Joe Charupakorn - Van Halen--Signature Licks

Eddie Van Halen is the king of modern rock guitar. While hes best known for pioneering and popularizing techniques like two-handed tapping, tapped harmonics, and wicked whammy-bar anticsand ultimately sparking the shred craze that forever changed the sound of rock guitarhis talent extends far beyond just sheer flash. Many consider Eddie to be the greatest rock guitarist of all time.

Born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen on January 26, 1955, in Nijmegen, Holland (just outside of Amsterdam), to a Dutch father, Jan, and an Indonesian mother, Eugenia, Eddie had music flowing in his ears while in the womb. Jan was a professional musician and encouraged his kids to study piano at an early age. Given Eddies natural talents, it wasnt surprising that he picked up the piano quickly and placed first numerous times at annual piano tournaments.

By the early 60s, the Van Halens immigrated to sunny Pasadena, California. It was in Eddies and brother Alexs early childhood that the seeds for Van Halen, the band, were planted. Because of their initial language barrier, Eddie and Alex mainly kept to themselves during their early school years. While still in grade school, the brothers formed their first band, the Broken Combs, which cast Eddie on piano and Alex on sax. At around age 12, Eddie heard the Surfaris Wipe Out and bought a $125 St. George drum set, while Alex picked up a guitar. To pay for the drums, Eddie took on a paper route, and while he rode around the neighborhood delivering newspapers, Alex banged away on Eddies set. The time was well spent, as Alex soon became a pretty good drummer. The Van Halen brothers decided to swap instruments, and Eddie bought a four-pickup Teisco Del Ray guitar from Sears. The seeds were now planted and the Van Halen brothers got involved in various bands, including the Trojan Rubber Company and Genesis, which was later renamed Mammoth, after the guys discovered that an English prog-rock band had already claimed the name. Interestingly, in Mammoth, Eddie handled not only the guitar duties, but also sang lead vocals.

At a battle of the bands at Hamilton Park in Pasadena, Mammoth went up against the Red Ball Jets, which featured singer David Lee Roth. Soon after, Mammoth started renting Roths PA system for gigs because they didnt own one, and when Eddie eventually stepped down as lead vocalist, Roth was offered, and took, the gig. Soon after Roth joined, the last piece of the puzzle came together. At a Pasadena High School concert, Van Halens PA broke down. Michael Sobolewski (a.k.a. Michael Anthony), who was playing bass with Snake, another band on the same bill, came to the rescue and offered the use of his PA. Shortly thereafter, original Van Halen bassist Mark Stone got the boot, and Michael Anthony came onboard.

With the lineup now complete, Van Halen started to conquer the local scene. Aiming for greener pastures, the band headed to Hollywood, where all rock n roll dreams seemed to come true. The band carved out a strong reputation at Sunset Strip hotspots like Gazzarris, Whisky a Go Go, and the Starwood, and soon were the talk of the town. It was at the Starwood that KISS bassist and entrepreneur Gene Simmons heard Van Halen. He offered to produce the bands demo and shop it to the major labels. After they accepted the offer, Simmons flew the band to New York to record. Surprisingly, not a single record label expressed any interest.

Later, Marshall Berle (nephew of actor Milton Berle) came onboard as the bands first manager and was able to get Warner Bros. president Mo Ostin and producer Ted Templeman to a Van Halen show at the Starwood. The band was signed immediately, and on February 10, 1978, Van Halen was released. The debut album featured Eruption, a virtuosic tour de force that introduced the world to Eddies signature two-handed tapping technique. While there is debate as to whether Eddie was the first person in history to ever tap, there is absolutely no question that he was the person who brought the technique into the limelight and, in turn, changed the way generations of guitarists played.

Subsequent albums continued to showcase Eddies unbridled virtuosity. On Van Halens sophomore release, Van Halen II , Eddie ripped heads off again with the fiery instrumental Spanish Fly, which featured two-handed tapping and a ferocious display of alternate-picking chops, all played on an acoustic. The instrumental Cathedral, from the bands fifth release, Diver Down , made use of delay and volume swells to create a sound that resembled a Catholic church organ. Eddie Van Halens notoriety would also extend far beyond just the guitar community. At the request of music impresario Quincy Jones, Eddie played a killer guitar solo (for free) on Michael Jacksons pop mega-hit Beat It. The album, Thriller , was #1 on the Billboard album chart for 37 weeks and has since become the best-selling album of all time.

Around the same time, Eddie created his 5150 studio and the band recorded the game-changing album 1984 , which kept climbing up and up and up, going from gold to platinum to multi-platinum to, ultimately, diamond status (10+ million copies sold). Van Halen ruled the world! Every guitar magazine had Eddie on the cover, and virtually every guitarist on the planet copied him. Then suddenly, on April 1, 1985, Roth pulled the plug and walked away from Van Halen to pursue a solo career. It was April Fools Day, but this was no joke. It seemed that, at the height of their career, the party was over.

Confusion and chaos were in the air. Luminaries like Pete Townshend and Brian May had contacted Eddie and there were talks of doing an all-star record, but nothing panned out. Ultimately, fate intervened the day Eddies Lamborghini broke down, as Sammy Red Rocker Hagars Lamborghini happened to be at the same shop. Mechanic Claudio Zampolli noticed that Eddie was out of sorts and suggested he get in touch with Hagar. Eddie dialed right from the shop and a business meeting was set up. At that time, Hagar was two weeks away from starting his next album but still agreed to meet. When they finally convened, after a couple of hours of discussion, they hit a standstill. Eddie suggested they just play, and they all ended up jamming on Summer Nights and Good Enough, with Hagar improvising lyrics and melody on the spot. It was instant magic and the band was now reborn.

Van Hagar, the nickname given to this configuration of the band, had its first #1 album with 5150 . Subsequent albums like OU812 , For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge , and Balance also peaked at #1. In 1996, Hagar and Van Halen parted ways and Extremes Gary Cherone took his place. With this new lineup, Van Halen recorded only one album, Van Halen III . Shortly thereafter, Cherone was out.