Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Tuborg. My brother would go out to party and get laid, come home at 3am., and I would still be playing with myself.

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.

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

Some people think a song without words isn't a real song. Tell that to Beethoven and he'll kick your ass!

If I can help a kid discover a liking, or even a passion for music in their life, then that’s a wonderful thing.

My son, Wolfgang, plays drums, guitars and bass.

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!