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Who do you like better Eddie or Randy?


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EVH has this spicy, “shuffley“ way of playing which is just contagious. “I’m the One” and “Hot for Teacher” are good examples —those songs always put a grin on my face. His style is all about spark. Wild player! And his tone is good too, it has a lot of presence.

RR is more discrete and I never liked his tone. He does have this elegance in his style which is hard to match. He’s also musically schooled and it shows. His phrasing is unique, he goes to interesting places while still rocking. It’s just sad he left us too soon.

Both players are influential, but I think EVH had a bigger impact than RR. So, I guess I would go with EVH, though I do like both —and perhaps even listen more to RR than to EVH. 

 

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I respect them both as top-tier technicians, and wish I could play ANYTHING with RR's precision, but it was always EVH for me. His feel (or "swing"), combined with timeless benchmark tone (The Brown Soun') and those anthemic songs... Van Halen was fun and heavy, while Ozzy was just heavy - I'd walk away from watching Randy just saying "That dude's amazing! Wow," while I'd have a huge grin on my face after Panama or HFT...

That said, my first song was 316 (easy beginner fingerstyle on my dad's 60s Harmony nylon stringer), but my first metal song (or at least the first one I could play most of, minus solo) once I got an electric, was Crazy Train. I love em both, but differently. Listening to Randy, I pay attention like I do when I listen to Segovia. When classic VH comes on, I wanna turn it up, rock out, then reach for a guitar and make some noise of my own!

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EVH - the swing - of course, but this amazing melodic vocabulary that was equally happy and sad - sacred and irreverent... Eddie could really speak back in the day before he devolved into elephant and horse noise nonsense.... he actually spoke through music in a very very existentially profound way. But it wasn't just melody - he had that same expressiveness in him rhythmic shuffle - his music "danced".... it was lightness - it was so many many things and colours.... 

Randy was a great player - but he never spoke to me with a vocabulary that felt like it came from his soul. It came more from his chops - and his technical approach to music. NO doubt Randy would have had more to say ---- he was evolving as an artist - but Ed had something amazing - and from say Fair Warning through to 1984 Ed was at his creative peak. Play Dirty Movie, Secrets, and House of Pain back to back..... Completely untouchable.

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I just got the Ted Templeman biography.  Often when I get a new book, I'll look for a section that I'm really interested in and read a little bit of it to decide where to place the book in my "to be read" pile.  In this case, I found the part where Templeman meets/starts working with VH.  He has a lot of praise for the band, especially Eddie.  He said he would suggest changes to songs and Eddie would listen to whatever he said and either nail it or make it even better.  Same with DLR, but he and Donn Landee both were very worried about DLR being in the band because of his vocal limitations.  The more he got to know him, the more he felt he was the right guy to be there, and he mentions the screams that Dave was capable of that he had never heard before.  Very interesting - can't wait to get into it.

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I probably have nothing useful to add, but me being me, I still will.

Y'all have already covered most of the things I wanted to say.

A thought experiment: what if EVH had never made it big?  What if Randy Rhoads had never made it big?

EVH brought us the Brown Sound, popularized tapping, did the volume swells thing. From my perspective, he's the one who made it safe to *really* use the tremolo.  Sure, Floyd Rose made it accessible to the masses, but Eddie made people *want* it to be accessible to the masses.  But that's my perspective, it might not be correct.

Hair metal wouldn't have happened without EVH. We wouldn't have a whole class/range of amps without him (all the modelers include a 5150-style Brown Sound Amp, no?).  If we didn't have Randy Rhoads, maybe Ozzy Osbourne would have sank into obscurity, rather than being a vehicle for introducing great guitarists to us. But that's about it. Neoclassical approaches to soloing would have still happened. Randy helped it along, but he didn't invent it, and wasn't the sole reason it became popular in the mid-80s.

It just seemed like even tho Eddie had been on the scene since '78 and was clearly an influential guitarist and a rock icon, but it seemed like his influence just hit all at once around  1982 or 1983, when hair metal hit and I was in my early teens and suddenly caring about muscular guitar chops.  It seemed like all of sudden, EVERYONE was tapping. Suddenly there was Jeff Watson, Jennifer Batten, and Steve Lynch, all EVH style.  And Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, using EVH style whammy bar. EVH was the greatest, but there was some debate whether Akira Takasaki was as good. All through Circus and Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Guitar Player and Guitar World, EVH was the best, and then there was everyone else.  Randy Rhoads was in the Everyone Else, of course, but didn't stand out. Just one of the others.

(incidentally, this is why I often exclude Neil Giraldo and Brian May from being "guitar heroes", because the Hair Metal lead guitar left an indelible impression on the Guitar God Pantheon for me)

But later one, after I actually learned to play guitar and started studying songs, I went back to study "Van Halen" and to try and learn it.  And there really weren't any songs like what EVH did throughout that whole album. 

If Van Halen hadn't been made then, and it came out now, it would probably just as innovative and influential.

The songs themselves are just on a different level.  Most hard rock and hair metal and and other kinds of metal use power chords all over the place. Eddie uses the actual chords, uses them differently than most other hard rock, but still sounds really heavy.  And then all the fills. It seems amazing that he fills both lead and rhythm with just one guitar. He knows where he can go off on his own, when he has to come back and hit rhythm part.  There is no one else who fills up a song with little fills and flourishes like EVH. Or if you know of someone, let me know.

All that being said, for Ozzy guitarists, I think Jake E. Lee might actually be better than Randy Rhoads.  He did some great stuff on his two albums, had a different approach to guitar playing than most guitarists. Loved his stuff, and it still holds up well for me today.

And my other two favorite guitarists, whom I actually personally like more than EVH (maybe because of the band as a whole?) are Dann Huff in his Giant days (he doesn't have EVH-level of swing, maybe, but he *swings* on the Last of the Runaways album, and he's got great licks and fills throughout, too....just not as innovative as EVH's stuff from "Van Halen" to "1984"), and Akira Takasaki on Loudness' "Thunder in the East" and "Lightning Strikes", where his approach to songs and solos seem every bit as innovative as anything from Eddie.

But that's the thing.  Every other band/guitarist I like has a pretty narrow range of good albums. Loudness has 2 good albums, and a few other "meh", and a bunch of steaming crap. Giant has 2.5 ("III" has some good tracks, and some not-so-good tracks). Maybe Night Ranger comes the closest, with 4 listenable (to me) albums (Dawn Patrol, Midnight Madness, 7 Wishes, and Big Life). Ratt had two, but I don't find them as listenable anymore. Jake E. Lee had only two with Ozzy, and I've never been able to get into anything else he's done (tho to be fair, I haven't persisted with either Badlands or Red Dragon Cartel.

But EVH was innovative and amazing, and still seems refreshing, innovative, and different from Van Halen through 1984. Other guitarists are influential. Other guitarists have a few good albums.  Eddie had SIX IN A ROW where he was constantly pushing the envelope, innovating new approaches, doing stuff other guitarists couldn't do (yet), and just generally making you wonder: How did/does he *do* that???

That being said, by the time Van Hagar was a thing, it seemed like the creativity had dried up. there are still some good songs after "1984", but I saw concert footage with Sammy, and it seemed like every single solo by EVH was the same: a little tweedling, then the double stop move up the neck, then hammering on into a trem dip, and back to the song.  There are good songs and moments, but they don't grab me.  "Finish What Ya Started", for instance: great lick and feel, and then it never really goes anywhere. Really repetitive when you try to learn it.

 

Okay, now tell me where I'm wrong and who I've slighted with my opinions.

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1 hour ago, tommy p said:

I just got the Ted Templeman biography.  Often when I get a new book, I'll look for a section that I'm really interested in and read a little bit of it to decide where to place the book in my "to be read" pile.  In this case, I found the part where Templeman meets/starts working with VH.  He has a lot of praise for the band, especially Eddie.  He said he would suggest changes to songs and Eddie would listen to whatever he said and either nail it or make it even better.  Same with DLR, but he and Donn Landee both were very worried about DLR being in the band because of his vocal limitations.  The more he got to know him, the more he felt he was the right guy to be there, and he mentions the screams that Dave was capable of that he had never heard before.  Very interesting - can't wait to get into it.

Great book I bought the auto book version . This beginning of the book his childhood is a little slow but once he gets into the doobie brothers & vh the book is great . Not much substance on Michael Anthony but alot of great info on the engineering and how great Dave & Eddie & ted worked together until 1984..highly recommended book . Also Running with the Devil ..noel monk story is the best vh book I read yet!!

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1 hour ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

I probably have nothing useful to add, but me being me, I still will.

Y'all have already covered most of the things I wanted to say.

A thought experiment: what if EVH had never made it big?  What if Randy Rhoads had never made it big?

EVH brought us the Brown Sound, popularized tapping, did the volume swells thing. From my perspective, he's the one who made it safe to *really* use the tremolo.  Sure, Floyd Rose made it accessible to the masses, but Eddie made people *want* it to be accessible to the masses.  But that's my perspective, it might not be correct.

Hair metal wouldn't have happened without EVH. We wouldn't have a whole class/range of amps without him (all the modelers include a 5150-style Brown Sound Amp, no?).  If we didn't have Randy Rhoads, maybe Ozzy Osbourne would have sank into obscurity, rather than being a vehicle for introducing great guitarists to us. But that's about it. Neoclassical approaches to soloing would have still happened. Randy helped it along, but he didn't invent it, and wasn't the sole reason it became popular in the mid-80s.

It just seemed like even tho Eddie had been on the scene since '78 and was clearly an influential guitarist and a rock icon, but it seemed like his influence just hit all at once around  1982 or 1983, when hair metal hit and I was in my early teens and suddenly caring about muscular guitar chops.  It seemed like all of sudden, EVERYONE was tapping. Suddenly there was Jeff Watson, Jennifer Batten, and Steve Lynch, all EVH style.  And Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, using EVH style whammy bar. EVH was the greatest, but there was some debate whether Akira Takasaki was as good. All through Circus and Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Guitar Player and Guitar World, EVH was the best, and then there was everyone else.  Randy Rhoads was in the Everyone Else, of course, but didn't stand out. Just one of the others.

(incidentally, this is why I often exclude Neil Giraldo and Brian May from being "guitar heroes", because the Hair Metal lead guitar left an indelible impression on the Guitar God Pantheon for me)

But later one, after I actually learned to play guitar and started studying songs, I went back to study "Van Halen" and to try and learn it.  And there really weren't any songs like what EVH did throughout that whole album. 

If Van Halen hadn't been made then, and it came out now, it would probably just as innovative and influential.

The songs themselves are just on a different level.  Most hard rock and hair metal and and other kinds of metal use power chords all over the place. Eddie uses the actual chords, uses them differently than most other hard rock, but still sounds really heavy.  And then all the fills. It seems amazing that he fills both lead and rhythm with just one guitar. He knows where he can go off on his own, when he has to come back and hit rhythm part.  There is no one else who fills up a song with little fills and flourishes like EVH. Or if you know of someone, let me know.

All that being said, for Ozzy guitarists, I think Jake E. Lee might actually be better than Randy Rhoads.  He did some great stuff on his two albums, had a different approach to guitar playing than most guitarists. Loved his stuff, and it still holds up well for me today.

And my other two favorite guitarists, whom I actually personally like more than EVH (maybe because of the band as a whole?) are Dann Huff in his Giant days (he doesn't have EVH-level of swing, maybe, but he *swings* on the Last of the Runaways album, and he's got great licks and fills throughout, too....just not as innovative as EVH's stuff from "Van Halen" to "1984"), and Akira Takasaki on Loudness' "Thunder in the East" and "Lightning Strikes", where his approach to songs and solos seem every bit as innovative as anything from Eddie.

But that's the thing.  Every other band/guitarist I like has a pretty narrow range of good albums. Loudness has 2 good albums, and a few other "meh", and a bunch of steaming crap. Giant has 2.5 ("III" has some good tracks, and some not-so-good tracks). Maybe Night Ranger comes the closest, with 4 listenable (to me) albums (Dawn Patrol, Midnight Madness, 7 Wishes, and Big Life). Ratt had two, but I don't find them as listenable anymore. Jake E. Lee had only two with Ozzy, and I've never been able to get into anything else he's done (tho to be fair, I haven't persisted with either Badlands or Red Dragon Cartel.

But EVH was innovative and amazing, and still seems refreshing, innovative, and different from Van Halen through 1984. Other guitarists are influential. Other guitarists have a few good albums.  Eddie had SIX IN A ROW where he was constantly pushing the envelope, innovating new approaches, doing stuff other guitarists couldn't do (yet), and just generally making you wonder: How did/does he *do* that???

That being said, by the time Van Hagar was a thing, it seemed like the creativity had dried up. there are still some good songs after "1984", but I saw concert footage with Sammy, and it seemed like every single solo by EVH was the same: a little tweedling, then the double stop move up the neck, then hammering on into a trem dip, and back to the song.  There are good songs and moments, but they don't grab me.  "Finish What Ya Started", for instance: great lick and feel, and then it never really goes anywhere. Really repetitive when you try to learn it.

 

Okay, now tell me where I'm wrong and who I've slighted with my opinions.

Man perfectly said and well written.. I agree with mostly everything you said . I do think some of the van hagar stuff is really good as well but they kinda miss that  heavy dark mean street types of songs with sammy!! The more I listen too vintage vh the I appreciate how clever a witty Dave's lyrics were.. I also cant agree with you more about Jake e lee . Lol I was arguing with my buddy about the fact that I enjoy Jake's playing in Ozzy & badlands more  then I do RR. I also heard a interview of Jake e lee on youtube  talking about how he didn't think he would get the Ozzy gig because he was from the Eddie cloth or school   type of southern California guitar playing.  Later in the interview or maybe another interview he did with Eddie trunk jake said one  of his big highlights in his career was playing the US festival . He was nervous and hit some clunkers because he said Eddie was on the side of the stage watching him lol. Eddie told him he did a great job... I would of been scared shit ..lol  I also loved Vito bratta & nuno too which are definitely in Ed's style.. I definitely enjoyed everybodies take . Especially the line that was said Eddie's playing is like he jumps in a car and just hits the gas & Randy is he maps out his route ..lol very true and cool as hell...

Rob

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Nathan,

You had a lot of good points, good post! 

Good post Nathan! I agree with a lot of it but where I differ is in Jake's playing, I was the opposite; I didn't care for his Ozzy stuff much but really dug his Badlands stuff! To be fair, I didn't care for Ozzy's music as much after Rhodes until Zack came on board, especially the No More Tears album. Some of Ozzy's songs I can barely stand because to me they simply were not that good on a technical songwriter type basis - just album filler. Whereas Queen covered sooo much ground stylistically that even some of the newer stuff I could still appreciate even if it wasn't rocking enough for me but just because the quality of it was just so high. Ozzy is talented for the narrow niche of what he does but it's always been the superstars around him to make it all work. Everyone in Queen was a superstar. Having said that, that's why it was probably the perfect gig for RR so that he could really shine with his musical ability. 

I loved RR's playing and was really inspired when he came along, but to be honest I didn't like the albums at first. At the time it was about the heaviest stuff I'd been exposed to and it took awhile for my ears to get use to the sometimes dissonant sounds. But, when I did he quickly became a favorite of mine. I recently learned Diary of a Madman on guitar and everything from the acoustic parts, to the rocking electric work to the unusual solo is incredible! I never dove in that deep to his music before and actually learned a lot from just learning that one song of his. I regret that we didn't get to see where his talents would have led him. I think it may have been more of an eclectic solo artist like Vai and he may not have made as much money as with Ozzy (unless Sharon screwed him over too!) or other avenues he could have pursued but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have mattered to him. He, more than about any other guitarist in the rock world, was really more about the music than any of the surrounding stuff.

As much as I admired RR my vote would have to go to EVH. As much as I loved his lead playing it was always his chord work and riffs that drew me in. They could be hard but usually seemed to have a certain pop accessibility that was instrumental to their success. You got it right on his fills and being the perfect one man guitar in a band player. Listening to their songs can be done on so many levels. On just a cool laid back summertime feeling popish type song level, the technical solo level or even just waiting for all the little fills in between guitar chords level. I never really cared for all the tapping stuff as much as most people. Well, I guess I did at the time as I bought that Steve Lynch book on tapping back then! But, overall, even as a beginner, it was pretty easy to sound pretty impressive doing that, but it just seemed boring to me; like a magic trick you already knew the secret to. My other buddies would be like Whoa, he's playing a million notes! And, I'd be like, Meh, did you hear the last 3 notes he played between the last two verse lines? 

Sometimes during his concert solos I honestly get a little bored as I hear so many of the same Eddie-isms I'm use to by now, but then again, 40 years of listening to the same thing can do that to a person. I thought even on their last album he added an extra spark, especially in the solos, on some of those old songs that didn't make the albums back in the day. He's still such a great player in all areas. As you mentioned he didn't get into the regular power chord stuff like most guys but he added arpeggios, fills and such to his riffs instead. He was so inventive. And, he worked the guitar volume to full advantage and played cleaner than most anyone who followed him. 

Akira is a monster but it was very obvious who his main influence was on those albums. Even though it was sometimes, to me, too derivative especially on the song structure, chords etc. He really shines as a lead player. And, I listened to those Loudness albums back then as much or more than VH as I felt they were going too soft.

 
Sorry, for the word vomit guys! One thing I'm not is concise!😃🤣
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1 hour ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

It just seemed like even tho Eddie had been on the scene since '78 and was clearly an influential guitarist and a rock icon, but it seemed like his influence just hit all at once around  1982 or 1983, when hair metal hit and I was in my early teens and suddenly caring about muscular guitar chops.

I was 22 when Van Halen was released. Every guitar player I knew was talking about that album (mouth agape and drooling, as guitarists often are). The impact and influence was immediate.

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16 minutes ago, killerteddybear said:

I was 22 when Van Halen was released. Every guitar player I knew was talking about that album (mouth agape and drooling, as guitarists often are). The impact and influence was immediate.

No, I know he was an immediate impact and influence.  I wasn't trying to say he didn't immediately blow people away.

 

But it just seemed like around 1983 or 1984, there were suddenly a bunch of tapping and whammy bar specialists, like just all of a sudden, everyone wanted to be Eddie, and there were finally new guitarists influenced by him hitting the scene, rather than his contemporaries still putting out albums.

It's like it took a few years for everyone freaked out about "Van Halen" and "Van Halen II" to work through the years in their basement, join/form a band, build a following, and get a record contract before they just all started hitting the airwaves at once.

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The only reason I said that was because I *was* just becoming aware of the rock scene, buying/reading magazines.  Before that, I just listened to the radio or the albums my older siblings had.

So it might have been going on since 1979, but I wasn't aware of it because I wasn't reading the rock industry magazines.

I included that because I *am* asking for someone with an older perspective to correct me if I'm wrong, because I can't separate out my own personal perspective.

 

But I *wasn't* trying to say he wasn't influential from Day 1. Just that it seemed to take some time for his influence to fully hit the industry, and when it hit, it hit like a tidal wave.

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1 hour ago, iownit4 said:

Man perfectly said and well written.. I agree with mostly everything you said . I do think some of the van hagar stuff is really good as well but they kinda miss that  heavy dark mean street types of songs with sammy!! The more I listen too vintage vh the I appreciate how clever a witty Dave's lyrics were.. I also cant agree with you more about Jake e lee . Lol I was arguing with my buddy about the fact that I enjoy Jake's playing in Ozzy & badlands more  then I do RR. I also heard a interview of Jake e lee on youtube  talking about how he didn't think he would get the Ozzy gig because he was from the Eddie cloth or school   type of southern California guitar playing.  Later in the interview or maybe another interview he did with Eddie trunk jake said one  of his big highlights in his career was playing the US festival . He was nervous and hit some clunkers because he said Eddie was on the side of the stage watching him lol. Eddie told him he did a great job... I would of been scared shit ..lol  I also loved Vito bratta & nuno too which are definitely in Ed's style.. I definitely enjoyed everybodies take . Especially the line that was said Eddie's playing is like he jumps in a car and just hits the gas & Randy is he maps out his route ..lol very true and cool as hell...

Rob

pulled up 3 Badlands albums and gonna listen to them all at least 3 times through.  Gonna persist this time.

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1 hour ago, killerteddybear said:

I was 22 when Van Halen was released. Every guitar player I knew was talking about that album (mouth agape and drooling, as guitarists often are). The impact and influence was immediate.

My thought, as well. I was quite a bit younger than you were in 1978, but by the time I really became smitten with guitars, guitar playing, and gear and such, Fair Warning was out and even people who knew nothing about guitar were aware of who EVH or "Van Halen" was and his status as the guitar god.

2 hours ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

All that being said, for Ozzy guitarists, I think Jake E. Lee might actually be better than Randy Rhoads.  He did some great stuff on his two albums, had a different approach to guitar playing than most guitarists. Loved his stuff, and it still holds up well for me today.

I agree. Perhaps it's not a popular sentiment, but I found Jake's playing much more interesting than Randy's, even though Randy was a bit different from the norm in 1979. In contrast to Randy's Crate-G10-sounding-buzzsaw, Jake's tone was very much in the goosed Marshall camp and immediately identifiable.  It just roared.

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2 hours ago, iownit4 said:

Great book I bought the auto book version . This beginning of the book his childhood is a little slow but once he gets into the doobie brothers & vh the book is great . Not much substance on Michael Anthony but alot of great info on the engineering and how great Dave & Eddie & ted worked together until 1984..highly recommended book . Also Running with the Devil ..noel monk story is the best vh book I read yet!!

Yep, I read that one too.

 

42 minutes ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

pulled up 3 Badlands albums and gonna listen to them all at least 3 times through.  Gonna persist this time.

Just listen to the first one 9 times.  The other two are good, but the first one is great IMHO.

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2 hours ago, tommy p said:

Yep, I read that one too.

 

Just listen to the first one 9 times.  The other two are good, but the first one is great IMHO.

Lol I agree the first Badlands album is really good... vocals are great !! Jake is killer on that album.  Of cause eric singer is a monster drummer..

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7 hours ago, tommy p said:

Yep, I read that one too.

 

Just listen to the first one 9 times.  The other two are good, but the first one is great IMHO.

Yeah, that first one is great start to finish.  The others have good songs, but are not as consistent.  

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On 6/16/2020 at 3:06 PM, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

That being said, by the time Van Hagar was a thing, it seemed like the creativity had dried up.

I’m fully following you here and to add that DLR obviously had a clear influence and push to what brought up VH to that influential level it had until 1984.

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I became a VH fan after hearing the flamenco intro to Little Guitars, after which I took up guitar a year or two later (I was around 19 or so). So like a lot if other guys from that era, Ed was just the man and I never looked back. Nowadays, I recognize there are a lot more technically proficient players (heck, you can find dozens of five year old Asian girls who probably have more technical skill, even though they play like soulless robots). But sheer technical proficiency isn't what makes Ed great. Anyone can learn technique in a lot of creative fields. The true talent is in the mind, and that's where Ed excelled. He really is an inimitable innovator. And while I like listening to classical music, I tend to hate classic-music based rock guitar because rock and roll is, at heart, a blues based music genre, and Ed always had an underlying blues-based sensibility that comes through in his bendy, slinky, strange-phrasing playing style. And as others have said, his boogie and rhythm playing has a phenomenal groove. Finally, I don't know if Ed just picks hard while muting or what, but his pick attack has a very percussive, staccato feel that I love. Even his legato runs feel very percussive. 

 

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1 hour ago, FGJ said:

Finally, I don't know if Ed just picks hard while muting or what, but his pick attack has a very percussive, staccato feel that I love. Even his legato runs feel very percussive. 

Right on the nose. Beyond the, “right”, gear/FX, that’s the key to the EVH sound. The way he attacks the string, the dynamics. Many can play the notes, few can duplicate the feel. 

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EVH for me too. His rhythm riffs are so funky and soulful. His leads are so slippery and elastic. The music is timeless, and takes me right back to being 16 & driving to pick up a hot girl for a date!

RR was great too, too bad he only got to do 2 "real" albums, both somewhat rushed production wise. Imagine if he had lived, & expanded his music. Yes, he was headed towards classical guitar when he passed, but perhaps he would have returned to rock, or maybe fusion? We'll never know, and that's tragic. Diary Of A Madman is such an epic musical statement, tremendous.

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Randy is great, and he has some killer solos.  His place in the pantheon of shred is legit and deserved.  But I get what he's doing; I really always have.  There are not really a whole lot of Randy licks that make me go, "What in the hell is he even doing?"  

Eddie - still blows my mind.  That stuff from VHI to 1984 is just so exciting.  It's like aural version to me of watching skateboarder or gymnast doing something that should defy physics and physiology yet somehow sticking the landing.  You're hanging on for dear life wondering what in the fuck is going on, yet it's all perfect for what's going down.  It's magic to me. 

I love RR because I love hearing a virtuoso at work, but to me, he sounds like someone playing an instrument really well.  And I'm not knocking that - I can't just sit down and play Randy's stuff without a lot of practice even now.  Most of us would love to be known as "just" a virtuoso.  But Eddie sounds like he's conjuring notes right out of the ether at the speed of thought with less effort than it takes me to talk.  He had this thing where it really seemed like he could make a guitar do absolutely anything at any time, including a bazillion things you never even considered a guitar doing.  It's still exciting 40+ years later.   Hell, I was born in 79, and though I can clear as day remember loving Van Halen when I was four years old - nothing on Earth was more disappointing to a young Jason than spending 30 minutes listening to the radio after the DJ said "Jump" was coming up in the next hour only to find out something called a Pointer Sisters had a song called "Jump too - I can't imagine what it must have been like hearing all this stuff fresh as a teenager as it was happening. 
 

 

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On 6/19/2020 at 12:35 AM, LucSulla said:

I can't imagine what it must have been like hearing all this stuff fresh as a teenager as it was happening.

For me, that experience was not what you would think...

I was 13 when VH I was released in Feb 1978.  A friend of mine got that album for Christmas so it had been out nearly a year before I heard the whole thing.  I remember distinctly listening to it at his house and thinking "WTF is this garbage???"  I HATED it.  I didn't have a clue what instrument was playing in Eruption during the tapping part.  I thought it might be some kind of synthesizer.  This was years before I started playing guitar.  The only song I had heard prior to that was You Really Got Me which I remember my brother turning up when I was riding with him somewhere in his car one day in the summer.  I remember not liking it then either.

Then in early '79, Dance the Night Away came out and I liked that.  I didn't put together that this was the same band that I hated, so VH II became the first "real" album I ever bought around my birthday in April.  Everybody probably remembers the first "real" album they bought as being something special, and I loved VH II and wore it out.  I was blown away by the intro and dark take on You're No Good, of course Dance the Night Away, and Light Up the Sky became an early favorite too.  Everything else was just as good and I was pretty much hooked after that.  I remember getting each new VH ASAP after release after that so I wised up pretty quick.

1978 or '79 was also the first time I heard AC/DC in friend's car on 8-track!  The album was Let There Be Rock and THAT had an immediate impact.  I loved them from the first second I heard them and nothings changed in 40+ years.  I would guess that LTBR and Highway to Hell were in the next few albums I bought after VH II.

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1 minute ago, tommy p said:

For me, that experience was not what you would think...

I was 13 when VH I was released in Feb 1978.  A friend of mine got that album for Christmas so it had been out nearly a year before I heard the whole thing.  I remember distinctly listening to it at his house and thinking "WTF is this garbage???"  I HATED it.  I didn't have a clue what instrument was playing in Eruption during the tapping part.  I thought it might be some kind of synthesizer.  This was years before I started playing guitar.  The only song I had heard prior to that was You Really Got Me which I remember my brother turning up when I was riding with him somewhere in his car one day in the summer.  I remember not liking it then either.

Then in early '79, Dance the Night Away came out.  I didn't put together that this was the same band that I hated, so VH II became the first "real" album I ever bought around my birthday in April.  Probably because it was my first album and "special", I loved VH II.  I was blown away by the dark take on You're No Good, and Light Up the Sky was an early favorite too.  I was pretty much hooked after that.  I remember getting each new VH ASAP after release after that so I wised up pretty quick.

1978 or '79 was also the first time I heard AC/DC in friend's car on 8-track!  The album was Let There Be Rock and THAT had an immediate impact.  I loved them from the first second I heard them and nothings changed in 40+ years.  I would guess that LTBR and Highway to Hell were in the next few albums I bought after VH II.

My first album was Asia by Asia.

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4 hours ago, Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame said:

My first album was Asia by Asia.

I was born in '78, so my first LP and cassette were "Thriller" - Does Eddie's solo on "Beat It" get me a pass? 😆

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