Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen redrew the boundary of electric guitar with *Eruption*—a 1 minute 42 second solo on the 1978 debut that introduced two-handed tapping and rendered all previous speed benchmarks obsolete. His hand-built 'Frankenstrat' combined harmonic squeals and blinding legato runs on *Fair Warning* and *1984*, with *1984* selling over 10 million copies. Van Halen’s speed and technique outperform #5 B.B. King in technical innovation, as *Guitar World* ranked him the greatest guitarist of all time in 2012. He set a new standard for rock guitar, influencing countless shredders.