John Frusciante on why Eddie Van Halen was a “team player”
Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante is one of the finest guitar players produced by Generation X. Whilst the group he calls home is ostensibly a funk-rock outfit, his style encompasses many different genres, ranging from metal to jazz, with the likes of post-punk, psychedelia and experimental thrown in for good measure. This natural dexterity has allowed Frusciante and the Chili Peppers to stand out for decades, carving out a unique area in the process.
In light of the broad scope of his ability, it’s unsurprising that Frusciante notes classic players such as Jimi Hendrix and Allan Holdsworth as influences. Another influential guitarist Frusciante noted as a hero numerous times is the late Van Halen creative mastermind Eddie Van Halen. Famous as one of the most technically gifted players in music history, Van Halen popularised string tapping in metal, a technique that sees rapid arpeggios played with two hands on the fretboard. Frusciante and Red Hot Chili Peppers are such big fans of Eddie Van Halen – who passed away in 2021 – that they released the song ‘Eddie’ as a tribute to the man himself.
When speaking to Guitar World in 2022 to provide seven tips that will “make you a better guitarist”, one of Frusciante’s points was that a guitar player’s true ability lies in how they interact with the rest of the band. Here, he outlined Eddie Van Halen’s brilliance and how he lifted every aspect of Van Halen, from the singer to the drummer. Ultimately, Van Halen was one of the ultimate “team players” to Frusciante. He explained: “Too often people assume that a guitar player’s worth comes from their ability to draw attention to themselves. And there are a lot of great guitar players who are great at drawing attention to themselves.”
Frusciante continued: “But to me, the essential thing that those people have – that other people who don’t draw attention to themselves like Bernard Sumner in Joy Division, or Syd Barrett, or Johnny Thunders or Matthew Ashman from Bow Wow Wow or John McGeoch in Siouxsie and the Banshees – to me, what they have in common with Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads and Jimi Hendrix is that they knew how to be a member of a band and make everybody else sound better. They knew how to be team players”.
Although Eddie Van Halen “happened” to have a “flashy” style, this did not take away from the other essential elements of his work, including his power as a rhythm guitarist. Frusciante concluded: “Yeah, Eddie Van Halen happened to have a flashy style, but he was a great rhythm guitar player, and he made those drums sound great. He made that bass sound great. He made the singer sound great. To me, it really doesn’t matter how much technique you have; the real skill in being a guitar player is in making the rest of the band sound good.”
