Biography

Use of the whammy bar

Use of synthesizers

Two-hand tapping (a guitar technique that he popularized)

"Eruption" guitar solo

Frankenstrat guitar

When Van Halen became successful, one of the first things Eddie and his brother Alex did with their earnings was to tell their father he could retire and take things easy for the rest of his life.

October 2012. After an extensive seven-month reader's poll face-off contest (500,000 votes), Guitar World magazine declares: Eddie Van Halen "Greatest Guitarist of All-Time".

Eddie Van Halen was the younger son of Eugenia (van Beers) and Jan van Halen, and the younger brother of Alex Van Halen. His father was Dutch and his mother was from Rangkasbitung, on the island Java, Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Eugenia was of Indonesian, Dutch, and one eighth Italian, descent. Jan van Halen was an accomplished sax and clarinet musician in his own right. He appeared on clarinet on "Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)" on the "Diver Down" album (released on April 14, 1982). The family moved to the USA, settling in Pasadena, California, in 1962. The boys spoke no English when he and his family arrived in the USA.

Was a recovering alcoholic. Eddie's father died of complications from alcoholism, and, reportedly, his paternal grandfather was an alcoholic also.

One of the tracks from Van Halen's self-titled debut album in 1978 includes Eddie's "Eruption" guitar solo. Eruption originally was intended to be a guitar warm-up exercise. However, one day while in the studio as Eddie was playing Eruption, the recording engineer happened to be recording. The rest is history (although Eddie reportedly didn't like the way it sounded).