With the passing of Eddie Van Halen last week, amid the outpouring of love and condolences there began to emerge a clear picture of his place within the lineage of music. Though he often bristled at questions about his influences, his formative years were filled with a variety of styles that gave him the foundation upon which to build his incredible arsenal of techniques and sounds. And as soon as "Eruption" made it to wax, the other top-tier players of his generation rushed to discover his secrets, and the guitarists who followed in the subsequent decades rarely shied away from citing his impact.