Eddie Van Halen (L), member of rock group Van Halen, puts his arm around his son Wolfgang during a news conference announcing Van Halen's North American tour in Beverly Hills, California August 13, 2007. The band has reunited with the group's original singer David Lee Roth for their first tour together in more than 20 years, they announced on Monday. Wolfgang will be the band's bass player. The tour will kick-off in Charlotte, North Carolina September 27, 2007. REUTERS/Fred Prouser (UNITED STATES)
Wolfgang Van Halen feels that learning the guitar on his own without his dad, Eddie Van Halen, teaching him anything was good for his development as a musician.
In a recent appearance on the Talk Is Jericho podcast Wolf explained, “Everybody thinks my dad woke up me up and strictly went, ‘practice your scales!’ But no, the only thing he directly taught me was how to play drums. He had magazines on the table and was like, ‘do this and do this’. The second he saw I could do that he bought me a V drumkit and for my birthday the next year got me an acoustic kit. That’s where I started.”
And when Wolf started learning guitar and bass, he taught himself while trying to learn songs by his favorite bands. “I taught myself, looking at guitar tabs for System of a Down and stuff like that, teaching myself. I think that’s important because I was able to develop my own voice and flavor of playing stuff rather than just being a copy of dad.”
He added, “Tool was a big band for me, expanding my musical knowledge. I noticed I became a better drummer when I learned how to play Tool songs.”