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EDDIE VAN HALEN Reveals Guitar 'Secrets' In New Interview

May 29, 2008

RollingStone.com has posted a new interview with VAN HALEN guitar legend Eddie Van Halen as part of a new series of articles called "Secrets Of The Guitar Heroes." A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

RollingStone.com: You ended up covering another Sixties classic, THE KINKS' "You Really Got Me", on your first album.

Eddie Van Halen: "At our shows, we used to do that and 'All Day and All of the Night' and, you know, just a bunch of old, semi-obscure rock tunes. I always liked taking old songs and turning a prop plane into a jet plane. To me, that's what 'You Really Got Me' sounds like. Ours is like whooosh [laughs]."

RollingStone.com: How important were THE KINKS for you?

Eddie Van Halen: "I just like songs. I don't mean to sound like a prick or nothin', but I've never really been that much of a fan of bands outside of CREAM. And I don't really listen to anything nowadays. The last record I might've bought was PETER GABRIEL's 'So'. With CREAM, I was more a fan of their interaction live. You know, they were an example of 'What's the difference between jazz and rock & roll? We just play louder.' That's all. We get 12 notes. Do what the fuck you want with 'em, you know?"

RollingStone.com: Your biggest innovation was two-handed tapping using both hands to fret notes simultaneously. Where did you get the idea?

Eddie Van Halen: "I was watching Jimmy Page going [sings hammering guitar lick], like that, with one hand, in 'Heartbreaker'. I thought, 'I can play like that, and you wouldn't know if I was using this finger [points to left hand] or this one' [points to right hand]. But you just kind of move it around, and it's like, 'You got one big hand there, buddy. That's a hell of a spread!'"

Read the entire interview at RollingStone.com.

Eddie Van Halen in Raleigh, North Carolina May 5, 2008:

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