In a new series of articles called Secrets Of The Guitar Heroes, Rollingstone.com has a new interview with VAN HALEN legend Eddie Van Halen. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

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

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?

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?

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 more here.