MUMBAI: Eddie Van Halen has been named as the greatest guitarist of all time by renowned magazine Guitar World.
In a competition that was decided by readers, guitarists were put up against each other in round-robin style match-ups.
Van Halen came ahead of Queen guitarist Brian May in the ’100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time’ competition, which was decided by a knock-out tournament in which musicians were pitted against each other in a round-by-round basis.
He took the honours after nearly half a million total votes were cast in the magazine’s first-ever Greatest Guitarist poll.
The tournament-style readers poll began in April with 132 guitarists. The final matchup between Van Halen and May received 27,179 votes over the course of a day and a half. Van Halen pulled in a hefty 62.48 percent of the votes to claim a decisive win, reports said.
Van Halen, who formed the band bearing his surname in 1972, exploded into the popular music consciousness with their debut self-titled album ‘Van Halen’ in 1978. His speed, accuracy and confluence of musical styles- from Western Classical to funk- made him a worldwide sensation. The band went on to score a string of No 1 albums through the 80s- to mid 90’s. After an 18- year hiatus, the band released its 12th studio album ‘A Different Kind Of Truth’ in February this year.
The Top 10
1. Eddie Van Halen
2. Brian May
3. Alex Lifeson (Rush)
4. Jimi Hendrix
5. Joe Satriani
6. Jimmy Page
7. Tony Iommi
8. Stevie Ray Vaughan
9. Dimebag Darrell Abbott
10. Steve Vai