“Everybody got slapped in the face real hard”: Steve Lukather recalls the impact Eddie Van Halen had on the guitar scene, and why people dismissed him as a “parlour trick”
As a session musician extraordinaire Steve Lukather knows a lot of stars across the world of guitar, and he’s recently been looking back at his treasured friendship with Eddie Van Halen.
The Toto guitarist was introduced to Van Halen’s music in his late teens, and he later became good buds with Eddie. The pair would share gear, and worked together a number of times. Eddie even played on Lukather’s debut self-titled solo album back in 1989, namely on the track Twist The Knife.
READ MORE: “To this day, I smirk when I hear the words”: Steve Lukather admits he thinks the lyrics to Toto’s biggest hit are “silly”
In an interview with Forbes, Lukather says that people originally dismissed Eddie as a one-trick pony due to his tapping technique. Of course, across his mighty career he certainly proved them wrong. But Lukather saw his magic all along.
“He was a dear friend of mine, man. Music was initially the bond between us, but once we got to know each other it became more,” he says. “All I can say is that Ed changed the world. He was a little rough around the edges, but so am I, probably why we hit it off so well. I miss him terribly. Half of these guys are gone…
“As for guitar, Ed changed the way we approached it, did something nobody else had done, created a new sound, a new energy, not to mention the tapping thing. He blew up the whole rock and roll scene. Everybody got slapped in the face real hard when they realised there was a new kid in town.”
He continues, “People mistook him for a parlour trick because he did the tapping thing. He actually stumbled upon it by accident. It had been around for a while. He was in a trio, and filling up the sound is hard. Think Cream [with Eric Clapton]. Ed’s rhythm-playing and solos were like one fluid movement. I don’t think he ever played the same thing twice, and that used to drive the guys in the band crazy [laughs].”
To Lukather, he still remains as “an improvisational genius” in his memory: “Sometimes we become our own worst enemies. Ed’s left behind a lot of genius, and probably a lot of undiscovered gems as well.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
