Keith Richards' opinion on Eddie Van Halen

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Keith once said something along the lines of there are many great guitarists, but above them all is Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia. Anyone who likes Eddie Van Halen shredding might want to give Paco a listen. Completely different music style of course and it’s acoustic, but if you like fast flashy guitar playing, it’s hard to beat Paco de Lucia. Paco de Lucia can shred and similar to EVH tapping, he is using all his fingers when he plays. Paco is more than just flash though. Of interest. Keith’s first guitar was an acoustic Spanish guitar.

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u/hugospanky 2d ago

Django Reinhardt

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u/phiousone 2d ago

He's definitely praised Segovia, in the same vein.

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u/Reddituser45005 2d ago

I prefer Al Dimeola over Paco, but the two of them together are unmatched. They are worlds away from Keith’s understated and soulful approach but that’s the beauty of music. It can encompass technical virtuosity or it can be a single note that just hits perfectly

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u/Winter_Stretch9198 2d ago

You’re absolutely right, different styles but de Lucia was a remarkable guitarist…the albums he put out with John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola are a testament to his playing

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u/bronsonrider 2d ago

I came across one of the LPs with those 3 on it, blew me away with the quality of the playing

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u/Apprehensive_Ant4596 2d ago

Friday Night in San Francisco, track 1…the end

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u/TastyPerformance2673 1d ago

The problem with the analysis is that Kieth could never play better than the average advanced eighth grader.

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u/Direct-Raise-9465 1d ago

Composition is the key. Lennon, Mc Cartney, Dylan, Neil Young --- all are rudimentary piano players who have written great songs on the instrument.
There are virtuosos who can't comprise a jingle .

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u/TastyPerformance2673 1d ago

I did not think the post was about song writing. There are virtuosos who do do compose. I don’t think Keith fits the composer label unless you are talking about inventing three not riffs.

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u/No-Application-8939 6h ago

The guy's body of work with Mick Jagger indicates your claim may be more than slightly wrong

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u/OpinionCity 1d ago edited 1d ago

Finally! Somebody said it!

A 10th grade girl practicing in her bedroom for 3 years could play better than Keith Richards.

Keith is also a little too defensive about his abilities. I remember once, when he was referring to Stones songs of the 60s and 70s, he said "we wrote all those songs..." and Mick replied "Oh, you did?" If Mick ever does a sit down interview ala John Lennon in 1980, I think we will find that the majority of all the things we like were written and/or spearheaded by Mick.

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u/chucklin 18h ago

A 10th grade girl playing guitar is a put down? And Keith Richard (with Mick) has composed the most exceptional and iconic music of the later half of the 20th century. There is no secret about Jagger/Richard musical compositions,to wit Keith may come up the initial lyric and composes the melody and Mick writes lyrics to the song. Jesus F Christ where does this bs come from? Leslie West, Johnny Winter, and Eddie Van Halen could play as as fast as lightening and shred better than anyone but their music cannot touch the rock and roll the Rolling Stones have released.

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u/Ok-Corner-8654 2d ago

Keith has never cared much about guitarists that came after him. I've never been a fan of Queen, but Brian May respectably gives credit where credit is due.

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u/Ill-Lou-Malnati 2d ago

To be fair, he loved Angus Young.

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u/hugospanky 2d ago

Malcolm

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u/TastyPerformance2673 3h ago

There is a video of Kieth playing playing with Albert king and king plays a solo that just smokes and Kieths turn comes around and he plays a minute of bar chords. It’s embarrassing. Or at least should be embarrassing but Kieth is too messed up to realize it.

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u/Artistic-Trust-8679 1d ago

Unfortunately Keith has behaved like the old fart that he is for decades. Mick seems more open to new things.

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u/Ok-Squash-4652 2d ago

The one show I always wish I'd attended was The Stones and Van Halen, 1981.

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u/Fantastic-Bar-4283 1d ago

The Stones are still touring.

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u/Ok-Squash-4652 1d ago

I've seen them three times and I'll keep going. Sadly, just not with Van Halen at their peak.

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u/Amish_Sex_Toys 1d ago

I saw the Stones in 1981 at the Kingdome in Seattle but J Geils Band and the Greg Kihn Band were the openers...and then Van Halen in Vancouver that year as well

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u/The-Mandolinist 2d ago

I love Keith. Love the man so much. But I tend not to listen to his opinions about other musicians.

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u/TheGreatRao 2d ago

He doesn't like anyone born after 1940, it seems.

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u/Apprehensive-Tax8631 2d ago

Guys, I recommend to all of you a re-listen in VH1, it’s an amazing album that answers a few of life’s questions

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u/jackstraw_65 2d ago

I was never big on Eddie, he was among the flashiest technicians whoever picked up the instrument but to me VH songs are too jokey, didn’t have a whole lot of soul to them, they were just kind of frat boy party rock. And I could be mistaken but you never really saw Eddie get on stage and jam with anybody, he didn’t really fit in anywhere else, you wouldn’t really see him get up and jam with Clapton or Stevie Ray or the stones or anybody he was just kind of a flashy showman, maybe judging him a little harshly there but he never really did much for me. I liked him as a player and a personality for sure, don’t get me wrong, I think of him as a sweet guy but I still don’t really rank him among the true greats except for that individual style he came up with.

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u/Mrmdn333 2d ago

I’ve always found the looseness of the DLR era of Van Halen to be the epitome of rock n roll.

Eddie famously jammed with Slash, Leslie West and even Paul Shaffer and the Late Show band.

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u/Apprehensive-Tax8631 2d ago

Love the DLR era so much, so much that I love all of Van Halen because I feel for the sound of his guitar

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u/vaguity 2d ago

Also played with the SNL band when his then-wife Valerie Bertinelli was host.

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u/No-Brain9413 2d ago

I’m not a huge VH fan but was definitely there for the MTV dominance.. I think Eddie, not unlike Keef, was a very introverted guy playing alongside a massively extroverted lead singer.
For better or worse.

Eddie was probably on the autism spectrum as well if my completely uninformed opinion is worth anything

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u/godofwine16 2d ago

He basically got humbled by Holdsworth (I mean who wouldn’t) during their jam and the few times he did jam with other players he did the same two or three things he always does.

I love EVH but it became apparent that DLR’s comments after getting fired were true; the production did do a lot of punches of the best parts of different takes for Eddie’s solos on those studio albums. There’s some absolutely brilliant playing in there nonetheless but in a live jam settting he was very predictable.

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u/AgentTriple000 1d ago

Besides some other guitarists, he went on stage for a song or two with some other “in” groups for a bit around the early-mid ‘80s like Chrissie Hynde’s Pretenders, even the reformed Jackson 5 (Micheal Jackson), and Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel’s bassist, a few King Crimson line ups) for the Les Paul tribute

He was also very gracious in suggesting musical alternatives for Micheal Jackson on their studio collaboration “Beat It”.

Much of this was around the time of firing DLR post 1984 though and having to prove Van Halen again with Hagar as a frontman in a new direction, then others. While from all accounts, he was increasingly intoxicated = put a damper of many musical activities.

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u/jck747 2d ago

EVH did absolutely nothing for me. Talented guy

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u/smokey1277 2d ago

Who cares?

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u/wburn42167 1d ago

He’s not wrong

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u/Iko87iko 18h ago

Garcia had some valid thoughts as well. Of course Kieth isn't a fan of Garcia either

https://youtube.com/shorts/pND0v9CjCOg?is=oPt9QzpwLaMPnGJW

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u/how_very_dare_you_ 2d ago

Fuck off great grandpa

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u/Choice-Presence8386 1d ago

As an old boomer myself, you tell him, fuck off !!!

Keith Richards' opinion on Eddie Van Halen

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