55+ Eddie Van Halen Quotes On Guitar, Innovative And Iconic

Eddie Van Halen is a Dutch-American musician, songwriter, producer, and inventor. He is best known as the lead guitarist, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen. He is considered one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock music. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Eddie Van Halen on life, love, guitar.

Top 10 Eddie Van Halen Quotes

1. Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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.
6. I'm just a guitarist in a kick-ass rock and roll band. What more could I ask for?
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Everything comes to me while I'm sitting on the pot.
10. 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 Short Quotes

• I applied to Uncyclopedia Bassists, and was accepted!!
• You only have 12 notes. Do what you want with them.
• You've only got 12 notes and however you mix them up is your thing.
• I'm writing, and just doing the same thing I always do.
• I'm just a normal schmo like anyone else.
• Sometimes I just want to lick David Lee Roth in the nuts
• I boil the strings so they stretch.
• Major third complications can be overcome by lots of alcohol.
• I'm the one in the band that said I'm not going on tour unless we do a record.

Eddie Van Halen Quotes About Guitar

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

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

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

I think Clapton is brilliant. He's the only one who moved me. The only one who made me want to play the guitar. — Eddie Van Halen

Bass is for people who can't play guitar — Eddie Van Halen

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

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

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

Eddie Van Halen Quotes About Music

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

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

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

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

We're musicians. We make music for a living. It's that simple. Nothing else matters. — Eddie Van Halen

It's always about the music, never about anything else. — Eddie Van Halen

To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is. — Eddie Van Halen

Eventually you'll take the phrases and rhythm patterns you've copped and begin to put your own mark on them — Eddie Van Halen

I took classical piano lessons from the age of five. — Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different. — Eddie Van Halen

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

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

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

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

A good producer brings out the best in the artist he's working with. You shouldn't be able to listen to something and say, 'So-and-so produced this album. — Eddie Van Halen

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

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

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

Life Lessons by Eddie Van Halen

1. Eddie Van Halen's work demonstrates the power of hard work and dedication to achieving success. He practiced for hours each day to perfect his craft, and his commitment to excellence paid off with a successful career.
2. Eddie Van Halen's music also shows the importance of innovation and creativity. He pushed the boundaries of what was possible with the guitar, creating sounds and techniques that had never been heard before.
3. Finally, Eddie Van Halen's music is a testament to the value of collaboration. He worked with many other talented musicians throughout his career, and their combined efforts helped create some of the most iconic songs of all time.