Plenty of much-deserved praise has been given to Edward Van Halen for his extraordinary guitar solos but there were a few other special weapons in his arsenal. Ultimate-Guitar’s Greg Prato has turned the spotlight onto Edward’s unparalleled rhythm and riff skills.
Below is an excerpt from Prato’s article “10 Examples of Why Eddie Van Halen Was the Master of Rhythm Guitar and Riffs”:
By and large, it seems like what turned guitarists’ heads when Eddie Van Halen first burst onto the scene was his exceptional soloing skills, which incorporated his soon-to-be-trademark two-handed tapping technique. However, something that tended to get overlooked at the time, and has continued somewhat to this day, was that he was an extraordinary rhythm player. And also, riff creator. Here, we take a gander at ten examples of EVH’s stupendous non-soloing skills.
Sunday Afternoon in the Park
I know, I know: why the heck would a song featuring an Electro-Harmonix Micro-Synthesizer rather than guitar be included? Because this instrumental off “Fair Warning” shows that EVH could create compelling riffs and bits on instruments other than his beloved six-string.
Top Jimmy
Who else but EVH could create such a unique-sounding opening to a song while playing unaccompanied and relying solely on some harmonics and Ripley stereo guitar, where each string was panned individually? Look no further than this oft-overlooked highlight from “1984.”
Fools
Now, let’s switch gears and discuss the riffing aspect of EVH. After over a minute of noodling, we get a whopper of a guitar riff at the 1:20 mark, which also emphasizes how darn heavy Van Halen could also get, thanks to E-flat tuning.
Girl Gone Bad
So, we’ve already mentioned harmonics in a VH tune. But what about tapped harmonics? That’s exactly how another overlooked tune from the “1984” album starts off before an extended instrumental jam takes flight and lasts for well over a minute before David Lee Roth finally enters the picture.
Little Guitars
It seems like the intro to this tune gets all the love and attention, and understandably so, because it is a sweet little slice of flamenco-styled guitar. But the mammoth riff featured in the main tune is another oft-overlooked EVH guitar treasure…before somehow transitioning into a surprise staccato finger-picked part!
Prato has five more examples to prove Edward was, is, and always will be the master of rhythm guitar and riffs. Think you know the other five? Find out now!
Read “10 Examples of Why Eddie Van Halen Was the Master of Rhythm Guitar and Riffs”