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Jimmy Page on Eddie Van Halen: ‘He Was the Real Deal’

“He pioneered a dazzling technique on guitar with taste and panache that I felt always placed him above his imitators,” Led Zeppelin guitarist writes

Jimmy Page remembered his fellow guitar god Eddie Van Halen.

From left: Fin Costello/Redferns/Getty Images; Art Zelin/Getty Images

Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page remembered his fellow guitar god Eddie Van Halen following Van Halen’s death Tuesday at the age of 65.

“It is with great sadness that I heard the passing of Eddie Van Halen,” Page wrote on Instagram. “He was the real deal: he pioneered a dazzling technique on guitar with taste and panache that I felt always placed him above his imitators.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGCV8afDQ00

Page added he was happy to see Eddie Van Halen’s iconic Frankenstein guitar at the “Play It Loud” exhibition, where the guitar resided alongside other famed instruments like Page’s Harmony Sovereign acoustic guitar that was used on portions of “Stairway to Heaven.”

Following the death of Van Halen after a lengthy battle with cancer, there has been an outpouring of tributes from fellow guitar greats, including Pete TownshendJoe WalshPearl Jam’s Mike McCreadyJohn MayerJoe Satriani, and Tom Morello.

From Rolling Stone US