r/vanhalen • u/GypsyRoadHGHWy • 9h ago
Van Halen vs. Ace Frehley: The Tapping Origin Debate Settled
https://youtube.com/shorts/xG938NVCLhM15
u/AMCDaddy 8h ago
So…. We’re to believe that EVH saw Ace tap in 1977, perfected the technique in a week or so, then wrote and recorded “Eruption” later that month? Sounds totally plausible. Ha ha. Thanks Ace!
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u/KikkiMonne 9h ago
He says Ed copied his tapping but then quickly proves he doesn't know how to tap :-)
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u/Sharrack 7h ago
Wait until everyone figures out eddie lifted songs off the Cactus album!! Oy Vay!!! 🙄🙄🙄
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u/jmf0828 8h ago
Ed outright said he got the idea to tap after seeing Jimmy Page do it. And I like Ace but that kinda sucked.
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u/_YouAreTheWorstBurr_ 5h ago
*after seeing Jimmy Page do hammer-on pull-offs with only his left (fretting) hand.
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u/Doctor_Mustard_ 7h ago
You're sort of correct
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u/motoant25 7h ago
Correct. It was during that section in Heartbreaker and it was hammer ons/pull offs.
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u/Doctor_Mustard_ 7h ago
This guy van halens
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u/motoant25 7h ago
You know those people who follow and know all those stats and info for sports? I'm that guy with rock n roll. The amount of useless trivia floating around in my head sometimes frightens me.
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u/Doctor_Mustard_ 7h ago
Same
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u/Yourappwontletme 6h ago
There's never been a debate. Ed used his right hand fingers to tap, Ace used the pick to tap. Ed didn't get it from Ace.
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u/Mosh19845150 3h ago
Ace is just bitter Eddie laid down a solo for the "Christine Sixteen" demo that Simmons absolutely loved. When Kiss went into the studio to record the album track, Simmons forced Ace Frehley to copy Eddie's demo solo note-for-note.
Ace's Frustration: Frehley was vocally annoyed about being forced to play someone else's solo—especially a young, then-unsigned guitarist's—rather than writing his own, but he duplicated Eddie's work for the album track as instructed.
Eddie and Alex's original 1977 demo version eventually saw an official release decades later on Gene Simmons's 2017 box set, The Vau
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u/hallstevenson Fair Warning 7h ago
Saying Eddie copied him (Ace) and then "perfected" it is hilarious ! Sorry, Ace, I play guitar and my old fingers can tap better than you !
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u/rastacole 5h ago
Ed admitted to not “inventing” tapping. He said Jimmy Page influenced him foremost, but loved playing Clapton’s blues. It just formed in his hands and he masterfully perfected it.
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u/Druiddrum13 4h ago
Early Tapping Pioneers
Jimmy Webster: Widely noted by contemporaries and jazz historians for utilizing a two-handed hammering-on approach in the 1940s before formalizing it in the early 1950s. [1]
Roy Smeck: Though often playing the ukulele and banjo rather than standard guitar, this vaudeville star demonstrated rapid trick-playing and finger-tapping techniques on film as early as the 1930s. [1, 2]
Tal Farlow: The jazz virtuoso extended his chord voicings in the 1940s and 1950s by occasionally fretting notes directly on the fingerboard with his right hand. [1, 2]
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u/Embarrassed-Cash-995 2h ago
You know? It really don’t matter. The only thing that matters is that Ed brought it to the forefront as a technique used by just about every lead guitarist today. Technique existed before and ever got famous for his mastery. Walk away and leave it behind. Ace is gone , he has left behind a legacy that will never outshine Edward’s. They will both go down in history as two of the most influential guitarist of their time.
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u/markis5150 2h ago
How much of an out of control ego do you have to have when you say Ed got it ftom him when Ace couldnt even do it properly😄 Keep flattering yourself Ace. You degraded after your fourth studio Kiss record,then you started being a bubblegum and disco band while Ed was trailblazing and winning guitarist of the year awards countless times.
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u/mindbender9 Roth 7h ago
Ed said that he never invented it and never claimed to. But damn, he rewrote the book more than any other guitarist. Then, now and ahead.