Phil Collen Recalls Eddie Van Halen’s Advice About His Guitar

There are many guitarists around the world; however, not every guitarist makes it to the list of greatest guitar players. Eddie Van Halen is no stranger when it comes to the greatest guitarists, in fact, many have even called him the guitar god.

Well, most people haven’t met anyone who doesn’t say Van Halen was an elite guitarist. The legend inspired millions of people through his music. He influenced many artists in the music industry as well.

Def Leppard’s co-lead guitarist Phil Collen is one of the popular artists who says Van Halen was his source of inspiration.

In an interview, Collen revealed that he even got advice from the legend. This advice helped him become a better guitar player. So what advice did Van Halen give him? And what does Collen have to say about the late musician?

Just stick around for a while and we’ll answer all these questions.

What advice did Eddie Van Halen give Phil Collen about his guitar?

Collen met him for the first in the UK during Van Halen’s first UK tour. He gave advice about Collen’s previous guitar.

Collen said, “When I first met Eddie, it was on Van Halen’s first British headline tour at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park, London. He was so humble, considering he was such a monster player. We were talking about guitars and I had this Strat that my mum had gotten me for my 21st birthday. It was the main guitar I used later on the Hysteria stuff – whenever you hear anything on that record, it’s probably that. When I told him I had this beautiful Strat that I loved, he actually said, ‘You know, you won’t be happy until you’ve taken that pickup out and carved out space for a humbucker!“

So what did Collen do after receiving insights from Van Halen?

The answer shouldn’t surprise anyone.

Well, considering that Van Halen was a guitar beast, it was the obvious choice. He made adjustments to his guitar and changed a few of his playing techniques just as advised.

Collen has also talked about the time when he heard Van Halen for the first time. He was left flabbergasted when he got a chance to hear Van Halen play for the first time. Phil loved watching Van Halen play live, for him it felt like Van Halen was a guitar himself.

Phil Collen Ranks Eddie Van Halen as the 2nd Best Guitarist

Collen thinks that the best guitar player to ever exist was Jimi Hendrix. He said that no one has ever come close to Hendrix’s guitar-playing abilities.

However, if he’d have to choose the best guitarist after Hendrix, he wouldn’t think twice before pointing toward Van Halen. Collen believes that Van Halen was among the very few artists who had such great control over his guitar. Listening to him felt like the guitar was singing.

Certainly, Eddie is one of history’s most influential musicians and he didn’t only influence Collen but there are many artists along with Justin Hawkins the founder and lead singer of the rock band The Darkness. Hawkins believes that Van Halen is the greatest and that nobody could ever surpass him.

Well, it is true that Van Halen nobody can take Van Halen’s place because there is no one like him. His band Van Halen is also quite popular that is even listed on Billboard Mainstream Rock List with the most number-one hits. It is really sad that the legendary musician has passed away.

On October 6, 2020, Eddie Van Halen passed away at Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

Sadly, sources say that the cause of his death was a stroke. He was 65 years old at the time of his death. He died surrounded by his friends and family with millions of fans mourning after his demise.

If he was still alive then he would be sixty-seven years old today and clearly, he would still be touring and doing several live shows and concerts.