Tommy Shaw famous quotes

04-12-2025

I love the idea of stepping out of the band situation into a solo world with no boundaries, no expectations, where nothing is out of bounds
-- Tommy Shaw

#Ideas #Expectations #Band
Success is fickle, but creativity is a gift.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Creativity #Fickle
I wish I had a nickel for every song that I've left in the bathroom, written down on a matchbox, or just totally forgotten about
-- Tommy Shaw

#Song #Wish #Bathroom
We were playing popular music, but we were doing our own arrangements because we were too lazy to sit down and figure out the originals
-- Tommy Shaw

#Lazy #Down And #Figures
I soon gave up instruction for self-teaching
-- Tommy Shaw

#Teaching #Self #Instruction
I feel like I have the greatest life an artist could dream of
-- Tommy Shaw

#Dream #Artist #Greatest Life
When I was about 3, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit out on the front porch with him and sing songs.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Song #Sister In Law #Giving
I don't like looking back.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Looking Back
I'm not the kind of guy who deserves to play a vintage guitar because I'm too rough on instruments.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Vintage #Play #Guitar
On acoustic guitar I tend to stay in the key of D for some reason. On electric guitar I keep basic: C, G, D, and A. The key of D minor is also real good for me.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Real #Guitar #Keys
When a song gets its legs and begins to come to me, this is the euphoric hook that keeps me wanting to continue.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Song #Legs #Hook
Songwriting is the other weight on the opposite side of the scale from touring. They balance me out creatively.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Opposites #Balance #Weight
I've always stuck with Gibsons. I've had Guilds and Fenders, too, but I always wind up going back to Gibsons.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Wind #Stuck #Guilds
I don't write on tour. There is so much to do day in and day out when you are on the road
-- Tommy Shaw

#Writing
I like being on the road, living in hotels. While I've got a real nice house, I go crazy when I'm there.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Real #Nice #Crazy
I was born in Alabama and my first live music experiences were in church. Every Sunday we watched regional gospel groups on television singing their hearts out
-- Tommy Shaw

#Heart #Sunday #Singing
Around '75 when the recession hit, club owners started going to disco because it was cheaper for them to just buy a sound system than it was to hire a band.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Band #Clubs #Sound
When you sign with a label, they do insist upon certain rights, and if you have a competent attorney, your rights will be protected.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Rights #Insecurity #Labels
I have always been a sucker for the big, upbeat chorus.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Upbeat #Bigs #Chorus
When I became 16 I started thinking seriously about singing.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Thinking #Singing
You can have fun, but you also have to put on your thinking cap every day
-- Tommy Shaw

#Fun #Thinking #Having Fun
As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member
-- Tommy Shaw

#Artist #Play #Band
There were some older guitarists on my side of town, and I got to know many of them
-- Tommy Shaw

#Sides #Towns #Guitarist
It was more fun trying to figure out I Want To Hold Your Hand than to take lessons. By this time I knew basic chords
-- Tommy Shaw

#Fun #Hands #Trying
I wrote songs all my life, where anyone wanted to hear them or not
-- Tommy Shaw

#Song #Wanted
If I have an idea, I write it down, although I usually carry a little dictation machine with me because I'm too lazy to write
-- Tommy Shaw

#Writing #Ideas #Lazy
We're kind of defined by our mistakes
-- Tommy Shaw

#Mistake #Kind
By the time I did that third solo album, I'd finally learned how to do it, but I'd also learned that I liked being in a band
-- Tommy Shaw

#Band #Albums #Solo
If music became extinct now, I dont know what Id be good for.
-- Tommy Shaw

#Music Is #Be Good

You may also like:

Alice Cooper
Singer-songwriter
Bill Bruford
Drummer
Bob Seger
Singer-songwriter
Dennis DeYoung
Singer-songwriter
Don Felder
Musician
Eric Clapton
Musician
Jimi Hendrix
Musician
Joe Perry
Guitarist
Lou Gramm
Vocalist
Ozzy Osbourne
Vocalist
Piers Morgan
Journalist
Sammy Hagar
Vocalist
Sebastian Bach
Singer
Slash
Musician
Steve Lukather
Guitarist
Steve Perry
Singer-songwriter
Steven Tyler
Singer-songwriter
Ted Nugent
Musician
Tony Levin
Musician
Chuck Panozzo
Musician