I have to admit I am guilty of this myself. For the last couple of years I became disgruntled with EV and would say how greedy I thought he was becoming and that it seemed the guy who always looked like a little kid with that grin may have been the cause of a lot of the problems in that band, but now it has taken on a life of its own and there is an awful lot of Eddie bashing every where I turn. The messed up photos of him all over the web and people even saying he is washed up. Well I can see, and I know from him always saying his father gave him his first drink and ciggarete at age ten that the bottle has taken a toll on him and maybe he has other problems but HE WAS AND ALWAYS will be one of the greatest guitar players to have ever walked on this earth.If you have ever read an interview with one of his peers guys like Steve Lukather who is a beast himself you understand just how great the guy is. I think he has been ripped off more than any other guitarist in history and I dont want to hear about some guy who tapped a few years before him because I have heard these so called taps and they sound just like a hammer on or pull off not like the tapping we all know as this was his bag totaly.The atomic dive bombs,tapped arpeggios,volume swells,tremolo picking, I am not saying he invented all these techniques but never before were they ever put together in someones bag of chops until he came on the seen. A killer rhythm player and riff meister and his playing is always spot on and clean,plus all the great music he has written over the years now he is talked about as he is some kind of has been.Well Ed I hope you stay sober and put out an album that shakes up the guitar playing community and knocks it on its $@!, and you will always be at the top with the handful of truly great and INOVATIVE guitarist if you never played another note again.

I have never bashed him, I just don't care for him or his guitar playing. That's just my personal opinion.

I wish him all the best in staying clean.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I never bashed him but I always thought the group Van Halen were helped by the vocals of David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar doing there best years. Hech with either of those two out there singing for me I could have made it big, well maybe not me but you get my point.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Me either. I've always thought he was a brilliant guitarist. Never liked all his songs though.

Straycat, I think Eddie truly is one of the greats, for all the reasons you mentioned. If he's being bashed, I think it's because people are frustrated that whatever problems he's had seem to have help destroy one of the best rock and roll bands ever.

I hope at some point he can finally put his personal demons aside and get back to making great music.

Schnepf, Thats exactly the point I am making,and I am not saying anyone here is bashing him I am saying it is like all over the web every forum every site .Man he is getting hammered. Chet I know where your coming from as I believe we are into the same type players but I have to disagree with you on Vanhalen I love his playing and marvel at what he does which to me in that field no one is better.I mean just take that short solo in jump and the precision he squeezes that end passage in and how melodic it is ,and when I say he writes great music sure Dave and Sammy were huge but how well did Dave do after he left and Sammy never had that success before he joined .

whoa. hold on there tiger , sammy is above this calamity , now i'm not sure were you parked that bad boy but you look sober enough to me to ride.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I agree.

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You dig?

I don't bash Van Halen for technically he's a better guitar player than i ever hope to be....TECHNICALLY. I prefer music with more soul and less flash.

There are just numerous amounts of players out there that can shred for days I.E. Herman Li. But i prefer music to have a soul to it rather than fancy tricks. if it's tricks you want go watch Tom Morelllo...That guy would play with a tube sock and jar of jelly if it would make a noise.

I like guys with the blues background like SRV, Clapton, Page, and Hendrix had soul too. Thats why they are the most revered guitarists to ever play. Eddy expanded on that with his technical merit but that's really all he's known for Tapping and Eruption.

People are inspired by VH but more so by the greats i mentioned before, because everyone wants to have that amount of passion in their playing.

It's amazing what Eddy does but at the end of the day does it evoke that passion inside you? Not me.

I know that I would never bash one of the greatest guitarists in world history.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

So goes the old saw about public relations. If someone is a giant, a game-changer, a mind-blower, they receive tons of fast and easy praise. But let 'em slip a step or two, and everybody wants the first kick.

CLapton was God... now look how much crap he takes from people who can't even copy his licks, let alone come up with their own. Eddie The V, same thing. Good lord a'mighty, just imagine how much trash they'd be talking about Hendrix if he'd lived!

I always notice when people say that technically proficient players have no "soul." What's "soul?" Music you think you can play? Man, if you can't hear the passion and fire and the pure funhouse joy n Van Halen's playing, you're deaf or maybe feeling a littel threatened. It's loaded with soul... just not the bent-note guitar-face soul one is likely to encounter at Blooze Jam Night down at your local watering hole.

As for being frustrated over the band's demise... what, is a band supposed to last forever? Should you hang together at all costs and become a clown-faced money machine like the Stones? Settle for a lesser version of stardom and go do the State Fair gigs? A band has a life span, and Van Halen had theirs. He doesn't need the money... if I were Eddie, I'd spend the rest of my life kicking back, enjoying my time, and learning to play jazz, which I would never perform in public as long as I lived.

I don't know man, I know people who practically worship EVH. He inspires them like SRV inspires me. I'm not much of a EVH fan myself, but I'm not into bashing him.

You know, there are worse (much worse) guitar players to worship than EVH. So you can't blame people for liking him, he is a lot better than many of us can hope to be.

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Exactly.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

I don't know if I've ever "bashed" him myself. I DO think he's a giant $@!, and he is. Very arrogant now for many reasons and that's been proven in interviews and videos. Regardless, he's one of my favorites, an amazingly innovative guitar player (well. was), changed the sound and style of rock guitar and is still one a great inspiration of mine. He got tones from that beater guitar and a variac that are still incredible to this day.

So although EV, Don Henley, Yngwie are huge pricks, they have the talent to back it up and will be legends.

People like Axel Rose and Ringo Starr are just as, if not more, arrogant and are worthless throw-away turds. Those $@! bags have no reason to have the attitudes they have.

Just my opinion.

When you think about it EV with his battle with alcohol and health issues has held up quit well. He's not that young kid that took the World by storm, He's a little older and wiser too im sure. But one thing you cant take away from him like him or not. He was, is and always will be one of the greats. IMO