“They became cartoon versions of Eddie”: Pat Travers on how most guitar players didn’t realise that Van Halen was “more than his tapping”
The tapping technique is synonymous with Eddie Van Halen, but that’s not all that made him great – this is what guitarist Pat Travers wishes more people would think about.
Travers and Van Halen shared stages and played similar live circuits back in the late 1970s into the 80s, when Travers was touring heavily with the Pat Travers Band. Though Travers has much admiration for Eddie’s work, he recognises that during that time, his tapping took attention away from his other talents.
READ MORE: “I remember Eddie going: ‘Hey, who’s the guitar player?’”: Mark Tremonti recalls how Eddie Van Halen took him under his wing during Creed’s early days
In an interview for Guitar World for its November 2024 issue, Travers reflects on the peak era of Van Halen’s success. Asked if he was influenced by Eddie’s playing, like many other guitarists at that time, Travers replies, “Not necessarily. I realised pretty quickly that Ed Van Halen was a lot more than his tapping solo – a whole lot more. His rhythm, his chord choices, his voicings – there was such melodic value to everything he played.”
He adds, “Sure, he had the whole tapping and dive-bombing thing going on, but he didn’t do that in every song. It was like an effect, but it was very effective. Unfortunately, all the other guitar players in L.A. thought it was all tapping and dive bombs, and they became cartoon versions of Eddie.”
In other Van Halen news, a previously unreleased song by Eddie and his brother Alex is set to be released next month. Arriving as part of the audiobook version of Alex’s upcoming memoir, Brothers, Unfinished is the final track recorded by the siblings before Eddie’s passing in October 2020. A snippet of the track was shared to Instagram earlier this September, though it features no iconic Eddie vocals, from what we have heard so far.
You can catch Pat Travers live with the Pat Travers Band from October 2024 – January 2025.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
