We were very saddened to hear that Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6th, 2020 after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 65.
In 2012, Van Halen was voted number 1 in Guitar World magazine's "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" reader's poll. He had a profound influence on the development of rock guitar and influenced every major rock guitarist active today.
In particular, Van Halen popularized the "two handed tapping" technique. This involves using the right hand to play notes on the fretboard in order to play fast arpeggios and runs.
Here our resident rock virtuoso Giovanni plays one of Van Halen's most famous solos taken from the song "Hot for Teacher". It's a great example of the technique.
RIP Eddie!