During the process, he electrocuted himself with a capacitor and blew the power to his entire house. -- Elias dickey, 9th grade
The Life and Legacy of Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was the innovative and iconic lead guitarist of the rock and early metal band Van Halen. On October 6th of 2020, a stroke claimed his life after a multi-decade battle with multiple cancers. The rock legend ultimately passed away at 65, leaving tens of millions of fans in sorrow and astonishment.
Early Life
Eddie was born in 1955 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Jan Van Halen and Eugenia Van Beers on a cold January day. Encouraged by their father, who was a Jazz clarinet player, Eddie and his older brother, Alex, learned to play piano at age 6. In 1962, the Van Halens moved to Pasadena, California, where their father, Jan, quickly found the brothers a new piano instructor. While Eddie reportedly won first place in a Long Beach City College music competition (not once, but three times in a row from 1964 to 1967) for his skills on the piano, he never actually learned to read music. Eddie claims that his piano teacher, “never knew I couldn’t read. I’d watch his fingers, and I’d play it.”
After his passion for the piano slipped away, he became obsessed with drums. Eddie would take boxes and paper, fashion them into a snare drum, and play along to his favorite Dave Clark Five tracks. Since his family couldn’t comfortably afford much more than the essentials, Eddie got into work as a paperboy to scrape enough money together for a basic drum kit. However, Alex quickly surpassed him in drum skills, and a frustrated Eddie decided to pick up his brother’s Silvertone electric guitar and try his hand at guitar. And that’s how one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time picked up his first axe.
Fast forward to fourth grade and the young prodigy was playing in a band dubbed “The Broken Combs,” later moving to “Revolver” and then “Mammoth.” Eventually all but Eddie and Alex dropped out of the band, but the brothers were soon joined by vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony when the band came to completion in 1974.
The Frankenstrat (and other gear)
Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was the innovative and iconic lead guitarist of the rock and early metal band Van Halen. On October 6th of 2020, a stroke claimed his life after a multi-decade battle with multiple cancers. The rock legend ultimately passed away at 65, leaving tens of millions of fans in sorrow and astonishment.
Early Life
Eddie was born in 1955 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands to Jan Van Halen and Eugenia Van Beers on a cold January day. Encouraged by their father, who was a Jazz clarinet player, Eddie and his older brother, Alex, learned to play piano at age 6. In 1962, the Van Halens moved to Pasadena, California, where their father, Jan, quickly found the brothers a new piano instructor. While Eddie reportedly won first place in a Long Beach City College music competition (not once, but three times in a row from 1964 to 1967) for his skills on the piano, he never actually learned to read music. Eddie claims that his piano teacher, “never knew I couldn’t read. I’d watch his fingers, and I’d play it.”
After his passion for the piano slipped away, he became obsessed with drums. Eddie would take boxes and paper, fashion them into a snare drum, and play along to his favorite Dave Clark Five tracks. Since his family couldn’t comfortably afford much more than the essentials, Eddie got into work as a paperboy to scrape enough money together for a basic drum kit. However, Alex quickly surpassed him in drum skills, and a frustrated Eddie decided to pick up his brother’s Silvertone electric guitar and try his hand at guitar. And that’s how one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time picked up his first axe.
Fast forward to fourth grade and the young prodigy was playing in a band dubbed “The Broken Combs,” later moving to “Revolver” and then “Mammoth.” Eventually all but Eddie and Alex dropped out of the band, but the brothers were soon joined by vocalist David Lee Roth and bassist Michael Anthony when the band came to completion in 1974.
The Frankenstrat (and other gear)
Four years later, Eddie begins the tedious journey of crafting what has now become one of the most iconic relics of rock history. Known to fans as “Frankenstrat” and “Frankenstein” but to Eddie as “my baby,” the guitar started off as a strat body which Eddie hacked out with a screwdriver to make room for different pickups (little bars that take the sound from the guitar to an amplifier). The next change the guitarist decided to make was to sand down the neck. “Most guitar necks are too round on the back, so I took sandpaper and reshaped the neck to be very flat.” states Eddie in a 2015 interview. The original neck was short lived, however, as neck replacements became a frequent occurrence for Eddie. He followed this by adding in a whammy (vibrato) bar and shaping a new nut (the string holder at the top of the neck) with rounder nut slots. He topped all his work off with a coat of paraffin wax on the pickups and the now emblematic signature paint job. However, his original amp was a whole other story. During the process, he electrocuted himself with a capacitor and blew the power to his entire house, so let that be a reminder to do research before using power tools.
Albums and Work
The following page shows all of Eddie Van Halen’s works and features from the start to the end of his professional career. In bold are Van Halen albums and in normal text are collaborations and features.
Guitar Innovation
According to instrumental student Jesse Dicruttalo, “Eddie was a master of all trades on guitar, but I’d say his biggest contribution was tapping (a style of guitar where the player uses a finger from their picking hand to hammer on a note in a rapid multiple-note sequence).” His biggest innovation in guitar technology is the Floyd Rose bridge he helped design, which in Dicruttalo’s opinion will always keep him relevant as a guitar hero in the music community. For Stace Wright, owner and mentor at Bandworks as well as a member of the band Recyclists, Eddie Van Halen was always an inspiration and influence to his playing. Wright first came upon Van Halen (the band) in 1979 when he was a junior in high school. The first song he heard was Dance the Night Away on his radio when driving around El Paso (texas). According to Wright, “We went to a store and bought the first two albums on cassette. Listened to them over and over on the drive back home.” Musically, Eddie was also a big influence. Both Stace and Jesse have found use for Eddie's techniques, through pinch harmonics, tapping, or even his double stop chords.
Illness and Death
Van Halen started smoking and drinking the same day at age 12 (or 13) after being bit by a German Shepherd out in Covina, CA. His father had given him a swig of vodka and a Pall Mall to numb the pain and Eddie was hooked. He first developed tongue cancer in 2000. Online, the star claimed that it had something to do with the copper and brass guitar picks he held in his lips while he wasn’t using them, but it was undoubtedly his chain smoking habit at fault. While Eddie managed to curb his habit of alcoholism in 1995, he could never manage to entirely wean himself off tobacco, even in the final decade of his life. He later developed throat and skin cancer, but a combination of lung cancer, pneumonia, and myelodysplastic syndrome (a cancer-related bone marrow disorder) were responsible for his deteriorating health in his 60’s. In 2017, Eddie was given six weeks to live with his diagnosis of stage four lung cancer, but he took a turn for the better after going to Germany for treatment and managed to squeeze three more years out of his wrecked respiratory system. But after a few years and a lot of second opinions, his Keith Richards-esque luck ran out. On October 6th, 2020, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was pronounced dead after a stroke. His body was cremated 22 days later and scattered off the coast of Malibu, California, where he’d lived for years.
Legacy
Eddie Van Halen has been an influence and idol to tens of millions, through his game-changing innovation to the instrument and his beaming smile. He’s shown the world what is possible on the guitar and will be sorely missed. He leaves behind a wife and son with Eddie-sized holes in their hearts, and legions of grieving fans. As far as technique goes, it was Eddie’s “willingness to search for sound, push the envelope and be experimental” that keeps him relevant today, says Wright. “He had great confidence and relied on his ear,” and “raised the bar in terms of what was possible and what could be tried [on guitar and in music].” Eddie Van Halen was the kind of talent that only comes around once in a century, and like all the greats, he was gone too soon. All in all, Ed’s contributions to music, guitar, and technique will not be forgotten, and he will live on in our hearts as a true guitar hero.
Albums and Work
The following page shows all of Eddie Van Halen’s works and features from the start to the end of his professional career. In bold are Van Halen albums and in normal text are collaborations and features.
- (1977) Kiss/Gene Simmons Demos
- (1978) Nicolette Larson, “Can’t Get Away From You”
- (1978) Van Halen
- (1979) Van Halen II
- (1980) Women and Children First
- (1981) Fair Warning
- (1982) Diver Down
- (1982) Beat it (Michael Jackson ft. Eddie Van Halen)
- (1983) Brian May, “Star Fleet Project”
- (1984) 1984
- (1986) 5150
- (1987) Sammy Hagar, “I Never Said Goodbye”
- (1988) OU812
- (1988) “Private Life”, “Shadows”
- (1989) Steve Lukather, “Twist the Knife”
- (1991) Thomas Dolby, “Astronauts and Heretics”
- (1991) For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
- (1993) Live: Right Here, Right Now
- (1994) Black Sabbath, “Evil Eye”
- (1995) Balance
- (1996) Best of Volume 1
- (1996) Rich Wyman, “Fatherless Child”
- (1996) Alex Van Halen, “Respect the Wind”
- (1998) Van Halen III
- (1999) Roger Waters, “Lost Boys Calling”
- (2003) Steve Lukather “Joy to the World”
- (2004) The Best of Both Worlds
- (2012) A Different Kind of Truth
- (2013) LL Cool J, “Authentic”
- (2015) Tokyo Dome Live in Concert
- (2015) At Your Service
Guitar Innovation
According to instrumental student Jesse Dicruttalo, “Eddie was a master of all trades on guitar, but I’d say his biggest contribution was tapping (a style of guitar where the player uses a finger from their picking hand to hammer on a note in a rapid multiple-note sequence).” His biggest innovation in guitar technology is the Floyd Rose bridge he helped design, which in Dicruttalo’s opinion will always keep him relevant as a guitar hero in the music community. For Stace Wright, owner and mentor at Bandworks as well as a member of the band Recyclists, Eddie Van Halen was always an inspiration and influence to his playing. Wright first came upon Van Halen (the band) in 1979 when he was a junior in high school. The first song he heard was Dance the Night Away on his radio when driving around El Paso (texas). According to Wright, “We went to a store and bought the first two albums on cassette. Listened to them over and over on the drive back home.” Musically, Eddie was also a big influence. Both Stace and Jesse have found use for Eddie's techniques, through pinch harmonics, tapping, or even his double stop chords.
Illness and Death
Van Halen started smoking and drinking the same day at age 12 (or 13) after being bit by a German Shepherd out in Covina, CA. His father had given him a swig of vodka and a Pall Mall to numb the pain and Eddie was hooked. He first developed tongue cancer in 2000. Online, the star claimed that it had something to do with the copper and brass guitar picks he held in his lips while he wasn’t using them, but it was undoubtedly his chain smoking habit at fault. While Eddie managed to curb his habit of alcoholism in 1995, he could never manage to entirely wean himself off tobacco, even in the final decade of his life. He later developed throat and skin cancer, but a combination of lung cancer, pneumonia, and myelodysplastic syndrome (a cancer-related bone marrow disorder) were responsible for his deteriorating health in his 60’s. In 2017, Eddie was given six weeks to live with his diagnosis of stage four lung cancer, but he took a turn for the better after going to Germany for treatment and managed to squeeze three more years out of his wrecked respiratory system. But after a few years and a lot of second opinions, his Keith Richards-esque luck ran out. On October 6th, 2020, Edward Lodewijk Van Halen was pronounced dead after a stroke. His body was cremated 22 days later and scattered off the coast of Malibu, California, where he’d lived for years.
Legacy
Eddie Van Halen has been an influence and idol to tens of millions, through his game-changing innovation to the instrument and his beaming smile. He’s shown the world what is possible on the guitar and will be sorely missed. He leaves behind a wife and son with Eddie-sized holes in their hearts, and legions of grieving fans. As far as technique goes, it was Eddie’s “willingness to search for sound, push the envelope and be experimental” that keeps him relevant today, says Wright. “He had great confidence and relied on his ear,” and “raised the bar in terms of what was possible and what could be tried [on guitar and in music].” Eddie Van Halen was the kind of talent that only comes around once in a century, and like all the greats, he was gone too soon. All in all, Ed’s contributions to music, guitar, and technique will not be forgotten, and he will live on in our hearts as a true guitar hero.