Quotes by Eddie Van Halen - Page 2

Holdsworth is so damned good that I can't cop anything. I can't understand what he's doing. I've got to do this [does two-hand tapping], whereas he'll do it with one hand.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Doe
Hands
Two
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You know, most people, they want to go to Hollywood. They want to be a star. They want to be a rock star. That thought never entered any of our minds, the Van Halen family.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
People
Rock Star
Rocks
Stars
Van Halen
Family People Never
Entered
Halen
Minds
Van
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I was so used to doing old blues licks with the first three fingers. When I started using my pinky and finding more spread things, that's when I started getting my own style.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Firsts
Style
Three
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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? Probably the one that I haven't hung most with recently.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Hung
Hang
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Cancer is like a cockroach. It just comes back stronger. I'm tearing apart the immune system of the cockroach and seeing how it ticks. I've opened up my own pathology center.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Cancer
Cockroaches
Immune
Pathology
Stronger
Apart
Center
Cockroach
Opened
Tearing
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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 / Musician
Guitar
Should
Strings
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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 / Musician
Home
Brother
Party
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On 'Honeybabysweetiedoll' I used a Whammy, a Boss OC-3 octave box, a Sustainer and a Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler. That's only on the intro, where all those weird noises are happening.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Boss
Delay
Lines
Box
Happening
Noises
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Rock & Roll is feeling, and after you know most of the basics ... chords, rhythm, scales and bends ... getting that feeling is just about the most important aspect of playing guitar
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Music
Guitar
Rocks
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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 / Musician
Believe
Crazy
Hurt
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Everything I did is because I wanted to do it. If I weren't playing this arena, if I were playing a club, I'd still be doing it because that's what I want to do. I love playing the guitar.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Arena
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Music is for people. The word 'pop' is simply short for popular. It means that people like it. I'm just a normal jerk who happens to make music. As long as my brain and fingers work, I'm cool.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Cool
Brain
Fingers
Jerk
Long
Mean
Normal
People
Cool Work Music
Simply
Short
Popular
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A guitar is a very personal extension of the person playing it. You have to be emotionally and spiritually connected to your instrument. I'm very brutal on my instruments, but not all the time.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Brutal
Connected
Guitar
Instruments
Person
Time Your Person
Very
Emotionally
Extension
Instrument
Playing
Spiritually
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I never dreamt of being a musician for my livelihood. I certainly never would have wanted to be in the business that I'm in, meaning the fame and the glory, the glitter, the rock star, the famous part.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Famous
Fame
Glitter
Livelihood
Musician
Rock Star
Rocks
Stars
Certainly
Star
Dreamt
Meaning
Rock
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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 / Musician
Music
Stripes
Together
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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 / Musician
Guitar
Keys
Knowing
Amp
Instrument
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Actually, if I could deliberately sit down and write a pop hit, all my songs would be pop hits! Let's put it this way. I play what I like to hear. And sometimes I like to hear something poppy, and sometimes I don't.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
If I Could
Play
Song
Writing
Deliberately
Hits
Poppy
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I never took guitar lessons. I took classical piano lessons from the age of six when we lived in Holland. And when we moved to America, it was just the typical thing except I was really good at it; so was my brother.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Brother
Guitar
Holland
Lessons
Moved
Six
Typical
Classical
Except
Guitar Lessons
Piano Lessons
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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 / Musician
Funny
Music
Famous
Livelihood
Mean
Rock Star
Rocks
Stars
Ask
Funny Music Your
Younger
Does
Bands
Star
Explain
Making
Rock
Musicians
Well
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The one thing I do have is good ears. I don't mean perfect pitch, but ears for picking things up. I developed my ear through piano theory, but I never had a guitar lesson in my life, except from Eric Clapton off of records.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Ears
Eric
Guitar
Mean
One Thing
Perfect
Piano
Records
Theory
Life Good My Life
Clapton
Pitch
Developed
Ear
Eric Clapton
Except
Off
Lesson
My Life
Picking
The One Thing
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I started doing all kinds of weird stuff on the guitar, which became part of my playing. I started doing harmonics and tapping on the guitar and pulling off strings and doing all this weird stuff that no one had ever done before.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Done
Guitar
Pulling
Strings
Stuff
Tapping
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I'm not a rock star. Sure I am, to a certain extent because of the situation, but when kids ask me how it feels to be a rock star, I say leave me alone, I'm not a rock star. I'm not in it for the fame, I'm in it because I like to play.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Kids
Alone
Certain
Fame
Feels
Leave Me Alone
Rock Star
Rocks
Situation
Stars
Ask
Alone I Am Me
Sure
Certain Extent
Star
Leave
Extent
Rock
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For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' took a year to record; that's why the playing on it might sound somewhat labored. 'Balance,' on the other hand, was written and recorded in only four months, so the whole process was quicker and more immediate.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Balance
Hands
Years
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We make music for a living. Like I've always said, if you like what you're doing, you're halfway there; if someone else likes it, that's even better. If they don't like it, at least you like it. Not to be selfish, but you kind of have to be.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Doing You
Halfway
Halfway There
Likes
Selfish
Least
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'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' took a year to record; that's why the playing on it might sound somewhat labored. 'Balance,' on the other hand, was written and recorded in only four months, so the whole process was quicker and more immediate.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Balance
Months
Unlawful
Carnal
Somewhat
Immediate
Record
Quicker
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If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you'll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you'll get to where you want to be.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Music
Running
Famous
Livelihood
Naked
News
Play
Rock Star
Rocks
Stars
Want
Just
Then
Get
Make
Run
Star
Down
Eventually
Street
Just Be
Rock
Something
Where
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It's all about sound. It's that simple. Wireless is wireless, and it's digital. Hopefully somewhere along the line somebody will add more ones to the zeros. When digital first started, I swear I could hear the gap between the ones and the zeros.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Add
Digital
Simple
Sound
Swear
Wireless
Somebody
Gap
Hear
Line
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I mean it's funny, playing music, how of course you want it to do well, you want them to like it, but it's not competitive like an election, it's the Olympics, it's not a Formula 1 race. The Billboard charts are just to show you what people like.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Election
Mean
Olympics
People
Race
Funny Music People
Billboard
Charts
Competitive
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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 / Musician
Kids
Beach
Contests
Crazy
Crazy Things
Long Beach
Prize
Music Me Long
Annual
Music Long Me
Won
Music City Me
Row
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It comes back to the same old question people are always asking me: 'When are you going to do a solo record?' Well, if I did, it would probably be similar to 'Baluchitherium,' meaning it would be Van Halen music - which I write anyway - but without singing.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
People
Singing
Solo
Van Halen
Writing
Music Always Me
Anyway
Music Me Singing
Halen
Meaning
Similar
Solo Record
Van
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On 'Van Halen,' I was a young punk, and everything revolved around the fastest kid in town, gunslinger attitude. But I'd say that at the time of 'Fair Warning,' I started concentrating more on songwriting. But I guess in most people's minds I'm just a gunslinger.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Kids
Attitude
Concentrating
People
Punk
Songwriting
Van Halen
Warning
Time People Everything
Attitude Time People
Fair
Fastest
Halen
Minds
Van
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I destroyed a lot of guitars trying to get them to do what I wanted, but I learned something from every guitar I tore apart, and discovered even more things. Things like if the string is not straight from the bridge saddle to the nut, you're going to have friction.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Bridges
Destroyed
Friction
Guitar
Nuts
Apart
Bridge
Discovered
Guitars
Straight
Saddle
String
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The only band I was really over-into was Cream. And the only thing I really liked about them was their live stuff 'cause they played two verses, then go off and jam for 20 minutes, come back and do a chorus and end. And I love the live jam stuff, the improvisation.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Band
Chorus
Cream
Improvisation
Jam
Minutes
Two
Verses
Played
Cause
Liked
The Only Thing
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David Lee Roth had the idea that if you covered a successful song, you were half way home. C'mon - Van Halen doing 'Dancing in the Streets'? It was stupid. I started feeling like I would rather bomb playing my own songs than be successful playing someone else's music.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Home
Covered
Dancing
Song
Streets
Stupid
Successful
Van Halen
Way Home
David
Bomb
Halen
Lee
Roth
Van
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Obviously you have to have rhythm. If you have rhythm, then you can play anything you need. If you have rhythm and you love music, then play and play and play until you get to where you want to get. If you can pay the rent, great. If you can't, then you'd better be having fun.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Fun
Having Fun
Needs
Pay
Play
Rhythm
Love Music Great
Obviously
Rent
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If your going to learn to play lead guitar, get an electric guitar .. it doesn't have to be an expensive one .. acoustic guitars aren't good for learning lead, because you can't play up very high on the neck and they take heavier-gauge strings which makes it hard to bend notes
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Music
Guitar
Play
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Before the operation on my left hand I wasn't able to stretch my fingers open all the way. I've never had very big hands, but I could do the splits with them. Eventually I couldn't any more. I had a twisted tendon in my little finger that prevented me from being able to stretch.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Able
Hands
Left
Left Hand
Splits
Twisted
Little
Me Hands Way
Before
Open
Could
Eventually
Finger
Hand
Operation
Stretch
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I played 'Eruption' two times for the record, and we kept the one that seemed to flow ... there's a mistake at the top end of it whenever I hear it, I always think, Man I could've played it better ... but I like the way it sounds. I'd never heard a guitar sound like that before.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Music
Men
Mistake
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I was just a punk kid, trying to get a sound out of a guitar that I couldn't get off the rack, so I built one myself ... I wanted a Gibson type of sound but with a Strat vibrato .. I went to town painting it and I put three pickups back in, but they don't work - only the rear one works
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Kids
Music
Guitar
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Jimmy Page is an excellent producer. Led Zeppelin I and II are classics. As a player he's very good in the studio, but I've never seen him play well live. He's sloppy. He plays like he's got a broken hand and he's two years old. If you put out a good album and play like a two year old, what's the purpose?
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Player
Two Year Olds
Years
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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 / Musician
Home
Break
Force
Guitar
Hours
Meditation
Practice
Weird
Few People
Flows
Lock
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I don't feel a day older when it comes to my approach to music or what gets me off than when I was a teenager. I've always been into different kinds of stuff and when I play I like to play loud. I like my arm hairs to move and I like my body to vibrate 'cause I like the feel of it; I'm still a teenager at heart.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Approach
Different Kinds
Heart
Loud
Moving
Teenager
Vibrate
Music Always Heart
Music Heart Me
Arm
Music Heart Always
Hairs
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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 / Musician
Zoos
Guitar
One Day
Technique
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And if I would have taken lessons I probably wouldn't have done it, and what forced me to do all this weird stuff on the guitar was I couldn't afford effects pedals, I didn't have all this stuff when I was a kid so I just tried to squeeze all the weird noises I could out of the guitar, which brings me to building guitars.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Kids
Effects
Guitar
Lessons
Taken
Afford
Brings
Guitars
Forced
Noises
Squeeze
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Music kept me off the streets and out of trouble and gave me something that was mine that no one could take away from me. Music education and families are dealing with the economic times, and I wanted to help them. If I can help a kid discover a liking, or even a passion for music in their life, then that's a wonderful thing.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Kids
Helping
Passion
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I have pictures of me sitting in the racquetball court in my pajamas with an acoustic guitar, and Wolfgang is probably just two-and-a-half-feet tall. I'll never forget the day I saw his foot tapping along in beat! I knew then, I couldn't wait for the day I'd be able to make music with my son. I don't know what more I could ask for.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Acoustic Guitar
Court
Guitar
Never Forget
Pajamas
Sitting
Son
Tapping
Two
Acoustic
Music Guitar Me
Beat
Foot
For The Day
Wait
Saw
Pictures
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Most beginners want to learn lead because they think it's cool .. consequently, they never really develop good rhythm skills .. since most of a rock guitarists time is spent playing rhythm, it's important to learn to do it well .. learning lead should come after you can play solid backup and have the sound of the chords in your head
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Funny
Inspiring
Music
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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! The judges were like, 'Very interesting interpretation!' I thought I was playing it right.
Eddie Van Halen / Musician
Music
Beach
College
Contests
Crazy Things
Interesting
Interpretation
Long
Long Beach
Prize
Stuff
Two
Used
Years
Inside
Music Me Long
Annual
City
Music Long Me
First
Read
Down
Won
Music City Me
Instead
Judges
Put
Row
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Eddie Van Halen Quotes - Page 2

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