Billboard has published guitar legend Joe Satriani's tribute to Eddie Van Halen, who passed away yesterday (October 6th) following a long battle with throat cancer. An excerpt from the tribute is available below.

"The first time I heard Eddie’s guitar playing, it was coming through the radio in my little studio apartment and I actually had my guitar on. I was practicing and listening to the radio and all of a sudden, 'Eruption' (from Van Halen’s 1978 self-titled debut album) comes on and fills my apartment and not only was my breath taken away and my heart pumping out of control, but I was so happy that someone had arrived who was going to really do it.

I guess I felt like being on the road with a disco band and going through the punk scene, that the guitar was a little bit under siege and all of a sudden this savior comes and he’s got the right hand of doom and incredible musicianship, but it’s all with a smile and a swagger. It’s all rock and roll. It was just so good. My faith in music was renewed once again just from hearing him play. Every time I hear his guitar playing, I feel the same way. It always takes my breath away.

As a songwriter, he wrote really catchy, solid, melodic songs that made sense. They were more intricate than meets the ear. He had that gift where he would put in complicated and unusual rhythmic structures but they somehow came off sounding so natural and inviting to listen to. It was really a gift and a testament to his compositional abilities. Little twists and turns. He could take a song like 'Dance the Night Away' and put in some innovation that would make your head spin, but it never stopped you from singing the song. They had a great band. The four of them all contributed just enough to complete Eddie’s compositional approach. Really, really fantastic how they worked together.

One day, I’m in my studio and I just have to write a song to represent how I felt at the time (Satriani’s early band) The Squares had started and what was happening right at 1980. It had to do with what I felt about Eddie’s playing and how I wanted to bring it to the band, but was getting a lot of resistance from the people I was hanging around with and the band who weren’t really into that kind of thing. At the time I couldn’t believe it because I thought what Eddie was doing was amazing. I thought I should write a song about what I wanted to do in 1980, but what I didn’t do. Just by coincidence, on the floor in the studio was a signature Eddie Van Halen phaser pedal. I kid you not. I just thought I’m going to plug it in and record myself playing this song and just reflect that joy that I had just knowing that Eddie was in the world playing guitar like that.

I hope he gets remembered as the greatest of the generation."

Read Satriani's complete tribute here.