The classic show-off solo guitar spectacular from Van Halen’s first album catapulted Eddie Van Halen into guitar superhero status. It is very short in duration, punchy and full off attitude and showcases the, at the time, relatively unknown technique of tapping to great effect. But what is going on underneath all the big hair, knee slides and bravado? Let’s peek under the hood.
The piece is split into four sections, each slightly different to the previous one. Off we go with the first section in A minor, a power chord takes us into A minor pentatonic territory with a simple blues lick in position 1. The first lick then appears, and highlights one of Eddie’s approaches to soloing: play it over and over again really fast. This is simply the notes of the minor pentatonic scale on the second string in a descending slur with the Eb on the G string and either a duplicate of one of the notes on open B or E. See example 1.
To close the first section, is a simple minor pentatonic position 1 phrase and then another repeated lick, this time A Aeolian in the G Mixolydian position, example 2. Eddie closes this section with the descending A Chromatic scale with the notes: A G# G F# F E Eb D and a dive bomb to finish.
Section 2 begins with a change to chord IV and a shift up an octave to the position 1 on the 17th fret. After another repeated lick, ex. 3, and a nice bluesy minor and major third that is played, a longer lick is heard, ex. 4. This is simply repeated acros pairs of strings using the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale.
Next is a simple tremolo section, see ex. 5. Once repeated, this is simply continued along the 1st string using the A Major scale this time, and then switching back to A Aeolian for the G and F naturals on the 3rd and 1st frets respectively. Simple.
The third section is a little different, being just one rhythmic phrase repeated three times. See example 6. This is a nice semi-tremolo lick using positions 1 and 3 minor pentatonic, shifting to major at the end for that bluesy sound. Simply learn this lick beginning on the A string, then play it on the low E string and repeat again on the A string, A – E – A. A quick legato phrase moving down A Major on string 3 takes us into the fourth and final section.
The fourth section is entirely comprised of tapping patterns, three in total, all played solely on the G string, so no tricky shifting up or down strings whilst tapping, just moving back and forth along the string. The first pattern comprises a triad, which then has step by step alterations to create a chord progression. The first triad is C minor (C# - E – G#) and the alteration of G# to A creates the next triad of A Major (A – C# - E). See example 7. This continues, outlining the following progression:
C# minor – A Major – D#minb5 – B Major – E Major – C Major – D Major – E Major
You can see that Eddie likes to keep the triads simple, no 7ths or 9ths, just the Major and minor triads. The next sequence dwells on each triad far less, instead creating a rushing sound by only playing each triad twice instead of the multiple times of the first pattern. See example 7. The progression is this section is as follows:
(E7 – E dim – Amin – E) x2 – (D7 – D dim – G min – D) – (C7 – C dim – F min – C)
Simply take the first progression in E and move it back two frets to D and then once more to C. The final pattern is simply an emphasis of a prefect cadence in E minor, hammering home the change of key from A minor to E minor. Simply tap E minor – B Major over and over again, as in example 8.
I would recommend practising each of the licks mentioned above, none of them are difficult, just repetition is needed, and then the whole piece is straightforward to play. I spent a couple of hours a day, for about a week, and all is easy now. I wouldn’t get caught up on playing it exactly either, it’s not a Mozart sonata. Just focus on each section and improvise each one, stretching and adding here, dropping or substituting there, that way it is much more fun and less of an exercise in reciting. I prefer to expand the legato sections as it is one of my strengths, and play fewer pentatonics, but that’s just my style.
Don't get me wrong, though. Eddie Van Halen was a phenomenal guitarist and shouldn't be underestimated when trying to play his more difficult pieces. When I approach a piece like Eruption, the fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris from Way of the dragon comes to mind. As soon as Bruce stops fighting using the style of Chuck, and uses his own strengths and style, the battle is easier to win.
So go on, erupt. Thanks for reading.
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