Eddie Van Halen prowess - prouəs - proeza

 

greetings,

i distinctly remember when the debut LP from Van Halen was introduced
in 1978.

to say it was a revelation would be an understatement.

just about everyone in the small high school i attended was mesmerized by the technical proficiency of Eddie Van Halen.

the song "eruption" was so unique and original that we were blown away.

if you look carefully at Eddie's "frankenstrat" guitar you can see there is no locking nut installed on the neck.

remember that this was 1978, and the Floyd Rose tremolo bridge and locking nut were yet to be invented.

when asked by Randy Rhodes about keeping his guitar in tune during his
performances, Eddie would not divulge his secret.

I did read that Eddie would boil his strings in water before installing them on his guitar.

my theory is that he was using graphite on the nut to allow the strings to move freely back and forth, but that is just speculation on my part.

I can't count how many times we listened to this album smoking our favorite herb and marveling at the prowess of Eddie's playing chops.

I'm still drooling at the Marshall 1968 Super Lead Plexi head.

So what albums left an indelible influence on you in high school?

For me, Van Halen's eponymous album was my favorite in 1978.

kind regards,

david