What's a Van Halen?

A few years ago a young guitar student of mine walked into the room looked at my concert t-shirt and said, “Van Halen?  What is that, some kind of band or something?”

 
My jaw dropped as I couldn’t believe that this guitar student had never heard the name Eddie Van Halen.  Ok, I understand that pop music stars rise and fall as the decades pass but I think most of us at least know the names of the big stars like Bon Jovi, Beatles & Beethoven.  Come on now, this is EddieVan Halen we are talking about and this is guitar class.

Here are 4 facts about this guitar wizard that even fans might not know.

1. One of the most famous guitar solos ever recorded is called Eruption. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Eddie revealed that the legendary guitar solo track was never supposed to be recorded. He and the band were at Sunset Studios in Hollywood and their engineer Donn Landee recorded some of Eddie’s rehearsals on accident. That accident became Eruption, one of Van Halen’s most well-known tracks.

2. Van Halen's drummer is his brother Alex. As kids Alex started out on guitar and Eddie was a drummer.

3. Gene Simmons of KISS "discovered" Van Halen and financed their first demo recording.  He also wanted the band to be renamed Daddy Longlegs.

 

4. That's Eddie Van Halen playing the guitar solo to Michael Jackson's Beat It.

 

I know that Eddie Van Halen isn't the only guitar player to change the musical landscape.  Feel free to throw out some of your own guitar heros in the comment box below.