Journey guitarist Neal Schon recently shared a video on social media, showing a workout, which he described as ‘a little tribute’ to Eddie Van Halen. In the video, the guitar he played looked similar to Eddie’s red-striped guitar, except for being white. The description of the video read:
“A little tribute to Ed. It was so amazing to be on tour with him, and watch him annihilate every night.”
To which a fan responded:
“I’m sure Ed’s smiling down from heaven watching this tribute to a brother. The connection you had with Eddie Van Halen must have been special. And only you could pull off something like this, Neal.”
Replying to a fan’s tweet, the guitarist made it clear that he was not particularly trying to sound like him:
“Not trying to sound like him only spiritually what he left with many.”
Schon was also asked about the first time he heard Eddie live, to which he replied with:
“Mind boggling- blown away by his raw talent.”
The tour Schon mentioned in the main post was Van Halen’s first tour in 1978. The Journey guitarist talked about the tour and how it was to play with the band in a 2012 interview. He said:
“It was just, really I was like, ‘Wow! This guy is so on fire!’ I loved the whole attitude of it, you know? He had a really different tone than anybody back then and it was interesting. He had a lot of interesting things he did to get that sound. The power alternator, all kind of things that made the amp head get hotter, like run hotter, they sound better. They blow up more frequently, but they sound better, you know?”
He added:
“So he was like a mad little scientist, you know? Ed and I became really close. We hung out a lot.”
See the video and the rest of the tweets below.
A little tribute to Ed 🙏🏽🔥🙏🏽✝️ it was so amazing to be on tour with him, and watch him annihilate every night. @NealSchonMusic @CharvelGuitars @Fender @FenderCustom @ernieball @bananasatlarge @chromeheartsusa @eddievanhalen #vanhalen #journey @alexvanhalen pic.twitter.com/BVXQs8c5rJ
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) June 27, 2023
Not trying to sound like him only spiritually what he left with many🙏🏽
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) June 30, 2023
Mind boggling- blown away by his raw talent
— NEAL SCHON MUSIC (@NealSchonMusic) June 29, 2023
