Vote for Eddie! Greatest Guitarist of all time

[Jungle Drummer]

thanks JD .

i've read countless interviews from other musicians over the years who praise Edde's writing ability . he is always referred to as having an insane sense of groove .
he always plays locked in the pocket with Al . sure there are some off time moments and such , but Eddie seems to have an internal metronome for keeping the beat .

the kids and some of the press focus on the tapping and the revolving door of lead singers , but OFTEN forget the Eddie wrote some of the greatest rnr songs ever ...

Yep! I'm quite certain we've read all the same interviews and stories over the years and Ed was NEVER thought of as just a one trick pony by his peers or fans or even non fans.

He was a game changer. The Man.

[Jungle Drummer]

at 70 yrs old , Jimi might've been playing with his dentures !

Ha! Well played, sir.

[unchainedguitars]

For me, it was always that groove, that funk, that swing, whatever you wanna call it, that made Ed's virtuosity so
exciting.

I have II on my player, and i just love that swing in "Beautiful Girls" and "Bottom's Up!"
The rhythm playing is just spectacular.
It retains the swing, yet it's much cleaner in execution than an Aerosmith (who'm i love, for other reasons).

Even in the solo's, you still get that "i can tap my foot to it" feel.
"I'm the one" is blinding, yet each crazed solo swings.

I'm convinced it's genetic in many ways, straight from their Dad, because Alex has that same thing
happening in his playing.

[unchainedguitars]

Yep! I'm quite certain we've read all the same interviews and stories over the years and Ed was NEVER thought of as just a one trick pony by his peers or fans or even non fans.

He was a game changer. The Man.

Even when you look at those old pictures from 78-84, he just looks the part.

He had the look, the clothes, the spectacular guitars, the grin.

Joe Bonamassa looks like the guy that works at my bank.
Dave Grohl looks like a car mechanic.

Eddie was musical AND visual, just like all of VH.

[Jungle Drummer]

For me, it was always that groove, that funk, that swing, whatever you wanna call it, that made Ed's virtuosity so
exciting.

I have II on my player, and i just love that swing in "Beautiful Girls" and "Bottom's Up!"
The rhythm playing is just spectacular.
It retains the swing, yet it's much cleaner in execution than an Aerosmith (who'm i love, for other reasons).

Even in the solo's, you still get that "i can tap my foot to it" feel.
"I'm the one" is blinding, yet each crazed solo swings.

I'm convinced it's genetic in many ways, straight from their Dad, because Alex has that same thing
happening in his playing.

Hearing that jazz influence from their Pop in the brothers' playing is one of the things that always set them apart from the rest of the rockers of their generation to me. I always cite "Loss Of Control" as one of my favorite examples, but you can hear it even in something like "Take Your Whiskey Home" too. They still have it, as evidenced by "She's The Woman" and "Stay Frosty" or "As Is".

[Nick AVH fan]

Hold on, first off, there's a difference between songwriting and riff-making. Jimi wrote both the lyrics and music for his songs, Edward wrote riffs and had Alex and Mike help composition it together. Not in anyway am I degrading him by stating that, just for me I HAVE to differentiate between the two. It'd be like calling Tony Iommi, the ultimate riff master, a superb songwriter when in fact he made the riffs, Butler had the lyrics, and Ozzy had the melody. There is a difference, so to say that Edward had songwriting skills is sorta half-assing a peppered statement with reason behind it, but still, it's not totally correct.


And I absolutely hate when one says the young grew up in a different era of Van Halen. We're on a fucking Van Halen site for fuck's sake, you'd think we'd have more insight than the usual tweenybopper casually listening to "Jump" and "Why Can't this be Love" while the rest of the iPod is filled with Nickleback, etc. So throw that arguement out, we've read just as much interviews and articles of the Van Halens to get a historical context of what the flying fuck we're talking about. Even so, you may have grown to like a different music of that era than what others liked at the time. Just because you grew up in the 80s doesn't mean you know more about everything on that era, I wouldn't even claim that with this decade. Shit, everyone remembers the Deep Purple debacle? Wierd how the younger generation sees them as one of the 1970s pioneers yet every other 40 year old on here, save a few, called them below second tier. In what historical context that was coming from, I'd have to guess one from one was CONDITIONED in.

Sure, EVH was not a one-trick pony, but neither was Jimi! Even so, it is again what person you ask in the matter of influence these two had on guitarists. Jimi certainly had the 70s, while EVH had the 80s in a mainstream view. There were certainly other guitarists in that era that others looked up to.


Ugh, I'm gonna go get some tea and chill the fuck out...

[1234over]

As I said, I respect that people consider EVH the best, but I think it's ridiculous to dismiss Hendrix. And why is the "programming" of peoples response about Hendrix being the best (I completely agree, it's like a fall back response), any different than the younger people that say EVH is best? EVH gets the same support from tools that aren't serious music fans too. Plenty of people that aren't well-versed in guitar history just spout "Eddie Van Halen is the greatest ever!". It goes both ways.

[EVH_Erupted]

Honestly, I just put all the guitar greats into one playing field and call them even. I just happen to like Eddie the most.

[Jungle Drummer]

Hold on, first off, there's a difference between songwriting and riff-making. Jimi wrote both the lyrics and music for his songs, Edward wrote riffs and had Alex and Mike help composition it together. Not in anyway am I degrading him by stating that, just for me I HAVE to differentiate between the two. It'd be like calling Tony Iommi, the ultimate riff master, a superb songwriter when in fact he made the riffs, Butler had the lyrics, and Ozzy had the melody. There is a difference, so to say that Edward had songwriting skills is sorta half-assing a peppered statement with reason behind it, but still, it's not totally correct.


And I absolutely hate when one says the young grew up in a different era of Van Halen. We're on a fucking Van Halen site for fuck's sake, you'd think we'd have more insight than the usual tweenybopper casually listening to "Jump" and "Why Can't this be Love" while the rest of the iPod is filled with Nickleback, etc. So throw that arguement out, we've read just as much interviews and articles of the Van Halens to get a historical context of what the flying fuck we're talking about. Even so, you may have grown to like a different music of that era than what others liked at the time. Just because you grew up in the 80s doesn't mean you know more about everything on that era, I wouldn't even claim that with this decade. Shit, everyone remembers the Deep Purple debacle? Wierd how the younger generation sees them as one of the 1970s pioneers yet every other 40 year old on here, save a few, called them below second tier. In what historical context that was coming from, I'd have to guess one from one was CONDITIONED in.

Sure, EVH was not a one-trick pony, but neither was Jimi! Even so, it is again what person you ask in the matter of influence these two had on guitarists. Jimi certainly had the 70s, while EVH had the 80s in a mainstream view. There were certainly other guitarists in that era that others looked up to.


Ugh, I'm gonna go get some tea and chill the fuck out...

Dont recall anyone ever saying Hendrix was a one trick pony. It could also be argued that perhaps Clapton or Page had just as big of an influence on the 70s as Jimi. There didnt seem to be some massive wave of guitarists clamoring to cop his style the way that happened with Ed in the early 80s. Or you'd have punk/new wave guitarists in the 80s who often times in interviews would specifically claim they didnt play the "Van Halen style". There seem to be more Zep ripoffs occuring in the 70s than Hendrix clones.

There are always an array of influences on any generation. But it is odd how you state, matter of factly, that Jimi "certainly" influenced the 70s, but say Ed only influenced the mainstream of the 80s, adding in the caveat, "there were certainly other guitarists of that era that others looked up to." Maybe you meant to say "eraS", talking about both the 70s and 80s.

Either way, they are the 2 modern day game changers of the electric guitar, distinctly above everyone else. And we owe it all to Les Paul.

[Jungle Drummer]

As I said, I respect that people consider EVH the best, but I think it's ridiculous to dismiss Hendrix. And why is the "programming" of peoples response about Hendrix being the best (I completely agree, it's like a fall back response), any different than the younger people that say EVH is best? EVH gets the same support from tools that aren't serious music fans too. Plenty of people that aren't well-versed in guitar history just spout "Eddie Van Halen is the greatest ever!". It goes both ways.

Really? I honestly dont see or read very often Ed getting those kind of props at all these days, except on VH fan forums.

I apologize if it seems I was dismissing Hendrix. I would probably put him either at 2 or 3 but just get tired of the pedestal he is put on in the media with no discussion at all of anyone else. Yeah...I'd put him at 2.