Eddie Van Halen Quotes

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 Van Halen

• Me
• Guitar
• Kid
• Lessons
• Effects

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Quotes to Explore

• We're musicians. We make music for a living. It's that simple. Nothing else matters.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Music
  • Simple
  • Musicians

• Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7pm to party and get laid, and when he'd come back at 3am, I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years - I still do that.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Party
  • Practice
  • Brother

• I'm not a drunk anymore, but since they cut out my tongue, I sound drunk.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Sound
  • Drunk
  • Tongue

• 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 Van Halen
  • Me
  • Drinking
  • Stopped

• 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 Van Halen
  • Learn
  • Start
  • Piano

• I just consider myself slightly left-of-center. I'm not your average bear. I - what's the word? I'm not - normal.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Myself
  • Normal
  • Bear

• 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 Van Halen
  • Today
  • Rock
  • Path

• 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.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Music
  • Me
  • Trouble

• Some people think a song without words isn't a real song. Tell that to Beethoven and he'll kick your ass!

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • People
  • Song
  • Words

• My son, Wolfgang, plays drums, guitars and bass.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Son
  • Drums
  • Bass

• 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 Van Halen
  • Love
  • Playing
  • Guitar

• 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 Van Halen
  • People
  • Up
  • Home

• '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 Van Halen
  • Why
  • Knowledge
  • Hand

• 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 Van Halen
  • Done
  • Weird
  • Doing

• It's always about the music, never about anything else.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Music
  • Always
  • Never

• 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 Van Halen
  • Good
  • Great
  • Quality

• 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 Van Halen
  • Trying
  • Band
  • Thought

• 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 Van Halen
  • End
  • Thing
  • Cause

• 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 Van Halen
  • Life
  • Music
  • Help

• 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 Van Halen
  • Music
  • Better
  • Selfish

• I never took guitar lessons. I took classical piano lessons from the age of six when we lived in Holland.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Age
  • Guitar
  • Piano

• I have selective hearing.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Hearing
  • Selective

• Nirvana was huge, but it didn't appeal to everyone.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Everyone
  • Huge
  • Nirvana

• I'll always leave the same set of strings on my guitars when I'm recording. If I break one I'll just replace it instead of putting on a whole new set of strings.

  

  Eddie Van Halen Van Halen
  • Always
  • Same
  • Leave