VAN HALEN NEWS DESK

Audio from 1974: Earliest circulated recording of Eddie Van Halen playing guitar

January 29, 2010 81 Comments

This is the earliest know recording of Eddie Van Halen playing guitar. He is basically noodling and working out ideas. Recorded at home (in his parent’s house) in 1974, when he was only 19 years old! The genesis of “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” and other great ideas.

The guitar playing ends at 7:16, and then you can hear a short recording of David, Eddie and Michael hanging out in a hotel talking to one or more girls.

Filed Under: Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen

JohnnyH

That was totally awsome!!! That’s history in the making right there. Thanx for putting this up.
JoePhishVH

wow…is this REALLY Ed? hmmm,…..wow, if so, a great find……who got this and how’d ya get it??? VH lives!
Atomic Pete

Not to split hairs here but, if Eddie was 21 when
VH1 was recorded in 1977 ( released in ’78) wouldn’t
he be only 18?

I think I hear a bit of the “Act Like It Hurts” rythmn.
Thanks for posting this!!
swingin’ sinner

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!
kenny

where is all this stuff coming from? i thought ED had the clamp on all this bootleg stuff out there?? hmmm.. well maybe he’s so involved in writing a NEW album that he doesn’t care anymore.! we could only wish and dream. =)
http://vhnd wilfred

Thats Cabo Wabo right there at the very beginning!,,my God!!!
Mark

Wolfgang is sneaking into 5150 at night and stealing tapes.
Mike V.

Is this the sinister work of Wolfgang Van Halen?
Rich

Ed was born in 1955, so he would be 19 by 1974.

This is great stuff, I love the old pre-VH1 stuff. Ed was still tone chasing, interesting to hear the riffs he came out with.
dude

It’s like opening a time capsule. Very cool.
little big toe

The online trading community has all the VH stuff (and more) you could ever dream of. No, EVH does not have this stuff under lock and key, and no this is not the sinister work of WVH- it has been available for quite some time. “Complete Zero”, “Golden West Ballroom”, “Gazzari’s Dance Contest”, “The Nightmare Before Halloween”, the 1978 U.K. soundboards and MANY more are are in circulation. Not to mention in their most pristine formats.
seebro

Around the 6 minute mark is most certainly the beginnings of “OUTA LOVE AGAIN”
Junglestud

if this is truely circa ’74, its nice to hear a little “somebody get me a doctor” riff sprinkled in this tape. very nice.
Keith

interesting for sure … the video for the conversations part would be priceless
PJ

LOVE that riff Eddie is playing at the beginning!! You can just feel the energy comin’ from that kid! They should use some of this old material for the new album…People would be blown away!
http://www.myspace.com/casinosundae Bobby

Yeah great point PJ. I always thought VH should re tool some of the old unreleased material for a new album. Cuts like “Babe Don’t Leave Me Alone” “Let’s Get Rockin” “Down in Flames” “Believe Me/Take it Back”. When VH3 came out I had discovered all of those old outtakes and that was my new VH.
meanstreet90

the conversation at the end had me laughing my ass off. like keith said, the video would be priceless.!
http://vhnd Emery

You can hear some cobo wobo in it. Very cool…..
freddiegirl

What a cool treat to hear first thing in the morning! Amazing talent Eddie had/has even then! Loved the conversation…thanks for sharing!
stjames888

very nice, I love hearing older stuff, showing the progression and growth of songs in VH’s catagolg. It sounded like some parts of cabo wabo, doctor, romeo delight among others; this guy has ideas galore
Tony

Holy smokes, best post in a Lo-o-o-ong time.

You can even hear the first few strums of “316″ at 6:46 of the recording.

When he gets into “Somebody get me a Doctor” I can imagine the cymbals crashing in and Dave howling… I wonder if little Eddie imagined it the same way.

So glad this snippet was rescued from Eddie’s basement.
RA812

Very Cool!
SCAR

FUCK YEAH, WE WANT MORE………
iwannaberr

Yea, you can definitely hear the Montrose influence in this early clip. I’m sure some of it came from Sammy Hagar’s guitar playing on some of the Montrose songs.
VH2008

iwannaberr – Sammy didn’t play guitar in Montrose. Ronnie Montrose did.

This recording is so special! Thanks, VHND.
Top Jimmy

Ed always had a great rhythmic sense to his playing. You can hear it even in this early tape. I liked how he was messing around with dropping the E string.
Michael

U know? I found the simple life, ain’t so simple….
iwannaberr

VH2008 – I was just trying to mess with everyone and get them fired up about Eddie being influenced by Sammy.

Although, I know Ed liked the first Montrose album which came out in 1973.
Adrian

hahahahaha iwannaberr your terrible
Neil

Forget the guitar stuff I want to know how things ended with the girl they were talking to. She sounded hot but a bit bitchy.
dude

Thank god there are no tapes of me like this floating around … not that anyone would care … but it could prove embarrassing!
tru5150

Was Ed trying to get her to make sexy noises? What a badass!
RickieVanWhalen

Best freaking thing to be posted on this site in a long time.

Thanks VHND. I would love to know where you got it from?
Shawn

Sweet!
Wychwood

HA HA HA! little did this chick know she was in presence of future rock ‘n roll legends.
Fab

MORE! MORE! WE NEED MORE!
Robi5150

MAN…Where are you getting all this GREAT stuff? I’ve been back to the site every day to hear it all over again. Keep it up!
Shylock5150

Everybody wants some, I want some too!
morningjakeit

this is fantastic…the glimpse of Ed playing at his Mom’s house coming up with riffs in the middle of the night…heck, guitarists out there, we all did that. The audio at the end is a total timecapule…right out of ‘Dazed and Confused’. Fantastic! Now, for a new album please!!!
Chomsky5150

That was amazing!! Great post!
Chris Van Harley

I LOVE this kind of shit. Whoever is getting this stuff out PLZ! Keep it coming. Or like the chick in the room. Keep it Cumming!
HideYourSheep

Great stuff. I’d love to hear that re-recorded in 5150 note for note using modern gear. What guitar do you think he’s playing?
bobalu

Where is this online trading community? I’d like to get some of this stuff.
Panama Red

I’m glad that some of this kind of stuff is surfacing. It’s fun to listen to. It’s kind of funny to hear Dave and Eddie sound like teenagers. You know there has got to be Hours and Hours of this kind of stuff somewhere.
RickieVanWhalen

I actually love the opening lick. He should give it to Dave and get on with it!

To hear this and then think about the progression he took to get to VH1 (eruption, on fire, I’m the one) a few short years later, is actually stunning. I would say the real genious kicked in shortly after the time this was recorded.

I can’t stop listening to it.
Atomic Pete

@ Rickie VH

Yeah I agree with you. That’s why I questioned earlier
his age at the time this was recorded.A huge jump in
two years.Also not once did he break into any kinda lead
lick at all. Surprising for any guitarist lol

Cool stuff though.
DiamondDean

This is cool as , , def somebody get me a doctor , yes 4 sure they shd rerecord some of that old stuff man , it wld be great , act like it hurts wld be great with so,e vocals It wld be great if van halen brought out a true vh album , instead of the last few which were ed tryin to be serious . A rock n roll album , why not a jump imspired track , wld be great
little big toe

bobalu,

check out jamtothis.com- there are many more online sources, but this is the most reputablem and by far the best torrent site. Educate yourself by reading the rules of the site, and adhere to them. If you do, in time you will be rewarded with many gems…

vhboots.com is a pretty complete list of what’s available
http://news@vhnd.com j wallace

sweet
joe5150

great stuff, i want more