In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony reflected on the influences of Eddie Van Halen. He shared his thoughts on some of Van Halen’s most memorable lead guitar parts. He said:
“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.”
Apparently, David Lee Roth wanted Eddie to hide the way he plays guitar so that people can’t imitate him. He explained:
“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.’”
Is Eddie Van Halen A Genius?
The late Van Halen guitarist has been called a genius by many other rockers and his fans since the beginning of his music career. However, Eddie himself didn’t accept that he was ‘a genius.’ In the same interview, the bassist recalled what Eddie called himself instead of a guitar genius:
“He was a great guitar player. There are a couple interviews I’ve seen that he’s done, where people ask him the same question, how does he feel being called that or whatever. And, he just says, ‘Hey, I’m just a punk kid who plays guitar.’ The genius part I guess came with the tapping, because it was very innovative, what he did.”
Anthony also revealed that his tapping technique was mostly inspired by the Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page:
“And the way he even explains it, where he was a big fan of seeing Jimmy Page live. And he just took like, what Page was doing those, those pull-offs with one hand, and Eddie just started, ‘What if I took the same thing and moved it like, with this finger, like I was moving the nut of the guitar up?’”
He added:
“So, I guess you could call a lot of that innovative. Genius? Yeah, I think so. Because he was probably the first one who really brought that out into the mainstream and he did it very well, obviously.”
Anthony is currently getting ready to team up with Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, and Jason Bonham for The Best of All Worlds Tour. See the dates here.