EVH's Playing

[foose4string]

 

Probably as much as any healthy teenager should have back in the day. If you think Van Halen were songwriters on par with other rock "greats", you are kidding yourself. They were a party band with a few catchy tunes, a huge sound, a very talented guitar player and a very charasmatic front person. That debate if for another thread ...there are probably 20 of them on HC already. I don't feel his playing evolved or matured much after 1984, one chicken picking tune aside.

 

 

 

What defines "greatness" as a songwriter? They wrote some damn catchy tunes. Period. Were they writing rock operas? Hell no. That doesn't mean they didn't write good songs.

 

edit: sorry for the double post. Having connection problems ATM.

[scuzzo]

so i guess this is the snax part..

[smorgdonkey]

..the other thing EVH had in spades was swing in his rhythm playing..the amount of people I've heard play "I'm The One" wrong..'cos they can't make it swing like he does. I can understand people not liking the bands songs..that's a matter of taste. But, I don't really understand guitar players who don't think EVH was highly musical. If you think his playing is all "wheedly, wheedly" as some people have described it in the past..they need better ears.

 

There certainly was a lot of variety within a band that gets often type-cast. Roth is to thank for that with his bizarre choices of songs. Big Bad Bill is an excellent tune though much different than 99% of the rock bands would have ever done.

 

Eddie a one trick pony? I wouldn't say so really...a pony that could do all of the basics perfectly and then about 4 or 5 other things that others couldn't do at the time and all at a speed that only a few players at the time could do. I'm the first to chop him down when people are blowing smoke up the myth but come on naysayers...and 'peak' in the '70s is a bit of a stretch...I'd say peak would be early '80s for sure. The downslide didn't take place until the money and the 'comfort' really set in.

[Oaksong]

Pony - trick - one

Frankly, if the trick is good enough that's really all you need.

[Superrust]

Just a couple days ago I put a mix of VH songs together just to hear the guitar. I am more inspired by his playing than I ever was by Hendrix. Maybe if Hendrix was alive and playing this topic would have come up for him. Maybe Eddie has just hung on to long...

[Tommy Gun]

..yeah, my slide playing is an offence against music. ..the other thing EVH had in spades was swing in his rhythm playing..the amount of people I've heard play "I'm The One" wrong..'cos they can't make it swing like he does . I can understand people not liking the bands songs..that's a matter of taste. But, I don't really understand guitar players who don't think EVH was highly musical. If you think his playing is all "wheedly, wheedly" as some people have described it in the past..they need better ears.

 

I have to agree on "Im the One". That is one of the all-time 10 rock guitar tracks IMO. The rhythm on there is sick. The leads are savage--it's like he's punching you in the face with his guitar. I've never heard anything quite like it

[arrowhen]

I agree! Their songwriting was on the weak side. I have always wished that EVH had gotten in a better more serious band. A band that did not cater to adolescents.

 

 

When I was an adolescent I was too "mature" to listen to VH. Now that I'm old enough to listen to music as music and not some expression of high school identity politics, I love that {censored}!

[VH5150]

drugs and booze,real bad arthritis......Ed always had a cool lick up till the end..yeh even on vh3

[FFStratophile]

Oh, big thread developed over here. What I meant to point out is that as many other guitarists, at some point the process of rapid studying stops and comes the part where you just enjoy the level you've reached as a guitarist, even perhaps as a musician, not having any more significant jumps in your life. Now the question I'd like to ask is whether you folks think that's a good idea?

 

As for Eddie, I believe when he hit stardom and recording and touring, obviously he left the basement and stopped the rapid studying that characterizes most young guitarists in training. And doing that would obviously put you in a rut, musically and technically. Now as a couple of famous guitarists whose names I can't recall right now have said, it's a good idea to never stop the learning.

[mosiddiqi]

If you love playing, I don't see how you can ever stop learning..whether its in your basement or touring the world. You might focus on different things depending on your circumstances, but I think a love for the instrument will always keep you moving forward. Learning the guitar is a never ending process, so you'd better love it!.

[twofoolsaminute]

I don't mean this as an insult to EVH at all. But, I do believe he was as good before VH was signed as he ever was. I think he did some different things over the years than what he was doing then, but bootlegs of VH club shows are fan-friggin-tastic for Eddie. VH as a studio band may have peaked in the early 80's (1981), though. Depends on what aspect of VH you want to focus on.

[sammyreynolds01]

i don't think he particularly evolved playing wise beyond 1984 either but sonically yes he did. they are supposely touring australia this summer

[Vexed]

A while ago he said he had gotten into violin playing a lot/almost exclusively, interesting- I think he probably lost interest in guitar years ago, that's my guess...

[FFStratophile]

The violin thing, I don't think he stuck with it. I think that if he really got into it we would've heard a lot more on the subject. As for losing interest for guitar and keep playing for money, that does sound possible.

[smorgdonkey]

 

The violin thing, I don't think he stuck with it. I think that if he really got into it we would've heard a lot more on the subject. As for losing interest for guitar and keep playing for money, that does sound possible.

 

 

True...as always with Ed, whatever he says is hardly to be believed.

[tlbonehead]

We're talking about Van Halen here. It's about a few riffs that a band turns into songs, and a lot of wanking.

exactly. His solos usually sound to me like he can't come up with anything to play.

[RogerF]

We do tend to live our lives vicariously thru our guitar heroes. Anyways found a cool clip of Eddy on the old Dave Letterman Show (back when Letterman was really good, but that's another story) jamming with Paul Shaffer & band. Can't see what rig Eddy is playing thru but he still gets great tone at tv studio volume level.

 

Eddie Van Halen On The David Letterman Show 1984

 

 

[video=youtube;Fshc-p82nj4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fshc-p82nj4

[straycat113]

Ed has never been my favorite guitar player but there is no if and or but he is the second most innovative player in rock history, who spawned a million if not more clones of his style. For those who are old enough to bridge the gap between Hendrix and Vanhalen you understand what I mean, for those growing up on him -not really.Every lead guitarist up till 78 was measured against Hendrix who took the guitar to a place which everyone thought was as far as the instrument could go. I guess you can say Ed is wrote the second Testimont as he picked up where Hendrix left off and took playing to a whole different universe. There was nothing to compare him to and most of the planet did not even have a clue to what he was doing until you saw him. Imagine at a time before instructional DVDs, tab and the web trying to cop licks off of a record dropping the needle down 30 times trying to cop a run, then imagine listening to Eruption before you ever knew what tapping was and trying to figure out what the {censored} was going on there. Someone like him comes around once or maybe twice in a lifetime, also think of an original lick you have that is cool and feeling flattered if one player who is your peer asked how you did it, then again imagine if the whole world copped your style-mind blowing/and you would be pissed. Also like Hendrix Vanhalen is a killer rhythm player which is just as much a mind blowing study as his lead work. I happen to like both incarnations of the band and some people said he could not play soulful or from the heart a solo like Love Comes Walking In is as melodic as it gets and Dreams is one of my favorite solos by anyone ,especially the second go where he tremelo picks and taps the melody at the end.

Just look at any great guitarist after two or three albums speed becomes less of a tool and the gunslinger mentalty becomes less important, as that mid twenties age is where they all go for being the fastest gun in the west, but that is usually the peak for that kind of playing. God forbid if the guy would of died after the second album I believe he would of surpassed Hendrix bigtime and everyone would be saying imagine if Vanhalen would of lived what he would sound like, well I cant guarantee it but Hendrix would of sounded like Hendrix. Eddie fell on some serious hard times and became an alcholic and an addict and really has not put out anything to speak of in 14 years, so all that great music ended in his late 30s but it is a {censored}load of great playing. The guy is only in his mid 50s and if he has stood clean I sure as hell would not be surprised if more great music was yet to come. Not even from a band aspect but from a guitar one. Very few players coninue to get better or more creative with age when you are on that level. The one guy that blows my mind and does is Jeff Beck who has gone from Blues, Rock, Early Metal, Jazz, Fusion, Rockabilly, to even Techno and never sat on his past achievments. There has just been so much Ed bashing over the years I am rooting for the guy to deliver the goods at least one more time.

[BIGD]

We do tend to live our lives vicariously thru our guitar heroes. Anyways found a cool clip of Eddy on the old Dave Letterman Show (back when Letterman was really good, but that's another story) jamming with Paul Shaffer & band. Can't see what rig Eddy is playing thru but he still gets great tone at tv studio volume level.

Eddie Van Halen On The David Letterman Show 1984

If you do some googling there are guys who have his Roth era tones 100% nailed, it's really not a mystery any more. He used a couple of different methods of amp slaving to get the Marshall on ten tone while keeping the volume to a manageable level.

http://forum.metroamp.com/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=214c15f6a65b7f131f6e9b8bf4abff80 You can spend a whole day reading and listening to what people have come up with. And it seems like Ed's old tech actually posted on some of the threads and confirmed the setup.

It's basically one amp cranked, into a dummy load, out into another amp. The second amp changed often, which is why his tone changed from album to album.

[RogerF]

 

If you do some googling there are guys who have his Roth era tones 100% nailed, it's really not a mystery any more. He used a couple of different methods of amp slaving to get the Marshall on ten tone while keeping the volume to a manageable level. http://forum.metroamp.com/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=214c15f6a65b7f131f6e9b8bf4abff80 You can spend a whole day reading and listening to what people have come up with. And it seems like Ed's old tech actually posted on some of the threads and confirmed the setup. It's basically one amp cranked, into a dummy load, out into another amp. The second amp changed often, which is why his tone changed from album to album.

 

 

Thank you. The link is much appreciated.

[scolfax]

How about the power... to move you

[DavidMgT]

As a guitar player I most certainly respect EVH and what he has done for guitar. At the same time his style, as well as that of SRV, has never appealed to me.

[facefirst]

I was never a huge EVH fan until about 2 years ago. I started listening to Fair Warning and VHII and became hooked. His rhythm skills blew me away even more than his leads, which were also pretty amazing. I look at the fact that he was doing this 30 years ago and am pretty blown away, as I'm sure most guitar players were at the time. He hasn't evolved a ton since those early albums, in my opinion, but I think once you've changed the face of Rock N Roll you've done enough. I don't think his playing went to {censored} after those early albums, but I don't think it was as raw and fast and awesome either. Still, he had some awesome stuff in the Hagar era. Finish What Ya Started sticks out to me. He really is a guitar player that's comfortable across many styles of music and plays them convincingly. I wish I had a third of that guy's talent.

[mikesr1963]

Ok, who's the clown? Fess up, come on.

 

 

[tlbonehead]

that hurts to watch!