Eddie Van Halen’s 20 Greatest Solos
“Eruption,” “Panama,” “Right Now” and more — the quintessential modern guitar god’s most memorable six-string feats
It’s hard to imagine what rock & roll would sound like without Eddie Van Halen. Like Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton before him, he single-handedly (or perhaps, in his case, double-handedly) changed the vocabulary of guitar for a generation. His pyrotechnic finger-tapping, elastic dive-bombs, and bursts of melody redefined the guitar solo and inspired legions of copycats in the process. But no matter what he was playing, he did it with heart. To honor the late guitar hero, who died Tuesday at age 65, we’ve selected 20 of his greatest solos — from unforgettable licks to genuine “how’d he do that?” head-scratchers — that show off his brilliance.
From Rolling Stone US