If Eddie Van halen was never born, who would be the next Van Halen?

[guitarman3001]

That's exactly my feeling about Rhoads. His tone was fairly crappy (except for the Tribute/Live Album). Don't get me wrong, he was a badass but VH had way better studio tone and his rhythm playing was/is some of the best. The studio version of Crazy Train is TERRIBLE.

 

 

I guess I'm in the minority but I actually liked his tone.

[evh1984]

A: No one.

/thread.

[Undertaker4]

Anyone mentioned Vai yet? I guess it would've depended on what kind of band he would've ended up in, or if he would've taken the same career path as he did.

But yeah, I don't think anyone really could've taken EVH's place in history, everything just clicked for him.

[humbuckerstrat]

Yeah, it's hard to imagine modern rock guitar playing without EVH. Or Floyd Rose, for that matter.

[curseoftruth]

Randy Rhoads. Even if he played as a famous guy for a short time, he inspired a lot of guitarrists and still does today. I prefer his playing to EVH. More feeling, better sound, and more skill cuz of the classical music and his influences mixing altogether. Hear Mr. Crowley, I Don't Know, and Goodbye To Romance so you will know.

 

 

This - Randy would have been the biggest guitarist on the planet.

[mikeman]

George Lynch, and Randy were the 2 guys in LA that were up there with EVH and they all had their draws. GL was tapping back then and everyone said he was copying EVH, but they both had their own style of tapping.

[noisebloom]

Anyone mentioned Vai yet? I guess it would've depended on what kind of band he would've ended up in, or if he would've taken the same career path as he did.

 

 

I thought about mentioning Vai. He's an interesting guy in this discussion because while he was influenced by EVH's style and flash techniques, his playing comes from a lot of different places, plus he's a pretty original cat on his own. I can still see Vai becoming a virtuoso even if EVH was out of the picture.

 

It could be argued that Vai has been tied too closely with EVH at times, especially in the 80s, so I think Vai would have benefitted if EVH wasn't in the picture.

 

Vai is such a pure technician, though, that I'm not sure he would have seen the kind of wild success EVH had when he went supernova. Vai doesn't have the same songwriting skills, rhythm playing, and feel for the music that EVH did, so I think Vai would still be a niche performer, not unlike Al Di Meola.