So there's RatBastard:
Eddie is WAAAAAY over hyped. Basically a poser.
And there's these guys:
"I think Eddie Van Halen is just a fantastic guitarist."- Ted Nugent 1979.
"I think I'm quite interested in Eddie Van Halen. He plays funny, and I like that. I think it's original...He uses a tremolo arm and has his own runs and styles, and it's good. I like the way he has chosen. It's really flashy."
-Michael Schenker 1981.
"Right now Eddie Van Halen is the top. It seems like every kid wants to learn his licks. He's right up there where Clapton was years ago."
-Leslie West 1980.
"There are many great players. Eddie Van Halen is great-I dont want to get near competing with people like him."-Randy Rhoads 1981.
"I always thought Edward was great. He's a fantastic guitar player." -- Allan Holdsworth
"What a wonderful musician...absolutely the pinnacle of guitar playing in our lifetime." -- Brian May
"Without a doubt, Eddie Van Halen is the greatest guitar player who has ever lived." -- Zakk Wylde
"Eddie's got the best right hand in the business, drop-dead timing and tone for days. He's a master guitarist and a great songwriter. I will always be a big fan of his playing." -Joe Satriani
"I was 12 years old when I heard the first VH album. If I live to be 100, I don't think I'll ever be blown away like that again. Then I saw them live in '79 on the second album tour. It was absolutely life changing." -Paul Gilbert
"EVH, by far, is the most innovative and bad-*bleeped* guitar player to date, and has managed to harness this magic for over 25 years. To this day, I still turn to my VH records for ideas and inspiration. Long live Edward Van Halen!!" -"Dimebag" Darrell Abbott
"Edward raised the bar on rock guitar playing. Actually, he most certainly reinvented it and that happens only three or four times a century. When a person plays an instrument, they wear their personality on their sleeve. There has always been an inspired yet intimate simplicity to Edward's musical expressions, not to mention a little iron ore, too." -Steve Vai
"Genius? This record is pretty much the record that made me want to buy a Marshall amp. It's
Eddie, man. Whoever just thinks he was a solo player and only inspired a generation to solo
missed the whole light on what Eddie's all about.-Nuno Bettencourt on Fair Warning 1992.
"I met Eddie at the Les Paul Tribute show years ago (1987) and he seemed like a very nice young man. I'm often asked what I think about guitarists outside the world of blues, you know, far as rock players like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. I've always believed that Jimi, while he was alive, became the number one rock 'n' roll guitarist of all time. Having said that, I must also say that I believe Eddie is a close second. After Jimi died, that's when my opinion went to Eric Clapton as the number one guy. Next to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, I can't think of too many people who've done more for rock guitar than Eddie Van Halen." -B.B. King
"You hear so much about Zeppelin, AC/DC, Kiss, Pink Floyd, and other old bands like that (rightfully so), but to me, far above them all was Van Halen (mainly the first six albums). Doesn't anyone remember how they completely made other bands look like wimps? And as for Eddie, no guitar player since him has even come close to touching his little toe. Everything about his playing was unique, mind-blowing, and full of emotion." -Jason Becker
"I was immediately impressed with his smooth, musical instincts when we were playing together. He seemed to pick supporting parts that were solid, simple, but had some rhythmic variation. When he took a solo, it was always fluid and natural. When we played our first gig, he invited us to his home to hang out from soundcheck until gig time. He and his wife were very gracious. I particularly like playing with very talented people, and he has tons of talent!" -Steve Morse
"If you had a guitar poll, I'd put Edward Van Halen in the first five slots and then the next five would start opening up." -Billy Gibbons
"I admire Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather, but they might blow me away quite easily if we were to jam together." -Eric Clapton
"These days I don't look to other people with the objective of trying to steal their licks, although I've got no objections to stealing them if that seems like a good idea. I'm sure that I'm still influenced by Mark Knopfler and Eddie Van Halen as well......I can't play like Eddie Van Halen. I wish I could. I sat down to try some of those ideas and can't do it. I don't know if I could ever get any of that stuff together. Sometimes I think I should work at the guitar more." -David Gilmour
"Eddie Van Halen was probably the most influential." -Tony Iommi
"What draws people to the instrument is the love for guitar players that play a certain way. I mean, even though it wasn't intentional, it was hard to avoid copying Eddie Van Halen. He was basically the *bleep* back then." -Tom Morello
"Eddie brought tapping to the forefront, and I still think he was one of the tastiest players doing it." -Jeff Beck
"I do think Van Halen reinvented the guitar...he's an excellent musician, a shrewd guitarist, and as a person he is wonderful." -Richie Blackmore
"I do like Eddie Van Halen as a player. He gets it right quite often." -Paul McCartney
"I never saw Eddie playing live with Van Halen until the very end of Van Halen with Sammy Hagar, so I never saw the original but I heard the records, and he was just awesome, he was great. I hope his health is doing better, I don't know what's going on with that, but he rewrote the book, kind of like Hendrix and Clapton. He was the next guy to actually turn it all around." -Eric Johnson
"I definately didn't start thinking about doing any two-handed tapping until after I heard
Van Halen. His influence is way beyond just tapping, but it is the most obvious thing
that he brought to the guitar culture. He's just totally musical."-Vernon Reid 1992.
"I had a band called White Horse who played with Van Halen a few times at Gazzarri's. Ed was always great...my mouth would fall open." -Mick Mars
"I was like *bleep*, what am I gonna do now? To see everything you thought you knew about guitar playing change right before your eyes, at your very own show. Talk about depressed. But I knew I had to learn from this guy. He was doing something new, and I had to get with the program if I ever stood a chance of competing." -George Lynch
"People always think the guitar is reaching its limits. They thought guitar music was stagnating in the late 70's, and then Eddie Van Halen comes in and changes everything. For my money, Eddie was the first significant new kid on the block. Very dazzling. And I think he played a vital role in keeping kids interested, because they could look up to this cheeky little guy with a big smile. He flew the flag well, I think." -Jimmy Page
"No one can play guitar like Eddie. He took everything that went before him and said, I've heard all that before. And then introduced all the finger-tapping stuff that he does. And not only is he a great player, he's a great showman, and that's what it's all about." -Joe Perry
"When I heard the first Van Halen album, I couldn't believe how great the guitar playing was--and I heard that album at a point when I didn't like any of the new guitar players. I mean, he totally changed the whole guitar field--and he's still as great now as he's ever been. I would love to jam with him." -Yngwie J. Malmsteen
"You hear so much about Zeppelin, AC/DC, Kiss, Pink Floyd, and other old bands like that (rightfully so), but to me, far above them all was Van Halen (mainly the first six albums). Doesn't anyone remember how they completely made other bands look like wimps? And as for Eddie, no guitar player since him has even come close to touching his little toe. Everything about his playing was unique, mind-blowing, and full of emotion." -Jason Becker
So pretty close, I'd say.
