He’s one of the greatest guitarists of all time by the metric of sheer technical ability alone, but of course, there was so, so much more to Eddie Van Halen than the eye-watering speed.
He had showmanship, and a composer’s flair for the dramatic, but more than that, he completely re-engineered the guitar itself: how it was played, and how they were made.
Playing-wise, EVH wasn’t the first guitarist to elicit oohs and ahhs with two-hand tapping, but he perfected it, and put it on the radar of every aspiring guitarist.
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On the luthiery front, not content with the tonal limitations of his Stratocaster, Van Halen modified it with a powerful humbucker pickup – thereby helping launch nothing less than an entire new breed of electric guitars.
His tone – the legendary Brown Sound – is one of the most imitated in all of rock guitar, the product of endless tinkering and experimentation. Oh, and he was also one of the pioneers of the home recording studio.
All that said, there’s a reason his name comes up more than that of just about any other guitarist (Hendrix maybe has him beat) in this publication. But how well do you know him? His music, those technical innovations, and quirky guitars? Test your knowledge in our quiz below.
