A Tribute to Edward Van Halen

[Applause] wow Mozart beethoven elvis hendricks van halen Sometimes people try and deny it but there’s always a little bit of van halen rumbling around inside of us I’d like to introduce the king of ten fingers and six strings mr edwards [Applause] I think that uh eddie van halen is the greatest rock guitarist of our time typic lickety-split gunslinger guitar player he’s so special and soulful when he plays not just in terms of speed but how he articulates the notes his accuracy his focus there’s a whole lot of emotional

Content to the way that kid plays then i heard this astonishing sound the guitars it just sounded like three or four guitar players all playing at the same time what is that and i saw this guy like tapping away on his guitar which i’ve never seen before i saw a more powerful

That was being bullied you know able to leap tall buildings i saw it not since jimi hendrix says anybody had that effect earth has changed he could outplay anybody He’s never approached the instrument like the average person would do i would like to go down and sit in the front row and see what you got to do now oh hey and you’ve changed things a lot [Applause] I heard all about this eddie van halen guy and they’re out there doing a sound check and i’m listening to this screaming high end when he started whipping out those mystical licks where he’s done the double tap the double hand thing and i’m listening i’m going god

Damn what what kind of instrument an app is that son of a using I like it to sound like it’s basically dying and then i’m backing off at that I didn’t discover superman he was always there just i just happened to be there when they exploded on the scene manny van halen inspired me to practice 20 000 hours to try to get within 100 miles of his inspired mastery of the electric guitar eddie van halen he was

An innovator a a genuine unique soul every once in a while you meet a real human being that touches your heart above and beyond the talent so [Applause] One of the greatest guitar players that ever lived when eddie van halen came on the scene i had never heard guitar playing like that you knew something superior was happening [Applause] the moment you see the audience and they’re rooting and they’re hollering they’re screaming [Applause] few musicians have their names forever

Etched into our collective memories this is exclusive territory reserved only for the exceptions who broke every rule [Applause] there’s no replicating of van halen guitar solo Oh Guitar world magazine ranked eddie the number one greatest guitarist of all time when eddie started playing and you’re watching you couldn’t take your eyes off them that guitar is like it’s part of his body and his hands are moving and i’m sitting there going jesus christ

This is this is it when you hear something that you really don’t know what it is and it ends up changing music this is what i like to call the van halen effect explosive technique with flash and panache listen to him play i watched him play

And i said you know what he does with his hands i want to do with my feet i thought that edward was really the game changer you couldn’t say you didn’t like it because you would be lying he had a massive impact on guitar playing and i don’t think there’s

Anybody that’s picked up the guitar since 1978 that hasn’t been touched in some way by eddie van Since jimi hendrix had there been a guitar player that had so much impact and was so inspiring to me It seemed like half the bands in america had a guitarist who thought they were eddie van halen but there was only one eddie [Applause] Every teenager of my era couldn’t look at an electric guitar and not wish that they could play like eddie van gaal [Applause] the only thing that i know how to do i feel i can express myself with because i’m believing i’m not very good with words No one else had ever created that combination of operatic influence with a pyrotechnic attack that redefined the sound of the electric guitar The greatest guitar hero of his generation was willing to bet the farm on an entirely different instrument experimentation kept van halen relevant for more than two decades with two different lead singers and will we ever see another one like him i don’t think so i mean the guy was

So innovative february 10 1978 van halen one was released set it up on stage and played the opening track of van halen one which was running with the devil as soon as it finishes he goes check this out and then i heard this oh [Applause] [Applause] hmm Me [Applause] ladies and gentlemen [Applause] [Applause] Until happy [Applause] Reaching oh Reaching [Applause] now