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" 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. "
Eddie Van Halen
Tone
Music
Me
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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
Band
Back
Two
" 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
Music
" 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
Fame
Rock
Meaning
" 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
You
Connected
Time
" 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
Feel
Good
" I have selective hearing. "
Eddie Van Halen
Hearing
Selective
" 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
Famous
Musicians
Music
" 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
Start
Go
Instrument
" 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
America
Age
Guitar
" 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
Day
Son
Music
" 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
My Own
Seeing
Back
" 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. "
Eddie Van Halen
Like
Me
Growing
" 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
Life
My Life
Guitar
" 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
People
Say
Kid
" 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
You
Music
Fun
" 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
People
You
Funny
" Nirvana was huge, but it didn't appeal to everyone. "
Eddie Van Halen
Nirvana
Huge
Everyone
" 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
Brain
Work
Short
" There are really three parts to the creative process. First there is inspiration, then there is the execution, and finally there is the release. "
Eddie Van Halen
Creative
Three
Process
" 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
Want
Love
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
Myself
Experience
People
" 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
Thought
You
Rock
" 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
Weird
Doing
Done
" 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
Kid
You
Hang
" 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
Trying
Band
Direction
" I'm not a drunk anymore, but since they cut out my tongue, I sound drunk. "
Eddie Van Halen
Tongue
Sound
Anymore
" 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. "
Eddie Van Halen
Breakthrough
Playing
Months
" 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
Digital
More
Line
" 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
Way
Hands
Me
" 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
You
Artist
Best