Eddie Van Halen's 6 Best Guitar Solos!

Let’s take a look back at the Guitar God’s prolific career to find his 6 best guitar solos… EVER! And for the record, Eddie has way more than 6 great guitar solos, I could have probably made this list Eddie Van Halen’s 62 best guitar solos if I had 48 hours in a day ;).

Eddie brought his signature tapping style to the mainstream and changed the way rock guitarists played the instrument. Not only is he a guitar legend but he also plays one of the most iconic guitars of all-time; his red, white & black “Frankenstrat”. (Fun Fact: you can buy “Frankenstrat” themed shoe’s from EVH’s official store. Check ’em out here!)

In honour of Eddie’s immense contribution to rock, let’s revisit his 6 best guitar solos.

6) Van Halen – Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love 

Taken from their 1978 debut album, Eddie originally didn’t like the song and thought it wasn’t worth playing for his band mates. It turned out to be a popular song for the band and was one of the only David Lee Roth era songs that Sammy Hagar would sing when he later joined the band. Fun fact: In the studio the solo was doubled using an electric sitar.

5) Van Halen – Cathedral

The 3rd song on 1982’s Diver Down is an absolute showcase of Eddie’s brilliance and use of the volume knob. Our only complaint is that the instrumental track is only 1:22 long.

4) Van Halen – Hot For Teacher

The intro to “Hot For Teacher” is like a bolt of lightning and the solo later in the song is a full-on thunderstorm!! According to Eddie he improvised that solo while in the studio. Not bad.

3) Van Halen – Running With The Devil

The 1st song on Van Halen’s 1st record introduced the world to Eddie and it was a foreshadowing of his otherworldly guitar prowess. It’s short and sweet but also incredibly iconic and fits in seamlessly with the rest of the song. I can’t even imagine what most kids in 1978 thought when they heard that song for the first time. My head would have probably exploded.

2) Michael Jackson – Beat It

One of Eddie’s greatest solos wasn’t even for Van Halen… it was for Micheal Jackson! Eddie’s incredible solo really sets “Beat It” apart and gives the King of Pop a Rock edge that he hadn’t explored previously. Fun fact: Eddie played the solo on “Beat It” but Steve Lukather of Toto played the rest of the guitar on the track.

1) Van Halen – Eruption

What can I even say about this besides !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Eddie and happy birthday. You ROCK.