Classic Rock
Nancy Wilson gave Eddie Van Halen the first acoustic guitar he ever had
Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson recalled in an interview with Lazer 103.3 that she gave Eddie Van Halen the first acoustic guitar he ever had. Even after becoming a rockstar the musician dind’t had an acoustic guitar.
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Nancy Wilson says she gave Eddie Van Halen the first acoustic guitar he ever had:
“My favorite Eddie story to tell – we were opening for Van Halen and traveling with Van Halen for a while, and he was telling me one time, ‘I really like the way you play your acoustic guitar. And I said, ‘Gosh, coming from you, that means a lot. How come you never play acoustic?’ And he said, ‘Well, I don’t really have an acoustic.’ I’m like, ‘What? You’ve got one now because I’m handing you this one.’
“And so later the next morning – like, in the early hours – he calls my hotel room because we didn’t have cell phones then yet, and I picked up and he’s like, ‘Man, I’ve been up all night.’ He played me this really beautiful, just excellent, gorgeous piece, almost like a rock classical, you know, an instrumental piece, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I’ve never heard anything quite like that.’
“And I guess I still have no idea if he ever recorded that. I said, ‘You have to record that.’ If it exists somewhere, we’ll probably find out now that he’s not around anymore. He was as sweet as they come, and just a genuine, wonderful guy.”
Eddie Van Halen
Early in his career, Eddie played the drums and the keyboard and Alex played the guitar and studied the keyboard. Over time Alex got better than Eddie on drums, and Eddie started to train the guitar, overcoming him.
Eddie is one of the most acclaimed guitarists in history. Receiving several honors and mentions from the most varied magazines specializing in the subject. He also ranks 8th on the list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and 7th on the Gibson list of the 50 best guitarists of all time.
