Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen is considered one of the most influential guitarists in rock music history. He is famous for his use of a technique called two-handed “tapping”. This technique, along with his use of natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato and tremolo picking, has influenced an entire generation of guitarists. A crucial component of Van Halen's style is his use of the Floyd Rose locking tremolo, released in 1977. Early tremolo bars allowed the guitarist to impart a vibrato to a chord or single string via movement of the bar with the picking hand. However, the slackening of the strings when the bar was heavily depressed could lead to detuning. The addition of the locking bolts at the nut and bridge kept the strings taut and allowed for drastic depression of the tremolo bar to create effects such as the "dive bomb." The instrumental song, "Eruption," which uses all of these techniques, was voted No.2 in Guitar World magazine’s poll of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of all time.

While growing up in Pasadena, CA, Eddie took classical piano lessons. He proved to be quite talented at a very young age, and as he got older, he switched to drums and then to guitar. As teens, Eddie and his brother, Alex, formed the band Mammoth.

In 1974, Eddie and Alex hooked up with singer David Lee Roth and bassist, Michael Anthony and formed the band Van Halen.

In 1977, Kiss guitarist, Gene Simmons, noticed Eddie’s amazing quick-fingered guitar riffs and David Lee Roth’s on-stage antics and decided to fund and produce Van Halen’s first recording session. Van Halen signed with Warner Bros. in 1978 and put out its self-titled debut album. This album was launched to platinum status within 6 months of release. During the next few years, Van Halen became one of the most profitable bands in recording history, releasing a handful of multi-platinum albums one after the other.

In 1981, Eddie married Valerie Bertinelli, and in 1990, their son, Wolfgang, was born. Wolfgang Van Halen officially joined Van Halen as their bass player in 2006.

Below are some of Eddie Van Halen's famous guitars. Click here to see more.

Did you know that Eddie Van Halen has donated 75 of his personal guitars to the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation? He wanted to give back to the community, and especially to the kids in need who wanted an instrument but didn’t have the opportunity like he had.