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Sammy Hagar explains why he always have a good guitar player

Sammy Hagar

Classic Rock

Sammy Hagar explains why he always have a good guitar player

Ex-Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar explained in an interview with Paulo Baron why he always have a good guitar player in the bands he is in. The musician explained he learned when he was in Montrose that he was a better singer when not playing the guitar at the same time he was singing.

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Sammy Hagar explains why he always have a good guitar player:

“I think I’m a better singer than a guitar player. So if I try to sing and play guitar all the time, they suffer. I don’t sing as well when I’m trying to play a hard part. So I prefer to have a guitar player with me. But he’s got to be better than me. Otherwise, why have the guy, right? When I have to play the hard stuff, I need a guy that can play stuff that I can’t play and sing, and those guys you mentioned are that.”

“I learned it from Ronnie Montrose because I was a guitar player/singer. The lead guitar player when I from my band when Ronnie discovered me, and he said, ‘Hey, you don’t have to play guitar.’ I go, ‘I want to play guitar.’ ‘I don’t need a guitarist. I want to be like The Who.’ I said, ‘OK, fine, I’ll just sing this, it’s Ronnie Montrose, he’s famous.’ And I learned how much better I sang than when I was playing all the guitar parts. And I liked it.”

“And then when I left Montrose, I wanted to play guitar again because Ronnie didn’t want me to even touch a guitar, he didn’t want me to look at it, he didn’t want people to think I even played guitar because he was really strict about being the guitar player, the bass player, the drummer, and the singer. That’s it.”

He continued, saying:

“Like The Who, Led Zeppelin, all the classics. I went along with it but I was really horny to play the guitar again. But then, when I started my the band with Gary Pihl and made all those records back then, I was like the lead guitarist and shared the duties with Gary Pihl.”

“But after a while, when we started playing big places, start playing stadiums and arenas, I realized I’m better off without the guitar. So first I invented the headset mic, I was the first guy to use that, and then Peter Gabriel, and then the rappers started doing it.”

“But I used it because I didn’t want to be strapped to a microphone, I wanted to perform for all those people, and how can I get to those people? I got to be running all over the place, so I did that And then pretty soon I said, ‘That headset mic sounds like shit!’ So when I play guitar, I’ll use the real microphone with a chord, not even wireless, and then I will not play guitar in a lot of songs.”

Sammy Hagar continued:

“And then when I start doing that again, I realized that I’m really a better frontman when I don’t play guitar all the time. But when I pick it up, I do like to shred. And I stay in practice. I practice, I got this Les Paul sitting here, I got guitars all over my house in every room, and everywhere I live I have guitars. And I play all the time, I play every day, and I could get their little fingers going.”

“And I speak one language, I used to tell Joe Satriani, he used to tell me that I’m a good guitar player, I said, ‘I’m OK. I said only speak one language, that’s it. I speak Sammy Hagar language.’ And I said, ‘You know, a guy like Joe Satriani can speak any language!’ That’s the difference between me and a real virtuoso. I’m like B.B. King – I feel blues guys, I can speak my language.”

I'm a Brazilian journalist who always loved Classic Rock and Heavy Metal music. That passion inspired me to create Rock and Roll Garage over 6 years ago. Music has always been a part of my life, helping me through tough times and being a support to celebrate the good ones. When I became a journalist, I knew I wanted to write about my passions. After graduating in journalism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, I pursued a postgraduate degree in digital communication at the same institution. The studies and experience in the field helped me improve the website and always bring the best of classic rock to the world! MTB: 0021377/MG

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