Better Guitarist: Van Halen or Rhoads

I thought I'd make up for that poll I started comparing Testament and Rainbow by comparing two things that are actually very similar.

I'm sure you all know who I voted for.

I say Randy Rhoads.

Edward. Randy never struck me as anything special (blasphemy, I know).

Randy Rhoads.

Randy Rhoads for many reasons. EVH is no slouch though...

Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads is a great guitartist but IMO he was only beginning to scratch the surface of what he was capable of, if he had lived than I think he would been even more influential and would have been hailed as the greatest guitartist of his generation.

manny wrote:

Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads is a great guitartist but IMO he was only beginning to scratch the surface of what he was capable of, if he had lived than I think he would been even more influential and would have been hailed as the greatest guitartist of his generation.

Yeah, that's pretty much my view as well.

detuned wrote:

manny wrote:

Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads is a great guitartist but IMO he was only beginning to scratch the surface of what he was capable of, if he had lived than I think he would been even more influential and would have been hailed as the greatest guitartist of his generation.

Yeah, that's pretty much my view as well.

I voted for RR because IMO he is the better all around player. EVH "mostyly" grabs me with his leads and even most of those are the same style. I go by who has the better riffs and songs as well and RR gets the vote.

Eddie... no question. that guys was/is insanely good.

This is a hard decision but i went with Rhoads because the guy did a lot more without use of tapping. I also think Rhoads would have continued to progress while we've seen Eddie reach his potential and slack off for years. Regardless, they are two of my favs.

I want to know who is better between Dave Mustaine and Jeff Waters?

Voted for Randy.

Eddie. Randy's body of work isn't as substantial due to his death so the competition is a little lopsided.

SpectreFate wrote:

Eddie. Randy's body of work isn't as substantial due to his death so the competition is a little lopsided.

Very true Randy Rhoads time in the national spotlight barely lasted two years and then he was gone.

I went with Eddie, but I don't think it's a fair contest. While I'm familiar with Eddie's vast body of work, from humble beginning to the present, I can really only judge Randy by those 2 Ozzy records (I've never heard his stuff with QR). Who knows where Randy would be today?

I went with RR because his songs blended so many different styles on the guitar. VH to me really is only a lead guitar player, his rhythms are very easily forgotten IMO. Both are exceptional but again RR is just a better all around player to me.

I think Eddie Van Halen is a great guitartist overall both rythm and lead, and the one thing he and Randy Rhoads had in common is they both played within the song, they didnot deconstruct a song for the sake of their guitar solos, their/are solos were almost mini compostions.

manny wrote:

I think Eddie Van Halen is a great guitartist overall both rythm and lead, and the one thing he and Randy Rhoads had in common is they both played within the song, they didnot deconstruct a song for the sake of their guitar solos, their/are solos were almost mini compostions.

Yes most def, what I was saying about EVH rhythm is that they're forgettable. When you think of EVH you say leads. When you think of RR you think of both riffs and leads, well I do at least. If you were constructing a song who would you take? I would pick RR for both riffs and solos.

I think Eddie is a brilliant rhythm player...try playing Top Jimmy sometime!

MetalRob331 wrote:

manny wrote:

I think Eddie Van Halen is a great guitartist overall both rythm and lead, and the one thing he and Randy Rhoads had in common is they both played within the song, they didnot deconstruct a song for the sake of their guitar solos, their/are solos were almost mini compostions.

Yes most def, what I was saying about EVH rhythm is that they're forgettable. When you think of EVH you say leads. When you think of RR you think of both riffs and leads, well I do at least. If you were constructing a song who would you take? I would pick RR for both riffs and solos.

That is very hard question to answer, both men were expectional musicians and both were/are great songwriters, plus it is also hard question to answer is because we all know how Eddie Van Halen developed, but Randy Rhoads seemed to have tired of playing with Ozzy and wanted to expand his musical vocabulary but an early death robbed him of that chance so all we are left with are what if's.

detuned wrote:

I think Eddie is a brilliant rhythm player...try playing Top Jimmy sometime!

He does have some great riffs I just think he has more mediocre and very simple ones(not that thats a bad thing). As far as whose rhythms are harder RR are by a longshot to me.

MetalRob331 wrote:

detuned wrote:

I think Eddie is a brilliant rhythm player...try playing Top Jimmy sometime!

He does have some great riffs I just think he has more mediocre and very simple ones(not that thats a bad thing). As far as whose rhythms are harder RR are by a longshot to me.

I have to go with detuned on this one bro, which Van Halen CD's do you have metalrob?

I dont own any VH or discs with RR on them. I did before I sold most of my cds off. I owned all of Roths work and Balance from Hagar. I owned all of RR's work with Ozzy.

EVH just never grabbed me with his playing other then a few leads and a few riffs. RR grabbed me with a lot of riffs and a lot of leads. Take for instance Goodbye to Romance that alone blows anything away EVH has ever done in my eyes.

With EVH style I prefer Nuno Bettencourt. I like VH and I think EVH is fabulous but I much prefer RR's versatility to EVH

MetalRob331 wrote:

I dont own any VH or discs with RR on them. I did before I sold most of my cds off. I owned all of Roths work and Balance from Hagar. I owned all of RR's work with Ozzy.

EVH just never grabbed me with his playing other then a few leads and a few riffs. RR grabbed me with a lot of riffs and a lot of leads. Take for instance Goodbye to Romance that alone blows anything away EVH has ever done in my eyes.

With EVH style I prefer Nuno Bettencourt. I like VH and I think EVH is fabulous but I much prefer RR's versatility to EVH

I was just wondering, to me Van Halen's greatest strength was not his lead but his rhythm playing, especially on Van Halen II and Fair Warning.