RHCP’s September release ‘Eddie’ became one of the most emotional homages dedicated to one of the greatest guitarists ever, Van Halen. John Frusciante’s solos, filled with emotion, took the song’s feeling one step further. However, as he revealed in his recent conversation with Guitar Player, it was quite challenging to come up with this solo, which many circles have already described as the best solo of his career.
“I was trying for a while, and I wasn’t happy with anything I was doing,” he said, remembering how hard he was trying to come up with the solos of this emotional song. “I was either going too far in the Eddie Van Halen direction, to where it was too busy, and there was too much two-hand tapping, and it didn’t sound like me, or I was just doing it, and it only sounded like me in a song about Eddie Van Halen.”
In order to not sound Eddie-ish, he had to forget that the song he was playing was about Eddie. He continued, “I stopped being self-conscious about the idea that the song was about Eddie Van Halen and just did what was natural. We were recording, and I took maybe a 15-minute break, and when I came back in, I just did the whole thing, like I said, in one take.”
‘Eddie’ was released as part of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s 2022 album ‘Return Of The Dream Canteen.’ It was recorded in the same sessions as ‘Unlimited Love,’ which they released last spring. RHCP fans highly anticipated and enjoyed these two albums in a row, as they marked the end of John Frusciante’s ten-year absence with more than 30 songs.
In the song’s comments, Frusciante’s solos were described by fans as therapeutic and magical. With his riffs, Frusciante not only paid homage to Van Halen but also gave a gift to his fans who missed him through RHCP’s sound. It starts halfway through the song and conveys a poetic sound to the listener for about 30 seconds. While it was challenging for him to craft it, the resulting work is now mentioned among the best guitar solos ever.
