What's up with all the EVH lovers here? To me he is just a glorified tap guitarist.

[BoneNut]

 

Funny thing is, I don't fancy myself as the worlds best guitarist but I reckon I am better than EVH at the moment.

 

 

That would make a funny sig.

[Grantus]

Those "shreds" clips are jokes, BTW.

[scuzzo]

there is a huge passion for VH in the states.. im not so sure he is held to such high status out side of america.. but you are poking at a sacred cow... hey, people like what they like... but VH was not is a truly great band.. he way over shadowed Mike and Alex.. mike especially.. one of my best friends was a bass player.. and he was if a fluffy coverband hair metal and all that.. and he just could not stomach playing those VH bass lines... he would flat out refuse to do VH covers because the bass was so... well anyway.. if VH got in a power trio like Jimi.. or Eric with cream then perhaps, thing would have gone different.. but he was not really pushed, so there you have it.. mho..

his band dragged him way down, i wonder how it would have been if evh gotten in a band with players like carmin apice,, or jack bruce, or steve harris.. or that caliber of player...

 

 

well its an opinion..

[k_strat]

 

Why is he so popular? I mean look at him, My big dangling ballsack has played better riffs than this. I point is, these {censored}s are old, and age has a way of catching up to people. Take George Lynch for example. That man had talent in his prime, but now his hands and arms are so {censored}ed up, he reduced to playing intro licks on That Metal Show and working in the ESP custom shop. I mean that's not a bad gig, but the man use to smoke the {censored} out of that sexy bengal tigerbusrt guitar of his. Edit: I want everyone to know that I struggled to find this clip. Same goes for the EVH ones, which means you must really want to troll HCEG bad Billybilly.

 

 

I get your point. However, the Angus Young clip you posted is an obvious spoofed "Shreds" video. Neither clip in the original post have spoofed audio. Even the greats aren't above a flat out bad performance. It's just unfortunate that got captured on video where it will circulate for eternity LOL.

[Stumpy Joe]

 

his band dragged him way down, i wonder how it would have been if evh gotten in a band with players like carmin apice,, or jack bruce, or steve harris.. or that caliber of player...

 

 

Pretty sure Michael Anthony was just doing what he was told. Especially considering this quote from Ed:

 

 

He's a damned good bass player. He plays bass . He's not Jack Bruce; he doesn't play guitar on bass. When Al and Mike are playing, it's an open world for me. I can do whatever I want. They're right there backing me up, feeding me. Whereas if he was a Jack Bruce, I'd be in competition with him.

 

[Angry Tele]

[video=youtube;zwWpPY6x-cY]

[Scott Abene]

 

 

 

 

Wow... That is really Eddie???

 

Look, VH changed the way that we hear, look and play from a Rock guitar point of view.

 

Just like Clapton, Duane, Jimi, Page, Brian May etc.

 

But dear god... Where has that wonderful tone and skill gone? Maybe out the meth pipe or into the bottle.

 

The quality of playing in the above videos is like a 15 year old playing at a GC on a Saturday morning. It actually makes me sad to watch; knowing that this guy pretty much changed my views on playing guitar when I heard him in 1978.

 

He changed RnR but it apparently ravaged him.

[k_strat]

The audio in that first one is fake, btw.

 

There are a number of comments to that effect posted to the video. IMO it's legit. If It's spoofed audio it's the most masterful example I've ever come across. It's just an audience shot video clip of a poor performance and the low quality audio doesn't help matters. Eddie's human and I'm sure over the course of his long career has had some bad performances. It happens. Given his issues in recent years I'm not surprised there are examples of his playing not being on point captured on audio or video out there.

[scott944]

As others have alluded to, one can't discuss VH without the context of the times. Remember, that first record came out in '77-78, and sounded like nothing else at the time. And it was the tone as much as the technique.

 

Sadly, Ed has some demons that have yet to be excorsized. I read a VH biography last year and Sammy's book a few weeks ago, and both painted a story of a sad, insecure, immature and narcissistic soul with a very serious drinking problem. Too bad.

[bsman]

Van Halen came out at exactly the wrong time for me -- I was starting to get into punk and was totally uninterested in anything glittery, flashy, and muso. Thus, I never really listened to his stuff until many, many years later. That said, I'm still not terribly fond of that sort of music, but to me he's the best at what he does (or at least WAS the best).

[RaVenCAD]

For me, EVH's influence has affected my gear far more than my playing. Sure, tapping is fun, but it's a gimmick these days. Where I really see "EVH" is in what hangs on my wall. I was looking at my stuff the other day and I realized that without EVH, I wouldn't have Floyds, I wouldn't have humbuckers in Strats, I wouldn't have hockeystick headstocks. Much of what we modern guitar players use didn't exist, or at least didn't exist in the format we now know, before EVH came along. His playing pretty much MADE the Floyd Rose a household name and his tinkering with pickups built the aftermarket pickup world.

 

So no, EVH is much more than a glorified tap guitarist. He was the pioneer of modern electric guitar. His playing is little more than a footnote on his greatness.

 

Hell, I haven't liked a note he's played since 1984.

[foppy]

I don't even like Van Halen, never have, never owned a single record or had a single mp3 on any of my playlists.

 

But even I can see how his playing changed everything. The debut record came out in 1978. Do you remember 1978, and what AOR radio sounded like in 1978? It was like most rock music was asleep (apart from punk rock, which wasn't on the radio). Then came Van Halen and they sounded different. When the first Van Halen songs came on, guitarists sat there dumbfounded and said "now what exactly is that guy doing? Is that a keyboard, or a guitar?" It sure didn't sound like the somnolent blues recycling that was going on in most seventies "hard" rock.

 

And unlike many of his dreary and plodding imitators in the 1980s, Eddie Van Halen always played with panache and a sense of fun.

[jrockbridge]

 

Of course this thread was to get a reaction but not to offend. I actually learned that his playing did come back a bit so I may not be able to play better than him 'at the moment' after all. However, I certainly had a bit of a laugh at those who did get offended. I'd hate to see them in a traffic jam...

 

 

So, you backed out of your earlier claim of being able to outplay EVH. You're probably too scared to post your own clips because it would open you up to scrutiny and ridicule. Yet, you were perfectly willing to spread lies and conjecture about EVH because you don't like him or his music. Shame on billybilly.

[benzem]

There are a number of comments to that effect posted to the video. IMO it's legit . If It's spoofed audio it's the most masterful example I've ever come across. It's just an audience shot video clip of a poor performance and the low quality audio doesn't help matters. Eddie's human and I'm sure over the course of his long career has had some bad performances. It happens. Given his issues in recent years I'm not surprised there are examples of his playing not being on point captured on audio or video out there.

 

It's FAKED.

 

[Stringbender11]

I agree 100% with Tiltsta's comments on page one. EVH took the guitar world by storm in his early years, he was an innovator and completely changed many genres and styles of guitar technique. Huge, huge influence.

 

It blows my mind to see what's happened to him over the years, no doubt by his own hand. I couldnt have imagined he'd turn out like he did when I started playing back in '81. Seeing some of his recent solos on YouTube all I see is a mishmash of random notes & trem bending, really sad.

[jrockbridge]

 

Wow... That is really Eddie??? Look, VH changed the way that we hear, look and play from a Rock guitar point of view. Just like Clapton, Duane, Jimi, Page, Brian May etc. But dear god... Where has that wonderful tone and skill gone? Maybe out the meth pipe or into the bottle. The quality of playing in the above videos is like a 15 year old playing at a GC on a Saturday morning. It actually makes me sad to watch; knowing that this guy pretty much changed my views on playing guitar when I heard him in 1978. He changed RnR but it apparently ravaged him.

 

 

Check out youtube videos of the last tour...2008. EVH can still play....except when he's piss drunk.

 

Example...

 

[video=youtube;Zu9vQ1f57TE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu9vQ1f57TE

[dparr]

I thought that Eddie was a great player.

 

I just didn't like the songs that VH wrote and played.

[cephus]

 

without EVH, I wouldn't have Floyds, I wouldn't have humbuckers in Strats, I wouldn't have hockeystick headstocks.

 

 

Nor would have a pair of Levis shredded from thigh to shin, a "Pep Girls" t-shirt and a well-worn pair of K-swiss tennis shoes.

[guitarcapo]

There was another huge shift in music in the late 80's when all of those grunge rock bands came on the scene and playing chops took a back seat to songs and style (a similar one took place when punk rock and "new wave" unseated "progressive rock bands like Yes, Jethro Tull, Genesis etc.

 

Anyway the story goes that Eddie Van Halen showed up at a Nirvana concert and asked to go onstage with them as a sort of guest player. Cobain just laughed at him and loved retelling the story because I guess he really loathed that kind of music. It probably wouldn't have been a good fit but you never know...maybe Eddie had something up his sleeve he wanted to show.....

[jrockbridge]

Check out the very end of the first clip in the OP. Once the band comes in Eddie's playing suddenly improves and his sound is different. I think this shows the clip as an obvious overdub and fake. In any case, if the video is real, it only means he fell off the wagon that night. Old EVH can't play like when he was young but he's still got chops and a ton of groove. There's a lot of players with more accuracy and speed than Ed these days but they seem to lack his swagger.

[bsman]

 

Anyway the story goes that Eddie Van Halen showed up at a Nirvana concert and asked to go onstage with them as a sort of guest player. Cobain just laughed at him and loved retelling the story because I guess he really loathed that kind of music. It probably wouldn't have been a good fit but you never know...maybe Eddie had something up his sleeve he wanted to show.....

 

 

Interesting. Given that Cobain was always rather painfully shy, modest and self-effacing it's not surprising he refused, since EVH is pretty much the antithesis of all that...

[Festus]

 

There are a number of comments to that effect posted to the video. IMO it's legit. If It's spoofed audio it's the most masterful example I've ever come across. It's just an audience shot video clip of a poor performance and the low quality audio doesn't help matters. Eddie's human and I'm sure over the course of his long career has had some bad performances. It happens. Given his issues in recent years I'm not surprised there are examples of his playing not being on point captured on audio or video out there.

 

 

I don't disagree with others' comments regarding Eddie's chops taking a major nose dive over the years, but believe me, that first video is fake, and not an especially good one.

[waffl3stomp]

EVH is one of the best rhythm guitarists ever. He doesn't get enough props for that.

[JoJo68]

I dig Eddie, but loathe his clones.

[Cyprusg]

It's FAKED.

 

There is no way the first clip is faked, just not possible.