“He didn’t need to do it” the real reason why Eddie Van Halen modded his guitars revealed
Alex Van Halen has shed light on the reason behind his brother Eddie’s early guitar modifications.
Speaking in a new interview with Ariel Levy, Alex — who recently released his memoir Brothers — recounts how the younger Van Halen had started on his guitar modding journey thanks to advice from their father, Jan Van Halen.
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“My dad used to have an expression [speaks in Dutch], and that means you got to make something out of it,” Alex explains [via Ultimate Guitar]. “No matter what comes your way, make something out of it, and you learn to make a lot out of a little. And that’s how we started.”
“And I think that carried over into Ed making his own guitars and his instruments, whether he recognised what that pattern was from. Because he didn’t need to do it, but we were so ingrained with that kind of a mentality.”
“We never had anything new,” he says.
The Van Halen drummer also notes how watching Alvin Lee’s legendary performance of I’m Going Home at the Woodstock Festival had marked a turning point in Eddie’s guitar journey.
“We saw [the film] Woodstock, and Alvin Lee played I’m Going Home. Ed looked at it, and within a couple of days, he played it note for note,” Alex say. “And my jaw dropped. And I’m going, ‘Jesus Christ, take my guitar, please!’”
“You know, the story about me practising more than he is something Ed made up, I think,” he continues. “But the fact was, there ain’t no way in hell I’ll ever be as good as that. I know what I can, I don’t know what I can’t do. And if you don’t know both, then you’re in serious trouble. You have to know where your limit is.”
Last month, Alex Van Halen released Unfinished, the final song he and his brother Eddie composed and recorded together. The six-minute instrumental track is now available to download from the Van Halen website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
