Van Halen - Eruption (Live)

Eruption is an instrumental by Van Halen from their first album Van Halen (1978 — now often called "Van Halen I" by fans). Written and performed by Eddie Van Halen, this electric guitar solo is considered one of the most influential instrumentals of all time, appearing on many 'greatest guitar solos' lists, including a recent Guitar World poll. It is 1 minute 42 seconds long.

After a short intro with brother Alex Van Halen on drums and Michael Anthony on bass, the solo takes off unaccompanied in a barrage of scales, bends, and "dive bombs" (extreme use of a whammy bar). The highlight of the solo is the use of "tapping" — both hands on the neck of the guitar to produce rapid arpeggios, resembling a Baroque organ fugue more than a guitar.

A phaser, 1950s Gibson humbucker pickup, 1960s Marshall tube amp, tape-driven Echoplex, Univox echo box, and studio plate reverb helped define the distinctive tone of the track. Eruption is in 1/2-step down tuning and begins in the key of A flat, then moves around. Some brief sections are difficult to pin to a specific key.

It ends on a cycling low E flat (twelfth fret harmonic with the Univox echo box kicked in, dived an octave lower by manipulation of the Echoplex controls), and is followed by a cover of The Kinks song You Really Got Me in the key of A flat.