Eddie Van Halen Once Showed William Zabka How To Play ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love,’ Cobra Kai Star Recalls

The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai star William Zabka recently spoke about meeting Van Halen icon Eddie Van Halen. He stated that Eddie once tried teaching him how to play ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love.’

William Zabka is a successful actor who is best known for starring in ‘The Karate Kid I’ and ‘The Karate Kid II’ in the 1980s and the TV series Cobra Kai which he has been a part of since 2018. Cobra Kai aired in 2018, and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider was also briefly a guest on the TV show as himself and performed ‘I Wanna Rock’ in a concert two characters went to see.

Aside from being an actor, Zabka is also very much interested in rock music and is friends with several rock stars. Recently, he recalled meeting the iconic late guitarist Eddie Van Halen during an interview with Guitar World. He also talked about how he was a huge fan even before meeting the musician.

The actor stated that he asked him if he played the guitar when he and Eddie met. Zabka replied ‘a little bit’ and showed Eddie how he played the 1978 Van Halen song, ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love.’ Eddie wasn’t satisfied with the performance and took the responsibility to show him how to play it properly. The actor described the moment as ‘epic.’

Here is what Zabka said about meeting Eddie:

“The first concert I ever went to was Van Halen, the 1980 Invasion tour. To be 14 years old and watching Eddie come out and play ‘Eruption,’ it was like this music came out of the sky. He was just bigger than life. And I bumped into a good friend of mine, Janie, who had actually married Eddie. And she said, ‘Do you want to go and meet Eddie?’ I’m like, ‘Are you kidding? Yes, I want to go meet Eddie!’

So I’m with a few of my buddies, and we all get in an elevator and go downstairs to the dressing room, and there’s Eddie Van Halen. And he was just the nicest guy. At one point, he hands me his guitar, and he says, ‘You play?’ I go, ‘A little bit, let me show you my version of ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love.’

So I go into it, and I’m playing it up on the fretboard. He goes, ‘No, man, no.’ And he literally gets behind me and starts playing the notes and showing me how it’s just a simple A minor thing. And then a few minutes later, he’s like, ‘All right, I gotta get ready.’ It was so epic.”

Zabka’s character Johnny Lawrence in ‘Cobra Kai’ listens to 1980 classical rock music, which resembles his character very much. Zabka is also a big fan of the ’80s bands like Def Leppard, Whitesnake, and Van Halen. He played the guitar as a hobby and grew up on hair metal.

You can listen to ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ’bout Love’ below.