Dutch for Ludwig, as in Ludwig von Beethoven & Eddie named his son Wolfgang, as in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Eddie and Alex took classical piano lessons as kids & Eddie was a very good piano player. He also used parts of classical compositions in his songs, including Eruption, and you can hear he made the guitar sound like a classical stringed instrument. Like Hendrix before him, he changed guitar forever.

I was at this concert. 10th row on the floor,… veteran’s memorial coliseum. New Haven ,Ct. King Eddie was so drunk but he smashed this performance in God Mode,.. and in spades.Long live the king!!!!!🔥🔥🔥🎸🤘

As others have said, isn't it amazing to know in the history of recorded time, we were alive at the same time as Eddie Van Halen. RIP Eddie. Love ya. Miss ya.

So this is why the synthesizer was made. So the mere mortal musician could keep up with Eddie Van Halen 😳

RIP. Edward "Eddie" Van Halen. January 26, 1955 - October 6, 2020. He is a true legend when it comes to playing guitar.

Eddie Van Halen was the GOAT. No one ever topped him. He raised the bar so high no one was able to even match it.

Eddie was amazing RIP

Eddie practiced 10 to 16 hours every day and that is why he plays the guitar like no one else has ever played before. He never went anywhere without his guitar. His son WOLFGANG VAN HALEN plays like his father. It is absolutely amazing!!!!😊

"I probably would have thrown my clothes on stage too" That was worth a subscription. Priceless delivery!

Eddie Van Halen completely changed the face of rock ‘n’ roll !!!!! And what we thought we knew wat a guitar can do 🎸🤘

EVH is the rock guitar god.

This is like guitar love making, we just heard a guy make love to his guitar for 13 minutes and he had her screaming

It's like Eddie was putting on his own symphony. He made his guitar sound like so many different instruments. Insane. Excellent reaction.

Only one person on earth can play like Eddie is his son Wolfie Van Halen, he is carrying on the Awesomeness!!

His brother Alex on drums. Hence “VanHalen.”

Eddie started with the piano as a child but when he and his brother were teenagers they discovered rock and roll and they found out that they both loved it so they decided to start their own band but Eddie bought a drum set to learn how to play but when he was out working to pay for it his brother taught himself how to play so Eddie said ok I will just take your guitar and learn to play that and that started the biggest thing to happen to music since the beginning of time. Eddie never took a single lesson but he became one of the greatest guitarist if NOT THE GREATEST that there has ever been. This was in the late 80's but you need to listen to their early music like "MEAN STREETS" or anything else that they had on their earlier albums. Sammy Hagar was their second lead singer and the music that they made with him is a little different but still incredible. You need to check out their older music and especially the song "POUNDCAKE" and "FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED". Eddie is the GOAT!! He inspired a whole generation to start to play the guitar so they could be him!!! Another great song is "SPANISH FLY" which shows off his incredible guitar skills.

One of the best guitarists that rarely gets mentioned, believe it or not....Country musician Roy Clark. Absolute musical genius and could play any stringed instrument with perfection. Eddie Van Halen credited Roy with being one of the best.

They say Eddie sold his soul to the devil. I'm not sure what Eddie got, but the devil got guitar lessons.

Your look of utter confusion! *Chef's kiss!

Eddie Van Halen didn’t just play the guitar, he played the thing that was an extension of his soul. May he rest in peace. 💙🌌🕊Van Halen was my very first concert without parents when I was 13 years old in 1982, five rows away from the music man himself! You don’t have to worry about anyone telling you that they can do this lol he is your favorite guitarist’s favorite guitarist, everyone can tell you that guitar playing is nothing more than vibrations and strings, but no one has yet to tell you how he did this, and you’re right it just poured out of him. He was wasted that night he goes on record saying he doesn’t even remember it, It was that natural to him…welcome to it my friend. Glad you enjoyed it! 🤘🏼💕✨

Start your Van Halen journey with their first album, 'Van Halen', first song, 'Running with the Devil'. All bangers, one of the best debut albums ever.

So glad Black Pegasus gave this to you to look at. Favorite band of all time, Eddie is a GOAT, RIP

Watch how much Eddie smiles in Van Helen videos. He's just smiling because he LOVES to play the guitar...nice reaction, brother! BTW, at the end of Eddie's solo, he just swings right into "You Really Got Me" and it's KILLER!

I saw this exact solo live in October’86 and July ‘88. Seeing this solo live absolutely knocked all of your socks off!

Eddie was obsessed with his craft! Talent yes loads of it but also immense and tireless hard work! I cried when Eddie died! I felt like a dumb kid but it really broke my heart! I knew a very important human being and groundbreaking musician was gone!

It was 1984, St. Louis Arena, former home of Blues Hockey. I was 14, first concert ever, but wasn't allowed to go on my own. My pops, bless his heart, took me and 3 buddies, with loud rock music not being his thing, he sat outside the tunnel leading to our seats, and let us have our space and rock out in our upper deck seats. With an ear plug in one ear and an old AM transistor radio mashed up against the other, he tried to listen to the Cardinals Baseball game on KMOX being played just 7-8 blocks away, where I'm sure he woulda rather have been..lol. It was the greatest sight and sounds my young eyes had ever seen and my ears had ever heard, it was one of those defining moments in my life, you know, where you're actually aware of the gravity of awesomeness you're experiencing, and you consciously don't want it to be over, so you soak in every single second that you can. I had messed around with guitar a little before that night, but boy oh boy was it on after that. I never made a career out of it, but I took a lot of lessons, was in a couple bands, and even gave lessons for a while, but guitar has always been a part of my life in some form or fashion. My very first electric guitar, not long after that concert, was a red Inez flying V, first thing I did was put strips of black and white electrical tape on it to honor my hero and greatest guitar player ever to walk this earth, Mr. Eddie Van Halen!!!!

Eddie is self taught, couldn't read sheet music, practiced 12 hours a day, not to mention he started off playing piano then drums before picking up a guitar. EVH is the GOAT

Never to be replaced. RIP Eddie. Forever the GOAT.

Mozart was his favorite composer, and he named his son after him - Wolfgang. An amazing musician as well!

Sorry for your brain there, Cliff. :) It's always a little fun to see people's brains just slowly start to leak out of their ears when watching Eddie. He may or may not have been the best guitar player ever, but he's up there, and the energy he put into the performances definitely made him one of the greatest showmen ever.

This is why we as Gen X are the way we are. 🤘

Explore Van Halen and I will watch. You will not be disappointed ❤ Alex and Edward's father was a professional musician and they were raised with music. Ed was originally trained as a pianist Won so many competitions as a kid, hence the tapping on the guitar.

There wasn't any bands around where the guitar solo was such a main reason to go to the show as a Van Halen concert. RIP Eddie!

You will never find a more creative and energetic force with the guitar King Edward Van Halen. He might not have been the best at everything, but he was great at everything and the best at some of those things. He is the ultimate guitar God.

Stevie Ray Vaughn, EVH, Mark Knopfer, David Gilmour and Chet Atkins

Eddie was amazing he always had a smile on his face and a peaceful spirit.... at least that's what I saw. he passed away October 2020 from cancer. his only son, Wolfgang Van Halen, is a musician as well and I believe his his band is called mammoth.... he is very honorable to his father and I would suggest that you look him up. I'm being an old chick myself, if you're interested one of my very favorite Van Halen videos is called Panama... it's during a live concert and it's just shows how much fun they used to have as a band. totally worth watching!

Rest in Paradise Eddie Van Halen

Eddie didn't know anything either he just did it! He plays the neck cause no one told him he cant

Undeniably one of the MASTERS if not THE MASTER!!! RIDE THAT THING EDDIE VAN HALEN RIP💚💚💚

There will never be a rock era like this, nor will there be another EVH!

Back of the guitar was open. Notice how he moves his leg against it. And he could pluck the springs from the back for effect. And he had all the knobs wired into one and used the volume knob in perfect timing with his left hand. Also rearranged the music and played the solo for Michael Jacksons, beat it, free of charge. There's video of him playing live on Micheal Jackson's tour at a venue

Eddie Van Halen is considered by most to be the innovator of guitar tapping, where instead of picking the strings with a guitar pic, it's done by tapping the string(s). In doing this you get a quicker and more unique sound then the more basic picked string(s). So if you were to run the pic down the strings you would hear each string seperately but a more melodic sound. Finger picking is per string single sound but you can do it as fast as your fingers can tap down. Which for Eddie was blazing lightning fast speeds. And for anybody that plays or has tried to play guitar on the other side of the finger picking is the hand holding down the strings to frets. Which we know must be solid on fret to even get a sound. So what it takes for achieving this is obviously timing, amazingly strong and long fingers and an alien brain to compute and do all this. Which makes Eddie a guitar god. And not to boast but Alex is just as amazing on them drums and unique enough to notice oh that's AVH playing. I've seen so many interviews from Sabbath, Floyd, Clapton, Motorhead as the elders to most of the ones that idolized from Hard to soft metal, from screemo to deathcore that just plainly say holy shyt when I heard eruption! This probably made that lol ok ear to ear grin (that we all knew) on Eddie's face ever so much wider makes me smile. RIP EVH.

I can still remember hearing eruption in 1978 for the first time. I can tell you that Eddie's sound and guitar tone just gets into your soul, and it NEVER leaves! He was the most creative guitariest to ever live. His rythm and timing was unmatched. There are a number of great guitariest out there, but Eddie changed the way the guitar was played. No one played the guitar like Eddie! The genuis of Eddie Van Halen was that he made the guitar sound nothing like a guitar! RIP EDDIE.

Edward Van Halen is the GOAT…meet him many times, saw many concerts, a true gentle soul genius musician

Eddie is THE ROCK GUITAR GOD!!! There is no nor ever will be another guitarist like Eddie! Nobody ever says anything about the fact that he played the back of his guitar!

The king. The GOAT. The best period

NOBODY is EVER going to top this show...he was amazing...RIP EDDIE

He also played the guitar riff on Michael Jackson’s Beat it. He’s a legend

Long live King Edward.

EVH was a great player, but he was also a pioneer. His Eruption solo was first published in 1978. Nobody else sounded like this at the time.

You may enjoy music from his son Wolfgang Van Halen. His band, Mammoth WVH (Wolfgang Van Halen) originally started with just him playing all parts, but eventually filled out as a band. I'd suggest the song "Another Celebration at the End of the World"

Cliff.... Where have you been????? Oh my goodness..... Best concerts ever! So glad I grew up in the 80's!

Van Halen was so fun to see! Especially with David Lee Roth singing and Eddie’s incredible guitar playing. Those were the days. 😂

Cliff’s mouth hanging open is priceless!

This blows my mind no matter how many times I see it. Van Halen one of the greats! The beautiful thing about getting older Cliff is we get to go back in time and relive everything we missed.

This is who guitarists attain to be.. He literally rewrite how music can be played not to mention that he built his own guitars and has donated instruments to schools .. a true God Rock legend.. he will be forever remembered.. so blown away got to see him play numerous times..

This is actually a mash-up of instrumentals from their albums. Eruption Spanish Fly Cathedral Intruder Little Guitars 1984

BP has set you up with 2 huge ones . If people dont know who he is they know this title. So thats a start. RIP Eddie Van Halen❤❤. Just epic mastery.

I love at the end when his brother Alex joins in on the drums. It just seems fitting.

If you knew the music you’d see that this solo was many parts of many songs he created, it’s not just Eruption, it’s bits and pieces from so much greatness! I love these reactions just like yours, everyone has the “what the heck is happening?” expression! Makes me laugh every time and also brings a tear to my eyes. Glad you got to experience this.

This ain't even why he's the goat,hes the goat but many reasons make him the goat this is just showing off for him

EVH the guy who built the bridge for MJ to crossover to Pop Rock. Literally made history

I loved this band in the late 70s and 80s. Had a huge crush on Eddie, but pretty much everyone did. Where are musicians like this? So many amazing guitarists back then.

Hello Cliff, This is my first time sitting in with you today, thank you for allowing me to do that!! I enjoyed the time I spent here so I subscribed and left a big like for you while I was here! Black Pegasus wouldn't steer you wrong! That cigarette had the best seat in the house! I love watching people being introduced to Eddie's greatness! 1.Eddie Van Halen 2.Roy Clark 3. Stevie Ray Vaughn 4.Jimi Hendrix 5.Chet Atkins It's hard choosing between Eddie and Roy, they both play very differently! But equally well.

SRV,Jeff Healy,Hendrix,Clapton,Page

RIP Eddie. Top 5 in no particular order Eddie Van Halen Steve Vai Jimmy Hendrix Ingwie J Malmsteen Joe Satriani

Van Halen was the biggest rock band in the world during the late 70s to mid 80s. Named after brothers Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex Van Halen. Eddie changed the way guitar was played, and is one of the most influential guitarist ever. I got to see them multiple times, and whenever Eddie started his solo we all knew we were witnessing greatness.

A small portion of this solo Eddie would do as a warmup exercise before gigs they had at clubs or back yard parties.On their debut album this would lead into another song.Eddie was always experimenting with sounds & effects he could on guitar.Over time this solo grew.He never played it the same.He'd add or take away parts form 1978-2015 #RIPEVH If you watch / react the video "Poundcake" he uses a power drill at the begining

I recently watched an interview of Eddie talking about how he doesn't use distortion pedals. The quality of the guitar gives it the distortion. Might be wrong but I believe he made most of his own guitars.

I was fortunate enough to see this tour from their 3rd night in Fort Worth, Texas back in October of ‘86, and I was 15 at the time. I was a huge EVH fan in high school, and I intently listened to his solo. He pretty much did the same arrangement of this solo for the most part, because here on RU-vid they just call it the “Eruption” solo, but it actually has parts from other solo arrangements he released over the years, along with runs from “Cathedral,” (the delay swelling with the volume knob, as heard on the Diver Down album from ‘82) the intro to Mean Street (first track on Fair Warning ‘81 release, where he’s slapping the guitar with both hands and hitting the fret wire to produce those harmonics bell type sounds that took me years to figure out how the hell he did that), and “Spanish Fly” off of Van Halen II from 1979 where he’s doing the last two handed tapping arpeggio run near the end of his solo. I was very interested in guitar as a teen in terms of playing, still do to this day. It every time I watch this performance video it makes me think of when I saw them live in ‘86 that night in Fort Worth. Absolute magic! I enjoy watching your channel, Cliff! Have a great week!

Music from my era.. I love Van Halen and their music was at the top of the radio station play lists for a long time. They are one of my all time fav bands ever!! Thank you!!

Top 5 1 EVH ALWAYS EVH 2 Randy Rhoades 3 Jeff Beck 4 David Gilmore 5 SRV Honorable mention PRINCE!! the purple one could destroy a guitar and steal your woman at the same time.

R.I.P. King Edward. Never be anyone like him ever again. Eddie was self taught. Eddie didn't have to learn the guitar. The guitar had to learn Eddie.

Using Hubby's channel atm: I was fortunate enough to see Van Halen as an OPENING GROUP, their first time out...Eddie IS a guitar God, but his brother Alex, the drummer, was who I was blown away by...the way those two interacted onstage was a blessing to behold, and David Lee Roth, the original front man, was on point and kept the onstage insanity at a frenzied peak nearly the whole show...this was their first album, nobody really knew who they were going into the arena but we DAMN SURE KNEW going out that door what we had just experienced and I am SO GLAD that I saw them when they were fresh and hungry...and Eruption IS from their debut album, which truly is a 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥that propelled them into stardom! And Eddie took CLASSICAL guitar lessons for YEARS, since Childhood, to get that good! And Alex learned classical drumming around the same age, and it was always the two of them that mattered to me - the rest of the players(except for Diamond David Lee Roth, my preferred front man, who puts on a helluva show)...so Welcome to the music that I grew up on; get ready for a wild ride of jams!

Ahh the eighties. What an amazing time it was to be a teenager listening to music.

Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Bonamassa, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Clapton and of course, Eddie Van Halen. Just to name a few.

Eddie was literally an innovator. First VH album = best VH album

I got to see them during the 1984 tour. One of the best concerts ever.

And that was filmed live in 1986. And the singer that introduced him was the bands second lead singer. David Lee Roth was the original lead singer. Started in the late 70's, very popular band.

People say Eddie didn't invent tapping, and he himself never said he invented it, and yes I've seen old videos where guitarists were *kinda* tapping, but nobody and I mean nobody ways playing the guitar like this until Eddie came out with Eruption.

The golden rule of time travel if your movie mentions Eddie van halen you write the rules for time travel

I’ve never seen this, this dude is possessed. How could you play something like that? Perfection.

I love how you asked how he can look so relaxed :D He's actually hammered during this performance lol. I think it became a problem eventually and he later got sober.

I would suggest Roy Clark, Malaguena. Jimi Hendrix considered Roy the best guitarist. For Van Halen, I still love their videos and check out the jump in Jump.

The GOAT!! Period!!

Eddie to many was the best guitar player of all time, at point he made that guitar sound like violins. Amazing band. Rest in Peace Eddie. 🤍🤍🤍

Nobody should ever get upset at you for not knowing a band or musician. It's our job as fans of musicians like this to expose you to them and give you a reason to appreciate them.

1. Eddie Van Halen 2. Dimebag Darrell Abbott 3. Jimi Hendrix 4. Peter Townsend 5. Dave Mustaine

Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Joe Satriani

In addition to guitar Eddie also played keyboards and drums. His brother Alex was the drummer for the group van halen. And his son Wolfgang played the bass with the group from 2007 until Eddie passed away in 2020. Eddie's first wife was an actress, Valerie Bertinelli.

The man introducing EVH is Van Halen's 2nd lead singer, Sammy Hagar. Their first lead singer was David Lee Roth.

SRV is the GOAT! Always will be.

Eddie 100%self tought never had a lesson in his life

He is by far the GOAT. There are guitarists who are faster, there are guitarists who have a stronger skill set, but when it came to creativity, innovation in sound and equipment, and his overall musical wisdom, he was at the very top of Mount Olympus. He literally changed the direction of music in the 70's.

Edward "Eddie" Lodewijk Van Halen was the guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he founded with his brother Alexander "Alex" Arthur Van Halen (the drummer) in 1972. Eddie and Alex Van Halen were born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The family moved to Pasadena, California, in 1962.

Watch Prince's solo at the rock in roll hall of fame