If Michael Anthony had to pick his favorite Edward Van Halen solo, it’s the one he heard Edward play every night on stage since the beginning – “Eruption”.
Anthony commented on Edward’s iconic solo from Van Halen’s 1978 self-titled debut album during a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar‘s Greg Prato:
What would you say were some of your favorite Eddie Van Halen guitar solos?
‘”There was basically only one solo that he ever really stuck to, which he played every tour since our first since our first tour, pretty much till the end. The original ‘Eruption’. Because it was just so cool when he first came up with it, this is before our first album, when he’d be playing it.”
“And it was really funny, because when it’d be played on stage and we’d be doing local shows, I know Dave was very vocal about it. He said, ‘Eddie, when you do all that stuff, turn around. Turn your back to the audience, because you don’t want any other guitarist seeing what you’re doing.'”
“And it was really interesting, because we’d rehearse in a little garage at a friend’s house in Pasadena, California. And there were numerous times where we would take a break and open the door and there’d be one of Eddie’s buddies or whatever, who plays guitar, standing there kind of listening to what Eddie was playing. So, even way back then, man, guitarists were on it.”
“But he basically stuck to the same solo. I mean, he would kind of venture off and expand on it a little bit, but just the basic ‘Eruption’ solo, it’s just a cool solo. All those parts that he played. Obviously, the tapping, but I don’t know, maybe it’s because we were all pretty much brothers in the band.”
“So, we weren’t on the outside listening to ‘Eddie Van Halen play guitar.’ We all knew he was a great guitar player. But even a lot of the stuff, not the tapping stuff, just the way that he played because he wasn’t like one of those guitar players. I almost call him like, sounding like somebody playing a typewriter, when you listen to him play. Eddie wasn’t just all about speed, flair.”
“A lot of solos, he’d just play slow fluid stuff. But really cool musically sounding stuff, too.”
Edward Van Halen “Eruption” (Live 1978)