{"id":414413,"date":"2026-04-24T01:33:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/414413\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T01:33:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T01:33:16","slug":"ritchie-blackmore-on-his-backstage-encounters-with-eddie-van-halen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/414413\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritchie Blackmore on his backstage encounters with Eddie Van Halen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ritchie Blackmore recently grabbed headlines with a surprise livestream Q&A in which he shared a notably pessimistic view<\/a> of guitar players.<\/p>\n

What received considerably less attention were his thoughtful reflections on the late virtuoso Eddie Van Halen, whom he remembers as both extraordinarily gifted and strikingly modest.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201c[He was] very humble, almost too humble,\u201d Blackmore says. \u201cHe would often come backstage at our shows and go, \u2018You don\u2019t want to talk to me, because I\u2019m nobody,\u2019 and I could never understand why he would say that. He always used to underestimate himself. He basically reinvented the guitar with his hammer-on technique.\u201d<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Ritchie Blackmore – Birthday Livestream Interview (2026) – YouTube
\n\"Ritchie<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Blackmore says he particularly admired Van Halen\u2019s intuitive approach to the instrument. While he described Joe Satriani and Steve Morse<\/a> \u2014 who joined Deep Purple following Blackmore\u2019s 1993 departure \u2014 as \u201cfantastic players,\u201d he suggested that technical perfection does not necessarily equate to the highest level of musical expression.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re always playing the correct notes, there\u2019s something wrong. You\u2019re not searching, you\u2019re not reaching for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ritchie Blackmore<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re always playing the correct notes, there\u2019s something wrong,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re not searching, you\u2019re not reaching for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Halen, he adds, does not fall into that category.<\/p>\n

Blackmore believes Eddie\u2019s sensitive nature sometimes made it difficult for him to find common ground with the older guard of guitar greats, including himself and Eric Clapton. Van Halen was heavily inspired by Clapton and was hurt when he was rejected by him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately for Eddie, he was too sensitive,\u201d Blackmore says. \u201cAnd of course the business brought him down. He started drinking because he needed to drink to socialize. He was very sensitive, and I can relate to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Eddie\n<\/p>\n

Eddie Van Halen poses in his group\u2019s tour bus outside Lewisham Odeon in London, May 27, 1978. (Image credit: Fin Costello\/Redferns)<\/p>\n

Blackmore says much the same about Randy Rhoads, the late guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne. Although many pitted Rhoads against Van Halen for the title of world\u2019s greatest guitar player, their rivalry was largely fictional<\/a>. As Blackmore sees it, both guitarists were cut from the same cloth.<\/p>\n

He was almost like Eddie Van Halen \u2014\u00a0very similar attitude, very humble, which I always appreciate when I talk to people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2014 Ritchie Blackmore<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was almost like Eddie Van Halen; very similar attitude, very humble, which I always appreciate when I talk to people,\u201d Blackmore says. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to be conceited about music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blackmore has been in a particularly chatty mood lately. In addition to his online Q&A, the guitarist recently gave Guitar Player an extensive interview<\/a> about his time in Rainbow to promote the new box set Rainbow \u2014 The Temple of the King 1975\u20131976, a nine-disc collection of recordings from his post\u2013Deep Purple group.<\/p>\n

During the conversation, he also reflected on his relationship with Jon Lord, describing the late keyboardist as \u201cmy best friend in the band<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ritchie Blackmore recently grabbed headlines with a surprise livestream Q&A in which he shared a notably pessimistic view…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-414413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}