10 Rock Guitarists That Are Impossible To Imitate
4. Eddie Van Halen
By the end of the '70s, the idea of a guitar hero wasn't something all that new. Ever since the likes of Jimmy Page and Keith Richards had shown their stuff in the late '60s, the idea of the guitar player being the most important person in the band was almost expected at the time. The guitar hero may have been expected, but Eddie Van Halen showed us all how to perfect the craft.
Arriving right before the hair metal movement was about to break, Eddie's massive impact on modern rock was like an atom bomb, incorporating some of the most technically complex runs ever to be found on the album charts. Compared to the usual rock and roll guitar we were seeing around the same time, Eddie was an innovator in almost every sense of the word, from pioneering the two handed tapping method of playing to inventing his own gear to get crazy sounds on albums like 1984 and Women and Children First.
Even when their signature sound changed with the addition of Sammy Hagar, Eddie's delicate touch behind the keys as well as his impeccable rhythm playing made him the go to anchor for each of the songs to stand on their own. Although it's easy to classify playing this intense as metal, you'd rarely find any metal guitarist who's playing was this much fun.