Big Wreck guitarist says no one can replicate Eddie Van Halen’s feel, even if they can play his music note-for-note: “It’s just an innate feel. It sounds like he’s smiling”

You can learn Eddie Van Halen’s licks, memorise his solos and even play his music note-for-note. But according to Big Wreck guitarist Ian Thornley, there’s one aspect of Eddie’s playing that cannot be replicated no matter how good your technique is – and that is the feel the late legend brought to his playing.

Reflecting on Van Halen’s influence while discussing Big Wreck’s latest album The Rest of the Story, Thornley explains why Eddie’s playing continues to defy imitation, even among the most technically accomplished guitarists.

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Despite the lasting impact of Van Halen’s style, Thornley admits Eddie wasn’t an early obsession in the way he was for many players of his generation. Asked whether he grew up as an ‘80s metal fan, he’s quick to set the record straight.

“If I’m being honest, not even a little bit,” he tells Guitar World in its new print issue. “That was more Brian [Doherty, Big Wreck’s late co-founding guitarist]’s thing. The heaviest thing I heard growing up was the Beatles’ Helter Skelter.”

Instead, Thornley’s path into heavier music came via Led Zeppelin III, which he counts as his “first personal exposure to heavy, riff-driven stuff.”

“I fell in love with the second side, with That’s the Way and Tangerine, but then I remember flipping it over and it’s Immigrant Song,” says the musician. “Like, ‘OK, what’s this?’ So I didn’t really know that era of metal. The Van Halen song I really liked was Dance the Night Away, you know what I mean?”

When the interviewer points out the chunky, start-stop swing in Big Wreck’s Believer – a feel often associated with early Van Halen, Thornley replies: “Yeah, I could see that. I mean, a lot of that stuff has seeped in over the past 15 to 20 years.”

“I’ve gone back and listened to all the greats,” he continues. “With Eddie Van Halen, you can learn the licks, and you can learn the songs as he was doing it, but it’s still going to be missing a certain bounce or swing. It’s just an innate feel; it sounds like he’s smiling. [Laughs] It sounds like he’s having the best time.”