Notice in a lot of late 60s and 70s hard rock there is just something missing. Eddie nailed the tone along with many other problems which had not been tackled. This tone gave way to the feeling which Eddie emotes when playing in the form of his picking, harmonics and tremelo usage. The tapping for me is just a bonus component which spiced up his excellent lead style. Rhythm is also where Eddie rains supreme... Notice players like Joe S and Steve V layer many many tracks on top of each other to create their songs... Yes they are great players but Eddie's guitar can carry an entire song which says a lot.

Someone else please name a player before or during Eddie's time who combined their own ripping tone with the tremelo usage (whammy bar) tapping and lead and rhythm style the way Eddie did... cant be done! The first album Van Halen (1978) in my eyes is on of the best guitar driven albums released. Is he still technically the best? Long shot! no of course not. But he is an innovator none the less.