The two guitarists Eddie Van Halen knew he could never match: “I didn’t know how to get his sound”
Take a step back and allow the full view of rock music to enter your mind, and while at a distance, much of the genre will be a blur, the figure of Eddie Van Halen will stand out from a mile away. The guitarist didn’t just shape a subsidiary genre of music for years to come, but arguably changed the game when it came to the electric guitar.
Finger-tapping is one skill that simply wouldn’t exist without Van Halen. The powerful guitarist’s technique wouldn’t just inspire new generations of metal lovers, but would stump a lot of the previous generation’s greatest masters, with Jimmy Page and David Gilmour both admitting that they could never perform such a sound. It was a feeling that Eddie himself was well-versed with.
Although the late Eddie Van Halen was one of the most impactful guitarists the world has ever known, he still counted many great players as his heroes, all of whom helped him establish his own distinct style. Yet, according to him, there were two players that he could never match, no matter how hard he tried.
That’s right, even the very best to pick up the guitar are acutely aware of their limitations. This was particularly true for Van Halen, which is ironic given how greatly he affected guitar playing and all its relevant forms. He made it clear over his life that the two maestros he could not replicate were Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck, regardless of previously describing Hendrix as “sloppy”.
When speaking to Rolling Stone in 1995, Van Halen admitted that he could not reproduce the unique sound of Hendrix. Asked what it was like to record at the storied Electric Lady Studios – where Hendrix laid down some of his best-loved songs – in response, the ‘Jump’ hero drew a distinction between him and the late psychedelic pioneer. He followed this up by saying he also struggled to emulate Beck.
“Yeah (It was great),” Van Halen said. “But I never learned a song by Hendrix except ‘Purple Haze,’ because that was a pop hit. I didn’t know how to get his sound.” It was a conversation that hundreds, if not thousands, of other gifted musicians struggled with as Hendrix dominated the airwaves of guitar shops long after his passing.
It was enough to putt Van Halen off trying, “That’s what turned me off,” he confessed before also noting the other virtuoso who was on a pedestal that Van Halen just couldn’t seem to reach, “The same thing with Jeff Beck. I just plugged into my amp, turned it all the way up and loved the way that sounded.” Instead, Eddie would aim at his former badnmate: “For me, it was all Clapton, because he was so straightforward”.
When speaking with Howard Stern in 2006, Van Halen elucidated that regarding Hendrix, much of his struggles had to do with his reliance on equipment, which he just couldn’t afford. Pressed on whether he thought the ‘Purple Haze’ star was a “hack”, he maintained: “No, no. He did some crazy shit. I don’t know, I couldn’t afford the wah-wah pedals, the fuzzbox, all that stuff, you know. I kind of did my own thing.”
Returning to Rolling Stone in 2011, Van Halen outlined how Jeff Beck was so unique as a guitar hero. He recalled: “I didn’t get into him until ‘Blow By Blow’. Just the instrumentalness of it. And ‘Wired’ (1976). Interesting stuff in there. I guess it was just the experimentation in there that I liked.”
Regarding the unique dynamism of the Londoner, he added, “Jeff Beck is definitely a standalone. You never know what the hell he’s gonna do. My brother and I were in France 20 years ago, and Jeff Beck was playing. He was doing a rockabilly thing. And we were like, ‘What the hell is this?’ You never know what to expect with him”.
Listen to Eddie Van Halen on Howard Stern below.
