besides me, who thinkd eddie van halen is/was overrated?

i might do one of these type threads on the regular.
anyway, he was just a bit before my time. i am just now 30 so he kinda slipped by me. i was never 'into' evh.

so, was/is he a virtuoso who dominated the instrument or is he just another shredder? fast arpeggios and some tapping. lotsa whammy.

i think he was/is overrated. i am sitting here watchting this eruption solo and there is really nothing all that fantastic about it.



don't get me wrong. he has the dedication. it is well known that he would practice for 12 hours per night.

i just think that far better guitarist came before him and will continue to come.

what do you think?

yeah that vid is LOL man.

i guess when you are up around the 20th fret, make a face, bend it and hit the whammy and people will scream.

3:12

To be able to play a guitar like that means you are talented, but not "good" in terms of melodic quality.

I am all for guitar solos but if its just random stuff I find no pleasure in it.

For some reason, many people that like most "solo" songs (There are a few good ones out there) are teenagers who thinks playing a guitar fast means they are a god; these kids usually have no idea how a guitar works either (neither do I).

I think he had a few cool riffs for Van Halen, but I'm not into the whammy bar/tapping style either. So I don't know if he's overrated, but he's not the type of guitarist I like.

He was something that was different at the time in his speed. But as far as a virtuoso, that's a stretch. He's really just tricking for the most part, as far as I'm concerned. Though he was effective at what he did, and gave VH a distinct sound that still resonates with me today. Most especially VH - Van Halen. He had style and that goes a long way in R&R.

Far be it for me to criticize any guitar player, because to call me mediocre is a compliment.

But what EVH and the rest of his crew did do, is put out some kickass rock and roll. I drink and dance to his music and have a hell of a good time. But I'm a hedonist and not very critical. I still get off on AC/DC's tired old riffs; I guess I'm not into turning R&R into a competition.

What do I know I'm a bass player.

[edit on 18-12-2008 by whaaa]

Count me in, fast does not equal good.

I think his playing is decent at least as far as my tastes are concerned. However, what really turns me off to anything involving him is his that ego. So between his and David Lee Roth's constant self centered jackassery, I left Van Halen behind a long time ago.

I find those solos so wanky and uber irritating.How the hell people listen to whole songs or albums of that stuff is a mystery to me.I dont mind shredding if it suits the song and is kept to a reasonable length but shredding just for the sake of shredding is lame.

reply to post by thing fish
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I don't think you can compare Eddie to a virtuoso it just won't work. But Eddie was unique in his speed and sound. And for his genre he was the best. He's weathered the storm and has survived the rock band life and raised a family too. Sure he's had problems who doesn't in that life style. But I think Eddie Van Halen is someone to look up to and admire for his talent. He not only plays the guitar but the piano & drums too. I personally like guitarist that can versify on the instrument like Stevie Ray or Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, etc... But I bet if you unplug Eddie and give him some music to play like Spanish or something completely different from his thing then he could do it.

So Eddie may not be a " virtuoso " but he is Eddie Van Halen and is a " Rock Star ". I for one like the Van Halen Albums and have them in my collection. Eddie's not overrated, he's just stuck to his guns with the Van Halen sound. To me Eddie is up there with the best because he's weathered it all and still plays a mean guitar.

[edit on 12/19/2008 by Solarskye]

i just talked to my mother and asked her what the big friggin deal was about evh.
she said they 'hit' right at the popularity of mtv so they were everywhere. then she said 'it looked like he played guitar like a piano'.
so that tells me there are a bunch of people out there that have never seen tapping before.

i love guitar instrumentals but i very rarely listen to any kind of shredding. buckethead is usually it and it's not like i'm listening to herman li. that would be bad.

If you were not there when eruption was first played then you really will never experience the awe of listening to that riff in " 1978 ". It just blew my mind.

I've moved on since then but just remember that this solo was done in 1977 and Eddie warmed up to that solo before playing or recording. MTV launched 4 years later.

[edit on 12/19/2008 by Solarskye]

man i had a hard time getting through the whole thing right now.
wow..lucked out with mtv i guess.
lots of tom foolery here. theatrics and no musical value at all. actually quite offending to the ear.

This is the only version I like of eruption. Eddie does go overboard with his Taps & Hammer on's/offs in his solo life versions.



This is what a prefer more than Van Halen.



Now that's a guitar virtuoso for you.

[edit on 12/19/2008 by Solarskye]

i would take srv over van halen any day of the week. srv probably couldn't use some of the 'technique' that van halen had but van halens stuff sounds like it has no musical value. i guess that is subject to opinion though.

EVH came out around the time I picked a guitar for the first time and was a huge influence on me at the time. I didn't (and still don't) get into his note selection as much as his sound. The "brown" sound as he called it had me going though amps and effects like a madman looking for that sound. As a result I learned more about finding my own sound than I ever thought was possible. For that alone I owe him a debt of gratitude. Peace and light!

The original Eddie Van Halen video just sounds like a bunch of stuff thrown together that really goes nowhere. Lots of talent, but not really playing the guitar. But then, maybe it was supposed to be more or less like one very long demo. I could say the same thing about 30 other popular guitar players - it's really nothing specifically against Eddie.

I listened to Roy Buchanan for 35 years, then I recently discovered Buckethead whom I am very happy with. I tend to like, and respect, guitarists that can play different styles. In the end, the level of talent, technical expertise, or how fast they shred doesn't matter. It's only whether you like the music.

In the late 70's and 80's Eddie was a ROCK guitar virtuoso and not just another shredder, In today's world we have the Internet and tools like line 6 guitar port etc... That stuff didn't exist back then... In Eddie's early days he was very secretive of his tapping technique and would sometimes not face the crowd while performing his solo's, that was to hide his technique style from other rock guitarist.

Nowadays anyone can be a guitar virtuoso because of the Internet, if you was living 40 to 30 years ago, you wouldn't question Eddie's abilities, you would just be in ah of his sound and technique. You couldn't find shred guitar lessons back in the 70's. It was mid 80's when shred started kicking in and Racer X was the ultimate shred, and Steve Vai's movie Cross Roads brought it all about... but before all that it was Eddie.

In the 70's early 80's Eddie was a virtuoso compared to other guitar players in his genre, and so was Roy Clark and Jerry Reed in their genre and so on....

Nowadays I find it entertaining to hear people say Eddie is sloppy or overrated etc. based on his live performances... I can only assume they never heard the recorded versions of spanish fly, eruption or hot for teacher etc.. When Eddie plays live it's not about perfection it's about having fun and giving what the crowd wants.

It's amazing how technology spoils the future generation...

[edit on 24-3-2010 by imitator]

reply to post by imitator


Amen, Brother. I couldn't have said it any better.

You had to be there when it first happened. I was in jr high when Van Halen really broke out.

I remember waiting in line at the record store to get new albums....yeah, i'm old

Well consider the following "Lady Gaga, JayZ, Britney Spears, etc". Now with the following they have it certainly is possible that he is overrated. That said he is definitely very talented with the way he shreds. He is way more talented than anyone I have heard on the radio in the past decade or so. I believe if anything he is underrated.