Ritchie Blackmore or Eddie Van Halen?
 

In your mind, which rock guitarist is greater?

I think both of them are among guitar greats, but I always found Blackmore's playing to be more preferable, because it's much more MELODIC!

Eddie. Blackmore's great but he's not very diverse. Like cool you enjoy Haydn, whatever. Also his Celtic **** that he does with his wife is ****ing terrible. At least EVH has those flashy tricks and Spanish Fly.

Eddie definitely. I like both, but I just enjoy Eddie's soloing and riffs more generally.

EVH is possibly the most fun guitarist ever.

Van Halen as a whole basically defines fun. This song in particular, that blues twang that opens it up immediately gets you ready to party:

I might have to give that to Andrew WK.

Church

Haven't heard much from either. I think Blackmore's Night has given me a bad impression of his profile as an artist.

Ritchie Blackmore was great with Deep Purple, and to a lesser extent Rainbow, so whether you like either of those bands or not will probably determine what you think of Blackmore overall.

Here's a couple of my favorites from each:

Did Van Halen just not do all that much in Europe cause it's pretty much impossible for an American to have not heard "Eruption" more times than "Stairway to Heaven".

That sort of music just doesn't get radio play and I haven't looked for it myself. Danish radio is 90% all new music and 80's/90's pop classics. I don't know anyone who really digs classic rock either.

So I'm really unfamiliar with most of the classic rock canon, frankly.

I doubt you'd give a **** about Van Halen but if you don't like the debut then you don't like them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VFJ...xpZ7lbO5ugYvo4

Well, I like a good guitar solo, so never say never.

I prefer Blackmore altho Eddie is a legend for good reason.

Blackmore makes other music besides rock that I like, the acoustic/folk olde world influenced Blackmores Night stuff. A lot of people may hate it, but I really like it.

I love Eddie, but Blackmore's one of my favourite ones, maybe because Deep Purple was the second "old" band I started listening to after The Beatles. EVH was a really innovative guitarist, but I guess I find Blackmore's playing style and solos more interesting. He was very diverse, he had slow ballads like Soldier Of Fortune, hard rock wild songs like Child In Time, and even pop-rock hits with his other band Rainbow! I'm not sure if Eddie would've had any success outside Van Halen. So I'm gonna vote Ritchie, just because I listen a lot more to his music and I really appreciate him as a sonwriter, too.

You went from the Beatles to Deep Purple? That's a funny leap! I never got into Deep Purple, but Hard Rock is a dead end for me

Early DP wasn't as heavy like the stuff they're most know for (ie Highway Star, Lazy, etc.) save for Hush. They even covered "We Can Work It Out" on their 2nd release. They were right there in the same grooves with Cream and Yardbirds until Ian Gillan came along.

I might get some pushback on this but it’s not really a fair comparison because Jon Lord played such dominant role in Deep Purple’s sound.

Van Halen Vs Deep Purple is a tougher question. I understand that really it should be unequivocally Deep Purple but tbh I probably enjoy Van Halen more.

Maybe.

I love em both

Also I think our run with the great Ms. Rigby has expired.

If she never posts again she will be the greatest short splash poster in MB history.

Imo they were pushing a more interesting direction right from the get go.

Just my opinion

Absolutely. The trade-offs between him and Blackmore and the way they complimented each other were beautiful.

Depends on what you like and what your perspective is. I was more into Ritchie when I was younger, but I later learned to appreciate the rest of what everyone else was doing.

True, ER has certainly brought some prime quality bants, hope she sticks around. She has legend potential.

Same pretty much exactly. Van Halen I and Machine Head were such formative records for me that I've only come to love more and more as the years go by and if you said I had to pick one to never listen to again I'd just ask for a gun and an hour alone to say goodbye to both records.

Ritchie by miles.

Plus he was often borderline Prog Metal.

Who doesn't love Rainbow?

People who aren’t metal D&D nerds.

Blackmore has a better sense of melody. Sometimes I find Eddie's sense of melody to be kinda 'artificial', while Blackmore's seems more 'natural' to me.
Stargazer's and Child In Time's solos are much more sophisticated than any Eddie's solo.

Van Halen would be my choice.

Blackmore is an amazing guitarist too, but if i absolutely had to pick one, then it would be Van Halen.

Personally, I like Eddie Van Halen, I haven't heard of Ritchie Blackmore though.

He was the guitarist for Deep Purple before forming his own band, Rainbow.

Blackmore.

He's much more melodic, and actually tries to play something that would fit a song, while EVH is all flash and no soul

If you haven't heard of Blackmore then how can you actually say who do you prefer?

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