This Van Halen Riff is IMPOSSIBLE
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Published 2023-05-11
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Whats the HARDEST Van Halen riff?!?! Let's talk about it! I've tried my hand at the legendary swing of I'm the One, the wild greasy bends of Drop Dead Legs, the slapped madness of Mean Street, and many other classic Eddie riffs, but the intro to Hang 'Em High from Diver Down remains untouchable to me. The picking, the groove, the SPEED.... its all too much! But i refuse to let a good riff get me down, so in today's video, i'm gonna bring you all along for my quest to conquer this intro! We're gonna talk technique, muting, picking, and end with a revelation about this riff that certifies that NONE of us are ever going to play it right. Trust me, you wanna see this... its INSANE. Eddie was inhuman.
I'm using my Ibanez RG550 with Fishman Fluence pickups into my Kemper Profiler, which is using the Top Jimi Brown Sound Profiles. They sound amazing!!!
What Van Halen song should we break down next? Let me know!
All Comments (21)
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Thanks for watching my video on this IMPOSSIBLE Van Halen classic! Grab the TAB and the super extended cut of the video here! www.patreon.com/posts/82827617?utm_campaign=postsh…
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"The right hand is the wrecking ball, the left hand is the damage control crew," is easily one of the best guitar analogies I've ever heard. Damn well done.
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Eddie was one of those otherworldly, supernatural talents. He was basically a kid when VH recorded their debut album but he was light years ahead of lifetime career guitarists. We are all fortunate to have had him in our lifetimes.
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The crazy part is not that Eddie could play it as well as he did, but that he imagined it and put it out there for us to enjoy.
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Your discovery of the underlying swing in the riff and subsequent explanation is pure gold.
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Alex and Eddie grew up with their swing-band dad. This is so much distinguished them from other bands of the era. One more reason they were great. That band could swing like a beast.
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As a VH nerd of almost 40 years, this song tops my all time list for fav Eddie song. There is an isolated track her on YT that is mind blowing. Literally 1 take, with solo included. Crazy
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If only the man himself were still here to discuss this with us....God I miss him.
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My favorite VH song has always been "Jamie's Cryin". I've always adored the rhythm and voicings. Oddly, no one really talks about it.
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My favorite part of this video is seeing the genuine admiration for Eddie when you slow the riff down. Love your channel.
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EVH's sense of rhythm is the most underrated and under-discussed aspect of his playing. Yeah - people do recognize his rhythm playing. Rarely do any of us realize that he swings constantly. Dude was always grooving.
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Just found your channel couple days ago and have been enjoying it. Realizing by today’s video, you’re big on EVH so I thought you might enjoy a story. We owned a fireplace shop in the San Fernando Valley where Eddie just lived several minutes away. He used to come in every now and then, and one day I saw him from the back, carrying in an old rusty fireplace grate to replace. I also used to enjoy his music and I took the grate from him and seeing the red rust and what could’ve been slivers of disintegrating steel from the grate embedding in his fingers, I said to him, I hope your hands are insured for $1 million. Using those fingers to carry this rusty steel actually made me care. His fingers just seems too valuable to be taking a chance in this way. He just smiled as he usually does and he was a very very nice guy.
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I always thought that riff was sick… It’s my favorite on Diver Down
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To me it’s the intro to “Mean Street” with all the funk slapping…often imitated but never duplicated!
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I always said the tapping stuff was just icing on the cake. Eddie was so good at creative riffs and hard to believe at 20 years old doing all kinds of insane mastery of the guitar.
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I turned 13 in 1978, and bought their first Album with my Birthday money. I had been playing Guitar for a couple of years, and got my first electric for Christmas 1977. I spent many hours in my bedroom playing along to Van Halen Albums. I still have Van Halen, Van Halen II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning, and Diver Down on Original pressing Vinyl. I also have a fully functional 1978 Technics Turntable to play them on. Eddie will always be my favorite Guitar player, and the biggest influence in my playing.
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This is why David Lee Roth was such a good mix with Eddie. He got the swing at the heart of the music, and sang right into it.
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"The right hand is the wrecking ball and the left hand is the damage control" was a great description to get the point across. Once again proving why he is the best guitar teacher I've ever come across - bar none. Thanks uncle Ben!
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EVH guitar nerd here, and in a VH tribute band. Before you revealed that intro, I already knew the song you were going to talk about. I’m glad I’m not the only capable guitar player that struggled with that intro. Always enjoy your videos uncle Ben. Please keep it up.
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Ben, I can't say enough how well you explain and play and break things down. Especially when breaking things down with Eddie. Ed is just the best at what he did, take the guitar to the next level.
