Originally Posted by: jiujitsu_jesus
He certainly revolutionised guitar technique, but I don't think he had many cogent musical ideas to express with his techniques. In my opinion, it was people like Steve Morse, Joe Satriani and Randy Rhoads who did that.

I closely associate EVH to Kurt Cobain....... Why? Well you see, many many many people out there that are uneducated in the late 80's and early 90's music scene seem to think that Nirvana and Kurt Cobain "invented" the grunge music scene... Which is entirely false... It just so happened that Nirvana was the only band at the time that was creating something commercial enough for MTV to latch on and spoon feed to the general public... sky rocketing Nirvana and launching a myth that they were the first.... the were the first to SELL OUT.... not the first to create...

Van Halen is in the same category.... Joe Satriani and Randy Rhoads were doing their thing at the same time... Van Halen just so happened to be more commercially ready... therefore getting all the airplay and being labeled "the first shred guitarist"...

Jimi Hendrix wasn't the first to do what he was doing either... and I'd never claim that... However he was the first that was combining blues and psychadaelia ... I've seen many many many documentaries on Jimi and they've all mentioned that while he wasn't the first one to play electric music... he was the first one to play very very loudly... He was quoted saying that he wanted the guy in the back of the 200,000 spectator festival to feel like he's in the front row... I think he blazed a lot of ground in more ways than just music.... but also showmanship...

I look at that as a lot of other reasons why Hendrix was more to music than Eddie Van Halen...

That and Jimi played a Strat...