Eddie Van Halen on Clapton and Blackmore

Eddie Van Halen has always been ranked among the greatest guitarists of all time in magazines and lists compiled by Rock fans. He was, and still is, a huge influence on millions of guitar players, who have compared his legacy to that of Jimi Hendrix, who also changed the course of guitar playing. During his career, Eddie spoke about many of his peers, including Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore.

Eddie Van Halen on Clapton and Blackmore

Eddie Van Halen admired both Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore and was influenced by the two when developing his own style of playing. However, he was a bigger fan of Clapton, listing him as his biggest influence and as his hero. Although he was deeply inspired by him, he ultimately became a very different kind of guitarist after finding his own sound.

“My main influence was Eric Clapton. I started out playing blues-the Blues Breakers album where Clapton’s on the front reading the Beano comic book. I like phrasing; that’s why I always liked Clapton.”

“He would just play it with feeling. It’s like someone talking, a question-and-answer trip.” I realize I don’t sound like him, but I know every solo  he’s ever played, note-for-note, still to this day. (…) I learned them by slowing the records down to 16 RPM on my dad’s turntable. By taking licks off records and listening, I developed a feel for rock and roll,” Eddie told Guitar Player in 1978.

When it comes to Ritchie Blackmore, one of the things that inspired Eddie Van Halen was his use of the vibrato bar. “Ritchie Blackmore I liked because of his vibrato bar use on ‘Deep Purple in Rock’ (1970). Also, they come out with great riffs. I mean, come on, “Smoke on the Water” is one for the history books,” he told Rolling Stone in 2011. In the late 70s, he had already praised Ritchie exactly for that. Eddie said he got him “hooked on the whammy bar”.

His favorite Eric Clapton solos and Ritchie Blackmore guitar riff

Eddie Van Halen was a fan of Deep Purple’s music and although he previously praised “Smoke on the Water” as a guitar riff for the history books, the one he said was among the best of all time was “Burn”, from the band’s 1974 album of the same name.

There are many videos that show Eddie Van Halen playing Ritchie Blackmore riffs backstage and at his famous “5150” studio. In the early days of Van Halen, the band used to cover many artists during their shows around Pasadena. One song they often included in their set was Deep Purple’s “Maybe I’m a Leo” from “Machine Head” (1972).

As for Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen said he knew everything Clapton played in the early days of his career note-for-note. He mentioned the guitar solos in Cream’s “Sitting On Top of the World”, “Spoonful” and “I’m So Glad”, the latter of which he said was mind-blowing. “The only band I was really over into was Cream. And the only thing I really liked about them was their live stuff. ‘Cause they played two verses, then go off and jam for 20 minutes. (Then) come back and do a chorus and end. And I love the live jam stuff, the improvisation.”

He continued:

“‘Cause it was nothing like the record, and that is why I loved Cream. ‘Cause Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce pushed Eric Clapton. I almost feel bad for Eric because half the time he probably didn’t know the one was because these guys were jazz players playing Marshall amps and loud as s**t. Listen to ‘I’m So Glad’ on Goodbye Cream. If that doesn’t blow your f**king mind I don’t know what will,” Eddie Van Halen told Steve Baltin in 2009.

Eddie Van Halen always preferred Eric Clapton’s earlier work, particularly when he was part of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Cream. He didn’t enjoy as much what Clapton did later in his career. “As a guitarist, Eric Clapton was my hero because he was a straight-ahead guy. (He) must plugged his guitar straight into an amp and it was very organic, so to speak. Not putting a lot of “bs” (bullshit) in between. So, yeah, I liked him during Cream. After Cream, I kind of lost interest in him. I basically stopped listening to music altogether. I didn’t listen to much of anything after that,” Eddie Van Halen said during a session of questions and answers with What It Means to Be American in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

His first meeting with Ritchie Blackmore didn’t go very well

Eddie Van Halen had the chance to meet Eric Clapton and hang out with him. There are even some really nice photos of the two drinking and having a good time in the 1980s. On the other hand, when he met Ritchie Blackmore for the first time, the British guitarist didn’t give him much attention. That story was told by the keyboardist Don Airey, who recorded with Rainbow. He once took Eddie and Gary Moore to a show to meet Ritchie once.

“There was once when Gary Moore first went to L.A he befriended with Eddie because for the first time in his life he had someone that seriously frightened him. They came to a Rainbow gig at Long Beach. And they both looked so young, especially Eddie.”

“Eddie wanted to meet Richie. I suddenly saw Richie coming and I said ‘Hey Richie! I want you to meet two people. This is Gary Moore and this is Eddie Van Halen’. Richie kind of stormed off (laughs). I don’t know what he thought. (That maybe) I was trying to set him up or something,” Don Airey said in an interview with Mulatschag TV back in 2020 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

Both Eric Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore have praised Eddie Van Halen over the years. They recognized him as one of the most influential players of his generation. The Rainbow and Deep Purple guitarist even called him “the ultimate guitar hero” when paying tribute to him after his passing in 2020 at the age of 65.