Without Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen, guitar playing could have been very different over the past six decades and Rock and Roll would not be exactly the same. They expanded the notion of what guitar playing could be with their extremely difficult techniques, which were never easily replicated by other musicians and represented a huge innovation. During his career, Eddie shared his views on other musician’s playing, including Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore, who also were crucial to what he know as Rock music these days.
Eddie Van Halen on Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore as guitarists
Eddie Van Halen was a fan of both Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore, who influenced him especially when he was trying to find his own style. In fact, as the late guitarist said many times, it was after seeing Led Zeppelin playing and Page technique that he had the idea to use tapping, which later on became one of the most famous characteristics of his playing.
He and his brother Alex used to go to The Forum in Los Angeles to see many bands they liked as he recalled: “I saw Led Zeppelin back in, I think it was ’70, ’71, something like that. Jimmy Page had his arm up in the air. He was doing pull-offs on the G string, or the B string. I said, wait a minute, and I took my right hand, and I put it where the nut is, and I just moved it up, and kept going up the neck.”
“So I used my right index finger as the nut, like a capo. Then I reversed it, and I used my index finger of my left hand as the nut. The finger on my right hand is now just an extension of another finger on my left hand. That’s where it came from. It’s funny, cause I watch other people do it, and I guess it’s just been part of my playing for so long, and as you hold the neck.”
He continued:
“It’s not like my right hand is tapping. I’m actually pulling off just like I would with my left hand, you know what I’m saying? And I don’t know why they call them hammer-ons, cause I’m not hammering it. It’s just like if you’re doing a trill with your left hand, I’m just adding my right hand to it,” Eddie Van Halen told Fuzz magazine in 1998.
A few years before, in 1993, he was invited for the induction of Jimmy Page into the Rock Walk of Fame. During his speech, he said: “I don’t think there is anybody here who has not been affected or touched by Jimmy Page’s music, his guitar playing. So the guy is a f*cking legend, you know. He influenced me and everybody that I know. What more can I say? Thank you for being here, I’m honored for being here, thank you.” Eddie Van Halen said. In Ritchie Blackmore’s case, what drew Eddie Van Halen’s attention to his playing was his vibrato.
He said:
“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. After Van Halen’s debut album in 1978, he had already praised the Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist, saying that he was the one who got him “hooked on the whammy bar”.
Curiously, the first time he had the chance to meet Ritchie, he was accompanied by Gary Moore, but the experience wasn’t a particularly good one. Former Rainbow keyboardist Don Airey recalled that weird encounter. “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,” he told Mulatschag TV in 2020.
Eddie once said he thought Jimmy Page was sloppy when playing live in concert
Although Eddie admired Jimmy Page and praised him many times, he once said he thought he was sloppy when playing live in concert. “Jimmy Page is an excellent producer. ‘Led Zeppelin’ and ‘Led Zeppelin II’ are classics. As a player, he’s very good in the studio. But I never saw him play well live. He’s very sloppy. He plays like he’s got a broken hand and he’s two years old. But if you put out a good album and play like a two-year-old live. What’s the purpose?” Eddie Van Halen said in an interview with Guitar World in 1981.
The final time they possibly saw each other was when Eddie was in London and went to visit David Coverdale in a hotel, sitting down and talking to him and Jimmy Page who was also there visiting. David Coverdale recalled that moment, saying: “Edward, the last time I saw him, I was sitting in my hotel suite in London with Jimmy (Page). It was like ten o’clock in the morning. We were just having a very elegant gentleman’s cup of tea. Tea pot and everything! (laughing). The door to my suite goes, and Michael McIntire, my co-producer who was working with us, he gets up and opens the door. His jaw hits the floor because he’s like a total Van Halen fan. Eddie (casually) goes; ‘is David in?’ (laughing hysterically).”
David Coverdale continued:
“I wasn’t under my own name! And Mikey walks in and he goes; (meekly) ‘Oh, it’s Van Halen’, and Edward just pushes past. I go; ‘Edward, how are you doing?’ And he goes; ‘alright, great to see you… Ah! Jimmy Page! Jimmy Page!’ Well first off, he goes to my minibar immediately at ten o’clock in the morning and takes a fucking Heineken out. He’s at Jimmy’s feet, and he picks up my acoustic. He’s like; ‘how did you play this fucking thing?!’ (laughing). You know, it’s amazing; I had Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page sitting there. Eddie had a Heineken, and Jimmy and I had a cup of tea!” David Coverdale said.
When Van Halen was still playing in the clubs circuit, they used to cover many bands, including Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. They used to play “Maybe I’m A Leo”, “Might Just Take Your Life”,“Hots On For Nowhere”, “The Rover” and “Trampled Underfoot”. Later on, during Sammy Hagar’s era in Van Halen, he and Eddie played “Rock and Roll” and “Whole Lotta Love” on special appearances at benefit shows.
Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore believe Eddie was one of the best guitarists of all time
Both Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore praised Eddie Van Halen over the decades and believed he was one of the greatest guitarists in the world. After the guitarist passed away in 2020 at the age of 65, Page said he was the real deal. “It is with great sadness that I heard the passing of 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. It was good to see him featured at the Met’s Play It Loud Exhibition. R.I.P. Eddie,” Jimmy Page said.
Blackmore also paid tribute to Van Halen at the time. He said that he was one of the nicest people he ever met and considered him the ultimate guitar hero. “Eddie Van Halen was a brilliant guitarist who started a technique of guitar playing which was emulated by a whole generation of guitarists. He was one of the nicest musicians I ever met in the music business. Very shy and not at all conceited about his ability as a guitar player. Frank Zappa said he reinvented the guitar. I agree. He will be sadly missed. But his brilliant legacy will always be remembered. The ultimate guitar hero,” Ritchie Blackmore said.