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The Latest Breaking News from Eddie Van Halen

“He wasn’t a phoney. He didn’t have to be somebody else – he felt comfortable being himself“: We lost Dimebag Darrell 20 years ago today. His brother Vinnie Paul never let his memory die

Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell died 20 years ago today, on December 8, 2004. In 2007, his brother Vinnie Paul paid tribute to a giant of metal

Metal Hammer

“A lot of them need to be played. They have souls”: One of California’s top music entrepreneurs has left behind one of the finest vintage guitar collections we’ve ever seen

The astonishing collection includes guitars signed by Van Halen and Gene Simmons – and some extremely rare 1950s Fender Strats

Guitar World

“When I pull up, Ed is standing there with the wah. He goes, ‘Why does John Frusciante want a piece of crap like this?’” Eddie Van Halen’s tech helped John Frusciante track down a rare wah pedal – but the guitar hero didn’t approve of his gear choice

Van Halen may not have been especially fond of the vintage wah, but he did take the opportunity to share some valuable guitar tech advice with Froosh’s camp during the handover

Guitar World

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“I depended on Mike – on how he maintained my guitars and amps show after show, and hour after hour in the studio”: Joe Satriani pays tribute to his long-time guitar tech with new instrumental track

Mike Manning was Satriani’s tech for over 30 years, and helped him both on the road and in the studio with his “flawless” work and “sunny personality”

Guitar World

“I only picked up guitar in the first place to impress my father. I didn’t have a true desire to play that great players like Joe Bonamassa did”: Billy Corgan opens up on his guitar insecurities and being cast as the Smashing Pumpkins’ “big, bad Dracula”

On Aghori Mhori Mei, the Smashing Pumpkins recapture the vibe, feel and tones of their classic early ’90s LPs. Corgan explains how, why – and what took them so long

Guitar World

“I gotta tell you, it was emotional singing it, because it’s about Eddie”: Sammy Hagar has written a tribute song to Eddie Van Halen with Joe Satriani – and says a recent meeting with Wolfgang gave him “goosebumps”

The vocalist says the song will be “a tribute to him, the fans, and that era” – if only he can nail his vocal parts

Guitar World

“Push comes to shove, then some guys pulls a knife. They arrested him – but that was my introduction to Dave’s band”: Alex Van Halen on the first time he and Eddie met David Lee Roth at a show that nearly ended in violence

Pre-Van Halen fame, the brothers were scheduled to play a gig at a local park – only to get replaced by Roth’s band at the last minute

Guitar World

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“Eddie Van Halen and Gary Moore were kind of animal players!”: Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith says he never wanted to be a virtuoso

For him, shredding is “like maths or something!”

MusicRadar

“I wouldn’t normally be caught dead with a Tele because I think they’re ugly, but that’s the only guitar I used”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson on their love of “stupid riffs,” and “recapturing that old death metal magic”

Opeth may have returned in a way to their sonic roots on their new album, The Last Will And Testament, but – with appearances from a Neal Schon signature model and a “not very metal” trick picked up from Eddie Van Halen – there are still plenty of quirks to…

Guitar World

“For guitar fans who understand the historical importance of the woman, the finish, and the Fender Stratocaster itself”: The original Mary Kaye Strat became one of the most iconic Fender builds of all time – now it’s heading to auction

The 1956 Strat was snapped in an early Fender ad that featured The Mary Kaye Trio – and helped Kaye’s name become synonymous with the instantly recognizable finish

Guitar World

“We’re very into shredding and treating the guitar the way Yngwie Malmsteen or Eddie Van Halen would treat a guitar”: Syncatto's Charlie Robbins is the latest virtuoso to feature on Cobra Kai’s guitar-driven soundtrack

The addition of Robbins to the Netflix shows' soundtrack continues the trend of TV shows benefiting from the crossover appeal of contemporary guitar stars

Guitar World

“It was Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and the engineer. Quincy said, ‘Go in there, and do what you want’”: Steve Stevens on following in Eddie Van Halen’s footsteps to record the ‘spiritual successor’ to Beat It

When Jackson and Jones sought to revisit the sound they experimented with on Beat It, they turned to the Billy Idol guitarist for a hard rock edge

Guitar World

“I gotta get it on pop radio!” Michael Jackson’s Beat It was “too metal” before Quincy Jones stepped in, claims guitarist

Michael Jackson metal? It almost happened, according to Thriller guitarist Steve Lukather

Metal Hammer

“We’d be on the phone and he goes, ‘It’s too metal. I gotta get it on pop radio! Use the small amp, not so much distortion’”: Steve Lukather on how Quincy Jones saved Michael Jackson’s Beat It from becoming a metal track

Jackson wanted a rock track for Thriller – and Lukather says Jones had to step in to stop the song from entering fully fledged metal territory

Guitar World

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Metal Hammer

“Ozzy says, ‘I’ve never thrown a TV out the window.’ So I rip one out of the wall and launch it out of the window”: Zakk Wylde’s crazy tales of Ozzy Osbourne, Axl Rose, Eddie Van Halen and more

Trashing hotel rooms with Ozzy, teaching Mark Wahlberg how to rock and almost joining Guns N’ Roses –Black Label Society guitar berserker Zakk Wylde has done all of it and more

The Guardian - UK

‘Leave your ego at the door’: from Thriller to Sinatra, Quincy Jones collaborators tell the stories behind his songs

Whether hashing out Beat It over the phone or jamming with Snoop Dogg, artists who worked alongside Jones recall his skill, kindness and lust for life

Guitar World

“Beat It was interesting. Of course, Eddie Van Halen did the solo. But the rest of the guitars were Steve Lukather and myself...” Session ace Paul Jackson Jr. on how he became Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones’ go-to guitarist

From meeting Michael Jackson at 19, to playing with B.B. King and on Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, his career has thrived on variety – but the session great tells us it starts with your ears, not your hands...

Guitar World

“When I worked with Tony Iommi, I had an epiphany... he sounded like him no matter what amp you’ve got him on”: Billy Corgan on how watching Iommi taught him the key to the playing style of Eddie Van Halen

As Corgan explains, the distinctive aspect he observed of the ’Sabbath great, also shaped his understanding of players like Eddie Van Halen and Uli Jon Roth

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Metal Hammer

Alex Van Halen reveals that David Lee Roth asked Eddie Van Halen to play fewer guitar solos: "He couldn’t handle the fact that Eddie was getting more attention than he was"

In his new memoire, Brothers, Alex Van Halen says that David Lee Roth was "convinced he was going to be a movie star" so didn't want the spotlight to shine too long on anyone else

Guitar World

“Over and over I would say, ‘It ain’t hitting me in the gut!’ All it took was one note... We went through 80 sets of pickups”: Eddie Van Halen details the years of onstage trials and workshop tribulations that shaped the EVH Wolfgang guitar

Back in 2009, GW sat down with a rejuvenated and re-energized Eddie Van Halen to get the full, twisty backstory of the signature model he referred to as “the culmination of 35 years of experimenting with guitars”

MusicRadar

“This exceptional instrument combines the legendary features that defined early Van Halen with modern performance enhancements”: EVH Gear unveils the Star TOM, a shred machine with a single ‘bucker, kill-switch and no-fuss Tuna-Matic bridge

No whammy bar? No problem. This super-aggressive shape presents a high-performance platform for rock and metal. And who wouldn’t want an arcade-style red button for a kill-switch?

Guitar World

“A modern interpretation of the guitar Eddie Van Halen used to attain the early Van Halen sound”: EVH brings back Eddie’s daring Danelectro/Charvel hybrid – and gives it a unique hardware twist

With a single humbucker, kill switch, and fast-playing neck, the latest limited edition Star pays homage to Eddie’s early 1980s axe – but updates it for modern players

Guitar World

“He couldn’t handle the fact that Eddie was getting more attention than he was. He kept asking Eddie to play fewer guitar solos”: Alex Van Halen reveals the real reason David Lee Roth quit Van Halen

In his recently-released book, Brothers, the Van Halen drummer talks about the push-and-pull dynamic between Roth and the two brothers, and what eventually led to the singer's departure following the 1984 Tour

Guitar World

“The final song that Edward and Alex wrote together”: Eddie Van Halen’s soloing takes center stage once again – as the last song he ever wrote with his brother is released

Unfinished is a powerful, mournful instrumental epic that sees the late guitar legend let loose on six minutes of guitar action

Guitar World

“Michael said, ‘I want you to lay something down.’ He puts in a little cassette tape, and he sings the solo and records it”: Session legend Paul Jackson Jr. on working with Michael Jackson – from his Jackson 5 era to Thriller, Beat It and beyond

Jackson Jr. reveals which guitar parts he played on Beat It – which also features the work of Steve Lukather and Eddie Van Halen

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