[Closed] Music Heresy (Van Halen content)

Different people in liking different things shocker!

failed to hear anything that warranted crowning him as one of the greatest musicians (or even just guitarists) ever

I can only assume you know nothing about playing guitar?

I can only assume you know nothing about playing guitar?

I can only assume you know nothing about playing guitar?

You'd be wrong. I am asking an objective question. If you wish to point me in the direction of stuff that will change my mind, feel free.

These people that are praising him all know the impact he's had on the world of guitar music. He brought the melodic, overdriven solos to rock music and is basically responsible for all the 80s rock/metal sounds that came after him. He even made a range of amps so he could achieve his tone.

That said, I don't really like that style of music, and find some of his solos honestly excruciating and hard-to-digest, in much the same way as I don't enjoy edgy Jazz.

If you wish to point me in the direction of stuff that will change my mind, feel free

This was revolutionary.

Get yourself over to Youtube and look for 'Mean Street', 'Romeo Delight' and 'I'm the One' to begin with then go from there. You can probably find them as isolated guitar tracks.

Although remembered for the tapping/shredding stuff which spawned a million imitators, it's Eddie's rhythm playing that ultimately stands out.

Superficial has it.

I might add that "Beat It" has possibly the most famous guitar solo in music history.

EDIT:

And his guitar had 'go faster' stripes as well.

It wasnt just that he was very good at playing the guitar, but also the innovation and experimentation in playing and equipment design that he brought to it.

That said, as a band, Van Halen were a load of preening toss.

Massive oversimplification but - looking at his stuff now, it's like loads of other stuff. But that's because he invented that stuff, and so many others were influenced/inspired by him.

He invented trying to copy Jimi Hendrix. Cool 😆

See also: the "brown" sound. Running his amps at lower voltage

He invented trying to copy Jimi Hendrix.

No, he invented trying to copy Jimmy Page and that bloke off of Genesis

Phil Collins?

Phil Collins?

Steve Hackett

When other people operating at the same level heap praise, the rest of us should really take notice.

Bernie Marsden - "Donington Park, 1984 - AC/DC were headlining and Van Halen, Ozzy, Gary Moore and Y&T were also all on the bill. I was there as a guest that year, seeing and hanging out with some mates, Gary Moore being my closest friend on the bill.
Gary had played his set and had been received royally as the true guitar hero he was. I told him I really wanted to go and watch Van Halen from the side of the stage, and told him to come and join me. Neither of us had seen Eddie playing live before, but I was so excited to see him play, gushing about his ability. Gary was obviously aware of the Van Halen records, and slightly reluctantly agreed to join me. I told him that I thought Eddie was the modern equivalent of Eric Clapton - his guitar style was being absorbed and obsessed over by a whole new generation of guitarists. Just like Eric did for us. Gary didn’t seem so sure!
We took our places side stage and within a few moments Gary was transported. His mouth opening wider in awe, “Bern, I had no idea he was THIS good!”
That’s how good Eddie Van Halen was, folks - take it from Gary Moore.
Thank you EVH - you reinvented what it was to be a guitar hero
BM"

I think perhaps a lot of what we think of today as "rock gods" or "legends" are so revered because they were pioneers rather than because they were any good (not that I'm suggesting they weren't any good, rather that's kind of a secondary criteria).

Take Hendrix for instance. To my modern ears and (relatively) modern tastes I think he's kinda 'meh' but at the time he was revolutionary. No-one was doing anything remotely like what he was doing and the world must have gone "bloody hell!" at the time.

If you didn't witness it happening at the time then it's difficult to look back and really understand what a difference anyone has made to the landscape. It's just the same in literature, TV, films.

Thank you. This is the sort of thing I was looking for.

When other people operating at the same level heap praise...

They always do that when someone snuffs it, haven't you noticed?

Van Halen were a load of preening toss

With DLR I'd agree, but less so with Sammy Hagar IMO 🙂

Cougar comes along being all sensible n that. Hmph

The fact that every other rock guitarist after VH1 had to sound like EVH meant that he sounded normal.
Because he invented a new normal.

You are just looking back and hearing everyone else.

Like LZ 1. There was nothing quite like that on vinyl before it. But an awful lot afterwards.

I feel this way about The Smiths.

LS I was about 10 rows back stage right.
I did wave😂
It was a done deal after VH.

But an awful lot afterwards

Awful being the operative..etc 😉

Cougar comes along being all sensible n that. Hmph

Cougar comes along and says what I'd already said. Hmph.

For NBT

LS,

I was there too back in 84, we buggered off shortly after AC/DC took to the stage, (we'd seen them a couple of months earlier at Wenley Arena) so we could get to the car park early.

It was indeed 'a done deal' after Van Halen had finished, I remember having the impression at the time that they'd proved all the naysayers wrong and completely 'owned' the event.

Most of the crowd was still made up of the denim and leather heavy metal brigade, who were rather sceptical and gave Van Halen stick at the begining. By the end of the set there had been a changing of the guard, come to think of it it proved to be a real transitional moment for rock and metal in the UK, opening the door for Metallica, Faith no More and more progressive and alternative rock based sounds.

So whilst not a massive Van Halen fan myself, I'd have to say it was probably the most significant festival gig I've been to.

Unfortunately I was seven years old in '84, so proper VH (not Van Hagar) are on my very long list of 'bands I never got to see'. Some lineup though!

As a crap guitarist can I say that I get such pleasure from ambling through some of his work and marvelling at the construction of his songs. The only one I enjoy in the same way is Andy Summers. Both really doing smart stuff in a pop/rock music format.
Of course if you don't like it then it doesn't matter how clever it is. Just accept it's not for you and move on.

Hmmmm i'd say Metallica and FNM etc. became popular in spite of bands like VH. They were a product of an alternative rock scene that pre-dates VH and came to prominence as rock/metal fans turned away from hairspray and spandex.

When other people operating at the same level heap praise, the rest of us should really take notice.

What a load of guff. What other people think is entirely subjective regardless of ability.

Personally find it really really dull, triggers nothing in me.

Same with Hendrix.

But its my personal taste and thats what makes stuff like music really great.

Very apt thread SaxonRider, as I'd wondered this myself.

I think perhaps a lot of what we think of today as “rock gods” or “legends” are so revered because they were pioneers rather than because they were any good

And as usual, Cougar talks most sense. I understand Van Halen was a great musician and pioneering in what he did; I just think tracks like Jump are unutterable tosh that haven't aged at all well.

OTOH Jimi Hendrix still sounds great to me, so each to their own I guess.

I love Jump! It’s a brilliantly happy song. I know that’s not cool (especially with the miserable sods on here) but the look of sheer joy on EVH’s face every time he played it makes me smile whenever I see it. It’s ****ing rad and you know it 😀🎸🤟

That said, as a band, Van Halen were a load of preening toss.

Wash your mouth out.

VH1 was wall to wall excellence.

I love Jump! It’s a brilliantly happy song. I know that’s not cool (especially with the miserable sods on here)

Me too.

EVH laid the foundation for 80s rock and metal guitar players who took their playing to the next level which left Eddie sounding a little generic until you remember he was doing his thing in the 1970's 10 years before everyone he influenced made 'his' sound the generic 80's rock tone.

That is why I think he was both a pioneer and a legend

responsible for all the 80s rock/metal sounds that came after him.

That’s damning with praise right there. 80’s mainstream rock was terrible.

The Jimi thing is different as he basically took the blues somewhere new. Nobody has picked up where he left off in my opinion. The book Crosstown Traffic explains it a lot better and is also a great history of the blues and rock.

Van Halen reminds me of Steve Vai and the other fella who’s name I can’t even attempt. Technically proficient, but utterly soulless. Just guitar ****ing. Does nothing for me at all. I wouldn’t say VH had much influence on metal either. Mainstream rock yeah, the heavy shit, not so much.

Van Halen reminds me of Steve Vai and the other fella who’s name I can’t even attempt

Joe Satriani? Or Yngwie Malmsteen?

Joe Satriani? Or Yngwie Malmsteen?

Both are guitar ****ery, but it’s Yngwie who’s name I always butcher.

It seems to be generally accepted that he was a great guitarist ( but people say that about Jonny Marr!) However the music the band made was poor IMO

back in the day when I was a metal fan we referred to bands like his as "heavy plastic" - ie a poor copy of the real thing

sometimes referred to as poodle rock because of the haircuts

I love how there's so many armchair rock guitarists on here saying that EVH wasn't all that, when many actual rock guitarists disagree

This from two minutes on the Beeb website, I'm sure a deeper trawl of Twitter and the like would find much more

Queen guitarist Brian May remembered how "those truly magical fingers opened a door to a new kind of playing".

He wrote on Instagram: "This wonderful man was way too young to be taken. What a talent - what a legacy - probably the most original and dazzling rock guitarist in history."

Simmons tweeted: "My heart is broken. Eddie was not only a Guitar God, but a genuinely beautiful soul. Rest in peace, Eddie!"

Also on Twitter, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea wrote that Van Halen had a "beautiful creative heart".

Oh man, bless his beautiful creative heart. I love you Eddie Van Halen, an LA boy, a true rocker. I hope you jam with Jimi tonight. Break through to the other side my brother. ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/XpcTlPJq9A

— Flea (@flea333) October 6, 2020
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Sammy Hagar, who replaced Roth as Van Halen frontman when he split from the band in 1984, shared a picture of himself alongside Van Halen, with the caption: "Heartbroken and speechless. My love to the family."

Geezer Butler, founder member of Black Sabbath, described Van Halen as a "true gent and true genius".

"Just when I thought 2020 couldn't get any worse, I hear Eddie Van Halen has passed. So shocking - one of the nicest, down to Earth men I have ever met and toured with," he wrote.

Heartbroken and speechless. My love to the family. pic.twitter.com/MQMueMF2XO

— Sammy Hagar (@sammyhagar) October 6, 2020
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The Twitter account of rock group Pantera tweeted that Van Halen was a "tremendous influence" on their music.

Their post said: "RIP Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen were a tremendous influence on both Vinnie & Dime & Pantera. Hopefully they are all rocking out together now!"

"Heaven will be electric tonight," wrote singer Lenny Kravitz, who remembered Van Halen as a "legendary guitar and musical innovator".

Both Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready likened him to Mozart, with the latter saying he had "changed everything and played with soul".

Not armchair rock guitarists, just different tastes I think. I also don’t like Bryan May’s playing or Queen. Love Jimi Hendrix, Billy Gibbons, John Fruscianti, Eddie Hazel, Joshua Homme and Tim Sult.

To be fair, when someone famous dies you don’t see many tweets stating ‘He was a right **** and I thought his playing was pure cheese’

To be fair, when someone famous dies you don’t see many tweets stating ‘He was a right ****

Im saving that for you. 😉

I'm another very amateur guitarist who regards EVH as a guitar great even if it's not what I listen to. Supercarp has it, there are guitarists who take technique to the next level and make it tuneful while there at it.

The low voltage amp thing was just a lucky observation, a 220v euro Marshall plugged into 110 made a sound he liked and worked. When you hear a combination of tapping and hammer ons that sound like a superfast keyboard it's al EVH's fault or genius depending on your view. When junior was learning to play I knew when he first listened to EVH.

I have always been a huge VH fan, but I know nothing about 'good' or 'bad' guitar playing, just what makes me feel good, and VH music makes me feel excellent. You may not like it, thats cool with me. One of my mates likes jazz, I find it painful to listen to. So it goes.

To me it's a bit emperors new clothes, art is not measurable in any way, so all reactions to it are highly subjective.

Im saving that for you. 😉

If only I were famous and played guitar. The censored bit is definitely true though 😀

I love how there’s so many armchair rock guitarists on here saying that EVH wasn’t all that, when many actual rock guitarists disagree

But the comments you then quote say little about the precise nature of his playing. I don't doubt that he was a 'beautiful soul' (as measured by Gene Simmons! 😉 ), or that he was truly creative. I am only challenging the seemingly extreme accolades that poured in for his guitar playing and musicianship.

And on that front, a few people on the first page of this thread have directed me towards some examples to substantiate the claims. Which is kind of what I was wanting.

That said, from a musical point of view, @tjagain, I would be one of those who believe that Johnny Marr is brilliant. I think that his juxtaposition of the guitar with Morrissey's Anglican-choirboy voice was unparalleled. Although one of the best Smiths songs is one without Morrissey in it at all: Oscillate Wildly. But all of that is an aside.

I've got over 1000 CD and vinyl albums - none of them are by VH and none of them are by Abba. In both cases I admire their technical proficiency but as music it just isn't my sort of thing.

Although one of the best Smiths songs is one without Morrissey in it at all

I think most things are improved by an absence of Morrissey. I keep hearing people say that Johnny Marr is a genius, but I just can't bear to listen to the Smiths for long enough to find out for myself.

This was revolutionary.

I'm not an expert in rock guitar but as someone who's at least tried to play the guitar that clip is pretty creative and very well executed. Clearly references Bach, of course, but I would bet that whole thing (like most guitar solos) is improvised which means he's working all that together on the fly as a direct piece of musical expression.

I don't like it much though, personally.

Black flag,

No doubt Metallica and FNM etc would have become popular of their own accord. What I was aware of at the time was how via the sonic innovation (of which much has been mentioned on here) and their flirtation with pop they put an end to the era of denim and leather metal image in the UK, opening up audiences to the different styles of rock, metal and alternative music that was on the horizon.

Musical taste is personal and subjective.

To answer your OP @SaxonRider. There was before EVH and after. The same as 10 years previous with Hendrix. EVH caused a seismic shift in what was possible with regards to guitar playing.

Lots of people will say he was nothing special, but then they don’t like his style of music, whilst st the same time professing that someone else was better. That’s just personal taste, not a reflection on how revolutionary EVH was / is.

The art world lost a very troubled but ultimately a true genius when EVH passed on.

RIP Eddie.

On the "heavy plastic" point. I didn't like AC DC but they were the real thing. No matter how good Van Halens guitar work was the band were a pale imitation of proper metal / rock

So its not just about ( for me) what I liked or didn't like. There is something there about the "realness" or integrity of the band. Black sabbath had it, AC DC had it, Van Halen did not

Having come back to playing my guitars recently after a long break of several years I've noticed that a lot of people who dabble (and more) are more interested in the expensive hardware and the shredding than the songs and music that these are supposed to contribute to.

I've always been amused how many rufty tufty blokes, who wouldn't dream of listening to Bach, Schubert, Mozart etc. absolutely love similar delicate melodies played on a loud distorted guitar. And in the same vein, I always think Vaughan Williams's "The Lark Ascending" would be brilliant if played by a Gary Moore style blues guitarist. I've had ago but it's too hard for me.

The same as 10 years previous with Hendrix. EVH caused a seismic shift in what was possible with regards to guitar playing.

I personally don’t think the two are comparable. A lot of folk forget that Jimi wasn’t just a guitar player. Singer, lyricist, effects and production innovator (bodging a speaker from a Lesley Organ in to his amp to create the sound for All Along The Watchtower). Not to mention his rhythm playing and the fact he took an established genre in the blues and took it somewhere new.

Then there’s the live playing. He rarely played a song the same way more than once. Just improvised all the time and the playing was intertwined with the lyrics, sometimes even replacing them (machine gun, star spangled banner). A lot of the technical players practice solos and then repeat them night after night at live shows.

VH was technically excellent and in that respect a better player. But to quote another technical player, Joe Satriani: "I've picked apart Jimi's music and analyzed it so much over the years, and there's still things he did that astound and mystify me. When I watch footage of him playing at the Fillmore East, when he's playing Machine Gun, I'm blown away by his musical choices. And that's the thing: it wasn't about his gear, his guitar, it wasn't about what mic he was singing into it, it wasn't about anything but his own brilliance.

"I'm pretty sure you could have handed him any guitar and any amp and he would've blown the roof off the place no matter what. His impulses, his intuition, what he did one second to the next, how he moved his hands, knowing to play this note after that note…it was deep.

You have to look at Van Halen in the context of the time. To hugely mix metaphors, it's a bit like when Star Wars came out - the Sci Fi at the time was 2001 and Buck Rogers. Star Wars was so ahead of its time in everything to do with special effects and visual drama that the film world took notice and realised that there was a new bar to jump.

The same with Van Halen - they appeared in a time of disco and punk, which in turn emerged from the death of glam and endless guitar solo prog. No one wanted to see a guitar band. Van Halen's stuff was innovative rather than derivative. He didn't improve on what went before, but rather started again, making (musical...) noises that had rarely been heard on a guitar, but all in the name of moving the song along and making the band sound fresh and exciting.

And, as a guitarist, he invented or furthered many different technical aspects of both playing and the physical thing of the electric guitar itself. And it wasn't a gradual thing. Van Halen exploded onto the scene. There truly was a time before Eddie and a time when nothing would ever be the same...

Cougar comes along and says what I’d already said. Hmph.

In my defence, you hadn't said it when I started typing that post.

You might not like his ability but you have respect Johhny Marrs skill in taking a Jaguar, telecaster or rickenbacker and not making it sound like a high tensioned lump of wood being smashed repeatedly against a total ****.

it’s a bit like when Star Wars came out – the Sci Fi at the time was 2001 and Buck Rogers.

Objection - whilst it has a history in previous media going back decades, the 70s Buck Rogers TV show "at the time" came after Star Wars, it was one of many attempts to ride the wave and cash in on Star Wars' popularity.

@funkmasterp

What you wrote about Jimi is exactly the same for EVH.

Eddie was more than a guitarist. He isn’t actually that brilliant a technician, he’s a feel player compared to the shred-a-million-miles-per-hour players. And lord knows there are millions of them.

Lots of music snobs don’t like Van Halens musical output, deriding it as bubblegum rock. But it was never meant to be serious, they were a party band. Phenomenally good at what they did, without parallel IMHO.

Serious? No. Fun? **** yeah!

There’s no doubt that EVH changed the way aspiring guitarists approached the instrument. He was and will always be a legend.

You've just demonstated why people compare EVH and Jimi, Funkmasterp. Do some reading and listening on EVH and you'l find most of what you've writen about Jimi. EVH was the very much into the song writing process. He was just as innovative with his gear as others have noted above. He could pick up anybody elses guitar and sound great.

As for improvised solos they are rarely completely improvised, and if they are they rely on a regular blus base otherwise you have no idea where to go. It's all very coded. Each player has a repetoire of licks, riffs and tricks and uses them over standard format. Anything else requires everyone in the band to know what's going on and play their appropriate parts. EVH was that - structured songs with stops, breaks - more like a classic symphony than blues rock.

Some songs I can solo over the top all the way through. It takes a few seconds to find out what key it's in then away you go. EVH goes way beyond that, if you went to every night of a concert tour you'd hear each solo note perfect each time.

There are guitarists who just improvise and sometimes it's shambolic. Louis Bertignac of Téléphone put some great solos together for the albums but never repeats them live. Yet many fans such as myself learn the original solos.

Lots of music snobs don’t like Van Halens musical output, deriding it as bubblegum rock. But it was never meant to be serious, they were a party band

Good point well presented. In my defense my rock days were many years ago and while I was trying at the time to get away from the longhair serious sitting in circles and seriously listen to the music Van Halen never stuck me like that ( to be seen as a party band) to me it just lacked soul.

I shall have to ponder this a bit more. Maybe I was expecting too much. I was into the poetry and story telling of Thin Lizzy and the rage of black sabbath. Itsd all an awful long time ago tho for me. I grew out of rock in my mid 20s!

Is it all true, or is it just what people say when the world loses a rock guitarist?

My cousin's cousins idolise him as guitar "god" of some sort because they are all musicians of some sort. I used to listen to Van Halen for a while (introduced to me by my cousin as I was pretending to be cool, I feel dirty now thinking of it) but until today I can only remember or name one song from them that is Jump. I find their Jump video very funny and happy while the rest of their music is just a blur. Nothing memorable. In the Jump video I think David Lee Roth can shout very loudly and in tune I guess. To me people are very attached to their idols and in this case perhaps a rock guitarist.

Greatest? Soon they will run of excessive adjectives and that's when the problems starts. The description will no longer be normal, mediocre or average. They are all greatest of great of the great multiple by many more greats N+1. Imagine they are all greats N+1 does that mean they are all average? Try describing someone as normal, mediocre and average and you will get into trouble.

To answer your question, yes there is an excessive use of adjectives.

What you wrote about Jimi is exactly the same for EVH.

Read Crosstown traffic, it explains it so much better than I can. Jimi was a lot more and had (still has in fact) a much wider influence on music as a whole. Not just his guitar playing, his whole approach.

Do some reading and listening on EVH and you’l find most of what you’ve writen about Jimi.

One has soul and instinct (possibly massive amounts of LSD) and regularly wrote all the music and lyrics. Lyrics which were steeped in the blues tradition yet also moved it on and worked in harmony with the guitar. Especially the rhythm playing. The other is technically proficient and, to my ears, so very cold and calculated as are most shredders or technical players. The ones I’ve previously mentioned plus the likes of Slash. All technically great players, but missing something. Groove, soul, whatever it is, it’s lacking in those players to my ear. I also am not a fan of much 80’s mainstream rock (except ZZ Topp).

There truly was a time before Eddie and a time when nothing would ever be the same…

Really? passed me completely by, that. Maybe back then you were into music that reflected the changes in the political and cultural landscape, or you were into party bands.

Jimi was an influence sure but you're overstating it. In fact I suggest that it faded rapidly from about 76. The music it inspired went out of fashion and the rock that remained in fashion had very little of Jimi's influence. Bands' influences often come to light when the court cases over plagiarism start. Saying Jimi is your inspiration is good for street cred, revealing your true influences financially risky. Let's face it saying Slade is your influence doesn't have the same ring, but if you listen to Play it Loud you'll have more success in identifying licks and riffs than Jimi's stuff. If you can play Dave Hill's licks you can play any Noel Gallagher solo. If you can play Nod's riffs you'll have no trouble with punk.

In fact the Jimi thing can be irritating to the point I avoid playing Jimi stuff even if I can, I don't play EVH stuff because I can't, it's beyond me, it uses techiniques I haven't mastered at a speed I can't reach. And there's too much going on, like that other great, Tommy Emmanuel or as someone once said, the greatest two guitarists (he forgot to add "and a drummer"). So I put EVH up there with Tommy Emmanuel, they both make Jimi sound pedestrian however much soul groove or whatever Jimi is supposed to have.

This is turning into a sad thread about someone who visibly enjoyed playing. if Jump doesn't make you smile this won't either, people who are really good don't have to take themselves seriously in front of their audiences:

Tommy Emmanuel having fun

I’m glad (for once 🤪) for a 🎷 nrider thread (what happened there?).

I really didn’t want to add a ‘well, I thought he was shite’ to the EVH tribute thread... 🤪,
I really don’t get him/them at all (and those tributes listed earlier, I ****ing detest them an all Garry Moore most of all I suspect). I’m inclined to the funkmasterp take, missing ‘soul’.

Maybe it’s because I lean towards minimalism but rawk just leaves me cold. I do like a bit of guitar (Lou Reed/Velvets, Neil Young, Hell I’ve even a clutch of Led Zepp, a couple of Hendrix, a Zz Top or two and a AC/DC album sumwhere...) but I honestly can’t think of anything I like even influenced by EVH... unless Rodriguez y Gabriella perhaps?

Jimi was an influence sure but you’re overstating it. In fact I suggest that it faded rapidly from about 76. The music it inspired went out of fashion and the rock that remained in fashion had very little of Jimi’s influence

Jack White, Dan Auberach, The Black Pumas, Frank Ocean, QOTSA, Clutch and a whole boat load of hip hop and R&B artist disagree with you. He’s heavily sampled still too. He’s stull inspiring to this day and not just his guitar playing. I’m not overstating anything. You’re simply looking at it from a narrow rock centric point of view. Far more wide reaching than 80’s cock rock will ever be.

It’s not about whether you can play it or not. Coming up with it in the first place is what counts. Not being able to play something isn’t a sign of how great it is and is quite a sad way to look at it. Im a pretty shitty bass player, but can play most of what a Larry Graham wrote. Has no bearing on the fact he was one of the best bass players of his (or any) generation. I don’t like Jump, it’s a ****ing irritating shit show of a dad rock song like pretty much all of 80’s mainstream rock.

If you don’t have groove you’ve turned music in to some sort of sad science experiment. Hence why Steve Vai and his ilk exist. It’s like somebody programmed a guitar robot. If that floats your boat that’s fine, but to say Hendrix influence died in 76 is just a tad silly. Van Halen, great technically proficient player. As an influence on music as a whole (not just rock) and culture in general. Infinitesimal in comparison.

You know how when The Matrix came out it seemed really amazing, then it spawned loads of imitators and became terribly cliched as a result? Yeah, that.

Can we all 'enjoy' this again though pls

I thoroughly recommend Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great" series on YouTube and he did Jump a year ago

Neil Young

The worst guitarist I've seen live by a country mile. 🙂
Just a few influentual guitarists:

The blues men, Johnson the Kings...
Scotty Moore
Eddy Cochrane
Chuck Berry,
James chicken pickin' Burton

All of those before Hendrix, when I watch Hendrix I see pre-existing techniques being refined, EVH was tapping and pulling off with both hands using finger and thumb on the right hand and sometimes timing it to a delay pedal - who did that before? Feel free to point out something Hendrix did no-one had ever done before other than setting fire to his guitar, I can't think of anything.

As per previous posts go read Crosstown Traffic and then come back. Nothing to say regarding his influence stopping in 76? You list some random blues players that came before and fail to mention that he took that genre and all the playing techniques somewhere new and nobody has expanded on that since. He spent years as a jobbing musician and watched and learned from it. He refined and reimagined the blues and became a musical and cultural icon.

Your arguments are making no sense. I’ve already said VH was a better technical player. Doesn’t mean he composed great songs that stand the test of time though. Jimi did and not just the guitar parts

Doesn’t mean he composed great songs that stand the test of time though

The proof you have that wrong is on Youtube, check out the number of hits on EVH's early work. 🙂 They have stood the test of time, that's why this thread exists. people still care 40 years on.

To finish I bet it would take about four seconds of googling to find a quote from Eddie siting Jimi as an influence. Argument pretty much ends there really.

EDIT: haha, quick edit! Guess you took those 4 seconds and realised you were totally wrong! 😉

And contrast with Hendrix streams, purchase, YouTube etc from 3 records. Factor in the other guy shuffled off the mortal coil about a week ago and it still doesn’t stack up. We could do this all night, we just disagree.

@funkmasterp how much would you be willing to bet, exactly?

Not much, that’s why I deleted that bit 😀 not being able to afford a wah pedal and saying he was too abstract is a compliment in my eyes. Influenced by Clapton who thought Jimi was the best thing since sliced bread though 😉

Who cares.
Cycling way back from fannying about with my JTV and my THR10 during the afternoon with a mate I wandered into my local before the evening rush, ended up throwing out a few really cliched bits and bobs in front of 4 or 5 people and a huge fire and am now out for a date on Saturday with a cute lady.
Let the rock flow!!!!
And its all down to Eddie, Jimi, Richie .... etc.
It always was about the shagging. Thats music.

They have stood the test of time, that’s why this thread exists. people still care 40 years on.

sounds terribly dated to me. The only people who care are middleaged men trying vainly to hold onto their youth and whos musical tastes are still defined by that long ago youth. 😉

You know how when The Matrix came out it seemed really amazing, then it spawned loads of imitators and became terribly cliched as a result? Yeah, that.

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