"Mean Street" Eddie Van Halen's Creative Peak. Dweezil Zappa explains. Sunset Sound Roundtable

[@jamiegustkey2573]

I didn't know that part would be included in the video- so as soon as Dweezil (👏🏻) mentioned Greensboro '81 - I went over to a recording of that show to hear what he was referencing. Its in his solo which is directly, after mean street.... But again, I went the lonnnng wayyyyy around... If I would've just sat tight... 😂 That is definitely a great mention and lick that I don't think he HAS ever done since... when playing that part of his guitar solo! Great catch and nod- 👏🏻😕 Miss him.

[@bobgertrude8295]

Haha! I was going to search also, but I waited... Never heard that before, the growl of the low notes in that part is mind blowing!

[@TheJollycoppers]

Ha. Well, it shows your passion for the music and getting into the details.

[@Scottocaster6668]

Dweezil:" You can find it on the internet!" 😆😆 I sat right just in case they added it.

[@michaeldineenSG2018]

Did you know he got that stuttering rythym from Alex drum break on Light Uo The Sky? I promise you I am spot on. Surprised nobody picked up on it. I've been saying it fir years. The exact pattern is in that drum part.

[@JohnnyBeane]

Edward was one in a trillion and we will never hear anyone like him again.

[@walterevans2118]

yes.

[@TimE_5150]

And thankfully we grew up at the right time to to see his brilliance first hand!!

[@walterevans2118]

@@TimE_5150 yep

[@JohnnyBeane]

@@TimE_5150 Yeah I saw VH on almost every tour since 1988. Only missed one tour. And I got to meet him seven years ago at a party. He was just a normal dude.

[@markr.devereux3385]

I lost some respect for EVH due to the van Hager years and other projects. Compared to the early years? EVH was fortunate to have a drummer brother and an aptitude for the guitar and fell into a band where he could bring out his talents and be realized in the studio and on tour. Most guitar savants have mixed results trying to form bands or joining established players. But EVH had that from the start and supported in everyway by Alex. I was a little puzzled about his image kinda wierd on stage and dressing like a bum in his daily life. He didn't actually invent anything in retrospect. People were already modifying strats. designing custom electronics,. Exploring tapping( some doing it quite well before and after EVH) using Floyd ROSE even the electrical tape design on that iconic guitar. Now to be truthful I think yngwie is more a game changer . He took metal guitar that one more step with the neo classical harmonic minor and other bag of tricks.

[@pjstamm2112]

Dweezil brings amazing enthusiasm, especially when talking about Eddie. Great stuff.

[@walterevans2118]

Yes, Dweezil is GREAT ,,,& he's trying to keep the spirit of Eds guitar inventiveness alive. Props to Dweezil.

[@VisualSOLUTIONSMedia]

Enthusiasm, intelligence and articulateness. Dweezil is his father's son, and opens the window into the relationship between Frank and Eddie, which is something truly special!

[@urbanbader4113]

Yes hundred percent and beyond he's no. 3 of all time appear guitar players better than daddy God Amen

[@Bop7324]

EVH is the only celebrity death that has ever moved me. Never met the guy, grew up on his music and that day I cried like a baby. I still miss him like I’d miss a member of my own family. It’s crazy but his art meant so much to me and still does. It was a f*cking fantastic time to be alive.

[@AD-ui2pz]

i was clearly moved by his passing since I first got to see VH on the 1984 tour as a 13 yr old since my older brother was good enough to take me, i’ve been playing guitar ever since like so many others he influenced

[@Thedesertguy75]

The reason I find Eddie so important to Rock is that simply, he blew past the guys before him, and set the stage for all after him. He is that pivotal and iconic rift change of what was possible on the electric guitar. Beyond legendary and unique. There are billions of stars, but every now and again a true comet passes by. Eddie was a comet, rare, unique, and only around for a while.

[@Swanlord05]

Well Put

[@LIGHTintheHALLS]

I’ll never forget the first time I heard that intro on a loud stereo in 1982 and the chills that went down my spine. ✨🔊🤗

[@charliec5653]

For me they still do.

[@Peacefullyfree365]

“One foot out the door” solo is still beyond comprehension. Kicks total ass.

[@walterevans2118]

Yes....When I first heard that in the early 1980s it was so different from what we had already heard on a guitar that it sounded ALIEN -like ...It was just MIND BOGGLING...utterly SURREAL...& the crazy voicings & SHEER MAD EMOTION he put thru it just sent your head over the cliff....& I know EXACTLY the part of the solo Dweezil talks about where he still doesn't understand how Ed was doing it. Only Eds hands could create it on the fretboard because his touch was UNIQUE. Even technicians couldn't understand how it worked. He had this seemingly off hand ability to manually articulate sounds other players found impossible to copy or even figure out...Even notators & transcribers like Dweezil or Vai... Ed was beyond reductio ad absurdum analysis....An awesome feeling of articulation in his hands. An itch of power known only to geniuses like Eddie...Ed was right. He knew sound originality came more from the fingers & the brain than from equipment...He could pick up any guitar or play thru any amplifier & it would sound uniquely only like HIM. Nugent thought there was a magic black box but when he tried playing thru Ed rig he quickly found out otherwise...There will never be ANYONE quite as unique as Ed....I never had the privilege to meet him. Bloody wish I had...Greatest musical influence of my life. Got real fucked up when I heard he'd gone,,,,The truth is...I WEPT for him.....But I never met him. How pathetic is THAT eh ? ....People will go -'What a saddo, loser fool '.....Maybe so...Hope folks don't find it too creepy...And despite my 'insights' most of my life I have been A FOOL. I freely admit that from the outset.

[@walterevans2118]

Ed himself was haunted by the thought that people would see his sound experiments as 'weird' or even him as 'weird' ...Ed was an outsider but that maybe was part of what made him so great.....He once said something in an interview exploring this which I have never forgotten because it struck such a chord with me as a quite eccentric person....It may even have explained some of Eds genius.....This is what Ed said ok.....' If there were 100 people in a room , 99 of them would NOT be like me....I guess that makes me the 'weirdo' but NOT in my mind. Just because they don't understand the unusual things I do as a musician , that doesn't make me crazy. But I'm not saying they are crazy either. In some people's minds Im perceived as 5150....But in my mind I'm not. I'm just different.' ...The honest sensitive words of a thoughtful creator.

[@Leafs5150]

Yes it does. .... love to hear what was actually on tape after the fade out...damn

[@TimothyGrove-ky6qu]

For sure - that 2nd bar in the 2nd section of the outro solo - Good God!!!!

[@bruceniblett959]

Yeah that solo underlined what Eddie said about falling down the stairs and landing on your feet.

[@imandan1966]

His solo on Push Comes to Shove is his peak of improvisation.

[@LAIRDO-]

Often overlooked.

[@shanewilson199]

You’re right. It’s my favorite solo on the album. For mine it’s the riffs on fair warning that stand out. Unchained is my fav riff.

[@duckydrummer6331]

100% agree. Push Comes to Shove solo is one of his best solos ever.

[@markr.devereux3385]

@@duckydrummer6331 I seems like the precursor to the BEAT IT SOLO

[@fivestring65ify]

That's a killer.

[@danscott3880]

My head exploded when I heard that 81 Greensboro clip...that was awesome. I'm glad it's on tape...

[@walterevans2118]

I remember hearing that on a vinyl bootleg in 1984 & I just went ..'WTF ??...THIS isn't on the beginning of Fair Warning '....lol

[@MRCATL3]

Mtv was brand new. So this is love live in Oakland.

[@MRCATL3]

Pretty Woman was banned

[@DavidBentley23]

Love listening to Dweezil talk Eddy

[@penzman]

Went to listen to the Mean Street intro. That must have left quite a few confused and amazed at the time. Still is amazing today. The live one is insane.

[@Roundtablewithdrew]

We included the audio in this clip.

[@cantyouhearmeknocking1961]

We grew up playing Clapton, Page, Hendrix, Floyd, Iommi, etc. We thought we were badass. Then comes Ed. There was no internet to go see what he was doing back then. As a young players, my friends & I would listen to him play Mean Streets a thousand times trying to figure it out. We never did, correctly. He was just from another dimension. I had never been more inspired & humbled when I heard Eruption. It just blew us all away.

[@walterevans2118]

@@cantyouhearmeknocking1961 Yep.

[@DVincentW]

Im glad you illustrated this.. that is so awesome.

[@jmgmarcus808]

His peak was VH 1 to 1984. 6 years of non stop, absolute astonishment.

[@user-qr7ee2cp4y]

Fair warning my all time greatest album, mean streets (especially the extended intro he plays in the live without a net guitar solo) is my favorite song.....

[@walterevans2118]

Yes indeed....Those Meanstreet intro variations in 1986 on Live without a Net....they were different variations again from those he was playing in 1981 on the Greensbro N. Carolina variations too.

[@paulchristiansen7014]

this album was the one that got me into them..now I have the library..cheers

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

It’s the best VH album.

[@dannis8552]

I thought they sounded familiar

[@Michael-hv3ts]

Not only the incredible performance but the fact that he squeezes every imaginable tone out of the guitar and amp as the intro fades out. And then the song starts like a massive buzzsaw!!! F'ing AWESOME!!! Ed was and will always be THE BEST!!! Can't believe he has been gone for a year already.

[@walterevans2118]

Poundcake home grown DRILL into the pickup.....lol

[@duncandmcgrath6290]

Been my ringtone for years

[@buddyinky]

Same

[@vanhenry98]

THE MIGHTY VAN HALEN STILL TO THIS DAY BRING ME HAPPINESS ,BEEN A FAN SINCE 78 ,...I CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH INFORMATION ABOUT EDDIE ,DAVE. MIKE ,ALEX ,..

[@stevenr6874]

Same here. Just finished the book Eruption

[@007josiah]

Billions of years of evolution and we wee lucky enough to live the same time as Eddie Van Halen

[@garydarland5259]

I love listening to Dweezil.

[@VangeliRock]

Mean Street might be the greatest guitar riff ever written.

[@markr.devereux3385]

That song has every element of the VAN HALEN magic. It comes from the other members as well don't forget.

[@dannyharkins8888]

It's the ultimate Halen tune

[@genepoole1771]

It swings. Love it, love it, love it. On guitar no one else nails it except maybe a young guy from Quebec I found on YT. EVH was also the greatest rhythm guitar player ever.

[@randywissler9923]

@@genepoole1771 I think Malcolm Young might disagree with you on that one.

[@genepoole1771]

Love the Youngs but EVH is so high level. 30 years of playing electric guitar and I can play any AC/DC song fine, but even after many many hours of practice I still sound stiff and nervous when I play Mean Streets or House of Pain or Hot for Teacher etc etc.

[@IvanLendl87]

Dweezil is the best on all things EVH.

[@RonynLoneWolf]

I really appreciate these videos guys. It is much appreciated. Thank you 🙏

[@walterevans2118]

ED was simple the GREATEST inventor of revolutionary ideas on the guitar ever .....There will never be anyone near his level of inventive genius. ...His WHOLE APPROACH to the instrument was revolutionary......I just still can't believe he's gone. The guitar playing world out there feels like a void to me now .Feeling as helpless as Hamlet.

[@Wolf.51.50]

Awesome. I had never heard that version of mean street. That's phenomenal. There'll never be another Eddie Van Halen, ever again.

[@jetteroheller]

One of my favorite VH songs. That intro is wicked.

[@Twobarpsi]

Whoa! Never heard that part until now 🤘!!

[@Roundtablewithdrew]

🔥

[@andrewsears3421]

In the "Mean Street" section of the solo if you will on live without a net Ed really expands this the most I've heard. But I've never him take it up to A flat and do it. That was really cool sounding.

[@dougsteeleguitar]

He burns sooooo hard on that whole live solo. Like....man!!!!

[@jasonk5150]

Ed perfected the expansion of mean Street on live without a net.

[@walterevans2118]

EXCELLENT comments from Dweezil.....Yes, ED's Meanstreet intro was extraordinary invention because he was making the guitar sound utterly different from anything we'd heard before not with technology but with just his hands on strings of unmodified guitar & amp....If you could only HEAR but not SEE it you couldn't figure out how it was done. Very VERY special...Revolutionary actually. He once talked about the muteslap/hammer intro as being at least inspired by the way bass players slap like Jeff Berlin but even they were doing nothing like THIS ..Omg. I heard the Greensbro North Carolina excerpt on vinyl bootleg record in 1984 & Dweezil is right....ED took the slap intro on Fair Warning & MODULATED the two hand operation up & down the neck with intermittent other 2 handed hammering ideas which were not on ANY of his studio recordings. Same with the tray table guitar/piano he patented...He only did it live because as an original innovator he maybe didn't like everyone copying his ideas bless him....When I heard the Greensbro 1981 stuff I remember thinking ...'OMG ! What Ed does on the studio albums is only the tip of the iceberg of his innovations. His LIVE solo of Eruption in 1981 to me made what he put on the first album sound like an edited , watered down version of the atomic BOMB unedited stuff he was doing live. I think Ed was the greatest guitar playing inventor we ever had. & he saw in Allan Holdsworth a FELLOW original innovator who like him was NOT trying to copy anybody else. GREAT video here. Thanks Sunset Sound & Dweezil for his insights & comments.

[@markesquivelarvizu6942]

I have a friend who is a really great guitarist who grew up in Pasadena that I haven't been in contact for a few years, He told me in the mid 80s that Ed took it from another guy in the area. I can't recall the guitarist's name, but if I ever run into the friend again I am going to drill him with lots of questions.

[@markesquivelarvizu6942]

This is the friend who told me this. He is playing here with David Garfield who plays with Steve Lukather often.His name is Kurt Dohy kzbin.info/www/bejne/pXOWXqF8abFmmdU

[@walterevans2118]

@@markesquivelarvizu6942 With all due respect I can't see reliable evidence of this .....Ed was a player who was CONSISTENTLY innovating & because of this didn't need to take things from other people . Hearsay has to be backed up by reliable evidence. Perhaps if Mr. Dohy claimed this in the mid 1980s he can provide evidence of it here.

[@markesquivelarvizu6942]

@@walterevans2118 I'd like to research this more. His wife passed a few years ago and he has been hard to contact since.If I get a chance to contact him i will post it to you.

[@walterevans2118]

@@markesquivelarvizu6942 ok.

[@paradox7743]

One of the Greatest moments in music History- Blew my mind as a kid n hasn't stopped. I belief that Fair Warning is there greatest statement...

[@surfshack2]

Wow that is a really cool add on Eddie did live in that clip. I've never heard that before. Would've awesome if he did something with that further in the studio. Good catch Dweezil.

[@DVincentW]

Its on youtube. Greensboro NC 1981.

[@surfshack2]

@@DVincentW I'll look it up. Thank you

[@rcbennett6592]

I was at Holdsworth's Roxy concert that Eddie sat in on & he made it fun! Eddie would play a solo & then it was Alan's turn but when Alan started playing, Eddie would grab his hair as if frustratingly pulling it out as a compliment to the more technical approach of Alan. His wife Valerie was at the side of the stage smiling appreciatively as her hubbie added some much needed levity to the show.

[@AD-ui2pz]

Ed definitely dug Holdsworth’s playing because he was unique and so different technically in his approach all over the neck of the guitar

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

Not shocking coming from the greatest guitarist to ever strap up and plug in.

[@shnoop123jimbo7]

this song and somebody get me a doctor are just amazing riffs

[@bswihart1]

Outta love was special as well

[@Roger8176]

Van Halen II usually gets overlooked sadly. I like it better than VH1. It's a great party album. Alex's drumming on Outta Love Again is crazy during the guitar solo!

[@fivestring65ify]

Somebody get me a doctor, is killer. So is DOA.

[@KurtS5150]

EPIC time for an EPIC Player. Thanks for sharing great version

[@katiec6935]

That was awesome!!!!

[@gvlive]

Mean Street intro was his final major contribution. And wow.

[@Dbunkr55]

That Greensboro solo is ferocious. He took an awesome composition and pushed it even further....a true genius can do that. None of his peers come close.

[@KRAZEEIZATION]

It’s like he tapped all the notes into the guitar and it filled up to the brim. Then he let fly and it went off like a firework!

[@rctubs3593]

Solos aside, he was the best rhythm player around. His feel was second to none.

[@charliec5653]

Eddie Van Halen was definitely one of a kind.

[@ruperterskin2117]

Cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@ROCKNROLLFAN]

I really like the arpeggios guitar break at the beginning of Mean Street a whole lot.

[@BebilBamsey27]

I don’t think Eddie ever “peaked” I think he was always moving forward and being creative till the end. Long live the king!

[@Scottocaster6668]

Omg i never heard that decending tap before...instant tears again. One ED to rule the guitar world. F-ing Awesome. 3:22

[@PNW_Sportbike_Life]

I absolutely love Mean Street; the drumming and guitar work are tasty as hell on that tune.

[@jackaubrey3037]

what?!!?? eddie took the mean streets intro and ran it through his custom-made goosebump-induction pedal. it simply gorgeous to hear!

[@walterevans2118]

It was created without the need of pedals. Just the hands on the strings of an unmodified guitar thru an unmodified amp with no need for pedals. Ed was minimalist like that. He had a pedalboard made for him but he said he rarely used it saying he would rather created a unique sound manually on the guitar than use a pedal sound anyone can go out & buy & reproduce at the press of a pedal button....Those who over-relied on technology would never sound original.

[@jackaubrey3037]

@@walterevans2118 I was referring to his brain/hands, not any external equipment. Ed could play nursery rhymes and cut a bestselling album. He just knew how to make anything sound cool and listenable. His brain was wired different and that was awesome.

[@walterevans2118]

Yes.

[@frankpaws]

@ 2:08. Dweezil did the same thing to me when I was up at his, well his dad's old studio, when I had to go deliver a Euphonix R-1 for him to try out. There was this little room to the left as you walked into the studio, after walking past shelves of 2inch, where Dweezil was working on his own stuff. I think he had one of those RA-7 consoles and maybe it was a couple of DA-88's. I've been working on some stuff. Oh this part is really cool, check it out. I was so freaking shy I could barely speak. Eddie was my idol growing up, and Dweezil had that song on MTV with that Green Charvel. In LA for 2 months. First at 5150 with Ed and Alex for 2 days in 99, then at Dweezil's for an afternoon. All really great people. But it is hard when you are young, in Los Angeles and suddenly standing in front of your hero. When Dweezil was selling the Charvel, I wished I could have afforded to buy it. Those are the days I wished iPhones were around. At least Ed gave me a brass pick and a track sheet from 5150. The pick thing was interesting. He said he didn't really have any picks around. Reached into his pocket and pulled out a brass pick. You can have this if you want he said. Gave me a track sheet. Showed me all the gear in the studio. The 9k you had to side way step to get to the amp room and drum room. The original 5150 kramer neck in the shop hanging on the wall with some other necks, sans body. Ed showed me the indian cigarettes his doctor told him to smoke, then bummed one of my Camel's off me. Still so fresh in my head. Still have the recording of him playing piano from when I brought the R-1 up there for him to check out.

[@Roundtablewithdrew]

Wow. Great story

[@frankpaws]

@@Roundtablewithdrew And there is WAY more to the story as well. I shortened it. I've never released the Ed on Piano. Tried to even get it to Wolf. Funny enough, I lost it like 5 times. Transferred to DAT, then can't find the DAT or where I transferred it. (Labeling). Then I found it and backed it up with a label I thought I would remember. Had a database, couldn't find it. So I found it once when I was demonstrating Ed's tremolo technique and told him the story. Then lost it again as the hard drive grew. Before Ed passed, I searched for it again, still not labeled in a way I could find it in the database. You'd think I'd learn. Boom. Found it. Labeled. You can hear Ed in it too, being cheeky. Oh, I lost the brass pick too. Until I started cleaning out some things and found an old bag, with a little container and under 6 or 7 picks from when I was in high school. Oh, and I lost the track sheet he gave me as well, multiple times. The last time I found it in a Guitar Player mag at the Mean Streets tab. None of these 3 items are lost anymore, and I actually found all three before Ed passed. I bought all those little mini guitars and just started displaying them. Also Cus I have a cool GF. My first guitar, a Kramer Focus 6000 was because of Ed. The only one I could afford was baby blue. Much like the Lambo's we see here. Then it got stolen in 92. Internet wasn't really going until about 2009, and then really kicking until 2015. I looked for that guitar for years. Boom REVERB. 500 bucks. Not the same color, but same 59 I put in 30 years before. I have another Dweezil story too. And a few Ed stories. I'm just in Studio City.

[@coldwinter5710]

@frankpaws...Maybe you could post the recording you mention of Ed playing the piano!

[@frankpaws]

@@coldwinter5710 You know I thought about it even before Ed passed. When Ed passed, I started to feel like Wolf should have it. I don't know if there are new things ED was developing, though it was Aug 99. It just feels wrong to without permission. I've only ever sent it to a handful of people. Like 4 I think over the years. Sent to Troy Grady when I demo'ed the Ed trem technique for a life time pass. Got the life time pass BTW. Maybe I'll release a snippet with the 2 short little things with Ed's voice. The whole thing is almost 12 minutes long. Originally, I did some de-clipping, about 10 years ago. The algo's are better now, so I might redo the de clipping from the original. I this through an SSL 4k to boost a bit on the bottom and top. soundcloud.com/lexaudio/evh-piano-5150-clip?si=74d7aa55ae384eb1bfce21d6d733bcc2

[@coldwinter5710]

@@frankpaws I think a great idea would be to send the entire clip to Wolfgang. Then ask him directly if he would object to you releasing it to the masses, or maybe he would prefer to keep it private? He seems to be pretty responsive on his media outlets...& I bet he would really appreciate it!

[@Theo80126]

Imagine growing up like Dweezil or Wolf? All this music, all this nurturing to grow your music? Wow

[@minnihapy2722]

God damn that 1981 stuff sounds INCREDIBLE

[@SimplyHerb-h8k]

I enjoy his perspective

[@ghostsofVTurbexSkysthelimitvid]

fair warning was my favorite Van Halen album........fantastic!! (still is :)

[@thomasbrogan9102]

Stunning. Always.

[@bobboberson2024]

Dweezil is one of the great EVH fans. Because he knows the craft - and lived IN the lives of so many great musicians. But he loved Ed.

[@markallen2558]

I was in New haven Connecticut at there without a net tape they recorded and I didn't know that till years after when I saw it on you tube the first time His solo at that concert was the best I seen in 8times of seeing him

[@edcorneau7346]

Unbelievable! The shit that he would come up with was sheer genius. The added parts make the intro version on the record sound lame. Love hearing all his spontaneous unheard techniques! Totally mindblowing

[@yetimatzenightcat8702]

Dweezil nailed it 👌

[@hollisdunlap4354]

Yep. Mean Street intro changed my guitar life!

[@craigharrison5406]

EVH is the reason I picked up a guitar 35 years ago and have never stopped playing since

[@tonyrobbins1665]

As a guitarist for most of my life, I also have had moments of playing something that I knew I would not be able to play again (sometimes as soon as I put the guitar down !). At the moment of discovery I would play the part for the longest time, hoping to burn it into my memory ? Yet come the next day, and it was gone ! Never able to recall it again ! Big bummers for sure. This was before the ready availability of personal recorders. After a number of those hit and misses I started to tab out what I created

[@timbrink]

Don't worry. I've recorded hundreds of takes i thought were amazing only to realize they were lame the next day when I listened to them.

[@tonyrobbins1665]

@@timbrink sorry to hear that. My losses tended to be some of the coolest things I ever came up with ? That's why it felt terrible to lose them ?

[@walterevans2118]

Sorry to hear that....Yes, you have to get what your playing onto some recording medium or what is dispensing those ideas is 'going to get mad & quit'. ...Its frustrating. Indeed.

[@STEVEHEROLD]

criminal we’ve never got a legit live album from that original band. even if it were a compilation like Live 1978-1984 with tracks being from different shows. oh well.

[@pissedoffpetedotcom]

I always thought the same thing!

[@krankrocker]

No doubt, Steve. You KNOW there are multiple tapes in storage. Hopefully, his boy will put something together!

[@redsed1565]

I recorded the audio from live without a net and blasted it in the car😊

[@ZZUBZERO]

3:42 mark starts that descending crazy sound man,.... that is so cool!!, If anybody can figure that out it's Dweezil.

[@ChoochContrino]

That’s my favorite VH song.

[@timothydillow3160]

That song cannot be played too loudly. A Kick-Ass tune,. have a couple and sing-along, you can't help it❤

[@thepatriot4355]

Edward Van Halen is Rock Royalty a innovator/geniuses

[@e.l.norton]

Ed was our Mozart, our Beethoven. We knew it as it was happening. He was tuned into something. It came through him. And, thank GOD, through him we all heard and felt it.

[@walterevans2118]

@@e.l.norton Yes....Ed would always describe music as something he felt coming through him....Indeed.

[@Dan-mi7hn]

Love Ed,love Jimi,love Prince.

[@famachris]

Poor Dweezil has never seen Live Without A Net because Ed totally does an extended jam during his solo on the Mean Streets intro and it’s mind blowing. I had a bunch of guitar friends in high school that were all classic rock snobs, and they refused to acknowledge this was the coolest thing ever done on electric guitar, ever. And is still is.

[@DMDvideo10]

Every time I work on learning that Mean Street intro my neck hurts for weeks...

[@kevins.3825]

Well Dweezil knows more about Ed than a lot of people. But I don't agree that EVH was at his peak on Mean Street, and would venture to say he absolutely was not at his creative peak w/Mean Street, and Fair Warning is my favorite VH album. Fair Warning is the darkest album. He was using a Soldano SLO 100 and Eventide to help shape his tone, he had new playing techniques he learned from Allan Holdsworth also. If anything it was a 2nd phase (after VH, VHII, Women and Children First) or 2nd wind to begin reshaping his tone and style that would lead to really his ultimate playing on 1984 and 5150. I believe EVH's peak is 1984/5150. Diver Down is great, but wasn't better guitar wise than Fair Warning. On 1984, other than the keyboards on Jump and I'll Wait (which has an epic guitar solo), the rest of 1984 is EVH starting to peak on guitar...Top Jimmy, Drop Dead Legs, House of Pain kill it on guitar, and then on 5150 lots of killer guitar riffs. So good was 5150, that OU812 was almost all keyboards...wasn't until Unlawful Carnal Knowledge that he came back on guitars with songs like Pleasure Dome and Judgement Day (not a Balance or VHIII fan). Really from a guitar solo perspective, the solo on "Beat It" encapsulates almost all of EVH's techniques in one guitar solo (which is right before 1984 came out). That's why it is epic.

[@jamesstewart1794]

Agreed

[@bruceniblett959]

I don't like Hagar era Eddie. He stopped pushing the envelope and started repeat the same 4 licks over and over. He was competing with Dave that's why he was always on fire. With Sammy the dynamic changed. More bland. Lots of lovey dovey power pop. Cringe

[@krankrocker]

The intro to "And The Cradle Will Rock" was also uniquely innovative.

[@drumrnva]

Hey, wait a minute......THAT TABLE IS SQUARE!!!

[@caboluna2927]

I've always said, that intro is the best piece of any intro ever created. Glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that. Dweezil plays the hell out of Eruption too if you've never seen it. Pretty bad ass.

[@imtheonevanhalen1557]

It's cool, but listen to the intro to Ain't talkin' Bout Love with a GOOD set of earphones......it'll make hairs stand on end, and that's 1977. I like Dweezil, but anyone who calls Eddie Van Halen "ED" must have mistaken him for a horse.......that entire notion was Eddie's ego leaking out as he faded into drugs and alcohol....what he had done soaked in, and he couldn't deal with it all.

[@markr.devereux3385]

Somebody was doing drugs on the debut VAN HALEN record. I know I dropped acid at a party and the record was being played. It felt like I got lifted off the ground. A couple of other people kinda of nodded in agreement. LOL

[@jonerotn50wilson26]

I saw him play Cathedral live on the Diver Down Tour....He Was Fucking Amazing

[@jehudavis5422]

Ed said he saw a jazz bass player doing something similar and just ran with it!

[@RPSartre01]

The guitar work on Women and Children First album is just incredible - out of this world. That was Eddie's peak. Too bad he drank so much.

[@kickinvideo333]

Fair Warning was Ed's creative peak as a guitar innovator. The song Mean Street was patched together from stuff in their bar days (Voodoo Queen & other parts). The slap bass-style intro was a blistering new piece. That was until A Different Kind of Truth I used to think Ed did a progressive backslide after 5150 as a player. I never thought he'd ever blow me away again like the early days. But A Different Kind of Truth did!! Sadly, most don't know it because they ignore this album. It's in my top 3 VH guitar lps 🔥😎👍🏼🎸

[@johnstark3058]

It's too bad that there aren't any sit down interviews with ED, where the person interviewing kinda picks his brain a bit on some of the lics he's came up with, and what it was like constructing them....the world has so much to ask him, but he's gone, I guess we will just have to enjoy the memories and the music.

[@saxenas]

Yeah thats why its important to always be recording yourself when you practice, rehearse, and perform- u never know when ur gonna finally do something that youve never done before and u may not be able to do it again. U dont wanna do it and then think "damn it i wish i wouldve recorded that just now". Cuz it might be gone forever after u did it.

[@blythea.wolfgang2702]

He also does that different part of Mean Street in the live without a net solo

[@kojam1]

Deer zip hit it on the nose right out the gate!! I been saying it forever when ppl try to diss Ed, talking bout how this guy or that guy can play better. I say, but Ed had nobody before him to emulate. He innovated sooooooo many things. He was the Einstein of guitar tech AND guitar playing. Shoot! I never that Greensboro thing either! Wow! I WISH THERE WAS FOOTAGE OF THEM IN THE STUDIO CREATING THEIR RECORDS. IVE BEEN PRAYING FOR YEARS BUT NOTHING. Some photos, but no footage. Thanks DZ!

[@briangregory6303]

Eddie Van Halen was a god amongst men.

[@richardkey4289]

This song & 'Little guitars' are just 2 examples of the genius of EVH. * Props to Roth for finding the perfect lyrics to fit the music for each, as well; not the greatest vocalist, technically, but he was the right fit for the band . Until he got bored & moved on.

[@tamabasher]

The technique for the beginning of Mean Street was derived from Ed’s interpretation of the slapping technique of funk bass guitar 🎸👍🏻

[@markr.devereux3385]

Could you tell who was playing that super slap instrumental. It sounds exactly like the mean streets intro. I forgot how slapping was getting really fast and percussive

[@SidLaw1manband]

Dweezil is a cool dude.

[@j.dcarlock6002]

When EVH & Donn would go in at night & do the tunes the way Eddie heard them in his head, that was the gateway for the greatest music EVH ever laid down, the 3 guitar outro of MEAN STREET!....One guitar is almost sending out a morse code type message early on....then the riff that is very close to the main riff of the song, the volume swells between C & D on another guitar & the solo itself on the 3rd guitar part!....The intro to me has always been a stand alone piece worthy of its own name!..... MEAN STREET is EDWARD VAN HALEN at his absolute groovin' peak!...This had to be the impetus for 5150 studio!......EVH laid down what he heard in his head on a par with Brian Wilson on GOOD VIBRATIONS!...To hear it in your head & turn it into music is genius!....Not sure everyone is in the loop, but Wolfgang is already doing these same things in the studio!....great video & conversation!....DWEEZIL, LOVE YOU BROTHER!....Warhead

[@CupidsCrackhouse]

Eddie will always be THE MAN!

[@Loiyaboy]

Anyone else hear the beginnings of "Hang'em High" in that recording? Its around 3:39.

[@FreytesVH]

Yeesss I heard that too!!

[@jamesgeducation1097]

I could never understand why people would only praise the intro to "Mean Street". I mean, the whole dam song and the album is of the wall?

[@edsonojr]

Edward Van Halen is simply the best guitar man forever and ever...

[@richardmitchell8213]

The main reason EVH was such a great musician and guitarist is because of his creativity. It sets him apart from almost everyone. He was a fricken genius. One of his few peers in my mind is Dime bag Darrell for the same reasons, unbelievable guitarist overloaded with creativity.

[@kirkscobey3031]

Thanks for the Allan Holdsworth mention. He doesn’t get enough coverage as a mentor and inspirational guitarist..RIP Eddie and Allan

[@thomaspeters9174]

THAT'S FUCKIN NUTS..Ed was on another level of playing that no one will ever recreate ....RID BUDDY...Thank u for the great music....🍻🍻🍻🍻

[@wanderdworld]

Ed was like a Manotaur half man half beast. Hes so kool shy and quiet. Tune him up and give him a guitar and and youve got a alien beast. Love you ED RIP

[@pissedoffpetedotcom]

Listening to an early demo tape on KZbin I heard him play the intro as a short little lick. It might have been a live recording I cannot remember but thought wow that is the intro to Mean Streets! Amazing that he waited until Fair Warning to incorporate it into a song. I believe it was recorded before their first album

[@dunlop9161]

Can you link that clip?

[@ManuelHernandez-gw9hi]

The ending when his guitar is fading out rocks tf out on mean steeet. I Justa turn that part all the way up.it shoulda been the guitar solo in the song.fuckng badass! rip edddie🥂

[@mikes51501]

5150 was the creative peak in my opinion. Still made some killer albums after but from VH1 to 5150 was just sick

[@markr.devereux3385]

I don't know if that was the peak but it was certainly the last time I actually purchased any new van Halen records.

[@BJVOLS000]

He has got so many young kids to grow up and become great guitar players no one will ever play like he did he was one of a kind

[@WeLuv9x5]

Am I the only idiot who paused this vid, and to gain a better appreciation of the lick and re-listened to Mean Street… then came to to finish this vid?

[@paulkcormier]

the only guy who can play eddies stuff =dweezil

[@glennmccudden8574]

JIMI HENDRIX AND EDDIE VAN HALEN. TWO GREATEST GUITARIST INNVATORS IN THERE OWN RIGHT .MEAN STREET ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. RIGHT ON DEWEEZLE. .