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Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen Books

Musician

Eddie Van Halen, born on January 26, 1955, is a highly influential musician known for his exceptional guitar skills and unique musical style. He is a legendary figure in the rock music world.

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Related Quotes

“The hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.”

Music Advice Rules Eddie Van Halen

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“I think Clapton is brilliant. He's the only one who moved me. The only one who made me want to play the guitar.”

Thinking Want Made Play Moved Guitar Brilliant

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“Everything comes to me while I'm sitting on the pot.”

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Ifs Want Play Running Stars Streets Rocks Fame News Naked Rock Star Livelihood

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

People Mean Long Happens Brain Normal Music Is Fingers Pops Jerk

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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?”

Want Firsts Wells Mean Doe Asks Stars Rocks Band Musician Ask Me Rock N Roll Rock Star Livelihood

Author:Eddie Van Halen

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

Matter Simple Musician

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different.”

Ifs Different Hate Situation Hate You

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Persons Instruments Guitar Connected Brutal Extensions

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.'”

Done Hands Drinking Cancer Hips Operations Beaten Replacements

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“If I can help a kid discover a liking, or even a passion for music in their life, then that’s a wonderful thing.”

Ifs I Can Helping Kids Passion Wonderful Wonderful Things Passion For Music

Author:Eddie Van Halen

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

Left Bears Normal Average

Author:Eddie Van Halen

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

Sound Cutting Tongue Drunk

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“There are really three parts to the creative process. First there is inspiration, then there is the execution, and finally there is the release.”

Firsts Inspiration Three Process Creative Release Creative Process Execution

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Feels Heart Kind Stills Different Play Body Moving Causes Stuff Hair Arms Approach Teenager Loud Different Kinds Vibrate

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

People Mind Kids Young Attitude Fairs Towns Songwriting Warning Punk Vans Concentrating Gunslinger Van Halen

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“I have selective hearing.”

Hearing Selective

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Trouble Streets Mines Passion For Music

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“The stainless-steel frets were a major breakthrough, because of the amount of playing and bending that I do. I have to get my guitars refretted every couple of months.”

Months Amount Couple Majors Guitar Steel Breakthrough Bending

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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?”

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“I don't really know what inspires me to write the music I do, but usually, the music will set the tone for the lyrics.”

Knows Writing Inspire Tone

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“I grew up on a lot of early Beatles, DC5, Cream, Clapton, Page, Beck and Hendrix.”

Grew Grew Up Pages Cream Hendrix

Author:Eddie Van Halen

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

Age Lessons Six Guitar Piano Holland Piano Lesson

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“I'll be making music 'til the day I die. I've done all kinds of stuff, and more is coming.”

Kind Done Dies Stuff All Kinds

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“My son, Wolfgang, plays drums, guitars and bass.”

Play Son Guitar My Son Bass Drum And Bass

Author:Eddie Van Halen

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

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“The name Van Halen, the family legacy, is going to go on long after I'm gone.”

Long Names Gone Goes On Legacy Vans Van Halen

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Ifs Theory Goes On Universal Instruments Piano

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Ifs Way Ideas Feelings Home Song My Own Half Successful Streets Stupid Dancing Bombs Being Successful Covered Vans Way Home Half Way Van Halen Playing Someone

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Ifs Trying Wanted Guitar Destroyed Bridges Strings Nuts Friction Saddles

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Knows Two Able Asks Waiting Forget Half Saws Feet Son Beats Sitting Court Guitar My Son Never Forget Tall Acoustics Pajamas Tapping Acoustic Guitar Racquetball

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Feels Play Kids Certain Asks Stars Situation Rocks Fame Ask Me Leaving Me Rock Star Me Alone Leave Me Alone Just Leave Me Alone

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Way Littles Hands Bigs Able Left Fingers Operations Splits Twisted Left Hand

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

My Own Seeing Stronger Cancer Immune Tick Immune System Cockroaches Pathology Tearing Apart

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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!”

Years Firsts Kind Long I Can Two Kids Used Stuff Cities Crazy College All Kinds Beach Piano Prize Two Years Contests Annuals Crazy Things Long Beach

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

People Want Wells Mean Shows Courses Race Election Formulas Olympics Playing Music Billboards Formula 1

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Kind Done Stuff Guitar All Kinds Strings Pulling Tapping Weird Stuff

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Trying Band Appropriate Vegas Las Vegas

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“Imagine if Beethoven had a tape recorder. Then you'd know exactly what he meant. Maybe he meant 'Da da da da' instead of 'Boom boom boom boom!' Who knows?”

Ifs Knows Imagine Tape Recorders

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Ifs Want Needs Play Fun Pay Rhythm Having Fun Music Love

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Mean Perfect Records One Thing Theory Lessons Ears Guitar Piano Eric

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Two Ends Causes Stuff Minutes Band Verses Cream Jam Improvisation Chorus

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“When I was growing up and listening to bands like the Dave Clark Five, the groove was what initially got me going. I really like that funky, heavy groove.”

Growing Up Five Growing Listening Band Heavy Dave Groove Funky

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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.”

Doe I Can Two Hands Cop Tapping Two Hands

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“Bass is for people who can't play guitar”

People Play Guitar Bass

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“I'm just a normal schmo like anyone else.”

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“You only have 12 notes. Do what you want with them.”

Want Notes What You Want

Author:Eddie Van Halen

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

People Thinking Real Song Ass Kicks

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“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?”

Ifs Years Wells Two Play Hands Purpose Player Broken Pages Very Good Albums Studios Producers Excellent Two Years Jimmy Sloppy Zeppelins Two Year Olds

Author:Eddie Van Halen

“Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.”

Play Dies Stars Rocks Musician Rock Star Comes And Goes

Author:Eddie Van Halen

About the Author

Born: January 26, 1955
Known for: Musician
Quotes: 91

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Guitar Ifs Play Music Rocks People Sound Want Kids Stuff

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People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

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