Rock and roll guitar solos are modern one-person symphonies, and two of the greatest guitar soloist are Eddie Van Halen and Dimebag Darrell. The sound of their respective bands Van Halen and Pantera have been shaped by their guitar mastery.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Eddie Van Halen and Dimebag Daryl Abbott were phenomenal guitarists the world was sad to
00:05let go.
00:06Dimebag Daryl was tragically shot in 2004, while Eddie Van Halen struggled with throat
00:11cancer for years before the disease eventually took his life on October 6th, 2020.
00:17Both came from prominent rock bands, and both knew of each other's talents.
00:21Dimebag had been a fan of the entire Van Halen crew for a long time.
00:24It was pretty mainstream heavy metal for me, you know?
00:27Like Iron Maiden, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, of course.
00:31S----, you know?
00:32S---- like that."
00:33Meanwhile, Eddie Van Halen had embraced his fellow guitarist.
00:36Van Halen and Dimebag Daryl had only known each other for a few weeks before Dimebag
00:41Daryl's tragic onstage murder at the hands of a gun-wielding fan.
00:45But Van Halen clearly came to respect both Daryl Abbott as a person and Dimebag Daryl
00:50as a musician.
00:52There isn't much else that could explain how the two of them got so close in such a
00:55limited amount of time.
00:57The two guitarists were each part of a pair of brothers playing guitar and drums in their
01:01bands.
01:02Eddie Van Halen and Alex Van Halen were the founding members of Van Halen, while Dimebag
01:06Daryl and Vinnie Paul Abbott both played for Pantera and Damageplan.
01:11Both sets of brothers were quite close to each other, and, according to Vinnie Paul,
01:15hit it off right away when they met each other.
01:18Vinnie Paul told Team Rock that the last words he and his brother said to each other
01:22before Dimebag's tragic death were,
01:24"...Van Halen."
01:25It was a mantra of theirs that reminded them to, quote,
01:28"...let it all hang out and have a good time."
01:31Vinnie Paul also talked about the first time Dimebag met Eddie Van Halen.
01:35They hung out with Van Halen while they were setting up and doing soundtrack for one of
01:39the band's shows, and Dimebag was ecstatic.
01:42Vinnie Paul recalled Dimebag's words for Ultimate Classic Rock after the encounter,
01:46"...my brother looked at me and he goes, man, you know what?
01:49If this plane was to go down in a crash right now, I'd be okay with it.
01:52I finally got to meet the dude that made me want to play guitar."
01:56According to his girlfriend, Rina Haney, Dimebag had offered to pay $30,000 for a striped guitar
02:02from Eddie's collection, but Eddie turned down the offer, telling Dimebag that he'd
02:06make a special one for him instead.
02:08After Dimebag Daryl's death, Vinnie Paul and Rita Haney were discussing which guitar to
02:13bury Dimebag with.
02:14He'd already had a special casket donated by the band KISS, so a fitting guitar was
02:19next on the docket.
02:21Eddie Van Halen called and said he'd pick one out just for Daryl, according to Ultimate
02:25Classic Rock.
02:26Everyone was expecting a replica guitar of the same type that Haney said Dimebag had
02:30discussed the night he met Eddie.
02:33Instead of the red and white colors, Haney requested yellow and black.
02:37Haney told Van Halen,
02:38"...Daryl always said that the yellow and black was your toughest guitar."
02:42Well, there was no way Eddie was going to let Dimebag Daryl rest in peace with a newly
02:46striped guitar that had never seen any real action.
02:49He had other plans.
02:51Eddie came by the day of Dimebag Daryl's funeral with the guitar in hand.
02:55It was indeed the yellow and black that Haney had requested, the same iconic guitar he held
03:00on the back of the Van Halen 2 album.
03:02He puts his guitar in the casket with Daryl.
03:04It's the guitar off of Van Halen 2, you know, the black one with the yellow stripe, I mean,
03:08it's the guitar.
03:09Reportedly, he told Haney, quote,
03:10"...an original should have an original."
03:13Van Halen refused to view Dimebag during the ceremony so that he could remember the late
03:17guitarist how he had known him in life.
03:19Eddie Van Halen then told Dimebag's friends and loved ones,
03:22"...I'm here for the same reason as everyone else, to give some love back.
03:27This guy was full of life.
03:29He lived and breathed rock and roll."