Van Halen trumps Brian May in online poll*

Eddie Van Helen has been named the greatest guitarist of all time in the history of everything ever – this according to the readers polled in Guitar World magazine’s first ever “Greatest Guitarists” election.

While there is certainly no debating his uncanny skills at shredding like a mad man, Van Helen won the top spot in a tournament style reader poll that featured the best of the best in guitar with over half a million votes casted.

The poll began in April with over 132 guitarists in the running – which included all the familiar names you would expect from Jack White to Jack Johnson, Kerry King to Kirk Hammett – until it slowly dwindled down to the best of the best for the finals matchup that took place earlier this week.

The top eight included arguably the top guitarists in rock and featured plenty of very close matchups such as Alex Lifeson versus Toni Iommi and Jimi Hendrix against Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In the end, it was Queen’s Brian May – who had made it to the finals by beating out Jeff Beck, George Harrison, Les Paul, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix – that faced off against Van Helen’s legendary guitarist. In the end, Eddie was just too much for the British guitar legend as Van Halen won with a convincing 62.48 percent of the 27,179 votes casted.

While no one would argue the scientific validity of the poll, it did make for plenty of pretty interesting dream guitar duels and even some unexpected upsets.

You can check out the complete bracket with all the matchups right here.

But on a more serious note, Eddie Van Helen is currently recuperating from surgery due to his fight with Diverticulitis – a common digestive disease usually found in the large intestine which involves the formation of pouches on the outside of the colon.

We wish him the best of luck on a speedy recovery although it has been confirmed that the legendary guitarist will be taking a break from performing for at least the rest of the year.

 

 

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons