I grew up on a lot of early Beatles, DC5, Cream, Clapton, Page, Beck and Hendrix. Eddie Van Halen More Quotes by Eddie Van Halen More Quotes From Eddie Van Halen It makes me feel kind of weird, but obviously the Man Upstairs gave me something and it touches people, and I'm just so blessed. Eddie Van Halen blessed men people Every song is like a kid. How can you have that many kids and have a favorite? Which one do I like to hang most with? Eddie Van Halen song kids The piano is a universal instrument. If you start there, learn your theory and how to read, you can go on to any other instrument. Eddie Van Halen piano theory goes-on I can't read music. Instead, I'd do stuff inside the piano, do harmonics and all kinds of crazy things. They used to put me in these annual piano contests down at Long Beach City College, and two years in a row, I won first prize - out of like 5,000 kids! Eddie Van Halen crazy beach kids Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Tuborg. My brother would go out to party and get laid, come home at 3am., and I would still be playing with myself. Eddie Van Halen party brother home I have selective hearing. Eddie Van Halen selective hearing Eventually you'll take the phrases and rhythm patterns you've copped and begin to put your own mark on them Eddie Van Halen patterns phrases music I went to the zoo one day and saw a chimp playing with a beat-up acoustic guitar in a way I had never seen before. Instead of using the pick the chimp was banging the neck and tapping it with its fingers. I knew the chimp was on to something so I practiced this new technique in my room for hours until I'd perfected it. Eddie Van Halen guitar one-day zoos When I'm home on a break, I lock myself in my room and play guitar. After two or three hours, I start getting into this total meditation. It's a feeling few people experience, and that's usually when I come up with weird stuff. It just flows. I can't force myself. I don't sit down and say I've got to practice. Eddie Van Halen guitar practice home We're musicians. We make music for a living. It's that simple. Nothing else matters. Eddie Van Halen musician simple matter A guitar is just theoretically built wrong. Each string is an interval of fourths, and then the B string is off. Theoretically, that's not right, all the strings should be off. Eddie Van Halen strings guitar should If you have a great-sounding guitar that's a quality instrument and a good amp, and you know how to make the guitar talk, that's the key. It starts with the guitar and knowing what it should sound and feel like. Eddie Van Halen guitar keys knowing It's funny, when bands or younger musicians ask me: 'So, what does it take to make it?' Well, first explain to me what you mean by 'making it': Do you want to be a rock star or do you want music to be your livelihood? Eddie Van Halen rocks stars mean I wanted a Gibson type sound, but with a Strat vibrato ... I bought a body from Charvel for $50.00 and a neck for $80.00 - I slapped it together, put an old Gibson PAF in it and painted it up with the stripes Eddie Van Halen stripes music together When Van Halen started out, there was no path to fame. We just played what we liked. Even today it always comes down to the simplicity of rock and roll. Eddie Van Halen rock-and-roll rocks simplicity Best believe that needle hurt you Best to see these true colors Than follow one of your false virtues A little secret to make you think: Why is the crazy stuff we never say, poetry in ink? Eddie Van Halen crazy hurt believe I'm blessed with a good pair of ears. That's how I fooled my piano teacher. I'd watch his fingers and I'd listen to it, and I just kind of basically learned it by myself. Eddie Van Halen piano blessed teacher There's a plaque on our wall that says we've sold over 65 million albums, and I don't feel I've accomplished anything. I feel like I'm just getting started. Eddie Van Halen accomplished wall albums I was trying to take the band in a direction that I thought was appropriate, and Roth was trying to take the band in more of a Las Vegas direction. And there he is. Eddie Van Halen vegas band trying I've had a hip replacement, I've beaten cancer, I had my hand operation, and I stopped drinking. Something inside of me just went, 'I'm done.' Eddie Van Halen cancer drinking hands
