And yes, I call him Curt Kabang cause he shot himself...maybe a bit rude and insensitive on my part, but I'm not trying to claim Eddie Van Halen copped from Hendrix and ACE FREHLEY?!? Are you kidding me? No really, are you? I've read interviews were Ed has said that when he used the wiggle stick that he wanted the notes to sound like they were falling off the edge of a building like Hendrix did, but ACE FREHLEY?!? C'mon man...Frehley is widely thought of to be a Page clone, and the only flash he ever had was his persona and stage show...and I like Ace!
And P.S. Eddie is far more than just a soloist, he is an incredible and very underated rythym guitarist...if he didn't have good songs that were interesting it wouldn't matter how fast he could play. VH was a success in the mainstream because he had good songs. Al DiMeola is faster, but the masses of non musicians don't relate to his style because the songs aren't danceable...Satriani goes over with a lot of non-musicians because of his great rythym ability and incredible sense of lyrical melody, not just speed.
I'm from the school that thinks playing music should be like making love - you don't go fast the whole time, but there are certainly ocassions were speed IS called for ;) heh heh heh
my .02