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" I grew up on a lot of early Beatles, DC5, Cream, Clapton, Page, Beck and Hendrix. "
Eddie Van Halen
Page
Early
Cream
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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
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Time
" 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
Just
Bear
Average
" Nirvana was huge, but it didn't appeal to everyone. "
Eddie Van Halen
Nirvana
Huge
Everyone
" 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
" 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
Heart
Play
Music
" 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
" 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
Today
Simplicity
Rock And Roll
" 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
Me
Building
Done
" It's always about the music, never about anything else. "
Eddie Van Halen
Music
About
Never
" 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
" 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
" 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
Different
Situation
Hate
" '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
Why
Process
Knowledge
" 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
" 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
Good
Blessed
Teacher
" 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
" 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
Stupid
You
Music
" I'm writing, and just doing the same thing I always do. "
Eddie Van Halen
Same
Writing
Always
" 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
More
Trying
Bridge
" 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
" I have selective hearing. "
Eddie Van Halen
Hearing
Selective
" I'll be making music 'til the day I die. I've done all kinds of stuff, and more is coming. "
Eddie Van Halen
Day
Die
Coming
" 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
Getting Started
Like
Feel
" 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
" 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
Away
Me
Music
" 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
" 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
" 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
" I'm the one in the band that said I'm not going on tour unless we do a record. "
Eddie Van Halen
Unless
Record
Said
" 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