How Some Of Us (Of Certain Age) Accidentally Found Van Halen

[Nitro Express]

Wait, what? No tapping? Nothing wrong with a little tapping, just don't do it on every song. Throw in a horse whinny or two and a whammy bar dive bomb. Rinse. Repeat.

Ed played some of his best stuff in the early days on guitars with no whammy bars. It's much more than tapping.

[Heater]

I agree that he has written an incredible amount of good music and some of the best guitar riffs ever heard. But most of his solos follow the same blueprint, his SNL performance, "Bitch" with Sheryl Crowe, Star Fleet, the Les Paul tribute show, etc. are almost interchangeable. On VH albums, easily 80% of the solos are variations of the same thing. Yes, there is more to the man than tapping, obviously, but he has milked the tits off that cow.

[Nitro Express]

I would have to agree. I think it took a good producer to get the best out of Eddie Van Halen. As soon as that cat thought he was the man in charge it went down the shitter. Ed was at his best when he knew his place.