Question and Answer

Hey Pat, first off, I'd like to say how much your music touches me. I love hearing guitar that is played for the sake of the song rather than stroking the ego of the player, and you do that extremely well.

Now, to my question: What do you think of Allan Holdsworth and Eddie Van Halen? Now I know that both are incredibly different, but they're both players that I thoroughly enjoy and am inspired by, along with you. I was introduced to Holdsworth by the same man who introduced me to your stuff: my Uncle. I really dig the way he, as my uncle put it, "melts his chords together" into one continuous flow, getting many keyboard-like tones out of his axe. He's a very talented player who I enjoy listening to.

I ask about Eddie mainly because of Van Halen 3, my favorite VH record, but the least favorite of the general public. On this record, Ed sticks to mostly rock and roll, yet he expands it in some very nice ways.

Anyway, thanks for great music!

hi brian,

i think i've talked about how much i like allan in here before (you can do a search on his name).... but eddie, i don't think i have. i really think he is a great player and someone i always enjoy hearing. there was a time i went to vh shows as much as possible just to check him out. one time, i got to go back before a show and hear him warm up - which was absolutely mind blowing - he played more incredible music in that 30 minutes of warmup time than he did in the all the vh "shows" that i heard rolled together. he is so creative - it would be great to hear him expand into other areas - especially now that "heavy metal" is about as dead as it could possibly be (who would have thought that that would happen in 1984?) eddie is more like a jazz guy anyway to me - he is always searching for sounds and ideas it seems.

thanks for writing