The Jesus and Mary Chain Guitarist Says Eddie Van Halen 'Ruined Rock Guitar,' Names 'Better' Musician

The Jesus and Mary Chain guitarist William Reid said in a recent interview that Eddie Van Halen "ruined rock guitar" and named which musician's riffs he thinks are "better."

His brother Jim Reid was the one who initially mentioned Van Halen during a conversation with Stereogum, suggesting that "knowing too much about making music" can have a negative effect on the outcome of it and that having limited resources helps push musicians to innovate.

"I think guitar players should never learn scales. I think the worst guitar players in the world, like Eddie Van Halen. I can't stand Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing. I think he ruined rock guitar all through the '80s and '90s 'cause so many people copied him. And I just couldn't get any of that playin' as fast as you fuckin' can and crammin' as many notes in one second as you could," Reid added.

He asserted that Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook played "better" bass riffs throughout his career than anything Van Halen had ever come up with.

Did Eddie Van Halen Know 'Too Much' About Playing Guitar?

Although his instrumental proficiency may have suggested otherwise, Van Halen didn't learn to play guitar with sheet music or in some other schooled capacity — he was self-taught.

"I know music theory and I know how to write music on paper and I know how to read piano," the guitarist said in a 1978 interview shortly after Van Halen's eponymous debut album came out [via Ultimate Guitar].

"But on guitar, it's a different story. I don't know nothing about where… or nothing like that. I know basic modes. I just play what sounds good. What I think sounds good, anyway."

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Van Halen actually built the instrument he wanted to play himself, which became known as the Frankenstrat. He assembled it using parts from a Fender Stratocaster and Gibson pickups because he wanted it to function like a Fender and sound like a Gibson.

"What I was trying to do was cross-pollenate a Gibson with a Fender because I love the vibrato bar," he explained to Guitar World in 2006. "I didn't have the money and the guitar I wanted to play didn't exist. It was that simple."

Thus, Van Halen's situation early on fits Jim Reid's argument that having limited equipment  breeds more innovation — the Frankenstrat is a perfect example of that. But whether or not his style of playing "ruined rock guitar" is completely subjective.

Eddie Van Halen Talks About His Frankenstrat With 'Guitar World' (2006)

See some of the other iconic guitars used by the most legendary rock and metal guitarists in the gallery below.