Eruption (song)

Encyclopedia : E : ER : ERU : Eruption (song)

Eruption is a song by Van Halen from their first album Van Halen (1978 — now often called "Van Halen I" by fans). Written and performed by Eddie Van Halen, this electric guitar solo is considered one of the most influential instrumentals of all time, appearing on many 'greatest guitar solos' lists, including a recent Guitar World poll. It is 1 minute 42 seconds long.

Note: All specified keys refer to guitar positions, not necessarily standard pitch (A440). For their early albums, Van Halen often tuned to whatever sounded and felt correct to them for the songs, rather than a standard reference. This was usually approximately one half step lower than normal.

After a short intro with brother Alex Van Halen on drums and Michael Anthony on bass, the solo takes off unaccompanied in a barrage of scales, bends, and "dive bombs" (extreme use of a whammy bar). The highlight of the solo is the use of "tapping" — both hands on the neck of the guitar to produce rapid arpeggios, resembling a Baroque organ fugue more than a guitar. A phaser, 1950s Gibson humbucker pickup, 1960s Marshall tube amp, tape-driven Echoplex, Univox echo box, and studio plate reverb helped define the distinctive tone of the track. Eruption begins in the key of A then moves around. Some brief sections are difficult to pin to a specific key. It ends on a cycling low E (twelfth fret harmonic with the Univox echo box kicked in, dived an octave lower by manipulation of the Echoplex controls), and is followed by a cover of The Kinks song You Really Got Me in the key of A.

Eruption was the first prominent appearance of several innovative and well-honed techniques, earning Van Halen the unofficial status of "guitar god", cementing the band's future success, and influencing countless future guitarists and bands. Legend has it that the piece was originally Eddie's improvised stage warmup, which producer Ted Templeman heard and asked him to record. "Spanish Fly", an acoustic instrumental on the second Van Halen album, can be viewed as somewhat of a nylon-string version of Eruption, expanding on similar techniques. Similarly, it was suggested by Templeman for inclusion on the album after he heard Eddie Van Halen goofing around on classical guitar at a party.

When performing live before the release of their first album, Eddie would place his back to the audience to prevent other guitarists from stealing his technique. His brother Alex had warned him that other guitarists would "rob him blind" if his tricks were exposed before a major album release. Afterward he was indeed emulated by millions, but was comfortable displaying his techniques once credit had been firmly established on vinyl.

External links

[Guitar tablature]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.