The one guitarist Eddie Van Halen admitted was out of his league: “Better at what I do”
There are only a few guitarists who can claim to have turned the music industry on its head when they came out.
Someone like Jimi Hendrix certainly has earned his keep as one of the most influential people to ever play the instrument, and even someone like Jimmy Page should be commended for daring to dream bigger than everyone else playing hard rock at the time. But while Eddie Van Halen has become a myth of guitar playing even before his tragic passing, he thought that one particular virtuoso could play circles around him.
Then again, Eddie always tried to stay humble about his gifts throughout his career. He was well aware that people considered him one of the greatest guitarists of all time, but he was always willing to jam with anyone and see if he could pick up on certain things that no one had heard before, like listening to jazz guitar greats like Allan Holdsworth for inspiration.
But the major problem with all of Eddie’s heroes is that they weren’t exactly cut out to be breakout stars by any stretch. The world of instrumental music certainly has its fans, but there were never going to be too many people looking for the next big hit to come out of the jazz scene or from people who could play a million notes per second. In the wake of Van Halen, though, some people were willing to take their chances with a few more instrumental projects.
Outside of other major metal acts like Metallica showing off their technical prowess, artists like Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen were taking solos to a new level, either through making clinically precise tunes or songs that a symphony could have played if they were released a century earlier. Compared to everyone else in the scene, though, Steve Vai was definitely bringing something different to the table.
What set Vai apart wasn’t just his technical precision but his approach to expression. While many virtuosos focused on speed and complexity, Vai leaned into phrasing and tone, crafting guitar lines that felt almost vocal in their delivery. His playing balanced technicality with melody, making even his most intricate passages feel accessible rather than purely showy.
That distinction helps explain Eddie Van Halen’s conflicted admiration. He recognised Vai’s formidable skill, but also valued the intangible qualities, feel, groove, and personality, that defined his own style. In that sense, their differences highlighted two sides of virtuosity: one rooted in precision and innovation, the other in instinct and emotional resonance.
Compared to the virtuosic talents of his peers, Vai was the kind of superstar guitarist who married raw beauty with Frank Zappa-esque weirdness whenever he played. But despite having the ability to create strange tones, Vai was more interested in making singable melodies, with most guitar aficionados being able to sing along to a track like ‘For the Love of God’ after only hearing it once.
While there may have been friction between Eddie and Vai when David Lee Roth took the guitarist under his wing during his solo career, the tapping master had to admit that Vai was doing justice to his tunes, saying, “I’m going: ‘this guy is better at what I do than I AM’, you know. But [whispering] he lacked the vibe… the feel. He was technically VERY proficient but stiff. It always made me feel bad in a way. Because it made me feel like, ‘Wow, is that how people perceive ME?’”
And that kind of artistic flow can’t really be taught, either. Listening back to some of Eddie’s standalone instrumentals, only someone with a unique touch could come up with the beginning of ‘Little Guitars’ and make it sound completely fluid or turn an acoustic guitar into a flurry of notes like in ‘Spanish Fly.’
But in terms of any fretboard magicians, it’s hard to really go wrong listening to either Eddie or Vai. There are pieces of both of them that work out well, but each of their tones is suited for moments when you want to hear raw beauty and when you want to hear something outrageously strange.
