10 Classic Guitar Riffs That Were Created By Accident

There's no real guitar player in the rock pantheon who hasn't paid some sort of lip service to Eddie Van Halen. Even if you were one of the people who trailblazed the genre of rock and roll, the entire reinvention of the guitar by Eddie was one of the most awe-inspiring things to hear when Van Halen first arrived in the late '70s. As much as Eruption is known as Ed's calling card, it probably wouldn't have been committed to tape at all if not for some wise production trickery.

Up until their debut, Eddie was always secretive when it came to his guitar playing, oftentimes turning his back away from the audience so no guitar players in the crowd could copy his technique. When it came time to actually record, Eddie didn't want to lay down Eruption, instead having this solo taken from one of the warm ups that Eddie was doing before a show in West Hollywood.

Even Eddie himself didn't look back as fondly on the actual recording of the song, thinking that the scratch take was a touch on the sloppy side compared to what he could do at maximum capacity. Well in that case...congratulations Eddie. What you consider sloppy and erratic has been leaving its mark on the entire community of guitar for nearly half a century.