Eddie Van Halen quotes

Eddie Van Halen was a Dutch-American musician and guitar virtuoso, best known as the co-founder of the rock band Van Halen. His innovative guitar techniques, including the use of tapping, greatly influenced rock music worldwide. He is remembered as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in the history of rock. Here are 64 of his quotes:

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.

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

I don't like doing interviews, I don't like doing what I'm doing right now. I'd rather be at home playing my guitar.

Eddie Van Halen

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Eddie Van Halen

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Eddie Van Halen

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

I have selective hearing.

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?

Eddie Van Halen

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

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

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

Eddie Van Halen

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

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.

Eddie Van Halen