Multiple takes and the capacity to edit and combine the best sections are advantages that musicians have. There is only one opportunity to get it right in a live situation, and mistakes can happen. The performers’ live performances don’t always match exactly what listeners hear on the records, note for note.
If the musicians are doing it because it can’t be done live, if they decided to do it differently, or if they are playing the tracks “sloppily,” this frequently sparks a lot of debate.
Eddie Van Halen had some things to say about it too. He also talked about some of his peers and said they were ‘sloppy’ while playing live. Here are the two of them.
Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock history. His inventive and virtuosic playing transformed the genre, and he was the driving force behind Led Zeppelin’s distinctive sound. He also made the double-necked guitar and the use of a bow to produce a distinctive sound famous. Numerous musicians who have come after Page can be seen to have been influenced by him, and his contributions to rock music are still felt today.
Back in 1981, Eddie talked about Jimmy Page while he was with Guitar World magazine. Although it requires discipline and intense focus to record a studio album, Page is frequently criticized for performing live shows “sloppily,” not always playing the songs note for note as they were originally created in the studio.
About Jimmy, he said, “Jimmy Page is an excellent producer. Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II are classics. As a player, he’s very good in the studio. But I never saw him play well live. He’s very sloppy. He plays like he’s got a broken hand and he’s two years old. But if you put out a good album and play like a two-year-old live. What’s the purpose?”
But since the two musicians grew close over the years, there were never any resentments between them. Later on, Eddie even claimed that Jimmy Page was the one who gave him the inspiration to perform the “funny things” on his instrument.
After Van Halen passed away in 2020 at the age of 65, the Whitesnake singer and band leader David Coverdale even admitted in an interview with Eon Music that the last time he ever spoke with the guitarist was when they were in a hotel with Jimmy Page.
He said, “Edward, the last time I saw him, I was sitting in my hotel suite in London with Jimmy [Page]. It was like ten o’clock in the morning. We were just having a very elegant gentleman’s cup of tea. Tea pot and everything! [laughing]. The door to my suite goes, and Michael McIntire, my co-producer who was working with us. He gets up and opens the door, and his jaw hits the floor because he’s like a total Van Halen fan, and Eddie [casually] goes; ‘is David in?’ [laughing hysterically].”
When Eddie passed away, Jimmy released a statement where he praised his technique and said that it was sad news. His statement stated, “It is with great sadness that I heard the passing of Eddie Van Halen. He was the real deal: he pioneered a dazzling technique on guitar with taste and panache that I felt always placed him above his imitators. It was good to see him featured at the Met’s Play It Loud Exhibition. R.I.P. Eddie.”
Jimi Hendrix
Eddie Van Halen has been compared to Jimi Hendrix ever since Van Halen released their self-titled debut album in 1978. The musician attempted to rectify this because he thought his guitar playing was very different from Hendrix’s style.
In 2009, he revealed that it felt great to be compared with Hendrix but said that he couldn’t keep his guitar tuned during live performances. He said, “I say it’s a hell of a compliment, but at the same time I’m really nothing like Jimi Hendrix. I’m just saying I’m very different than Hendrix because I create stuff. He used so many effects and stuff that I was the complete opposite. I wanted the guitar to do things, but nobody built the guitar that I wanted.”
“Hendrix didn’t do things like that. He was an amazing player, but if you ever heard any live bootlegs of him, even some of the Woodstock stuff, it’s hard for him to keep that thing even tuned.”
