In your opinion where would you place Edward Van Halen among his peers?

He is nowhere near the top rankings of guitar players. Jeff Beck gave him some luke warm kudos:

“He was the great white hope when he did the solo on [Michael Jackson’s] Beat It. I’d seen him, and I don’t like the speed tapping style very much, but he had it down. I once saw him play a blues solo and it was astonishing, he really can play. But he was on the booze, and objectionable a lot of the time.”

Eddie has NEVER been one of my favorites; however, he plays MUCH BETTER than I do!!!

I can’t say that he doesn’t belong on that list because unlike the others from the menu, his output doesn’t run to my tastes. I’m lacking in exposure, but back in the mid 80s I remember thinking “this guy is more a showman than a guitar master”

I did not even know he was a guitar player.

On a list of great guitarists, he might hit top 20, below Brian Setzer but above George Thorogood.

In “General.” Pete Townsend is better.

I’ll take some heat for this but Eddie was in a league of his own, incomparable. The techniques he created and mastered were worlds apart. Waaay beyond simple finger tapping. Frankly, he created what we know as shred which changed everything. Jimmy Page, Hendrix and Stevie Ray are all over rated, they were just really good players but they did not progress the art like he did. Clapton was and still is a virtuoso, one of the best if not the best but Van Halen propelled the art of electric guitar playing to a new level. He paved the way for modern players in ways nobody else has. There are many players who are better now but make no mistake, he was the first.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Are you kidding me? Hendrix was creating incredible guitar work on guitars from 50 years ago, which were very different.
Any criticism of Hendrix as overrated destroys your credibility.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Eric Clapton said that Stevie Ray was the ONLY guitarist that he’d allow to play his guitar because he was the ONLY one who could do it justice!!! IF SRV had lived to this day, he’d be tearing up some strings!!!

I have been a guitar player for over 30 years. I know my shit. Eddie does not get the credit he deserves. Yes Hendrix was a good player but he did not come close to the breakthroughs that Van Halen did. Stevie Ray just died before his prime. Also blues is not equal to rock/shred, different genre. Freddie King owned blues in ways Hendrix or Clapton could only dream of. That shit was over the f’ing top and almost nobody knows who he was.

Hmmm, i’d rate The Edge & Brian May over the lot of these blokes & i’d be right to.

The edge is another talent that gets too little credit.

Edward Van Halen is easily in the top twenty greatest guitarists of all time.

And @ARE_you_kidding_me is on target with his contribution to musical history.

That being said, Eddy spent too much energy on being a showman, being drunk, and drama-filled relationships which, frankly, undermined his musical skills. Far more ink has been spilled on his failed marriage to Valerie Bertanelli and many fallouts with Dave/Sammy than on his talent and innovation — which is a damn shame and mostly his own fault.