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Who do you like better Eddie or Randy?


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Hey guys during these crazy times and being home alot since I'm not gigging I've been listening to a ton of van halen ( both versions) and a alot of Ozzy with Randy . Both are legendary players. I do enjoy the van halen songs more and evh guitar playing more , but Randy's chops and playing is clean & perfect. Really dig his live sound , but not crazy about the sound he got on the two albums with Ozzy..  just like to hear your thoughts . Yes I know evh has changed the way people played the guitar technique ,style, tone  and great songs  .. I guess I'm more of a Eddie guy but I think it's because I always love the party songs of van Halen... 

 

Rob

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Eddie. For some reason Randy Rhoads never did anything for me. Great player, but no real interest here. Not sure why.

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Both... but EVH Due to the larger body of work. When Randy came out on Blizzard, he was seen as the ONLY RNR competition for EVH.

They are so different. I was just listening to Diary Of a Madman yesterday....Randy was awesome....and EVH was too....

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At the time I was 100% team Randy. EVH was impressive but the contrarian in me said he was cheating.  I still find Randy a more musical and more interesting player. If I could play like either it’s Randy all day. 

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EVH, personally.  I always loved Randy's playing, but would have loved to have heard more of it or listened to him grow as a player.  The Distortion+ tone was a lot cooler in 1981 than it sounds to me now, but he was a musical genius, for sure.

Ed's playing up through maybe "1984" was refreshing and exciting to me as a kid.  Listening to it now still brings back some of that...not sure if it's because of some sort of nostalgia or if it really IS that good.  Pretty sure it's that good.

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Eddie for solos and rythm playing. No one like him.

Randy for riffs. He is like the only neo classical type of guitarist that is bearable to listen to. But he cant touch Eddie, not even close.

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When I was learning how to play, it was Randy, for sure. Lead to lead, I preferred Randy. At the time, I didn’t appreciate the intricacies of Ed’s rhythm playing. Now, I listen to a lot more EVH. I agree about Randy’s tone not holding up thru the years. At least, nowhere near as much as Ed’s has...

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This question has lingered since the early 80's when both guitarists were approaching their respective zeniths. From my humble perspective, there is no liking one better. They were vastly different yet profoundly influential sides to the same rock n roll guitarist coin.  Eddie was awe-inspiring in his fret board and sonic innovation, combining mind-blowing rhythmic sensibility with show-stopping finesse and bombast. He made that shit look easy! And let's not forget Eddie's willingness to tinker and create his own unique gear- pickups, the FrankenStrat, etc.

Randy, on the other hand, struck me as the versatile and literate composer (though I didn't grasp this until years later). His compositions left little doubt that he had a more substantial musical knowledge base. He could effortlessly shift gears between classical pieces including haunting, evocative ballads and sturm und drang of epic, stadium metal and flat out bluesy, slide drenched raunch n roll. His incredible precision was evident in his triple tracking his solos in the studio- no mean feat by anyone's standards. IMO he laid the ground work for the neoclassical sub genre that sprang up years later, paving the way for Malmsteen, Gilbert, MacAlpine, Howe, Moore, Impellitteri, Fath, etc. But he also contributed to redefining guitar shapes in his development of the Jackson Concorde which begat the Jackson staple Randy Rhoads model.

The only similarities I find in their respective playing came from the fact that both tapped classical music aspects at some point in their playing. Eddie peppered classical bits likely gleaned from his classical piano training throughout Eruption and Randy used it more liberally in many of his songs and solos. Sure, there was also the mutual use of certain techniques, tapping and whammy bar antics but each gave it their own unique stamp and as such were never really aping the other. Naturally, Randy's premature death leaves us with a fairly narrow range of material with which to work. I share earlier expressed sentiments that I would love to have heard what he might have done had he lived.

In the end, both offer me enough distinctive and diverse quality material that I feel no need to assign either the 'top dog' designation.

 

 

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10 hours ago, iownit4 said:

Hey guys during these crazy times and being home alot since I'm not gigging I've been listening to a ton of van halen ( both versions) and a alot of Ozzy with Randy . Both are legendary players. I do enjoy the van halen songs more and evh guitar playing more , but Randy's chops and playing is clean & perfect. Really dig his live sound , but not crazy about the sound he got on the two albums with Ozzy..  just like to hear your thoughts . Yes I know evh has changed the way people played the guitar technique ,style, tone  and great songs  .. I guess I'm more of a Eddie guy but I think it's because I always love the party songs of van Halen... 

 

Rob

Eddie for me, and your assessment is pretty much what I would say.  Van Halen's songs were all over the map stylistically but all great IMHO whereas Randy's (Ozzy's) were a little more similar.  I also agree with you on Randy's tone.  I never liked his studio tone, but I appreciate its uniqueness more as I've gotten older.  One of those "you know it's him" things.

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4 hours ago, Disturber said:

Eddie for solos and rythm playing. No one like him.

Randy for riffs. He is like the only neo classical type of guitarist that is bearable to listen to. But he cant touch Eddie, not even close.

Hey, Yngwie can listen to himself for hours!

For me, at least the early stuff, Eddie was just hopping in his car and hitting the gas, where Randy mapped out his route.  To me the tone was great on both for different reasons.  Both were treble heavy.  I like the Diary tone better.  Seems like a lot of 80s players copied their tone from that album and Ratt.   I think each player in VH brought something to the table, where in Ozzy's band, Randy, Bob and Lee were the table and he stood on it.  I love the music, but I'd have loved to hear Randy play with a really good singer.  

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Great thoughts guys . Love everyone's opinions! I always love Eddie's attack or how he played with I guess cruel intentions.  My first guitar hero was Ace . Then my older brothers turned me on to vh & ozzy. I always loved Gibson les paul from Ace so I always had a soft spot for Randy's  white les paul custom..I've seen old pics of Eddie with a white les paul custom with a missing tune knob lol.. another killer player was jake e lee.. love his album with Badlands . 

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Both have iconic styles, compositions,  and techniques. I like Ed's body of work, (Randy's was tragically brief), hooks, and tone better. I didn't get into Ozzy when he first went solo l, therefore my appreciation for Blizzard and Diary came several years post mortem. In 2020, I still like Randy's work with Ozzy, but I like Jake E Lee's stuff equally well. Jake's tone killed Randy's, but that's not shocking, as Randy seemed to be more into composing than chasing tone. His solos virtually invented neoclassical metal.

EVH wins in the end because he got me excited about playing guitar 40 years ago and I still find those first six VH albums to be a rock guitar textbook.

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PhilX said it best a couple of weeks ago: swing!

For me, RR suffered the same fate as Slash: the front man killed it for me.  I was not an Ozzy fan in spite of the constant goading by my best friend.  In retrospect (like Slash), getting past the singing, the playing is spectacular.

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Exactly - I was getting ready to post that Eddie SWINGS.   There’s also a sense of fun/joy in his playing that is tough to explain...like he’s smiling the entire time.

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52 minutes ago, velorush said:

PhilX said it best a couple of weeks ago: swing!

For me, RR suffered the same fate as Slash: the front man killed it for me.  I was not an Ozzy fan in spite of the constant goading by my best friend.  In retrospect (like Slash), getting past the singing, the playing is spectacular.

LOVED that video when it came out. Phil X has taken up many hours of my time spent on YouTube...

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1 hour ago, cmatthes said:

Exactly - I was getting ready to post that Eddie SWINGS.   There’s also a sense of fun/joy in his playing that is tough to explain...like he’s smiling the entire time.

This.  Randy was a monster player but there is just more range to Eddie for me.

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I enjoy both their playing for different reasons.

I kinda have a very small connection to both players.

I have guitar picks from both guitarists when I got to see them locally.

I found the Van Halen pic on the floor when the hall cleared out the night I saw them late 1978.

Randy personally handed me the only guitar pick he gave out the whole night after the encore.

I was in the front row right in of him, and I'm pretty sure he remembered meeting us earlier in the day.

The Ozzy concert took place Feb. 21 1982, which was 26 days before he died on March 19 1982

Here's the set list they played that night.

 

 

I know this thread is about who's playing I like better, but I just wanted to  share this.

This is probably because of my ADHD.

The Van Halen pick is obvious,and the Randy pick is  the Fender Medium in the plastic bag.

24920025387_0ec5a10002_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Texsunburst59 said:

I enjoy both their playing for different reasons.

I kinda have a very small connection to both players.

I have guitar picks from both guitarists when I got to see them locally.

I found the Van Halen pic on the floor when the hall cleared out the night I saw them late 1978.

Randy personally handed me the only guitar pick he gave out the whole night after the encore.

I was in the front row right in of him, and I'm pretty sure he remembered meeting us earlier in the day.

The Ozzy concert took place Feb. 21 1982, which was 26 days before he died on March 19 1982

Here's the set list they played that night.

 

 

I know this thread is about who's playing I like better, but I just wanted to  share this.

This is probably because of my ADHD.

The Van Halen pick is obvious,and the Randy pick is  the Fender Medium in the plastic bag.

24920025387_0ec5a10002_b.jpg

 

 

 

 

My pick from Eddie has his signature on one side and something about a donkey on the other...

 

yngwie is the only other player I’ve got a personal pick from...

 

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I love them both, but Eddie's tone and command of the Rhythm/Lead style is just incredible. Such musicality even in single notes.

I wonder how Randy would have changed over the years regarding his tone and playing. I like his tone, but never really loved it. Too grainy and distorted. But that's how he liked it.

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On 6/13/2020 at 4:34 AM, iownit4 said:

Hey guys during these crazy times and being home alot since I'm not gigging I've been listening to a ton of van halen

Interestingly, I came to the same idea. Somehow I never bought the 1984 record, but have all other Roth phase and almost all of the Roth solo stuff. I have always liked the swinging and jazz touch to it. Just as @cmatthes wrote. Today my listening experience is non of what it was at the times. The other day I listened to all records straight and was deeply impressed on the musicianship and depth of the songs. The compositions are fantastic. Especially, not only those pulled out as a single. Sounds appeared very organic and excellently mixed. The engineers deserve much more presence in the press though. Overall, there is nothing like Van Halen. The Sammy Hagar phase certainly had lost the swing. Roth and Vai in a similar way were special too. Vai on the same level like Eddie, but clearly improved or grew over the decades.

ETA. I have no idea about Randy, however.

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