YOU DON’T GET VAN HALEN
AS A WORKING guitar player, I’ve gigged in backyards, dive bars, discos, hockey arenas, pizza parlors, symphony halls and living rooms, and on tropical islands and cruise ships. I’ve performed wearing everything from ripped-up rocker jeans, tuxedos and cowboy hats to West African dashikis. And I’ve played with rock bands, soul bands, jazz ensembles, Afro-funk groups, garage bands, legacy acts, DJs, orchestras and rappers. In other words, I have messed around with a range of guitar styles. And if you’re like many GP readers, you probably have too.
But if you’ve never tried out the Eddie Van Halen guitar style — and what a multifaceted style it is — I can tell you something that the rest of the guitar galaxy already knows: It’s fun.
TECHNIQUES WERE NEVER EDDIE’S FOCUS. THE SPECTACULAR SOUNDS THEY YIELDED WERE
How much fun? Well, on a good night with a good tone and a set of power tubes running white-hot, playing a Van Halen song like “I’m the One” with a great bassist and drummer is an absolute thrill ride. If you can get those guitar parts down even semi-accurately and, more importantly, perform them with even a smidgeon of the groove the man who wrote them did, get ready for a huge adrenaline rush: You’re going to feel like Daenerys Targaryen riding a dragon, Laird Hamilton surfing Jaws or Luke Skywalker blowing up the Death Star.
But that particular song represents just one facet of the Van Halen sound — specifically, the high-revving, joyriding-in-a-stolen-Ferrari side. The truth of the matter is, Eddie Van Halen’s talents went far deeper than most music fans even realize.
