Hear Eddie Van Halen's Isolated Guitar from "Mean Street" and "Unchained"

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(Image credit: Richard E. Aaron/Getty Images)

It seems readers can't quite get enough of isolated Eddie Van Halen guitar tracks lately, and it's easy to see why.

It's simply hard to turn away from the "behind the scenes" perspective the crystal-clear recordings provide—plus it makes it a whole lot easier to hear (and learn) what Eddie's playing.

Today we bring you a pair of isolated guitar tracks from Van Halen's Fair Warning album, which was released in the spring of 1981. You can check out "Mean Street" and "Unchained" below.

While "Mean Street" has more trademark fire and flash, "Unchained" is notable for Eddie's use of the MXR M-117 flanger, which became a popular sound and spurred sales of the already popular pedal. A preset for the flanger also was included on the EVH Flanger MXR pedal. It uses a drop-C♯ tuning with suspended fourth chords interspersed.

Be sure to check out the isolated guitar from "Hot for Teacher." Enjoy!

Damian Fanelli
Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.