Eddie always had a smile on his face. R.I.P. Plus his brother on drums, Alex, often overlooked but also a great musician. Fun fact… As kids Eddie started on drums and Alex on guitar.
Not a just a talented guitar player and a great performer, Eddie was a true musical innovator. He revolutionized guitar playing in 1978 on their first album, and went on to continue creating multiple new techniques, and even new musical scales over the years. The first album is a must listen. It's a ton of fun.
The reason Eddie is the greatest is because he actually changed music in the '70s. He introduced the sound and a style that had never been seen before or since. He wasn't the first to tap the fretboard but he perfected it and did more. On top of that he was always smiling and having fun doing it..
I had the pleasure of seeing Van Halen and Quiet Riot at a backyard party in 1977 about 6 months before the first Van Halen album came out.... That night Randy Rhodes was still with Quiet Riot, so I got to meet both Eddy and Randy before anybody even knew who they were.... Didn't know at that moment how greatly they both would influence rock and roll, but was certainly aware of the massive talent that night.... What a blessing!
What a crock of Sh** the only time quiet riot and Van Halen played on the same bill was at the Pasadena civic center, not some back yard party. BTW it's Rhoads not Rhodes.
At around the 12:00 minute mark, he's using an effects pedal that produces echo/delay and he plays along with the echo that it produces. Also, if you notice he's not picking the strings with his right hand while he does it. He's using the volume knob on the guitar to help make a swelling sound. Playing that loud helps the process. Lots of practice to do that! LOL
The slapping the tapping the plane hitting the strings with his left hand and using the volume knobs it's all Eddie there's no gimmicks no boxes no little petals it's all Eddie and he's got to be on point with both fingers and hands or it won't work that's how good he is the goat
@@BlayneSukut Sorry, but you're wrong. Just look up a list of Eddie's effects. He doesn't need a stomp box, he's got the racks all set up at the soundboard. Eddie used delay often, it's not a secret or cheating. All guitarists use effects. Even the greats. ruclips.net/video/h51fZAd5nZY/видео.html
Volume swells with delay basically you strike a note and then turn up the volume a half second or less after you strike the string (or hammer on like Ed is doing) , so the listener doesn't hear the string being plucked , the harsh sounds is muted and all the listener hears is the after effects of a note ringing through you get this violin effect and with added delay which repeats the notes creates this ethereal sound back in the day on the album this was first released , all of us guitarists didn't k know how he did it one of the many pioneering techniques ED introduced to the guitar
So you are indeed correct there is in that solo J.S. Bach toccata & Fugue in D Minor, within the chord progression. and maybe a cheeky nod to dream of a witches sabbath by Berlioz and a possible distorted sped up section of midnight sonata Of course its interesting to me that there are very few artists/ bands in modern times who are able to be successful without a vocalist attached (even if they do the vocals themselves). Most of the ones who are successful are famous for soundtracks. Where if you go back even 100 years there was a balance of vocal and instrumental. my first memorable introductions to Van Halen were the Single Jump . and the scene in Back to The future where Marty uses Van Halen on his walkman to convince his father he is an alien with a noise weapon.
If you want a fun Van Halen video to try next...Hot for Teacher is just great. I'm the One off of the 1st album is a hidden gem if you want to rock your face off.
At 13:02 with the echo effect, he’s actually playing part of his instrumental piece Cathedral off the Diver Down album. He’s using a delay effect for the echo and he’s using his volume knob for a volume swell effect, by pushing down a note on the fretboard and then turning the volume knob halfway up and then back down to go for the next note to repeat the process, which makes it sound kind of like a cello, really cool technique. Eddie always thought outside of the box in his approach to the guitar, a true innovator on so many levels.
Silas , starting with their 1st album Van Halen always had a short instrumental piece on each album for all the albums with David Lee Roth on vocals. The part of this solo that sounded like 2 guitars at once was from the piece called Cathedral. Eddie uses a delay pedal & the volume knob to create that sound. The part you thought sounded like slap bass was the intro tapping part of the song Mean Streets.. Most of the other tapping sections you saw were parts of Eruption. The crazy thing about this solo spot is that Eddie was hammered drunk and didn't remember doing most of it. There's a reason why he was called King Edward , and you just saw why.
Eddie and Alex went to music school as kids, their dad was a professional musician, played clarinet for big bands and such; Eddie learned piano and could memorize a piece of music from a few listens and play it spot-on, his music teacher figured out years later Eddie didn't actually learn to read the music notation, he just learned music theory by listening.
There is no player ever that makes people shell shocked like Eddie...Eddie is the greatest rock guitar player that ever lived. His skill level, feel, innovative brain, sense of rhythm, and technical prowess dwarfs everyone. Hendrix was maybe 10-15 years ahead of his time. Eddie was 50-60 years aheadnof his time.
David Lee Roth fronted them from inception till 1984, Sammy Hagar from 85 till mostly Eddie's passing(there were a few brief forgettable in between). Sammy is a good guitarist in his own right. Had a great Solo career before VH, and does collaborations mostly now. Dave was a showman, Sammy brought a wider scope musically. A lot of fans like one era or the other, I liked both and worth a listen since one thing always remained the same...songs of fun, partying, girls and love.
On the 2nd act for "Cathedral" he is playing with the volume knob while finger tapping giving it that Cello vibe that you hear. Its an amazing piece of work for sure and one of my favorite instrumentals from him.
Y'all gotta remember that this is from 1986..... NO ONE had ever heard anything like this before. Good thing Alex took over on the drums or we would have never heard this. RIP EVH
@@timothyweesner6286 He was more technically proficient then them but not a better musician, Van Halen as much as i love them is not comparable to Led Zeppelin
I beg to differ. Jimi didn't come remotely close and although Page was phenomenol, Eddie was on his OWN level. I believe Page in fact stated he was blown away by Eddie's playing. Eddie was a genius virtuoso and INNOVATOR.
Eddie was like no other. He invented the "brown sound" when Van Halen came on the scene in the late 70's. It literally was music to our ears. There will never be another EVH. Legend!! ❤🤍🖤
I saw them live (thankfully) in 1980 for my first concert freshman HS year. I'm now a fan of your uncle Silas because he mentioned Randy Rhodes who dad knew personally and said he was such a humble, gentle and smart man (RIP) and as your uncle mentioned was classically trained, fast and technical. Ironic thing about his death was he hated planes and was talked into going that ill fated day. The pilot (rest his soul) cost us all a tremendous talented musician and even better person.
If you react to more Van Halen, I am here for it. My recommendations for the next songs: Panama, Jump, Hot for Teacher, Mean Street, Unchained, Ice Cream Man, Beautiful Girls, I'm the One.
@@michellestephenson-webb3175 - Jump is not my favorite song. But, if you want a new person hearing Van Halen for the first time to hear what they were about and learn the timeline of who they were, they need to hear that song and watch the video. We can bore them with Sammy Hagar as the front man some other time.
Eddie and Alex grew up playing piano in a band with their dad in Holland. They're classically trained musicians and their music has hints of classical music. Their vocals have amazing harmonies too.
Eddie Van Halen is, IMO, the GOAT. Hendrix & EVH totally changed the way people played guitar. He didn't start tapping, but he elevated it to a different level. Everyone after Van Halen tried to copy him but nobody has come close. Listen to VAN HALEN'S first 4 albums if you really want to have your mind blown. All time great on guitar and band.
I never get tired of watching this (nor watching people react to it for the first time, especially folks not familiar with the late, great Eddie Van Halen). He was definitely one of the GOATs among rock guitarists.
I saw Van Halen open for the Doobie Brothers back around '76 or '77. I had heard of them but didn't know anything about them. I was there to see the Doobies. Needless to say they blew my mind.
I wish the volume were louder because it was pretty quiet in relation to the microphone volume so I couldn't really crank it. But yeah, this is off there very first album Van Halen which came out in 1978 and in my opinion it's their best album. Every song on it or nearly every song became a radio hit and every song on it is amazing. The stuff got played constantly on Rock radio. But anyway, eruption, the guitar solo was actually basically a long guitar solo introduction to their cover of The Kinks' Girl, You Really Got Me. It's only about 2 minutes long or so and it was essentially embedded here and there in this long partial improv partially composed 13 minutes solo at a live show. But it's so strange for me to hear eruption without it immediately going in with no break to that song. It's just the greatest one to punch in the world. Definitely check out the studio track and like I say it's real short. You could tell when he would hit parts of it because that's when the audience would just start going nuts. Because they recognized it from the album. But as you do whole album sometimes, this might be a really interesting one for you to do is just do their first album. Every single song on it is fire and it's so fun. And there's a lot of diversity on it. And I guarantee you it would pull in a ton of different viewers.
The band was called Mammoth originally. Hence his son Wolfgang named his band that. It was David Lee Roth who suggested they use the name VanHalen for the band
That section around the 10:45 mark I always feel like I'm watching an old movie like Blade Runner with the sounds he's making. Definitely an old science fiction vibe to it which is why I love that section so much.
I have a copy of Live Without a Net on VHS. I still have it. I have a ton of movies on VHS. I have it on either Blu-ray or DVD now. RIP EVH RIP Randy Rhoads
As someone else mentioned below it’s a compilation of different solos all put together by Mr. Edward Van Halen, so wasted off his rear end that he didn’t remember even playing it. That’s how good he was. 😎
Funny you mentioned the Classical sound..."When Van Halen was born in 1955 in the Netherlands, his musically minded parents (father Jan Van Halen was a clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist) named him Edward Lodewijk Van Halen in honor of Ludwig Van Beethoven. (Lodewijk is the Dutch equivalent of the German name Ludwig.) But that was just the start of his classical childhood. After the family moved to Pasadena, Calif., in the early 1960s - with "$50 and a piano," he said during a talk at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History - his parents enrolled Van Halen in formal lessons for that piano at 6. But he never learned to read the sheet music, he later explained. Instead, he would mimic the instructor's hand movements and play by ear to realize works by Beethoven and Mozart. During recitals and competitions, he would use memory recall and improvise, earning praise from judges for his stylizations."
EVH was a Guitar God!!! He didn't invent tapping but he definitely revolutionized it. Many of today's guitarists try to replicate EVH, but they aren't EVH. That part in the solo where you said it sounds like he is layering, if you notice, he is turning the volume knob to create the effect. It sounds like a string instrument, cello or bass, at times. The man was a genius! He will be missed. True Legend! RIP EVH!
I have lost count of the number of reactions to this solo from 'Live Without a Net' I've watched, but it never gets old. I could listen to this over and over again, and adding the fun of seeing someone exposed to it for the first time adds to the enjoyment. When this was recorded (1986) I was already well familiar with Van Halen thanks to MTV (when they still showed music videos) and all of Eddie's solo pieces (Eruption, Cathedral, Little Guitars Intro, etc.) but it was cool to see one long solo, kind of a best of. Glad you two enjoyed it.
I was at this concert....it was actually taped over two consecutive nights In New Haven CT. I also can tell you how astounded and blown away we were when we heard this band for the first time. They changed music for sure.
Props to dad for recommending Randy Rhodes. Unfortunately there isnt a lot of live video of him. He died in a plane crash at only 25. There's a pretty good vid of him playing with Ozzy on a song called Mr. Crowley. Epic for sure!!
In case no one explained: at 11:50 this section he fades each note in with volume knob after tapping on neck...and a delay repeats each note so they're doubled up. This piece is called 'Cathedral' where he was going for an organ sound I believe but sort of like bowing on violin too. No coincidence you thought it sounded classical early on...Eddie and Alex both trained as concert pianists when they were kids in Holland and I'm damn sure that influenced Eddie to play his guitar like a freakin piano. This solo is awesome, but don't miss out on how he applied all these riffs to the song compositions...so original. Worth hearing all the early albums...the iconic 'Van Halen' etc...and my favourite 'Fair Warning' which starts with track 'Mean Street' and fades in with the technique at 13:45 and just an awesome album from start to finish. Nice reaction...loved the young dude's stank face :-))
Don't know if you've reacted to anything by Stevie Ray Vaughn yet, but he is another guitar player that will blow you mind when you see/hear him perform. I highly recommend watching Stevie Ray Vaughn performing "Texas Flood" live at the El Macambo. It will make your face melt from the awesomeness!
Why is his name not among the top rock guitarists???? Holy Cow. He’s ALWAYS in the lists of top rock guitarists. Usually in the top five. Hendrix, Beck, Page, SRV and Van Halen are usually in top five in some order. But Hendrix, SRV and Van Halen always…..
They had to invent a whole new way to write sheet music because of Eddie. Because of the things he did on the guitar weren’t done before and there way no way to write it. It’s really interesting.
His music is very classical inspired which is why you hear the classical vibes. He learned a lot of Mozart growing up so his music was deeply inspired by classical stuff. It’s as if Mozart time traveled to the 70s and they said “Here’s an electric guitar. Go crazy” 😂
The one section where you asked about it sounding like 2 notes played at the same time is he is using a delay and you see with his right hand turning the volume up and down at the same time.
Hello Silas , Hello Dad …..Dad you are right the singer is Sammy Hagar and Silas you should check him out too . He is a an excellent guitarist as well and a great rock and roll guy all round . From Montrose onwards he is up there with the best rockers in my opinion . A passionate rock and roller …❤❤
when they were young it was Alex who picked up the guitar first...but, as time went on, Eddie started fiddling with it and wanted one...Eddie was so fascinated by the guitar he wound up being better than Alex who decided he would like to take up drums...all with their father's band...they were basically the Partridge Family... and then...YOU KNOW....THE REST OF THE STORY (Paul Harvey :) )
I know this video was a year ago but you witnessed the greatest guitar player ever as many called Eddie a guitar God! He was truly amazing glad I got to see this for myself in concert twice, my only regret was it wasn’t many more times.
Definitely one of the best , too bad we lost him fairly young !! I started listening to Van Halen in late 70s early 80s when they was just getting big , never seen them live , but they jammed a lot of parties , , a lot of parties !!!
I got to see Eddie do this live, both with Dave and Sammy. Just one of the best ever, and now you will notice him on, or near, the top of the best rock guitarist lists.
Also saw them with both Dave and Sammy. Loved both. I don’t know why so many people think they sucked with Sammy. It was different, but still awesome. At the end of the day they still had Eddie, Alex and Mike holding it all together
If you ever saw a Grateful Dead show, you'd see that after the set 1 break, the two drummers come back first and play around for 15 minutes while the rest of the band continues their break.
Eddie and Alex played classical piano from a very young age and were both being trained to be concert pianists, both winning many piano playing competitions, but they had other ideas. Eddie started playing electric guitar when he was 12. You talked about hearing classical music in his playing and I'm sure it was because of his classical piano training through his childhood. Also his mother played piano and his dad was a professional musician in big band/jazz band work. When I listen to Van Halen I can not only hear the classical but the big band/Jazz influence. The boys did play in bands with their father when they were children.
The original tune was the B-side of the single, Runnin' With the Devil. I bought the single when it came out. After i played the A-side a couple of times i flipped it over and played that. This version is amazing. I couldn't believe what i was hearing! I, and lots of other people around the world, were gobsmacked, we'd never heard a guitar making these sounds before, or the way the guitar was being played! EVH changed the way the guitar was played [very fast!] and how it sounded. Van Halen's first 2 albums are a must to have. In the same way you must have and enjoy some of the other classic lps from many decades ago.
Wow you're just getting to VH! Time for a deep dive. Great place to start. Can't wait for more. *The expression guitarists tend to wear is known as "Stank Face". Tribute is a great live album that is a fantastic introduction to Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.
That's what we all thought when we first heard him on the radio, it was; what the hell...how is he doing that, and I'm a guitar player... that one part like two different melodies he's using the volume control on the guitar to offset the notes. He wasn't just a top guitarist he's the GOAT.
Was wondering when you would get around to Eddie. It is improvised/all in his head. If you watch different performances of "Eruption", you will have many similarities, but each one will be unique. If you believe in a heaven, it improved tenfold when Eddie passed. Highly recommend you react to Van Halen's first album (called Van Halen) which includes the minute 42 second studio recording of "Eruption". It is a top 5 debut album by any band,.... ever. Enjoy
sup bros? great react :) I was Honored to have witnessed this solo 5 dif. times in Dallas back in the day. 3 with Dave & 2 with Sammie. it is a culmination of many parts of VH songs & parts of Eruption \m/ Peace, Love & Music. :)
In the part where you said it sounds like he's playing two melody lines at once - he's actually alternating between playing higher and lower melody lines. He's hammering on and pulling off with his fretting hand and rolling the volume knob on and off. Sounds a lot different than picking the notes - sounds more like a violin being bowed. The delay effect he has on his guitar during this section adds to the bowed effect.
The Bach reference is spot on. When he was young, he won classical piano competitions three years in a row. Imagine the horror the Russian ruler-bearing piano teacher must have felt upon learning his competition-winning prodigy couldn't read music. 😁 Eddie was a true phenom, a genius. His guitar is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A copy is at the National Museum of American History. He decorated the original by using masking tape strips, then removing it after he painted it. He tore it apart and rebuilt it, modifying it with assorted guitar parts. That’s why it's called the "Frankenstat". He created his own brand of guitar called EVH. A true genius.
Tapping on a guitar neck already existed, but EVH popularized it and used it a lot, it's a fantastic sound. This video is mainly improv. Check out the great Michael Schenker in his UFO days, the album Force It. He's a guitar legend like EVH. Guitarists generally pull faces when soloing because of the emotional connection with the music and the bends they're playing, they can't help it.
The layering was done back then buy using echo and sustain effect pedals to maintain the previous chords and notes and then play over the top, this is done better now using loop edect pedals which effectively digitally record multiple sections of play which can then be played back.
This was a fun reaction! It’d probably been 20 years or more since I’d seen this footage. Also: Why am I still partially in a Sriracha costume from my day?😅
Believe it or not, the piano is part of the percussion family of instruments due to the fact that the strings are struck by hammers. Xylophones and marimbas are also percussion instruments as are camber chimes (all chimes actually). A pipe organ is considered a wind instrument but a harpsichord is a string instrument because the strings are plucked.
This was all Eddie Van Halen the goat the greatest of all time he knew everything every note he was playing on that guitar there's nobody better nobody he wasn't experimenting on stage he knew everything he was doing everything
This performance was a compilation of a bunch of different solos that Eddie had done over the years. There's at least 10 songs that are drawn from in this solo not just Eruption. So it is improvised in that it is not exactly the same night to night, but most of these parts he had come up with before hand. (And he was beyond wasted at this concert, which is both sad and impressive at the same time.)
Too many guitar heroes of the 80s were little more than finger athletes. Eddie always created music, even when he was showing off his fireworks. He had unreal chops, for sure, but he was so much more: He had a staggering musicality and sense of groove - while also excelling as a songwriter/composer. And you’re right, Dad, there are quite a bit of classical influences in his playing. (I also love that he always had a care-free smile on his face, as opposed to his peers, who often looked like they were taking a crap when soloing).
Eddie always had a smile on his face. R.I.P.
Plus his brother on drums, Alex, often overlooked but also a great musician. Fun fact… As kids Eddie started on drums and Alex on guitar.
Not a just a talented guitar player and a great performer, Eddie was a true musical innovator. He revolutionized guitar playing in 1978 on their first album, and went on to continue creating multiple new techniques, and even new musical scales over the years.
The first album is a must listen. It's a ton of fun.
change the nadsi flag .....
Eddie was always smiling because he thoroughly loved playing guitar and performing with the band in front of the fans.
To dad, you've raised a really good kid. Keep up the good work.
Heck yeah!!! 💥
The reason Eddie is the greatest is because he actually changed music in the '70s. He introduced the sound and a style that had never been seen before or since. He wasn't the first to tap the fretboard but he perfected it and did more. On top of that he was always smiling and having fun doing it..
I had the pleasure of seeing Van Halen and Quiet Riot at a backyard party in 1977 about 6 months before the first Van Halen album came out.... That night Randy Rhodes was still with Quiet Riot, so I got to meet both Eddy and Randy before anybody even knew who they were.... Didn't know at that moment how greatly they both would influence rock and roll, but was certainly aware of the massive talent that night.... What a blessing!
Wow you caught a moment. Thanks for sharing
What a crock of Sh** the only time quiet riot and Van Halen played on the same bill was at the Pasadena civic center, not some back yard party. BTW it's Rhoads not Rhodes.
He was definitely an Elite guitarist. When using all his fingers is called Tapping. He didn’t invent it, but he sure as hell Mastered it!
It's nice to see the young ones have the same mind blown reaction I had in 77
At around the 12:00 minute mark, he's using an effects pedal that produces echo/delay and he plays along with the echo that it produces. Also, if you notice he's not picking the strings with his right hand while he does it. He's using the volume knob on the guitar to help make a swelling sound. Playing that loud helps the process. Lots of practice to do that! LOL
The slapping the tapping the plane hitting the strings with his left hand and using the volume knobs it's all Eddie there's no gimmicks no boxes no little petals it's all Eddie and he's got to be on point with both fingers and hands or it won't work that's how good he is the goat
@@dwaynedavis8176 he's using an analog delay effect, it's not a gimmick, it's an echo effect pedal that he uses often.
@@grogueQ no delay or echo all volume control on the guitar. Which is why you never see him go stomp a pedal or box.
@@BlayneSukut Sorry, but you're wrong. Just look up a list of Eddie's effects. He doesn't need a stomp box, he's got the racks all set up at the soundboard. Eddie used delay often, it's not a secret or cheating. All guitarists use effects. Even the greats. ruclips.net/video/h51fZAd5nZY/видео.html
Volume swells with delay
basically you strike a note and then turn up the volume a half second or less after you strike the string (or hammer on like Ed is doing) , so the listener doesn't hear the string being plucked , the harsh sounds is muted and all the listener hears is the after effects of a note ringing through
you get this violin effect and with added delay which repeats the notes creates this ethereal sound
back in the day on the album this was first released , all of us guitarists didn't k know how he did it
one of the many pioneering techniques ED introduced to the guitar
So you are indeed correct there is in that solo J.S. Bach toccata & Fugue in D Minor, within the chord progression. and maybe a cheeky nod to dream of a witches sabbath by Berlioz and a possible distorted sped up section of midnight sonata
Of course its interesting to me that there are very few artists/ bands in modern times who are able to be successful without a vocalist attached (even if they do the vocals themselves). Most of the ones who are successful are famous for soundtracks. Where if you go back even 100 years there was a balance of vocal and instrumental.
my first memorable introductions to Van Halen were the Single Jump . and the scene in Back to The future where Marty uses Van Halen on his walkman to convince his father he is an alien with a noise weapon.
If you want a fun Van Halen video to try next...Hot for Teacher is just great. I'm the One off of the 1st album is a hidden gem if you want to rock your face off.
At 13:02 with the echo effect, he’s actually playing part of his instrumental piece Cathedral off the Diver Down album. He’s using a delay effect for the echo and he’s using his volume knob for a volume swell effect, by pushing down a note on the fretboard and then turning the volume knob halfway up and then back down to go for the next note to repeat the process, which makes it sound kind of like a cello, really cool technique. Eddie always thought outside of the box in his approach to the guitar, a true innovator on so many levels.
Silas , starting with their 1st album Van Halen always had a short instrumental piece on each album for all the albums with David Lee Roth on vocals. The part of this solo that sounded like 2 guitars at once was from the piece called Cathedral. Eddie uses a delay pedal & the volume knob to create that sound. The part you thought sounded like slap bass was the intro tapping part of the song Mean Streets.. Most of the other tapping sections you saw were parts of Eruption. The crazy thing about this solo spot is that Eddie was hammered drunk and didn't remember doing most of it. There's a reason why he was called King Edward , and you just saw why.
There was only one word for Eddie’s playing… pyrotechnics! We miss you brother!
He was a classically trained pianist at an early age and never learned to read music. A truly God given talent
Eddie and Alex went to music school as kids, their dad was a professional musician, played clarinet for big bands and such; Eddie learned piano and could memorize a piece of music from a few listens and play it spot-on, his music teacher figured out years later Eddie didn't actually learn to read the music notation, he just learned music theory by listening.
He won a major piano contest as a kid ,I think more than a few
That’s What I Just Told Them!! Ed’s Will Always Be The Best🤟🏼🤟🏼💙
I Learned Piano Organ Clarinet Etc By Ear & Fooled My Teachers For Yrs!! Now I Sing & So Does My Daughter & Teaching My Young G-Fella🤟🏻
There is no player ever that makes people shell shocked like Eddie...Eddie is the greatest rock guitar player that ever lived. His skill level, feel, innovative brain, sense of rhythm, and technical prowess dwarfs everyone. Hendrix was maybe 10-15 years ahead of his time. Eddie was 50-60 years aheadnof his time.
Haven't watched this yet but as a massive VH fan, I was waiting till this would eventually come up. RIP GOAT
David Lee Roth fronted them from inception till 1984, Sammy Hagar from 85 till mostly Eddie's passing(there were a few brief forgettable in between). Sammy is a good guitarist in his own right. Had a great Solo career before VH, and does collaborations mostly now. Dave was a showman, Sammy brought a wider scope musically. A lot of fans like one era or the other, I liked both and worth a listen since one thing always remained the same...songs of fun, partying, girls and love.
Dude, your facial expressions are classics! And HIGHLY appropriate....
On the 2nd act for "Cathedral" he is playing with the volume knob while finger tapping giving it that Cello vibe that you hear. Its an amazing piece of work for sure and one of my favorite instrumentals from him.
Y'all gotta remember that this is from 1986..... NO ONE had ever heard anything like this before. Good thing Alex took over on the drums or we would have never heard this. RIP EVH
Eddie was on the same level as Page and Hendricks. Got to listen to more of his. RIP Eddie.👍👍👍👍🤟🎸🎸
Ummm.. he was actually way better than them!!
@@timothyweesner6286 💯
EVH is the goat .
@@timothyweesner6286 He was more technically proficient then them but not a better musician, Van Halen as much as i love them is not comparable to Led Zeppelin
I beg to differ. Jimi didn't come remotely close and although Page was phenomenol, Eddie was on his OWN level. I believe Page in fact stated he was blown away by Eddie's playing. Eddie was a genius virtuoso and INNOVATOR.
Saw him in '82. Unreal. One of my favorite bands from my younger yes. Yes, he was classically trained as well.
Eddie was like no other. He invented the "brown sound" when Van Halen came on the scene in the late 70's. It literally was music to our ears. There will never be another EVH. Legend!! ❤🤍🖤
Silas, please do a reaction to Van Halen's first album, which came out in 1978! YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! It's one of the best of all time!
When they go to the blue background he makes it sound like a violin and then a Cello. Amazing.
I saw them live (thankfully) in 1980 for my first concert freshman HS year. I'm now a fan of your uncle Silas because he mentioned Randy Rhodes who dad knew personally and said he was such a humble, gentle and smart man (RIP) and as your uncle mentioned was classically trained, fast and technical. Ironic thing about his death was he hated planes and was talked into going that ill fated day. The pilot (rest his soul) cost us all a tremendous talented musician and even better person.
If you react to more Van Halen, I am here for it. My recommendations for the next songs: Panama, Jump, Hot for Teacher, Mean Street, Unchained, Ice Cream Man, Beautiful Girls, I'm the One.
Take Your Whiskey Home
Ok NOT JUMP! Give It A Rest ! Best Of Both Worlds! With Sammy
@@michellestephenson-webb3175 - Jump is not my favorite song. But, if you want a new person hearing Van Halen for the first time to hear what they were about and learn the timeline of who they were, they need to hear that song and watch the video. We can bore them with Sammy Hagar as the front man some other time.
Eddie and Alex grew up playing piano in a band with their dad in Holland. They're classically trained musicians and their music has hints of classical music. Their vocals have amazing harmonies too.
Eddie Van Halen is, IMO, the GOAT. Hendrix & EVH totally changed the way people played guitar. He didn't start tapping, but he elevated it to a different level. Everyone after Van Halen tried to copy him but nobody has come close. Listen to VAN HALEN'S first 4 albums if you really want to have your mind blown. All time great on guitar and band.
I never get tired of watching this (nor watching people react to it for the first time, especially folks not familiar with the late, great Eddie Van Halen). He was definitely one of the GOATs among rock guitarists.
I saw Van Halen open for the Doobie Brothers back around '76 or '77. I had heard of them but didn't know anything about them. I was there to see the Doobies. Needless to say they blew my mind.
In the layering part he is playing ONE handed and using his effects knob with his picking hand
Saw van Halen in 91 or 92 when Alice in chains opened up for van halen. Alawesome concert
I'm so thankful to have seen Eddie play this live . It was Freaking Awesome.
I was at this actual concert in the New Haven Coliseum. Awesome show.
Nobody plays guitar like Eddie Van Halen!
Also, if you like drums, Alex’s drum solo from this same concert is really impressive too.
I've seen the one where he's wearing a neck brace. Phenomenal.
I wish the volume were louder because it was pretty quiet in relation to the microphone volume so I couldn't really crank it. But yeah, this is off there very first album Van Halen which came out in 1978 and in my opinion it's their best album. Every song on it or nearly every song became a radio hit and every song on it is amazing. The stuff got played constantly on Rock radio. But anyway, eruption, the guitar solo was actually basically a long guitar solo introduction to their cover of The Kinks' Girl, You Really Got Me. It's only about 2 minutes long or so and it was essentially embedded here and there in this long partial improv partially composed 13 minutes solo at a live show. But it's so strange for me to hear eruption without it immediately going in with no break to that song. It's just the greatest one to punch in the world. Definitely check out the studio track and like I say it's real short. You could tell when he would hit parts of it because that's when the audience would just start going nuts. Because they recognized it from the album. But as you do whole album sometimes, this might be a really interesting one for you to do is just do their first album. Every single song on it is fire and it's so fun. And there's a lot of diversity on it. And I guarantee you it would pull in a ton of different viewers.
The band was called Mammoth originally. Hence his son Wolfgang named his band that. It was David Lee Roth who suggested they use the name VanHalen for the band
That section around the 10:45 mark I always feel like I'm watching an old movie like Blade Runner with the sounds he's making. Definitely an old science fiction vibe to it which is why I love that section so much.
Ha!!! Did you really just throw Dave M in with Eddie?!😂
Great performers! I was lucky enough to see them a couple of times.
Thanks for the post!!
Eddie Van Halen was a guitar God! May he rest in peace they will never be another guitarist quite like Eddie
I have a copy of Live Without a Net on VHS. I still have it. I have a ton of movies on VHS.
I have it on either Blu-ray or DVD now.
RIP EVH
RIP Randy Rhoads
As someone else mentioned below it’s a compilation of different solos all put together by Mr. Edward Van Halen, so wasted off his rear end that he didn’t remember even playing it. That’s how good he was. 😎
Funny you mentioned the Classical sound..."When Van Halen was born in 1955 in the Netherlands, his musically minded parents (father Jan Van Halen was a clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist) named him Edward Lodewijk Van Halen in honor of Ludwig Van Beethoven. (Lodewijk is the Dutch equivalent of the German name Ludwig.) But that was just the start of his classical childhood.
After the family moved to Pasadena, Calif., in the early 1960s - with "$50 and a piano," he said during a talk at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History - his parents enrolled Van Halen in formal lessons for that piano at 6.
But he never learned to read the sheet music, he later explained. Instead, he would mimic the instructor's hand movements and play by ear to realize works by Beethoven and Mozart. During recitals and competitions, he would use memory recall and improvise, earning praise from judges for his stylizations."
EVH was a Guitar God!!! He didn't invent tapping but he definitely revolutionized it. Many of today's guitarists try to replicate EVH, but they aren't EVH. That part in the solo where you said it sounds like he is layering, if you notice, he is turning the volume knob to create the effect. It sounds like a string instrument, cello or bass, at times. The man was a genius! He will be missed. True Legend! RIP EVH!
I have lost count of the number of reactions to this solo from 'Live Without a Net' I've watched, but it never gets old. I could listen to this over and over again, and adding the fun of seeing someone exposed to it for the first time adds to the enjoyment. When this was recorded (1986) I was already well familiar with Van Halen thanks to MTV (when they still showed music videos) and all of Eddie's solo pieces (Eruption, Cathedral, Little Guitars Intro, etc.) but it was cool to see one long solo, kind of a best of. Glad you two enjoyed it.
I was at this concert....it was actually taped over two consecutive nights
In New Haven CT.
I also can tell you how astounded and blown away we were when we heard this band for the first time. They changed music for sure.
Props to dad for recommending Randy Rhodes. Unfortunately there isnt a lot of live video of him. He died in a plane crash at only 25. There's a pretty good vid of him playing with Ozzy on a song called Mr. Crowley. Epic for sure!!
Absolutely! The solo in that video is insane!
That part is called a volume swell turning the volume knob up & down while cords on neck
In case no one explained: at 11:50 this section he fades each note in with volume knob after tapping on neck...and a delay repeats each note so they're doubled up. This piece is called 'Cathedral' where he was going for an organ sound I believe but sort of like bowing on violin too. No coincidence you thought it sounded classical early on...Eddie and Alex both trained as concert pianists when they were kids in Holland and I'm damn sure that influenced Eddie to play his guitar like a freakin piano. This solo is awesome, but don't miss out on how he applied all these riffs to the song compositions...so original. Worth hearing all the early albums...the iconic 'Van Halen' etc...and my favourite 'Fair Warning' which starts with track 'Mean Street' and fades in with the technique at 13:45 and just an awesome album from start to finish. Nice reaction...loved the young dude's stank face :-))
When you were talking about the layering, he was merely using the volume knob to make it sound like strings.
Don't know if you've reacted to anything by Stevie Ray Vaughn yet, but he is another guitar player that will blow you mind when you see/hear him perform. I highly recommend watching Stevie Ray Vaughn performing "Texas Flood" live at the El Macambo. It will make your face melt from the awesomeness!
OMG.. Silas, I can see where you get your good looks!!! Great taste in music, thank you for your presence and reaction.. xo From an old white woman
I was there in 1986...two night show.....no clue how we all got back to the hotel.....Peace!
Why is his name not among the top rock guitarists???? Holy Cow. He’s ALWAYS in the lists of top rock guitarists. Usually in the top five. Hendrix, Beck, Page, SRV and Van Halen are usually in top five in some order. But Hendrix, SRV and Van Halen always…..
Eddie was on another level to page and Hendrix
They had to invent a whole new way to write sheet music because of Eddie. Because of the things he did on the guitar weren’t done before and there way no way to write it. It’s really interesting.
Hey Silas, what top guitarist lists are you looking at? He's in all of them! 😁Dig deeper you will fall into this band hard!
His music is very classical inspired which is why you hear the classical vibes. He learned a lot of Mozart growing up so his music was deeply inspired by classical stuff. It’s as if Mozart time traveled to the 70s and they said “Here’s an electric guitar. Go crazy” 😂
The one section where you asked about it sounding like 2 notes played at the same time is he is using a delay and you see with his right hand turning the volume up and down at the same time.
Hello Silas , Hello Dad …..Dad you are right the singer is Sammy Hagar and Silas you should check him out too . He is a an excellent guitarist as well and a great rock and roll guy all round . From Montrose onwards he is up there with the best rockers in my opinion . A passionate rock and roller …❤❤
He also, cannot drive, 55.
Eruption basically started at 9:41 on your video, per the album version. Then he bouces around and does a lot of other crazy cool stuff
when they were young it was Alex who picked up the guitar first...but, as time went on, Eddie started fiddling with it and wanted one...Eddie was so fascinated by the guitar he wound up being better than Alex who decided he would like to take up drums...all with their father's band...they were basically the Partridge Family... and then...YOU KNOW....THE REST OF THE STORY (Paul Harvey :) )
I know this video was a year ago but you witnessed the greatest guitar player ever as many called Eddie a guitar God! He was truly amazing glad I got to see this for myself in concert twice, my only regret was it wasn’t many more times.
Definitely one of the best , too bad we lost him fairly young !! I started listening to Van Halen in late 70s early 80s when they was just getting big , never seen them live , but they jammed a lot of parties , , a lot of parties !!!
@7:43 was also my reaction back in 1978 when i heard Eruption for the first time!
I got to see Eddie do this live, both with Dave and Sammy. Just one of the best ever, and now you will notice him on, or near, the top of the best rock guitarist lists.
Also saw them with both Dave and Sammy. Loved both. I don’t know why so many people think they sucked with Sammy. It was different, but still awesome. At the end of the day they still had Eddie, Alex and Mike holding it all together
If you ever saw a Grateful Dead show, you'd see that after the set 1 break, the two drummers come back first and play around for 15 minutes while the rest of the band continues their break.
Delay devices allow the player to layer melodic lines, provide brief or longer echoes that overlap, overlay each other.
A lot of pick hand "Hammer-ons". The rest is pedals for effects, like echo, and pick hand volume-ons after striking the string to mask the attack.
Eddie and Alex played classical piano from a very young age and were both being trained to be concert pianists, both winning many piano playing competitions, but they had other ideas. Eddie started playing electric guitar when he was 12. You talked about hearing classical music in his playing and I'm sure it was because of his classical piano training through his childhood. Also his mother played piano and his dad was a professional musician in big band/jazz band work. When I listen to Van Halen I can not only hear the classical but the big band/Jazz influence. The boys did play in bands with their father when they were children.
The original tune was the B-side of the single, Runnin' With the Devil. I bought the single when it came out. After i played the A-side a couple of times i flipped it over and played that. This version is amazing. I couldn't believe what i was hearing! I, and lots of other people around the world, were gobsmacked, we'd never heard a guitar making these sounds before, or the way the guitar was being played! EVH changed the way the guitar was played [very fast!] and how it sounded.
Van Halen's first 2 albums are a must to have. In the same way you must have and enjoy some of the other classic lps from many decades ago.
Wow you're just getting to VH! Time for a deep dive. Great place to start. Can't wait for more.
*The expression guitarists tend to wear is known as "Stank Face".
Tribute is a great live album that is a fantastic introduction to Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.
That's what we all thought when we first heard him on the radio, it was; what the hell...how is he doing that, and I'm a guitar player... that one part like two different melodies he's using the volume control on the guitar to offset the notes. He wasn't just a top guitarist he's the GOAT.
Was wondering when you would get around to Eddie. It is improvised/all in his head. If you watch different performances of "Eruption", you will have many similarities, but each one will be unique. If you believe in a heaven, it improved tenfold when Eddie passed. Highly recommend you react to Van Halen's first album (called Van Halen) which includes the minute 42 second studio recording of "Eruption". It is a top 5 debut album by any band,.... ever. Enjoy
The recorded version is very different, He is totally improvising here, a testament to his great talent.
sup bros? great react :) I was Honored to have witnessed this solo 5 dif. times in Dallas back in the day. 3 with Dave & 2 with Sammie. it is a culmination of many parts of VH songs & parts of Eruption \m/ Peace, Love & Music. :)
And yes they were All a bit dif. ;) du to songs being added over the years....
In the part where you said it sounds like he's playing two melody lines at once - he's actually alternating between playing higher and lower melody lines. He's hammering on and pulling off with his fretting hand and rolling the volume knob on and off. Sounds a lot different than picking the notes - sounds more like a violin being bowed. The delay effect he has on his guitar during this section adds to the bowed effect.
The Bach reference is spot on. When he was young, he won classical piano competitions three years in a row. Imagine the horror the Russian ruler-bearing piano teacher must have felt upon learning his competition-winning prodigy couldn't read music. 😁 Eddie was a true phenom, a genius.
His guitar is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A copy is at the National Museum of American History. He decorated the original by using masking tape strips, then removing it after he painted it. He tore it apart and rebuilt it, modifying it with assorted guitar parts. That’s why it's called the "Frankenstat".
He created his own brand of guitar called EVH. A true genius.
Eddie changed the game 🤘🤘🎸🐐
Hes doing it with the volume knob.
Tapping on a guitar neck already existed, but EVH popularized it and used it a lot, it's a fantastic sound.
This video is mainly improv.
Check out the great Michael Schenker in his UFO days, the album Force It. He's a guitar legend like EVH.
Guitarists generally pull faces when soloing because of the emotional connection with the music and the bends they're playing, they can't help it.
The layering was done back then buy using echo and sustain effect pedals to maintain the previous chords and notes and then play over the top, this is done better now using loop edect pedals which effectively digitally record multiple sections of play which can then be played back.
i play his evh wolfgang special guitar.thx for the reaction
This was a fun reaction! It’d probably been 20 years or more since I’d seen this footage.
Also: Why am I still partially in a Sriracha costume from my day?😅
That 2nd part he had echo effect on and turned his volume up and down quickly while fingering notes on the fretboard.
Yeeaahh,buddy! More VH,please! ❤️ For a young man like yourself, I might recommend "Beautiful Girls" by VH. You'd love it
Believe it or not, the piano is part of the percussion family of instruments due to the fact that the strings are struck by hammers. Xylophones and marimbas are also percussion instruments as are camber chimes (all chimes actually). A pipe organ is considered a wind instrument but a harpsichord is a string instrument because the strings are plucked.
12:51 look at his right hand. 12:06 He's pumping the sound volume up & down....gives it that effect.
The part he added after they announced the solo was over is better than most guitarists
Simply the KING
The echo portion is delay, loop, and volume knob, doesn't pick he uses his fingers on the neck and turning knob up and down. Pretty cool huh?!
This was all Eddie Van Halen the goat the greatest of all time he knew everything every note he was playing on that guitar there's nobody better nobody he wasn't experimenting on stage he knew everything he was doing everything
That Guitar was from another Galaxy..lol👽👀
This performance was a compilation of a bunch of different solos that Eddie had done over the years. There's at least 10 songs that are drawn from in this solo not just Eruption. So it is improvised in that it is not exactly the same night to night, but most of these parts he had come up with before hand. (And he was beyond wasted at this concert, which is both sad and impressive at the same time.)
Too many guitar heroes of the 80s were little more than finger athletes. Eddie always created music, even when he was showing off his fireworks. He had unreal chops, for sure, but he was so much more: He had a staggering musicality and sense of groove - while also excelling as a songwriter/composer. And you’re right, Dad, there are quite a bit of classical influences in his playing. (I also love that he always had a care-free smile on his face, as opposed to his peers, who often looked like they were taking a crap when soloing).
You should check out his son, Wolfgang, and his band...Mammoth...you'll be very impressed with what he can do...Rock ON!!!
eddie is using the volume knob . its called catheral
EVH did not read music even though he played piano...but in some interviews or book (not sure where I heard it) he did eventually learn.