04. Eddie Van Halen

Halen's guitar playing can famously be heard on Michael Jackson's 1983 hit 'Beat It', in one of the most epic solos of all time.

Eddie - who died in October 2020 aged 65 - was widely regarded as a guitar innovator and virtuoso, who led ‘Jump’ hitmakers Van Halen through a career that spanned five decades. The music icon established himself as one of the all-time great players in rock history and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.

Most notably, Eddie gained critical acclaim for the influence he had on hard rock and his mastery of the two-handed tapping technique, which he perfected and introduced to a mass audience.

And although he was a guitar master, the musician never learned to read music.