KARACHI:
Eddie Van Halen’s iconic guitar solo Eruption from Van Halen’s debut self –titled album, for many, is the precursor to modern virtuoso playing. The shift towards speed picking, two-handed tapping and the general adoption of advanced western classical concepts towards the electric guitar is often credited to the track, with Eddie perceived as the inventor of ‘shredding’.
Music aficionados would argue otherwise, deeming this notion as a romanticist view of classic rock. They wouldn’t be wrong in that regard considering that progression in musical techniques is a far complex phenomenon that is anything but linear.
That being said, there is no denying that it was Eddie who brought shredding on the map. To label him as the Godfather of modern guitar playing is not at all unjust given the level of his influence. While Hendrix’s Voodo Child may have inspired a generation to pick up the axe, Eruption made it cool to attain mastery over it.
His everlasting mark on the guitar world isn’t just restricted to the West. The shock of his death earlier this week was felt globally including Pakistan where prominent guitar players from then and now lamented the loss of a pioneer that had cast a shadow in various ways.
Asad Ahmed who has never been shy of owning up to his glam metal roots credits Eddie as one of the instigators to his journey as an axeman. “I remember hearing ‘Running With the Devil blasting through my brother’s stereo system. I was eight years old and Van Halen's Debut Album had been released a year earlier. By the mid 80’s I had started playing guitar and the very first instrumental piece I learned was Eruption from Van Halen 1,” he told The Express Tribune.
Talking about his technical prowess, Ahmed deemed Eddie the "last true guitar hero". “Eddie was one of a kind. He introduced a whole generation of guitar players to two-handed tapping which was a technique that not many had mastered. Also, his tone was unmistakable. There will never be another trailblazer like him.. the last true Guitar Hero... The King.. Rest in Peace EVH.”
Elaborating on Eddie’s bearing on music as a whole, Guitarist and producer Mekaal Hasan talked about how the late icon redefined the approach to the six-stringer. “He changed everything concerning the previously considered limits of the instrument, all the while ushering in a whole new approach to the role of the guitar as a solo and rhythm instrument in a band setting. Not many people can be credited for really reinventing their instrument of choice. EVH was one of those rare few,” he said.
According to Hasan, Eddie’s compositional skills were very much at par with his guitar chops. “His playing ability and genuine feel set the bar high for those to follow. While obvious aspects of EVH's playing were often imitated, many guitarists from the '80s and onward, will readily testify to Van Halen's soloing prowess. But perhaps he is, or should be, equally celebrated as a genuinely brilliant musician for whom the guitar was a way of expressing his feelings and realising his ideas, “he said.
Likewise, Faraz Anwar went on to praise Eddie for his songwriting. “It’s indeed sad that the world is deprived of a great musician. Most people like Eddie Van Halen for his solos. Personally, I like him for his melodic side as exhibited in the song Dreams that came out in the Sammy Hagar era,” Anwar said.
Eddie’s contribution to music is not just limited to his body of work. His quest to find the perfect tone brought about a technological revolution in the guitar world that has become a standard in the industry.
Guitarist and producer Zulfiqar Jabbar Khan ‘Xulfi’ deems him a ‘tone visionary’. “On one side, there is his enormous work with his band and then there is the iconic guitar solo of Michael Jackson’s Beat It where so many will identify him from,” he said.
“But on the other hand is his pursuit of great guitar tone that saw him collaborate with a guitar gear company in 1992 to build some legendary amps the likes of which are still the mainstay of most rock and metal sounds you hear in music today even after decades.”
Zain Peerzada of Takatak fame stressed further on the relevance, amps designed by Eddie still hold today. “I never got into Van Halen, but he has impacted me in a massive way since he is the one who developed the 5150 amp. It is the core of modern metal music when it comes to guitar tone. Any modern metal album today probably has a 5150 used in some capacity. Even if you were not into his music, the amps that he made are the staple of modern music,” Peerzada said.
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