In Van Halen’s body of work, a bit of Ravi Shankar

Eddie Van Halen (Wikimedia)

In the 1960s, western musicians became interested in the sitar, thanks in no small measure to Pandit Ravi Shankar. This resulted in the birth of a convenient mixed breed called the electric sitar.
It was more guitar, less sitar. But the sitar is difficult to play, even for accomplished guitarists. The electric sitar was more accessible to international musicians who wanted the cool new sitar sound in their songs.

The electric sitar is one of the interesting details in the career of Eddie Van Halen, the legendary guitarist who died on October 6. Better known for his frenzied handling of his Frankenstrat, Van Halen nevertheless experimented with the electric sitar in his band’s debut album, released in 1978. The song was ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love’.

In an interview, Van Halen seemed to have mixed feelings about the instrument, which Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones would apparently call ‘the sitar-guitar’. Van Halen said, “I doubled the solo section with an electric sitar. It could have been a Coral (line of guitars), but it looked real cheap. It looked like a Danelectro. I never really knew it was an electric sitar, because it didn’t sound like one. It just sounded like a buzzy-fretted guitar. That thing was real bizarre.”

Nevertheless, the song became one of Van Halen’s biggest hits. Guitar.com ranked it in one of Van Halen’s top 20 guitar moments. In the process, they also put at rest doubts about the make of the electric sitar. “Eddie doubled the melodic MXR Phase-90-coated solo section with a buzzy-fretted Coral electric sitar, rented from Studio Instrument Rentals,” the portal wrote.
Several musical geniuses have used the electric sitar in their songs, including Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and Steely Dan.

When Ravi Shankar passed away in 2012, Guns N’ Roses were performing in Gurgaon. It was only to be expected, therefore, that they would dedicate the show to the departed maestro, the man who inspired the creation of an instrument and added a new layer to international music.