His sense of rhythm was incredible. No matter how crazy the fill or solo, he was always impeccably on time when jumping back to rhythm playing.

@jmm1817

6 ай бұрын

I agree totally It's like he's falling down a flight of stairs and always lands on his feet

@freegee3503

Ай бұрын

​@@jmm1817Well stated! 👍

@ltaylor2238

Ай бұрын

Absolutely, no one comes close! With no second guitarist, this is even harder to pull off because there is no backup. I have to think having a brother who was a drummer helped him develop this, they were jamming all the time, probably daily for years, long before they even started a band!

@freegee3503

Ай бұрын

@@ltaylor2238 Absolutely no one! 👍

@scottwaszak698

24 күн бұрын

Which is why he's rock's all-time greatest rhythm player.

Tone is insane

@Excalibur2112

8 ай бұрын

His tone was always insane. Even on Diver Down.

@nicksguitaracademy2995

8 ай бұрын

Always

@testtickles8755

7 ай бұрын

​@@Excalibur2112fuck yeah. Hang em High, Little Guitars 🤘 🎸

@totc6196

7 ай бұрын

1 and fair warning are the best imo

@jameslee1062

6 ай бұрын

It’s funny, I just listened to this for the first time and the first words out of my mouth were “that is insane.“ Then I read your post here. Lol. We agree.

That song has a haunting feeling to it, hearing guitar by itself makes it even more haunted...

@ericklein5927

8 ай бұрын

Sounds like a monster.

@DanDDirges

8 ай бұрын

It`s one of the few songs in a minor tuning VH did which makes it sound the way you described

@pashon4percushon

8 ай бұрын

@@DanDDirges i play this song in standard its not the same feeling. It feels like Taylor Swift, a half step makes a big difference in Van Halen songs

@TwentyOneRoyalMusic

8 ай бұрын

Yeah man. It is kinda creepy. Just so damn good....

@williamb.8059

7 ай бұрын

I understand. Miss EVH!

The single greatest rock guitar opening riff in history. Will never be matched

@jameslee1062

6 ай бұрын

Unchained is right there but I hear you. Tie for first?😅

@chignutsak

6 ай бұрын

One of many. He accomplished more on this album than most guitar players ever will in a lifetime of trying.

@epsilon6516

4 ай бұрын

​@@jameslee1062I'm The One is in swing rhythm but it's so fast you can't tell unless you really listen for it. 5150 is underrated as hell. Somebody Get Me A Doctor is simple but it hits like a freight train. Mean Street, I mean, I have no words for that one. Unchained like you mentioned, that low D flat gives it that low heavy sound but with the flanger for that EVH flair. Basically what I'm saying is don't make me choose

@scottwaszak698

3 ай бұрын

Whole Lotta Love might have something to say about that but I mostly agree with you👍

@epsilon6516

3 ай бұрын

It's a contender

I can remember when I heard that for the very first time, it shocked me because it was so different and not of this world. For me this song has the best guitar sound ever recorded. Eddy, you changed my life. RIP.

@jameslee1062

6 ай бұрын

Agree. I heard him the year VH 1 was released, 1977, I was 13 years old and shocked at the totally unique sound of the guitar playing on that album. Still nothing has matched it to this day, almost 50 years later.

@kelleychilton2524

6 ай бұрын

Agreed, I was in high school when their debut album was released and it was definitely a game changer. Everyone who heard it knew that it was something special.

@kordcollin9751

6 ай бұрын

Agreed. Never heard anything close to this

@donbabcock6021

4 ай бұрын

I feel the same way, Eddie was my hero, I was 13 when this came out, great memories.

Makes me really, really miss the late 70s. Those days were so great, and this music - brand new at the time - was a big part of that.

@bluesoddity2094

2 ай бұрын

I agree totally man. Growing up in the 70's, VH was all over radio, on 8 tracks in cars, turntables....used to walk all over town with MY transistor radio and VH crackling out of that tiny speaker...... feels like yesterday and 2 lifetimes ago.

Unbeatable guitar sound. No one will ever top it.

2:32 wtf!? I never noticed that before. 😮

Almost brings tears hearing my guy jamming this…miss you Ed!

All these released tracks are the best musical event of 2023.....❤

@nickpurvis2516

8 ай бұрын

Made my year so far lol

Just a tiny example of why he was #1 in my book. Beyond his mastery of the guitar, he was also the creator of a completely new form of rock music.

If you disagree that Eddie used a flanger for *certain parts* of this song, you've lost your mind: 0:58 - Riff played with no effect pedal added in 1:02 - He clearly activates the flanger just for the last 4 notes of the riff. He does the same in the intro and in other parts to make things interesting. Edit: I believe a secret part of his guitar sound was the addition of a DI recording out of the amp before the signal hit the speakers, so the flanger might have been used on just one of those tracks or possibly even on the guitar mix bus instead of coming before the amp in the chain. It is undeniable that a flanger was turned on and off for this song though.

@RayzaEFC

26 күн бұрын

I don't think the argument is that he didn't use flanger, it's some say he used a phaser not a flanger

@rufonfire9015

12 күн бұрын

@@RayzaEFC To me it sounds like flanger for the 3-2-3 low e string part of the riff and it sounds more like phaser on the 2 solo parts. Dunno.

Gee I am 60 years old..I saw Van Halen live 1984..I saw a legend and beyond..on guitar. It makes me appreciate it now more than ever 🎸🎸🎶🎵

Might be my favorite riff of all time ngl

@eybaza6018

2 ай бұрын

Ypu can say that about the entirety of VH1.Killer album

2:09… the sweep of that MXR Flanger!

@donbabcock6021

4 ай бұрын

Pick scrapes like ripping seams mixed with a car crash! Damn he was good!

The bass in that tone is amazing

My favorite .No.one can do that but King Edward RIP

Who ever would have thought that a fairly simple palm muted Am arpeggio could have been turned into a precision masterpiece like this ? No one, before EVH.

@space_kat1

2 ай бұрын

its not just a palm muted Am arpeggio tho its an Am that turns into an F and goes to a G5

@JesseJames-wj8ft

2 ай бұрын

@@space_kat1 Lol ok you got me - 90% of the riff is a palm muted Am arpeggio though

I swear there is just one guitar track on the album and this is it. Hats off, Edward.

Stunning. So simple and so raw. Eddie’s sense of rhythm is the best that ever was, no one could touch him

@jmm1817

6 ай бұрын

100 totally agree with you when people try to compare Randy Rhoads to Eddie Van Halen there is no effing way not even close

3:02 dive bomb rips my head off

The dive bomb at 3:36 rocks my soul everytime I hear it

@horsecockexpress7612

8 ай бұрын

those pick slides open up worm holes to other dimensions

2:32 and 3:35 have always boggled my mind. I know what's going on but replicating that is wildly difficult and I've never heard one person come close, no matter how delusional they are. 2:20 God even his slide down the fretboard is PUNCHY. The studio work done on this first album is a huge part of this sound and why it's so good. It's crazy how smart and experienced those engineers & producer were. I believe there are several cuts they did to the tape recording. 2:59 being the most obvious

The intro almost has like a throaty saxophone blended into it. Amazing as hell.

@Afeller

7 ай бұрын

Thats flange

Mind blowing. EVH was magical.

The Godfather of Groove

God given talent...AMAZING

Gives you goose bumps! The tone, the feel, the rhythmic perfection. Never, ever gets old. RIP King Edward. 🔥🤘🏻❤️

The Brown Sound, the one and only, King Edward 👑🎸 🙏

Perfection in every way. Miss him every day I get my VH dose

Chewiest tone ever!

@3lullabies

8 ай бұрын

Perfect mids, cutting through the mix like a hot knife through butta' 🎸

@TheJoeylush

8 ай бұрын

Indeed often imitated....but never duplicated

@adamk.mademewatchthis8622

8 ай бұрын

Chewy! Thats the word I’ve been looking for!! You nailed it

@pacman3908

8 ай бұрын

They say it's all in his magical fingers lol

Meaty brown sound is insane! King Edward chased and captured the best guitar tones ever recorded.

Truly the very best guitarist that ever lived or ever will again. Eddie was a one in eternity musician and there will never be another like him or even close! It's a huge loss to the world whether they know it or not.

That MXR phase 90 was such a massive part of Eddie's sound 😎

@LiamHaberstroh

8 ай бұрын

No phaser here. Do you mean the the fanger?

@ludedude5228

8 ай бұрын

@@LiamHaberstroh The phaser is used thru the whole song . The flanger is clicked on for a few seconds then clicked off

@danielgonzaleztejedor9486

8 ай бұрын

Only in the first record.

@MikeHimmel

8 ай бұрын

He only uses the 90 on the guitar solo as per his usual on the first record. What hearing is the flanger on the the special the interludes

@mjh5437

8 ай бұрын

Steve Jones used MXR Phase 90 in the Sex Pistols too,what a great little gizmo they are

Such precision! Makes me smile.

sick, so many nuances to take note of . just when u thought you knew how to play it headslapper!

Brilliantly achieved... the sound is so clear..definetly the best i've heard so far, thanks for posting.

The older I get the more I love this man's playing. It's no longer which of the teachers I thought was the yummiest. It's awesome to hear this dude in raw. 👍🏽

@keithm9337

8 ай бұрын

That was 1978 and I was in bands at that time and NO ONE was doing anthing even close to this. The general concensus of guitar players in bands after hearing this was: Why even go on? EVH was heads and shoulders beyond what anyone else was doing.

I was in elementary school and remember having a huge crush on Eddie Van Halen.

@samaelcoral7297

8 ай бұрын

He was the humble prince charming

This is incredible! Thanks for posting it. Only other song from the first album I would like to hear like this would be Im The One! That would be the icing on the cake. Maybe some VH2 stuff like Somebody Get Me A Doctor and Light Up The Sky!

@hendrikheemels8615

8 ай бұрын

You can find the isolate guitar track of I'm The One here on YT.

@_kunkle

8 ай бұрын

@@hendrikheemels8615These tracks are not from guitar hero. They are the actual raw tracks that were leaked

@_kunkle

Ай бұрын

@@hendrikheemels8615Not the same thing. These are RAW not stems from guitar hero. They are part of a leak that happened a while back. Ton of studio tracks

i played along with my acoustic to this, that Gm'b ringing through my chest feels awesome

2:16 that set of harmonics kinda tickled my brain

@Afeller

8 ай бұрын

Didn’t expect to see you here brouse!

@Brouse5150

8 ай бұрын

@@Afeller omg hi

Amazing as one would imagine.

Incredible

Incredible..

Van halens tone 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Stamped on history 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Definitely a swing to his rhythm playing Killer R&B

Needed this to get all the nuances down, thanks for posting! Playing on an EVH Frankie plugged into a line 6 Helix plugged into a Marshal 1/2. Got the tone dead on.

Literally, a Marshall on 10!

Clean sound. 👍😉

Master of the Screaming Guitar.

WoW !

The intro is my fav part

Tape Echo and Phaser made this song so much more than a simple Am G 2 note song. Eddie was the tone master, his finger work was uncopyable, his rhythm was legendary and his music will always be recognized (and if it isn't, the person will undoubtably ask "Who is that?") I heard this riff not from this song, but from a NWA song. However, when I heard it, and asked someone who it was and found out...my life changed because I had just discovered the name Van Halen, I picked up a guitar 2 years later and have been tone chasing ever since. RIP Edward, hopefully when this merry go round of life comes full circle again, we can meet under better circumstances.

@Afeller

6 ай бұрын

What NWA song?

@jritechnology

6 ай бұрын

@@Afeller It's strange. If I google NWA Eddie Van Halen, a song called "fu*k shop" is the first hit. Amazing how finding our own answers works.

@Afeller

6 ай бұрын

@@jritechnology huh, I tried and got nothing. I’ll check it out though. The song was also sampled in an Apollo 440 song called “ain’t talkin bout dub”

The TONE!

Hands down my Fav-O Rite VH tune.. His hand strength was off the chart.. They should just change the open G chord to EVH chord.. What the heck he redefined the fucking thing..

Changed Lives / Worldwide

Amazing, 47 years later.

Best guitar playing ever!!!!!!

@benjaminrapp7418

9 ай бұрын

Influential for sure, but far from the best. There are countless far more skilled players.

@GeorgeZimmermen

9 ай бұрын

@@benjaminrapp7418you don’t understand skill vs creation

@5150Ethan

8 ай бұрын

@@GeorgeZimmermen you get it. Edwards creativity and innovation is what separated him from others

@benjaminrapp7418

8 ай бұрын

@@GeorgeZimmermen He didn't create anything new, though. Even his trademark tapping wasn't can't be claimed by him. No, he wasn't an innovator. Just a decent guitarist in his day who made decent tunes that were no different than any other songs of the day. You don't understand creation/innovation vs personal taste.

@GeorgeZimmermen

8 ай бұрын

@@benjaminrapp7418 Eddie Van Halen is literally the reason super strats exist. He was the first guy to really cross pollinate a fender with Gibson. Ed was part of the testing phase for the Floyd rose and is the reason it has the fine tuners. Ed was the guy who turned his Marshall’s on 10 for every knob when everyone said you can’t do that and used a variac to change the voltage. Ed created the brown sound, one of the most iconic guitar tones of all time that people still to this day try ti emulate. Ed created not only amazing solos but riffs and songs. He was a song writer. Ed’s 5150 amp is what started the modern metal amp craze you see today and that amp has been used on over 70% of metal records since the 90’s. Ed invented the d tuna allowing your guitar to drop tune on a locking nut Floyd. Ed also has patents on other guitar designs such as the piano type tray that allowed his guitar to lay flat on his bells while standing so he could play it like a piano and his “drop to hell” patent. Ed was the guy who popularized all the crazy whammy bar stuff you hear today, Ed was the guy who popularized and started the wet dry wet guitar tone. Ed had the look and style as well with the stripes, custom guitars, hair, and smile/flash, ed has his own guitar and amp company that’s hugely successful. Ed was the first guy to POPULARIZE the tapping technique. Ed was a great piano player as well and was hooking up Marshall’s to his keyboards for songs. Ed himself said he didn’t invent tapping, but to deny he was the one who made music with it and made it mainstream is ignorance. Ed was a literal genius in music and an innovator and inventor. He was always tinkering and chasing tone. Everything you see today you owe to evh. He did more than just make songs. He is so important to guitar it’s insane.

Amor incondicional por el genial Rey Eddie! Su técnica única, su impecable tempo,... Es impactante como se escuchan los dive bombs , y ese sonido grave cuando la cuerda va bajando hasta morir, uuffff!!! , cuántas geniales y asombrosas técnicas inventó nuestro héroe inmortal, el más creativo, inteligente e innovador guitarrista de rock aparte de Hendrix otro genio único, los demás son copias, nacidos bajo la sombra de ellos dos!!!

Big finish, big finish!

It’s just totally titanic. The riff is iconic, his guitar sounds like the Balrog Gandalf fought in Moria, the riff is iconic, and the whole fucking thing is as alive now as it was the day it came out.

Fuck. Yes.

ti ascolto dall'Italia !!#

Here we are so many years later marvelling at his tone, feel, dexterity and sheer brilliance. The word star is often overused in this day and age, but that's what he was and he shone so very brightly. What a musical phenomenon he was.

Geeez , had to wait 47 years to finally hear this by itself , Eddie is the gold digger of this sounds no doubt the best even nowadays.

My lord and savior 🤘

I was grade 9 when I heard them the first time,,that was 1980

Back in the 80s I would short sell EVH as a guitarist who was all style, no substance. Liked him, just not high on him. As the years passed and my discernment of music improved, I have grown to love his style and what he brought to rock and metal. He truly changed the way guitar was played. His tone, his timing, his creativity. There will never be another Eddie Van Halen. RIP.

Solo has a coral sitar doubling the main lead line ,I thought that was going to be included in this version anyway still excellent all the little nuance are great!

What did you do from 1978 to 2023? That's where that 03:56 just took me.

Single coil heaven

❤❤😮

I can do that intro but he’s got a viscous pick attack and perfect palm muting. I’ll get there, I love that tone!

Disruptor: a person or thing that prevents something, especially a system, process, or event, from continuing as usual or as expected

EVH didn't want to put this on the album. He thought the riff was too basic and easy. I heard this and my whole idea of guitar changed -- was 13 playing chords out of the Mel Bay book on an acoustic from my dead grampa with a nut I made myself out of one wooden piece off an old-time clothespin

Raw like this, for some reason, it reminds me of the writing that Ray Manzarek did on The Doors' first album. Listen back to those keyboard lines and tell me you can't hear a similar pomp and pimpish grit. Eddie had to be drawing from sources like that subliminally. It's a weird connection but there is something to it. He had to be totally grooving to that riff to stay that restrained for nearly 4 minutes. What a total freak of nature.

One thing that probably a lot of people (not the guitar players among us) oversee, is that Eddy only needed one guitar track to fill up a song and sound fat. Nowadays there is a lot of doubling, and even quadrupling guitartracks….most of those do not have that quality. It is not only his sound or the context he played in, it is his compositions….a genius he was!

@RayzaEFC

26 күн бұрын

The solos are more than one track

@ralfjung

26 күн бұрын

@@RayzaEFC sorry for not being crystal clear....english is not my first language....but what I meant is that there is hardly any double tracking....like it is pretty common nowadays and also was back then to double the rhythm guitar and then overdub the lead. While there was probably a couple of takes with most VH tracks you only hear one guitar at a time.....

@RayzaEFC

26 күн бұрын

@@ralfjung I understand 👍

If memory serves correctly, Eddie customized" Frankenstein " the red & white guitar with one " Humbucker " pick up from a Rickenbacker, what Beetles used before purchasing American made Guitars, & only the masters of soundscape can dial in the right mix of volume, tone & distortion

This is Crispy

To describe the distortion- Cowboy boot...broken glass... bar room flloor.

Is that a Gibson logo on the headstock? I never noticed that.

@JgHaverty

7 ай бұрын

Despite what he claimed and what people believe... this is a mid 70s ibanez strat he used in the studio (there are actually pictures of it lol); it was all black and he wanted a "bigger sound" out of it. Incidently, around this time his destroyer (the sharkie thing it later became) mysteriously lost its neck pickup lol. Then he did the paintjob and all that; put that pick up in. In a more "ironic" fashion, he didnt want to put a "fender" headstock on it, so he cut out a gibson ad from a magazine and glued it on lol. Eddie lied a lot but he left quite a paper and photo trail of his antics. That neck didnt last too long; was replaced numerous times over the next few years after recording this.

Can you do little dreamer?

"bleed for it" sounds like a punched in overdub. He said he had done an overdub on this song but I never knew where and that has to be it.

@NelsonClick

8 ай бұрын

...since I'm here I honestly believe that the little passage at 2:32 was a finger slip that he quick saved. Got into a huge fight 35 years ago with a guitarist over that little lick. He said it was intentional and I said it was a misfired flourish that he saved. We were drunk and ended up spitting on each other about it. We were young and stupid and I regret doing it but I still think I am right.

That tone had none of that buzzy distorted fizz. I call it toasty

Rest in peace King Edward ❤

I needa hear the im the one raw track pls.

Edward van Halen Steve Clark Ace freely natural born talent

Such a basic rock rhythm brilliantly played. Ed was the master of tone. No...The King of tone !!

EDDIE FIOR PRESSIDENT!!!❤

This is the BEST one on the net IMO..why? Cause that annoying other reverb side is not on here..(bleeding into the main track as well )Even Eddy said he couldnt get into listening to this album cause of that..too much..Levels are full up here but Clear..excellent job you should have mixed that album! Do some more man ..the same way! Thanks 😂

@DopeGuitarTracks

9 ай бұрын

This isn't actually isolated at all, all the tracks that i posted are actually from a leak that was found recently that had the actual unmixed guitar tracks on it, so this is the guitar track from the studio before they added reverb.

@sbphillips177

9 ай бұрын

​@DopeGuitarTracks ahaa...makes alot of sense..JUST Listening again right now 2nd time and I'm like wow he mumbles something right b4 the clean break that was never noticeable! And at the end of the song! I swear I was just like, maybe this guy's playing this and is joking with the iso bit..thanks this is awesome man..really

So how much improvising during live performances ? How close are the recordings to how he did it live ?

This is how divebombs are done.

dude who are you and how do you have access to these??

Is this one take or is it spliced?

sliding into your DMs with an EVH pick slide

@1:54 you can actually hear Eddie sigh as he rolls down the volume in the breakdown section. He was living it man.. I had no idea that was baked in there. Genius level at 23years old with vibe deluxe attached

Ed was embarrassed to show the band this song. He thought it was crap. He later came to love that the kids loved it.

where did you even get this tracks?? I've been using a softare to isolate tracks and it bothers me how much you can still hear and the quality of the isolated guitar really goes down.