GUITAR HEROES: EDDIE VAN HALEN

Edward Lodewijkz "Eddie" Van Halen (born January 25, 1955) is a Dutch-born American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. Van Halen is widely known for his rapid guitar playing, tapping, and high frequency feedback. The All Music Guide has called him "undoubtedly one of the most influential, original, and talented rock guitarists of the 20th century."

Edward Lodewijkz Van Halen is a son of clarinetist/saxophonist father Jan Van Halen and mother Eugenia (née Van Beers). Eugenia Van Halen was originally from Indonesia. Edward's middle name was derived from composer Ludwig van Beethoven. (Lodewijk is the Dutch version of Ludwig.) Edward continued this naming tradition by naming his son Wolfgang Van Halen after composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Shortly after Edward was born in Amsterdam, the family moved to the city of Nijmegen. In 1962, at the age of seven, Edward moved with his family to the United States, settling in Pasadena, California.

Eddie learned to play the piano as a child and has won many different talent shows. His older brother Alex also played the piano. However, playing the pianos did not prove sufficiently challenging or interesting to him — he once said in an interview, "Who wants to sit in front of the piano? That's boring." Consequently, while Alex began playing the guitar, Eddie bought a drum kit and began practicing drumming along with Arty Gomez in Lincoln Heights.They would practice for hours day after day. After Eddie heard Alex's performance of the The Surfaris' drum solo in the song "Wipe Out", he grew annoyed that his brother had overtaken his ability and decided to switch and begin learning how to play the electric guitar.

He has stated that he would often walk around at home with his guitar strapped on and unplugged, practicing with his childhood friend Reyna Plascencia. It's said[who?] that he would sit in his room for hours with the door locked as a teen, practicing the guitar. He once claimed[weasel words] that he had learned almost all of Eric Clapton's solos in the band Cream "note for note" by age 14; in later interviews he stated he could never play the solos precisely, instead he would modify them slightly to suit his style.

In April 1996, in an interview with Guitar World, when asked about how he went from playing his first open A chord to playing "Eruption", Eddie replied:

Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7 p.m. to party and get laid, and when he'd come back at 3 a.m., I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years — I still do that.

Eddie has many influences, most notably Eric Clapton. He has also acknowledged the influence of Queen guitarist Brian May, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth, as well as the likes of Montrose guitarist Ronnie Montrose.

Eddie Van Halen built his guitar (Black and White) by hand, using an imperfect body and a neck bought from Wayne Charvel's guitar shop. The body and neck were constructed by Lynn Ellsworth of Boogie Bodies guitars, whose parts were being sold by Wayne Charvel at the time. Eddie installed a humbucker in the bridge position essentially creating a Fat Strat. In 1979, Eddie began to play a black, rear loaded Charvel with yellow stripes. This was later replicated by Charvel along with the black and white striped model and the red white and black model (EVH Art Series Guitars). He also used a stock unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on a lot of the tracks on Van Halens first album such as You Really Got Me and Runnin' With the Devil and a modified Ibanez Destroyer on some tracks on Van Halens second album and a borrowed unmodified Ibanez Destroyer on some tracks on the Women and Children First album.

Also, in 1979 Eddie's original guitar was repainted with Frankenstein artwork. Eddie also changed the neck, removed part of the pick guard and eventually installed a Floyd Rose vibrato unit. The guitar is known both as a "Frankenstrat" and as THE "Frankenstrat." Fender reissued the guitar in relic form in 2007, the limited run selling at $25,000 a guitar. However, a "new" (non-reliced) Frankenstrat is currently available through the Charvel company for significantly less, the first time Van Halen has consented to the commercial release of a guitar with his signature graphics on it.

In 1983, Eddie began to use a brand new Kramer guitar with artwork similar to its predecessor and with a hockey-stick or "banana" headstock, which came to be known as the "5150." This guitar was rear-loaded (no pick guard), had a Floyd Rose vibrato unit and a neck that was later electronically mapped in order for it to be copied on the later Music Man and Peavey signature models. This guitar was last used on the track "Judgment Day" on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge album. Various versions of it can be seen in the music videos for "Panama", "Hot for Teacher", "When It's Love", "Feels So Good" and the concert video, Live Without a Net. The guitar itself was a variant of a Kramer Pacer, although not a model that was technically available at the time.

It was painted with Krylon paints by Van Halen and used through the OU812 tour, after which it was "retired." However, Eddie did break out the guitar for use on the 2004 reunion tour, although the neck had finally failed and had apparently been replaced. A copy of this guitar is available today (although not with Van Halen's permission) through the current manufacturer of Kramer's, Music Yo, a subsidiary of the Gibson company. However, the commercially available copy doesn't feature the custom graphics, as the "Frankenstein" graphics are trademarked by Edward Van Halen.

Eddie has used a Steinberger GL-2T guitar with Trans-Trem on several songs, including "Get Up" and "Summer Nights" (from 5150), "Fire in the Hole" (from Van Halen III), and "Me Wise Magic" (from Best of Volume I). It was custom painted with the "Frankenstein" graphics.

In the mid 1990s, Ernie Ball produced an EVH signature "Music Man" guitar, and Eddie used this on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and Balance albums. This guitar is still commercially available under the "Axis" name, and retains all of the original features of the Edward Van Halen model. Edward was allegedly upset that Ernie Ball could not produce enough of this guitar to meet demand, and subsequently moved his endorsement to the Peavey Electronics corporation.

Eddie named his line of signature Wolfgang Guitars after his son, Wolfgang. The guitar itself was similar to the previous Axis line, but with a slightly altered shape and many additional options available in Peavey's much larger custom shop. These guitars included a device called a "D-Tuna" which enabled a guitarist to tune the low E string down to D with a slight turn of a knob attached to the end of the bridge.

In 2003, at the NAMM show, the relationship between Peavey and Eddie began to strain. Peavey constructed a glass enclosed stage for Eddie in which to play for VIP's at 2 p.m. Eddie arrived late, shocking fans there with his disheveled appearance, as he immediately went upstairs and initially refused to play. After an hour of negotiations, Eddie came down while fans, who had lined up for hours prior to the appearance, roared with approval. Eddie ended up spending his short time on stage, talking about Wolfgang guitar production and his promise to take a keen interest in quality control. Eddie left, having only played a few notes and small riffs, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans and Peavey.[citation needed] The end came in 2004, when Peavey company parted ways with Van Halen, reportedly because Eddie launched an on-line sale of hand patterned (by Edward) Charvel guitars, sold by the name of the "EVH Art Series Guitars", while he was still contractually obligated to Peavey. The guitars sold for large sums on eBay, and were essentially replicas of his famous "Frankenstrat" guitars, played by Van Halen mainly during the David Lee Roth era of the band. Eddie also launched Frankenstein replicas as noted above, which are the only Van Halen guitars currently endorsed by Eddie.

Most recently Eddie has collaborated with Fender guitars to produce a replica of the Frankenstrat. Eddie and Chip Ellis of the Fender Custom Shop teamed up to produce a guitar priced at $25,000 each. Also, Eddie has collaborated with Fender to launch his own EVH brand of guitars, amps, and musical instrument equipment, starting with his new EVH Brand 5150 III amplifier. Eddie now uses prototypes of his new EVH Brand Wolfgang, which is an updated version Eddie's Peavey Wolfgangs but with new pickups, knobs, a thinner but very elaborate quilted maple top to allow the basswood the dominant tone, providing more tonal resonance but with a balanced high sustain. Also, the new Wolfgang is equipped with an Original Floyd Rose. In addition, the new guitar has a slightly altered headstock. This is because this was Ed and Hartley Peavey's original design for the headstock, which Eddie had patented without the scoop on final version of the Peavey Wolfgang. He has been seen with three new Wolfgang guitars, first a sunburst one, then a black one which he stated he liked less than the sunburst one and now he uses a white one, the best sounding one out of the three prototypes according to Ed.

The EVH Wolfgang is planned for initial sale to the public in early 2009. (from Wikipedia)

TUTORIALS:

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enjoy!

if you liked it, please buy the original!

posted by:

zuluwashere