Guitar World readers have named Eddie Van Halen the Greatest Guitarist Of All Time.
Van Halen took the honors after nearly half a million total votes were cast in the magazine’s first-ever Greatest Guitarist poll.
The tournament-style readers poll began in April with 132 guitarists.
In the final matchup, which took place early this week, Van Halen faced off against an unlikely opponent in Queen's Brian May, pulling a hefty 62.48 percent of the votes to claim a decisive win over the upset-happy May, who beat Jeff Beck, George Harrison, Les Paul, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix on his way to the finals.
The Finals matchup between Van Halen and May received 27,179 votes over the course of a day and a half, bolstered by active social media teams and fan communities on both sides.
You can check out the complete bracket here and a ranking of readers’ top 100 guitarists of all time here.
Eddie continues to recuperate following surgery for a severe bout of Diverticulitis that will have him sidelined for the remainder of the year.
Eddie’s health issue, which flared up following the end of the first leg of the band’s “A Different Kind Of Truth” tour, caused the postponement and eventual cancellation of a series of Van Halen concert dates across North America this summer, and the postponement of a series of dates in Japan that were scheduled for November.
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