Police guitarist Andy Summers says Eddie Van Halen was heavily copied but never duplicated.
“I do think Eddie Van Halen was a great player. Wonderful. So musical. An absolutely one-off,” Summers said during a recent appearance on Johnny Beane TV. “I never saw [Van Halen perform] but, of course, I was aware of [Eddie’s] playing as they surfaced early on.
Summers continued: “[He was a] freak you know? This playing that he sort of invented. I mean, brilliant. [He was] heavily copied, of course. It’s like the school of Van Halen but no one’s done it better than him as far as I’m concerned. He was a soulful player, bluesy you know? He had his thing. He could really play as well as [doing] all the tapping stuff which he was an absolute virtuoso.”