Halen Quotes & Sayings

Meaning that if you live in the moment, so to speak, we play today, and tonight we're done. — Alex Van Halen

It's unfortunate nine years were in between - you can't take that time back; you can't undo it. — Alex 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

Loial, son of Arent, son of Halen, had secretly always wanted to be hasty. — Robert Jordan

What draws people to the instrument is the love for guitar players that play a certain way. I mean, even though it wasn't intentional, it was hard to avoid copying Eddie Van Halen. He was basically the *bleep* back then. — Tom Morello

Yeah, we have our differences, but we put those aside, and now we're making music. It's great. — Alex Van Halen

When I was 13, I was just figuring out how to play 'Eruption,' poorly, by Eddie Van Halen. — Dierks Bentley

Bass is for people who can't play guitar — 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

Greg Ginn was certainly a huge influence on my guitar playing. I put him up there with people like Eddie Van Halen. Eddie Van Halen changed everything; I don't necessarily like everything he did, but he definitely changed everything. — Buzz Osborne

If aliens came down and challenged us to a Battle of the Bands to decide the fate of Planet Earth, I would feel very confident putting early Van Halen forward as our champion. — Tom Morello

I did some research and tried to pull out some old, classic Van Halen that they had not played in 10 or 15 years. I think that was Sammy's mistake. I he didn't want to do the Dave stuff. — Gary Cherone

The Alanis Morissette tour, everybody thinks that was all sitting around, lighting candles and talking intelligently about synergy and big words. That band was so gnarly. We were such scumbags. Alanis had no idea. We were like Van Halen. — Taylor Hawkins

There's nothing worse than having everybody thinking alike, talking alike and having the same direction in mind. It gets stale that way. — Alex Van Halen

I liked a lot of the things other people liked - Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Van Halen, AC/DC - but if I compared it to my dad's music, there just seemed to be elements missing. — Dweezil Zappa

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

I was a huge 'Pyromania' fan. You would never expect it, but I was in love with Iron Maiden; I was such a huge fan. I went to a lot of rock stuff like Van Halen, too. — Tiesto

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 love players like Thurston Moore. I mean, you can put notes down on a sheet of paper, and if you practice and get your chops up, you can play like an Eddie Van Halen or a Steve Vai. But nobody can do what Thurston Moore does; he's his own guy. He talks through his instrument in a language that's all his own. — Frank Iero

Sometimes I'll listen to a little old Van Halen, or some Beatles, Zeppelin stuff, classical music ... I like a lot of different things. — Eric Carr

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

I believe that the art market is in a place similar to the music industry in 2005. Big changes are coming and the art market will most likely be very different in ten years. However, if you are the art equivalent of Van Halen, you don't really have to change anything. But if you are not Van Halen, then it is time to figure how to adapt to all the changes. — Mark Edward

There's very little greatness in this world, but in the crucible of quality there's a special corner reserved for Van Halen. — Bob Lefsetz

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

It's all about sound. It's that simple. — 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 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

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

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

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

Few bands in hard rock history have been so adept at balancing the awesome and trivial as Van Halen in their prime. — Chuck Eddy

At our age, you don't want to stop. — Alex Van Halen

when Roth joined, all of Mammoth's followers "seriously thought [the Van Halen brothers] had ruined Mammoth," telling Edward, "'Wow. I can't believe you did this. This guy sucks.' Eddie was apologetic, but he'd say to us, 'Be nice to him. He's okay. — Greg Renoff

I do like Eddie Van Halen as a player. He gets it right quite often. — Paul McCartney

You have Extreme and Van Halen and the history that I have with other people I played with. There are some effects that will hopefully break that stereotype. — Gary Cherone

Every once in awhile I'll call up Eddie (Van Halen) and ask, Found that fourth chord yet? — Billy Gibbons

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 — 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

Punk-rock gave music back to people. For a long time, when I was very young, I went to go see arena rock bands. I was 16 and it was all I could get in to see, legally. And I saw Led Zeppelin and Ted Nugent and Van Halen and all that. Me and [Minor Threat and Fugazi vocalist] Ian MacKaye would go to these concerts, and it was fun. — Henry Rollins

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? — Eddie Van Halen

I've heard my share of Van Halen. I never liked rock. — Brad Paisley

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

When you leave the planet, you leave music behind. — Alex Van Halen

I admire Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather, but they might blow me away quite easily if we were to jam together. — Eric Clapton

Sammy and I got together and it was like we hadn't missed a beat. — Alex 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

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

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. — Eddie Van Halen

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

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

If you put a Van Halen album in your record collection, it will melt all the rest of your records. — David Lee Roth

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

Dani: Crank it up. Lets get this party started. *I hand Dancer my iPod.*
Lor: What is this crap. Where the hell is Hendrix on this thing?
Jo: Did you get any Muse?
Dani: Muse is something you do
Jo: Distrubed is something you are
Dancer: And Godsmacked is something you get
Lor: Don't you have any Motley Crue or Van Halen?
Christian: How about some Flogging Molly?
Ryodan: Whats the deal with all the Linkin Park, for fuck's sake.
Dancer: Mega has a crush on Chester
Jo: You got any Adele?
Dani: Got some Nicki Minaj.
Ryodan: Somebody kill me now. — Karen Marie Moning

It's hard to say this about a guy like Eddie Van Halen, one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived, but he's really limited to a style and they're locked into it. — Sammy Hagar

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

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

We're very needy people, you know. — Alex Van Halen

Speaking of stage freight. I was terrified! It was in NOLA at an all ages show. I was wearing Jeans, a Van Halen t-shirt, and a bandana on my neck. Once I gripped that microphone stand, I did not let go! I plugged my microphone into a guitar FX pedal. Then at the end of the a Black Sabbath song we were covering, I hit the guitar pedal. It was horrific! — Phil Anselmo

Some things are impossible. — Alex Van Halen

Then, as if getting blown up is not enough to worry about, after I take a seat on the steps, I get a look at the choir. Thirty singers and from where I'm sitting, it looks like only two of them are black. It's not like I'm saying suburban white people shouldn't sing. Because I love Van Halen's Hot for Teacher. — Sarah Vowell

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

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

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

I look at Van Halen as social workers. What we're really doing is creating jobs for rock critics. — Alex Van Halen

People say that life is a cesspool of darkness and dispair. Well we of Van Halen are sailing through it in a yacht! — David Lee Roth

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

More and more, I enjoy hearing people who are good at their instruments and who've found a distinctive voice. In death metal, a lot of guys are Eddie Van Halen disciples, but they take his style to really expressionistic places. It's a real pleasure for me to hear people pushing their craft. — John Darnielle

When I was in Van Halen I was hitting notes that were out of my range. I never went for those registers before until Eddie pulled it out of me. — Gary Cherone

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

I was more influenced by players like Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen than by the guys in southern rock bands. — Dimebag Darrell

The first Van Halen album makes Johnny Rotten out to be what he really was and still is: a hairdresser. — Henry Rollins

If I had had a chance to tour with Van Halen before the record, I think it would have been a different record. — Gary Cherone

These days I don't look to other people with the objective of trying to steal their licks, although I've got no objections to stealing them if that seems like a good idea. I'm sure that I'm still influenced by Mark Knopfler and Eddie Van Halen as well ... I can't play like Eddie Van Halen. I wish I could. I sat down to try some of those ideas and can't do it. I don't know if I could ever get any of that stuff together. Sometimes I think I should work at the guitar more. — David Gilmour

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

In Van Halen there were moments, like in some of the ballads, I put my heart and soul into those records. Those lyrics when I sang 'em, I gave myself goosebumps. — Sammy Hagar

For a long time, when I was very young, I went to go see arena rock bands. I was 16, and it was all I could get in to see, legally. And I saw Led Zeppelin and Ted Nugent and Van Halen and all that. — Henry Rollins

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

It's part of our nature. As much as I love (brother and guitarist Eddie), if you put us in a room with no one else for 15 minutes, we'd be at each other's throats. — Alex 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

My heroes were Eddie Van Halen - especially after Van Halen I, II, III, and IV - Randy Rhoads, Ace Frehley and dudes like that. My brother played drums and we jammed in the garage and started writing our own stuff. — Dimebag Darrell

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

I'm not a drunk anymore, but since they cut out my tongue, I sound drunk. — Eddie Van Halen

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

Whatever our personal differences are, there are no bigger fans of this band than the people who are in this band. — Alex Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen was probably the most influential. — Tony Iommi

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

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

Spitfire asked me if I had a problem talking about Van Halen or Extreme. I really don't. There are people who are just going to want to know what it was like to play with Eddie. — Gary Cherone

Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die. — Eddie Van Halen

I wouldn't mind meeting Eddie Van Halen. That would be great. We need to invite him to a race. — Al Unser

The single-biggest proof that the Dixie Chicks are Van Halen is their audience; they are singing to the same teenage boys, except those boys are now teenage girls. — Chuck Klosterman

'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

When we were on the road, I found out that my greatest hits album went Gold. They freaked out. Things really came to a head when we started arguing about a Van Halen greatest hits package. — Sammy Hagar

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

I'm the one in the band that said I'm not going on tour unless we do a record. — Eddie Van Halen

The Beatles will never get back together and David Lee Roth will never again sing with Van Halen. — Alex Van Halen

I have selective hearing. — Eddie Van Halen

Major third complications can be overcome by lots of alcohol. — Eddie Van Halen

My son, Wolfgang, plays drums, guitars and bass. — Eddie Van Halen