EVH

There’s only a small number of people that can be credited with truly changing the course of the instrument they play. It’s a monumental feat for any artist to have that kind of impact and influence on any instrument, but Eddie Van Halen was without a doubt among that small pantheon of people who changed the electric guitar.

You can distinctly draw a line of the electric guitar before and after the first Van Halen album. If you were a guitarist, you probably remember the first time hearing, “Eruption.” I certainly do. And like millions of others, it blew my mind.

Fast forward a few years and I got tickets to see VH’s 2004 Summer Tour, where the band reunited with Sammy Hagar. Eddie looked awful, and it was beyond difficult to watch. He had part of his tongue removed due to throat cancer, but there he was, smoking on stage and drunk to the point where he could barely play. He could barely talk, slurring his words. Having just lost my father from lung cancer a year before, it was heartbreaking.

After that concert, I kind of stepped away from VH for a while. It hurt to see someone you so admired in such bad shape. It wasn’t until two years later, I started working as an intern at Guitar World where I learned about Eddie, the person.

I never met him personally, but even though he never was physically in the offices during my two years there—he was in the throes of addiction—his presence was felt throughout the halls. No one there had a single bad word to say about him, and it was always a highlight when any of them would share a story about him. No matter the department, if you worked at GW, Eddie was most likely the reason they were there—and like millions, probably the reason they picked up a guitar in the first place. I learned about his demons, and how he was fighting them for his son, who was just a bit younger than me. My respect for him, as a musician and a man, has been unwavering ever since. No bad concert experience could change that, and seeing him sober and healthy again in recent years only cemented my admiration for him.

Eddie was never a major influence on my own playing, but I always respected his virtuosity—how could you not?—and the pure joy in his playing. While so many guitarists looked super serious or tried to look “cool,” he almost always played with a big smile on his face. Not only was it contagious, but you absolutely heard it in his playing as well. And to put aside his incredible playing for a second, without his tinkering of making his guitars and gear work for him, Guitar World, and the guitaring world at large, wouldn’t be what it’s become over the years. Full stop.

Eddie was the real deal, and his loss is beyond gargantuan. The list of those who forever changed the trajectory of the electric guitar is a short one. Les Paul and Jimi Hendrix come to mind. And so does EVH.

Shred in Peace, Edward Van Halen.