Eddie Van Halen, guitarist of 80’s hair band Van Halen, passed away on Oct. 6. Van Halen has been viewed and praised as one of the greatest guitar players of all time. He left behind a huge legacy and is greatly missed by many.
Van Halen was born in the Netherlands in 1955 with the birth name Edward Lodewijk Van Halen. Van Halen admitted in an interview that he never learned how to read sheet music. He learned how to play guitar by watching and listening.
Originally, when Van Halen started playing music, he played the drums and his brother Alex played guitar. Van Halen then heard how good his brother was on the drums and gave his brother his drum set. Van Halen also once told ABC News that he suffered from stage fright when he originally started playing gigs. He attributed the cure of his stage fright to cigarettes and alcohol.
The band Van Halen was formed in 1972, composed of the two brothers alongside vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony.
Van Halen is considered to be one of the best guitarists of all time and known for his use of a unique playing technique known as tapping. The tapping technique involves both hands on the neck of the guitar, almost playing it like a piano. Though Van Halen did not invent the technique, he got the idea from Led Zeppelin guitarist, Jimmy Page.
Van Halen is also known for originally playing with his back facing the audience. Van Halen did this while they were playing small gigs, before the band was signed to any record label. He did this because he did not want anyone to “steal” his tapping technique.
Another thing that Van Halen was known for was modifying guitars. If Van Halen couldn’t achieve the sound he wanted out of a certain guitar, he would essentially remodel the instrument using sandpaper and a saw. Van Halen even made his most famous guitar, a red “Frankenstrat” with black and white stripes.
Gene Simmons, bassist of rock band KISS, told People magazine that he saw Van Halen not long after Van Halen’s cancer diagnosis, back in 2014. When Simmons saw him, Van Halen had a positive attitude, even though it had not been long since he had been diagnosed with and beat tongue cancer.
“He wasn’t looking for sympathy; he really seemed to enjoy life,” Simmons said.
Both vocalists of the Van Halen band, Roth and Sammy Hagar, have reflected on how much they loved Van Halen and would miss him. One song that people will immediately recognize from the work of Eddie Van Halen is “Beat It” by Michael Jackson. The guitar part in “Beat It” was rewritten and played by Van Halen. Jackson had asked Van Halen to play the part, and even though Van Halen was wondering how a rock guitarist could help on a pop song, he did it for free.
Even though today’s generation do not know Van Halen as well as they know Post Malone or Billie Eilish, Van Halen had a huge impact on the hair band and rock community. Van Halen will always be remembered as one of the best guitarists of all time.
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