Why Eddie Is Not So Great As Vai,satriani,malmsteen...

[scorpioboy33]

Eddie Van Halen is #1 in my book there is more to playing than just technique..it's about feeling...plus he created the foundation for modern rock guitarists in my view......BTW Great to be Back......

[light 'em up!]

Re: Why Eddie Is Not So Great As Vai,satriani,malmsteen...

Originally posted by Calderone
Eddie never has been so great as those musicians
HE IS GREAT ..ok
but he isn't on that level .. Ed was cool Till 1984 AND im not telling this
cause dave left.
maybe dave left at the right time.
ED ISNT SO COOL
ITS WAY OVER RATED

Ed's magic w/ Dave in the early days is untouchable, but you're right, even before 1984 he started to show signs of petering out in terms of being a virtuoso.

[Terry]

Ed brought rock guitar playing out of the blues pentatonic doldrums of the 1960s and 70s and into a new era. Those tapped artificial harmonics were on VH albums long before 1984.

EVH's influence is all over Vai and Satriani.

Malmsteen's a bit different, because his style borrows heavily on that European classical thing. Malmsteen is one of the few who came out in the 1980s where you could discern a difference between what he was doing and what EVH did.

Personally, I'm tired of hearing about Vai and 'Satch'. Soulless guitar histrionics without purpose to these ears. Vai, Satriani and Malmsteen all function best in an instrumental setting. No wonder they teamed up for G3. Imagine trying to front a band with one of those guys as a guitar player, incessantly wanking even during the verses.

EVH, Vai/Satriani (feel totally comfortable lumping those two together) and Malmsteen had three different objectives, goals and styles: how the fuck do you quantify who is the 'best'? It's music, dude. Not sports. What gets you off musically may well do nothing for someone else.

[bueno bob]

Ed's been a rather predictable guitarist post 1984...his creativity has been tremendously stumped over the years, but what he's accomplished over the career, and what influence he's had during the whole run, has been nothing short of astonishing...as far as his skill level is concerned, he's great, but of course we've all seen much better in our local bars in some aspect - better technique, better timing, etc etc...it's a young mans game, this music biz, and there's always someone coming along in the next generation to show up the last...well, usually, anyway...

It's kind of hard comparing, say, Malmsteen to Van Halen because they're entirely two different styles of players - I wouldn't rate one's skill level above the other, but I will say this: if it were to come down to a soloing competition ALONE, Malmsteen, as he is today, would beat the ever loving shit out of Edward. Hate to say it, but Malmsteen's chops, speed of playing and fluidity have lost nothing over the years - if anything, they've improved. Can't say that for Ed, because he's been playing the same guitar solo since 1985 and I'm hard pressed to believe he could come up with anything else at this point.

[DLRdelight!]

I think Ed is still better than all those guys, i bet he could keep up with them, but as someone mentioned in this thread earlier was that Ed did change the way ppl viewed how the guitar was played, and he made a much larger impact than any of those other guys, and if it wernt for him, where would Vai be. Ed played with emotion n thats what drew people to him. With Vai and satriani its just soloing and nothing more, which is cool but can be tiring soon

[bueno bob]

Vai, Satch, Malmsteen...without Ed, they'd have STILL been big; I really don't care much for debating about who's more of an "emotional" guitar player over the other...generally speaking, I think emotion is as emotion does when it comes to the guitar, and there's plenty of feeling in Yngwie's, Steve's and Joe's styles.

[IMFUCKINPISSED]

Well you really need to give credit where it's due.
Everyone one of the guitarist named in this post are Greats in the own right! Different technics, but equally as impressive either on techinical abilitys , or the flavor of the note arrangements!
Sounds to me like there are people here that would also say BB King Sucks? He can put more feeling in one slow note than most players.
Personally I can not knock anyone that has seen the Big Stage!
Fast, Slow, or whatever style they have.
If you listen hard enough you can pick up a tip in anyones playing style , and strengthen your own musical vocabulary.
Its easy to bash players when you have a Narrow point of view?
Although everyone has there own opinion.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Satriani and Malmsteen get me bored like hell, especially the latter. Except posturing like saying "hey, you seen how great I am?!", showing off about their (sure) high TECHNICAL skills, what's the point in their music? It's music for guitarists, that's all.
Vai, apart from what he did with Dave, pisses me off too. The 3 of them play difficult stuff for certain, but their melodies are rarely "accurate", as long as they get truly melodic. And they aren't songwriters to me. That's simple: what classic have they ever written on their own??
Ed VH needn't be envious, as far as cfafts are concerned. He's always used his high skills for the sake of music. He's a MELODIST, and our memories will tell!

[Mr. G]

Vai is not a song writer? Who writes all his music then? It seems most of Vai's fans are musicians as a lot of people can't relate or don't understand whats going on. People can like whoever they want as it is totally subjective but objectively speeking Ed could never play ALL of Vai's stuff where Vai can play ALL of Ed's stuff easily. Very easily. Steve could be more commercial like Ed if he wanted to but he like Yngwie is true to his vision for better or worse. It may not sound like it but I am a huge EVH fan, I just like all of them for different reasons. I think we can all agree that ED should pull his head out and not waste all of his talent and get busy. NOW

[degüello]

Originally posted by Hummarstra
... He is also the ONLY songwriter of the bunch. Forgot that, didn't you?

An excellent point.

[degüello]

Originally posted by perticelli
This is now entering the realm of the ridiculous...

Didn't we arrive there a long time ago, 'round here?

[Terry]

Comes down to what gets you off in the end.

As a guitarist, I have an appreciation for what Vai, Satriani and Malmsteen can do. A lot easier technically to cop Eddie's licks than those of the other three, at least for me.

But Ed still does it for me in a way that those three never have. Might have to do with Eddie being first out of the gate...by the time those three rolled around and really got noticed, Eddie had already defined the genre.

Will say that Malmsteen's solos have the best sense of melody out of the Vai/Satriani/Malmsteen triumvirate.