Eddie Van Halen’s favourite guitar player of all time
When it came to innovation and style, Eddie Van Halen was truly a man without precedent. Bringing shredding techniques and neo-classical knowledge to the world of rock and metal, Van Halen became an instant guitar hero to legions of fans from the 1970s onward. But just because his own playing style was extremely unique, that didn’t mean that Van Halen didn’t have his own influences.
During an interview with Guitar World magazine back in 1981, Van Halen listed out some of his favourite six-string players who helped him find his own sound. While Van Halen famously claimed not to have listened to any new artists after the mid-1980s (Peter Gabriel was his final “new artist”), the cream of the 1960s crop was where Van Halen began to find his voice.
“[Eric] Clapton was it. I knew every note he played,” Van Halen claimed in the interview. “That’s what I was known for around home. Me, Alex and another bass player called ourselves Mammoth and we were the junior Cream.”
“It’s funny. When I do interviews and tell people Clapton was my main influence, they go, ‘Who?’” Van Halen added. “Because they’re thinking about Clapton doing ‘Lay Down Sally’, not the Bluesbreakers or Cream.”
While it might be strange to think of a time when Eric Clapton wasn’t god, the early 1980s was definitely a low point for the guitarist. Hopelessly addicted to alcohol, Clapton was in and out of rehab at the start of the decade, cranking out mostly forgettable albums like Another Ticket and Money and Cigarettes. But even though Clapton was at a low ebb, Van Halen still considered him a legend.
“I haven’t heard anyone do a long interesting guitar solo outside of early Clapton,” Van Halen enthused. “I do a guitar solo in the live show which is long. Some people may think it’s boring, but I have fun. Clapton was my favourite.”
Trying to find remnants of Clapton’s style in Van Halen’s playing is a fool’s errand. What is easy to hear is how Clapton’s embrace of blues licks and heavy power in the late 1960s inspired the kind of music that Van Halen wanted to play. Van Halen wasn’t a guitar player who copped licks very often, so Clapton’s influence on him was more philosophical and spiritual than it was in terms of technique or style.
Check out Van Halen covering Cream’s version of ‘Crossroads’ down below.
