Eddie Van Halen dead at 65.

Tmz.com ^ | 10/6/20 | TMZ

[Mmogamer]

the legendary guitarist and co-founder of Van Halen -- has died after a long battle with throat cancer ... TMZ has learned.

[Deplorable American1776]

Prayers to Valerie Bertinelli and Wolf Van Halen on the passing of Eddie. Prayers to his fans worldwide and may Eddie Rest in Peace and Eddie, play some music for GOD.

[Viking2002]

Jimmy Page was another guitarist who did finger-tapping before Ed, but Ed made it famous. It was never a matter of who did it first, but who did it best.

[SunkenCiv]

Wow.

[grey_whiskers]

Naah. Phil Keaggy is the best guitarist who ever lived.
Honorable mention to about two or three dozen others. :-D

[grey_whiskers]

My beeber is stuned, Al.

I was *sure* that comment was gonna be from Lazamataz.

[hawkaw]

I looked Phil up. I see he is a finger-style and finger-picking guitarist. I will have to check him out. Thanks for the post (as usual).

[dfwgator]

You misspelled Rory Gallagher.

[grey_whiskers]

Never heard of Rory; but a courteous hat tip to you instead of flaming. :-)

[Enlightened1]

CNN is blaming Trump for Eddie Van Halen’s death.

[grey_whiskers]

He's been playing professionally since the late 60s / early 70s.

He was one of the earlier shredders and branched out; I've seen / heard him play basically anything but disco and rap.

Try this one for electric from 1978:

Agora: The Marketplace (his fingers exceed light speed at about 3:19)

and this one for off-scale E-bow skills and looping:

Amazing Grace

[hawkaw]

Thanks 👍

[grey_whiskers]

Checked out Gallagher.

Tasty.

There’s something about the greats, where they kind of fuse with their instrument while playing.

[Golden Eagle]

Zappa was another pre-EVH tapper.

Let's be honest, no one has "tapped" like Van Halen before, or since. He famously played guitar with his back turned to the audience before he was discovered, so that others couldn't see his tricks. And it didn't take long to break out, as he was the Hendrix of the late 70's and early 80's that pretty much blew the other virtuoso's of the day out of the water. In 1980 if you couldn't play Eruption you were a nobody. Very few could, or still can. One thing he definitely invented, and perfected beyond anyone, is the screaming harmonic.

Today is not the day to bring up other guitarists FRiend. EVH was obviously a flawed man, but he changed the world, unlike any of the others you've mentioned.

[TianaHighrider]

❤🙏❤

[nicollo]

A lot of teenage boys took up playing the guitar because of EVH

Including my son, a professional musician who can play EVH to a T. He once had a gig playing a VH tribute band across the Southeast, and was given an actual EVH guitar, a Fender I think, to use on the tours.

My son told me to listen to Fair Warning all night tonight, as he says that album is pure EVH going Bach. Indeed!

[dfwgator]

Fair Warning is the best VH album.

[nicollo]

Well said.

[nicollo]

I’m listening to Fair Warning right now — he is all over the place, which is saying something for EVH. Amazing work.

[Golden Eagle]

my son, a professional musician who can play EVH to a T. He once had a gig playing a VH tribute band across the Southeast, and was given an actual EVH guitar, a Fender I think, to use on the tours.

Very interesting story, that I can relate to, as I also had a close friend who is now a professional musician, that idolized EVH, which probably led him to that career choice. He could play every VH song, including obscure and difficult ones like Cathedral, which were fascinating to see in person. Since you mentioned the Southeast, I'm guessing you know that EVH switched to Peavy as his amplifier choice, which is made in the deep southern USA, and led to the companies resurgence. A guy named James Brown was the lead engineer at Peavy, I remember hearing, who played a personal role in EVH switching to them from Marshall. Hope everyone we've mentioned is doing well tonight.

[nicollo]

I do know about Peavy, as my son spent a lot of time — and my money — on deciding between that and Marshall. He ended up w/ the Marshall setup, and it sounded great.

RIP Eddie.