During a recent chat with Johnny Beane, The Police’s Andy Summers described Eddie Van Halen as a ‘freak’ when it came to his guitar playing. Summers revealed how he found Eddie’s playing by saying:
“I do think Eddie Van Halen was a great player. Wonderful. So musical. Amazing. An absolute one-off. I never saw them [Van Halen perform], but of course, I was aware of his [Eddie’s] playing you know as they surfaced early on.”
The guitarist shared that Eddie was a player that was ‘highly copied.’ He added:
“[He was a] freak you know? This playing that he sort of invented. I mean brilliant. [He was] heavily copied of course. It’s like the school of Van Halen but no one’s done it better than him as far as I’m concerned.”
Andy also mentioned that he could play and tap at the same time. Andy expressed:
“He was a soulful player, bluesy you know? He had his thing. He could really play as well as [doing] all the tapping stuff, which he was absolute virtuoso.”
Andy praised the Van Halen frontman for his contribution to guitar tones, on the other hand Eddie shared his views on The Police guitarist in an interview with Guitar Player in 1982. He expressed that Summers’ guitar sound didn’t vary that much. However, Eddie also said:
“What I just said about Andy Summers [all he uses is a phaser and a flanger all the time], maybe other people say the same thing about me, like ‘On everything, he does sound the same.’ But what the hell, I’m having a good time, and he probably is too.”
You can watch Andy Summers’ interview with Johnny Beane below.
