Eddie Van Halen

For as long as I can remember, my dad always had his music playing. In the car, in the house, everywhere. In time, his music became my music; and it still is. Though my dad’s music taste was vast, his staple was Van Halen. Little did I know how much that band would shape me as a person. While most fans were in love with David Lee Roth, (the singer) I was all about Eddie Van Halen; the greatest guitarist in the world. The greatest because to me, he isn't just a guitarist. He’s an innovator, a genius, and one of my biggest role models. While I think all art is powerful, it’s all subjective, and to me, Eddie Van Halen is the perfect example to why art is so powerful. For he has created the passion, perseverance, and creativity that lives inside me today.

Rock and roll was built on the foundation of jazz, blues, country, and folk music. The Les Paul electric guitar was also a big contributor in music not just rock. One of the

There were three different types of musical styles that many successful bands used. Each style was different in its own way; there was the ”beat“ bands. Which were fundamentally the pop-rock bands; like The Beatles. Then there were the R&B bands, like The Rolling Stones. That used a guitar based different version of American blues. Which would soon became into “garage" and "frat" rock.

Jimi Hendrix learned to play a guitar as a teen and grew up to change a rock legend, who stood up the crowd in the 1960s with his modern electric guitar playing. Jimi Hendrix was from Seattle, Washington, and due to his father’s inspiration, at the age of 13, Jimi taught himself how to play the guitar. One of his crucial performances was at Woodstock in

The extraordinary performances, recording, and lyrics of James Marshall Hendrix have made him impossible to forget. This American rock music guitarist made a legendary mark not only in the history of rock 'n' roll but also on the pop culture as a whole (Ross 32). With unique techniques never seen before and blatant sex-related performances on stage, he became one of the most influential music figures of the 60s (Kamin).

Little Richard had a few hits that influenced rock ‘n’ roll artists. He turned songs like “Tutti Frutti” into a huge hit and influenced bands such as the Beatles. It wasn’t just his music that makes him the king of rock. Little Richard’s shouted vocals and screams helped define the early rock and roll era. (http://www.biography.com). Richard’s sounds were different. Most artists had a stand up bass, drums and a guitar player. He had 2 electric guitars, electric bass, 3 saxophones and himself on the piano. Richard jolted the sound, most of what we see today, Little Richard commenced. Everybody wanted to be him. Even new artists like Elvis Presley had started recording his songs.

Of all the artists of the psychedelic era, Jimi Hendrix was the most influential. Jimi took inspiration from the soulful guitar of blues players and developed his own style from it. Jimi was left-handed and played his Stratocaster guitar upside down while creating unearthly sounds that humbled other guitarists of the time. Hendrix was unknown until playing at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 where he played an amazing array of songs and then lit his guitar on fire at the end of the show (DeCurtis 133). Although Jimi seemed like a very wild and unpredictable person on stage he was actually a focused musician, that part of Jimi's personality is explained in this quote by Ernie Isley: "The best musicians are very observant. They hold their arms wide, willing to embrace suggestions; they study their craft, and Jimi certainly did all that." (Lanham 102) But as

After that, it seemed as if there was never a moment where Eddie wasn’t without his guitar. One of his favorite things to do for hours on end was “noodle”, which was a term he used for playing around and making new sounds. One guitar player that really inspired Eddie was Tony Lommi of Black Sabbath. Van Halen toured England for the first time opening for Black Sabbath. “It wasn’t just talent and originality that separated Tony from his heavy metal and hard rock brethren; it was the backstory.”

Have you ever just heard a song and while listening to this song you go thru this world-wind of emotions. This music just touches you, makes you sad, makes you think, makes you happy, makes you want more. The voicing in this music is just so heart cutting and the tempo is as if it was a roller coaster, fast, than slow, slow, than fast to all of sudden the solo ends with the drummer hitting his drum kit with so much impact and the band proceeds to this slow tempo where the artist Gary Clark Jr Voice cuts through the mix like a bird in the morning sky. When you think blues guitarist you don't think of their voice, but more so of the way they play guitar. But Gary Clark Jr voice can actually stand alone as a pure vocalist, but what makes Gary Clark Jr so special?

He was well known for utilizing his voice like his horn so that he can rest his chops in between his authentic solos and his horn like a

Upside down differently tuned and with the best afro of his time, Jimi Hendrix Turned the music industry inside out. “He played this really long solo and he has this wammy bar and he's doing all these thing and it put his guitar super out of tune and he looks into the crowd and asks Eric Clapton to tune his guitar… And I just remember thinking oh my god this guy is going to be bigger than me”(Paul McCartney Tells the Story About Jimi Hendrix Toronto, August 9, 2010 Unique Video).Through his controversial style and music he made the Rock legends of his day stop and stare. His unique and individualized sound started an entire generation of music we now know as psychedelic rock. Many people wonder where Hendrix got his unique sound.

It is hard to imagine Van Halen without thinking of their original album that copied the band’s name. They were a total party rock and roll machine in their day’s of the 80’s. From “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” to “D.O.A.”, the content on Van Halen II comes up as ruminative, which is fleshed out by instrumental shreddings of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen. The players are free to create any familiar fuzz-tone riff, sudden bass run, cowbell clunk, and rumbling drum eruption which is known to their genre. The album named Van Halen II, is rarely cited as one of the groups best works. The recording process was completed in three weeks, this started some sonic innovation. Eddie Van Halen achieved a thick guitar sound by overloading

Listening to all these music has introduced me to Playing guitar, Bass, listening for the melody, Taking a close observation of songs that interest me, look for interesting techniques, and listen for the complexity of the musical composition. My Introduction to rock music was actually the Beatles, but they really kept me in a little box when it came to what I wanted to hear besides the pop songs that I used to listen to as a child, who was mostly only exposed to rap and Hip Hop until the age of 8. Though the Beatles were really my first introduction to rock music, Billy Squier was the one that really gave me chance to break out of the little bubble I was in and explore more genres which I now have grown to love which are Rock, Metal, Blues, Alternative, Indie, Punk, Folk, Jazz, And If Played by the Fantastic Johnny Cash, Country. I have grown different views Than I had previously before when I’ve listened to music, now I tie it into more complex

Jimi Hendrix: Reflections of the Man Through the Development of His Albums James McGuire UWC 4, Hampton November 4, 1996

Play Guitar Better is the culmination of over 20 years playing experience, trial and error, observation, and study. This book focuses on the critical things that most others leave out. It explains how your natural playing ability