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The one guitarist who left Eddie Van Halen dumbfounded: “What the hell is this”
The article identifies Jeff Beck as the guitarist whose unpredictable playing most astonished Eddie Van Halen. It argues that Beck’s willingness to move between styles and experiment with sound made him unusually difficult to anticipate, even for a player as influential and technically adventurous as Van Halen.
Van Halen said he discovered Beck through the instrumental albums *Blow by Blow* and *Wired*, praising their experimentation. He recalled seeing Beck perform rockabilly in France with his brother Alex and reacting, “What the hell is this?”, before calling Beck a “standalone” guitarist whose next move was impossible to predict. The article places Beck’s work across blues, jazz and fusion in the context of Van Halen’s own boundary-pushing approach to guitar.
In short
- Eddie Van Halen regarded Jeff Beck as uniquely unpredictable.
- Beck’s experimental albums strongly influenced Van Halen.
- A French rockabilly performance left Van Halen baffled.
Explained simply
Eddie Van Halen was one of rock music's most influential and technically accomplished guitarists, known for fundamentally changing how the instrument could be played. Jeff Beck was another highly respected guitarist whose career spanned blues, rock, jazz and other musical styles.
Van Halen discovered Beck's instrumental albums *Blow by Blow* and *Wired* and was impressed by their experimental approach to sound. What particularly struck Van Halen was Beck's unpredictability—his refusal to commit to a single musical style meant that even an innovative guitarist like Van Halen found him difficult to anticipate.