RIP Eddie Van Halen!

That's not how I remember it. I vividly remember seeing VH open for Sabbath in 1978. It was cool to see this new and upcoming band, who already had a buzz about them after the first album. But those at the show were there for the legends, not the newbies, and Sabbath saw it and appreciated it. As for EVH, he no doubt had a king position as guitarist for many years. Too bad he let so much of the side junk (drugs, cigs, drama) work so much against him.

^ Absolutely, they'd been making music that way since they formed.   And of course when Eddie & Alex were kids they had no choice but to play as a guitar/drums duo, creating the heart of the band's sound.

He would boil them (sometimes) to pre-stretch them.     Any guitarist will tell you new strings are extremely unstable and will extend & contract without warning, especially when one whams and bends as much as Eddie did.   He was a guitarist's guitarist, and had many tricks including "tweaking" the whammie-bar while using the Floyd Rose system he helped pioneer because the thing would throw guitars out of tune with no more than a light breeze.

Another fascinating thing about the band is that they'd record with one guitar, one bass, one drum-set, one vocal.   No rhythm overdubs: when Eddie would switch from rhythm to a solo in the studio, no second guitar track would be used.   This not only gave them a unique sound but it also meant their live sets were true to form and sounded like their records.   A rare thing in rock 'n roll.

BTW, Eddie would boil his guitar strings for 20 minutes in order to pre-stretch them and to add that 'rubbery', slinky sound he had.

It stopped being a prog site in 1990....