Eddie Van Halen

Eddie was approximately twelve years old when he started playing guitar, and practiced constantly.[citation needed] He has stated that he would often walk around at home with his guitar strapped on and unplugged, practicing. He once claimed that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton's solos in the band Cream "note for note" by age 14; however in later interviews he contradicted this by stating he could never play the solos precisely, instead he would modify them slightly to suit his style.

In April 1996, in an interview with Guitar World, when asked about how he went from playing his first open A chord to playing "Eruption", Eddie replied:

“ Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7pm to party and get laid, and when he'd come back at 3am, I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years — I still do that. ”

Eddie has many influences; most notably Eric Clapton, however he has also acknowledged the influence of Queen guitarist Brian May and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth.


Eddie Van Halen's approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking - combined with rhythmic sensibility and a melodic approach - have influenced an entire generation of guitarists.

Whilst relatively commonplace today, Van Halen's ground breaking techniques were originally a closely guarded secret; before the release of the band's eponymous first album, the guitarist would often play solos and more complex riffs with his back to the live audience. This was done at the advice of his bandmates to prevent any guitar players from stealing his style and technique before the album came out in 1978

Technique

Edward Van Halen's approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking - combined with rhythmic sensibility and a melodic approach - have influenced an entire generation of guitarists.

Whilst relatively commonplace today, Van Halen's ground breaking techniques were originally a closely guarded secret; before the release of the band's eponymous first album, the guitarist would often play solos and more complex riffs with his back to the live audience. This was done at the advice of his bandmates to prevent any guitar players from stealing his style and technique before the album came out in 1978.[citation needed]

Tapping

Van Halen has claimed he developed his signature tapping approach after studying the guitar solo from the Led Zeppelin song "Heartbreaker" (played by Jimmy Page):
“ I think I got the idea of tapping watching Jimmy Page do his "Heartbreaker" solo back in 1971. He was doing a pull-off to an open string, and I thought wait a minute, open string ... pull off. I can do that, but what if I use my finger as the nut and move it around ?" ... I just kind of took it and ran with it. ”

Although Van Halen popularized the approach, he did not, despite popular belief, invent this technique; Steve Hackett from the group Genesis used a tapping technique as early as 1971 (in the album Nursery Cryme). Ace Frehley of Kiss has also used this technique as early as 1973. Van Halen is known for holding the pick between his thumb and middle finger; this leaves the index finger free for easy transition between picking and two handed tapping.

In support of his large variety of two-handed tapping techniques, Van Halen also holds a patent for a flip-out support device which attaches to the rear of the electric guitar.[17] This device enables the user to play the guitar in a manner similar to the piano by orienting the face of the guitar upward instead of forward.

String boiling

Van Halen is well known for boiling new string sets before installation. This contributes to both the playability and tone of the strings.

I boil the strings so they stretch, because if you just put them on and clamp it down, the strings stretch out on the guitar. I just take a pack and let it boil for 20 minutes in the hot water. And then I dry them in the sun, because otherwise they rust. But I only use them one night anyway, so who cares if they rust?

See his guitar tips, guitar technique on VDO bar above

Photo from rock-pix.freehomepage.com

Read more

Van Halen website

Eddie Van Halen - Live Guitar Solo (Tokyo Dome 1st Feb 1989)