Eddie Van Halen ushered in an electric guitar revolution through his innovative and trailblazing playing style – but there was a lot more to his approach than just tapping acrobatics and dive-bombing fretboard theatrics.
While this is an observation that is widely held by EVH fans of today, Pat Travers – the rock guitar virtuoso who was around when Van Halen was at the peak of his powers in the 1980s – has discussed how this was often overlooked by Eddie’s peers.
Speaking a new interview with Guitar World, Travers was asked about how Van Halen impacted his own approach to playing and the wider guitar scene.
In response, he recalled how Eddie’s playing gave way to an army of “cartoon” impersonators, who all thought Van Halen’s style was exclusively made up of wild and flashy soloing. This, of course, wasn’t the case.
“I realized pretty quickly that Ed Van Halen was a lot more than his tapping solo – a whole lot more,” he says. “His rhythm, his chord choices, his voicings – there was such melodic value to everything he played.
“Sure, he had the whole tapping and dive-bombing thing going on, but he didn’t do that in every song. It was like an effect, but it was very effective.
“Unfortunately, all the other guitar players in L.A. thought it was all tapping and dive bombs, and they became cartoon versions of Eddie.”
Travers’ sentiments concerning cartoon copies of Van Halen are shared by Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, who recently discussed how his father “kind of ruined” the 1980s guitar scene.
“In a way, Dad kind of ruined the musical landscape, because instead of everybody wanting to find out who they are, they wanted to be that,” Wolfgang said of Van Halen’s guitar chops. “People focus on the guitar playing, but, overall, it was the fact that Dad is a great songwriter.”
Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features the full interview with Pat Travers.
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