This intricate acoustic instrumental, from the Diver Down album, was played on a nylon string guitar, as was “Spanish Fly“. Eddie remembers being very frustrated trying to write this piece. It was a prime example of his hearing something in his head that he was unable (at first) to transfer to the guitar. Amazingly, the song has no overdubs. The tremolo-picked sequence (a classical technique called “frailing”) involves Eddie tremolo-picking the high E, B, and D strings (open), while performing hammer-ons and pull-offs on the low E string with his left hand.
John Scanlan, author of Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock ‘n’ Roll , tells VHND:
“Just prior to recording this very short piece, Eddie had been listening to flamenco guitarist Carlos Montoya, and wondered how on earth to get a handle on the astonishing fingerstyle his playing was based on. David Lee Roth recalled: ‘Edward was saying he’d just seen this TV show with a flamenco guy doing all these wonderful things with his fingers, and he says, “I’ve figured out how to do it with one pick, watch this” and he faked it.’ By doing trills and pull-offs with his left hand (on the neck of the guitar) and fast picked strokes on the strings with his right hand, it was recorded in a single take. Eddie, always convinced in those days that nothing was impossible, confessed all: ‘I gotta say, the best thing I do is cheat.’