In the latest edition of Ask Eddie, Karl Everhart of Colorado had a special question for legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen.
Everhart: Eddie, did you and Allan Holdsworth ever get to play live together?
Van Halen: Hi Karl,
Yes, Allan and I did have the opportunity to play live together a couple of times. The first time was by complete accident. I was in the process of helping him get a record deal with Warner Bros., so I picked him up, took him to some meetings and somehow he ended up spending the night at my house. When we woke up, Allan said, “Shit, I have to be at GTI (Guitar Institute of Technology) at noon to do a seminar.” So I raced him down there just in time. Before I knew it, I was on stage with him and his band, and we were both answering questions and playing together. It was quite fun actually and very interesting, especially for the students/audience. Because Allan and I play very different, we answered the same questions very differently. I was very nervous at first because I didn’t know any of the songs, but I managed to improvise my way through it.
The second time Allan and I played together was at The Roxy in Hollywood. I got up and played the last song with them, which was a riff that Jeff Berlin (Allan’s bass player) and I came up with, so I was more comfortable because I was familiar with what we played.
Thanks for asking Karl.
All the best, Eddie
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