Fair weather VH fans..

[Carloscda]

Read on VHND when the video was posted with the younger generation covering classic VH tunes. Someone said see anyone can play the stuff Ed & the boys did. I have a few buddies that can play Eds stuff.

Really dude, ask them how long it took them to play like Ed?! Bottom line if it wasn't for Ed etc alot of players would've never picked up a guitar in the first place!

From guitarist own mouths in the doc Metal Evolution they said themselves when they first heard Ed they were like WTF??!!

Matter of fact just watch Metal Mania on VH-1 Classic and you can see how so many bands back then tried to imitate Ed/VH!

Ed is like a scratch Dj in a sense. After you've done everything theirs not much else left to do.

Then their are those who say Dave copied of Jim dandy. Only thing Dave copied which I've seen was him bending over backwards but other than that Dave was his own man! Ti'll this day theirs never been someone doing 10ft or more drum riser jumps and his other acrobatics on stage! Once again VH-1 classics you'll see all that tried!

How does the saying go Imitation is the best form of flattery.
Rant over...

[Terry]

Well, it's like watching some 8 year old guitar prodigy playing Eruption on youtube.

It's technically impressive, but only part of the story.

Sure, by NOW there are loads of guitar players out there who can cover Ed's licks very well. That wasn't the case 30 years ago, so after 3 decades of collective woodshedding and the onslaught of tablature and "play Van Halen licks" dvds and online instruction vids there are masses of guitar players who can NOW do the licks.

Okay.

How many of those same guitar players who NOW say playing Ed's stuff is technically not that hard have come up with even a FRACTION of the amount of compelling tunes Ed originated?

I'll bet Saenz and Brian Young could front a Van Halen tribute band and play the CVH stuff better than Van Halen could these days.

But it's the difference between an originator and a copier in the end. There are loads of people out there who can do passable imitations of Eddie's licks.

There's only one Eddie Van Halen.

[ZahZoo]

Play like ED... Check

Write and compose original material... I don't think so.

I've met and played with some amazing copy-cats... damn few could compose an original lick to save themselves. A lot of them couldn't even improvise within a simple jam.

[chuckjitsu]

There's a HUGE difference between the innovator/creator and those that come after. For example, I took calculus in high school and while challenging, I understood the material enough to pull a B out of that class. But being the guy that came up with that shit? No fuckin' way- that's a level of intellect that's beyond me. So yeah. There's any number of guys that can play Ed's stuff really well, but will they ever create the volume and quality of riffs/songs he's come up with? Nope.

[TJMKID]

There's a HUGE difference between the innovator/creator and those that come after. For example, I took calculus in high school and while challenging, I understood the material enough to pull a B out of that class. But being the guy that came up with that shit? No fuckin' way- that's a level of intellect that's beyond me. So yeah. There's any number of guys that can play Ed's stuff really well, but will they ever create the volume and quality of riffs/songs he's come up with? Nope.

That's why I was never blown away by most of the 80's flashy players like Vito Bratta and Warren DeMartini. With enough dedication, anyone can learn Ed's licks --- put left fingers here, move right fingers over there --- mission accomplished.

The real genius of EVH is what originated in that tobacco-crusted and alcohol-soaked brain of his. That's what made his fingers move to create all that stuff.