Edward Lodewijk Van Halen is a Dutch-American musician, songwriter and producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the American hard rock band Van Halen and is considered as one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock music. In 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Van Halen number eight in the list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. In 2012, he was voted number one in a Guitar World magazine reader's poll for "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Eddie Van Halen in April 1996, in an interview with Guitar World, when asked about how he went from playing his first open A chord to playing "Eruption" http://www.guitarworld.com/archive-billy-corgan-interviews-eddie-van-halen-1996?page=1
Source: Talking with Kurt Loder on MTV's Famous Last Words show circa 1991.
