Guitar famous quotes
Last updated: Sep 5, 2024
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I grew up in the '60s, which was a creative time, so it wasn't that big of a stretch to go from a baseball bat to a guitar to a film camera.
-- Abel Ferrara -
I went to my friend's house one day, and he had an electric guitar he had just bought with a tiny little amp. I turned the volume up to 10 and I hit one chord, and I said, I'm in love.
-- Ace Frehley -
I can't even read notes. But I can teach someone how to make a guitar smoke.
-- Ace Frehley -
A lot of times, I played bass on songs. Gene plays guitar on some songs.
-- Ace Frehley -
I don't like to practice; I like spontaneity. When I don't play guitar for a week and I pick it up again, I play better.
-- Ace Frehley -
I'll get up there and I'll do my guitar solos in one of those space outfits.
-- Ace Frehley -
I loved playing the guitar and I knew I was pretty good at it, so that's what I wanted to do with my life.
-- Ace Frehley -
It may be a coincidence, but from the minute I took anti-depressants, I didn't pick up a guitar or a pen for seven years.
-- Adam Ant -
I'm a bass player from way back and Paul is a guitar player and we've been in many bands.
-- Adam Jones -
The disenfranchised offspring, along with an entire ageless class of human discards, know only that they are doomed. They are drawn to spikes and pentagrams, gasoline, guitars screaming like whips, MIDI-programmed Thanatos, with sufficient amplitude to occupy that hollow space where consciousness once resided. These Dionysians obliterate themselves by removing filters, ultimately becoming insensate with sensation. This mode of behaviour originates in the superstitious belief that transcendence is acquired in the precise ratio by which reason is destroyed.
-- Adam Parfrey -
I was left with an urge to make the guitar sound like things it shouldn't be able to sound like.
-- Adrian Belew -
I borrowed a guitar at age 16 and taught myself to play because I wanted to write songs.
-- Adrian Belew -
I have no secrets; all of these things have been discussed at length in guitar magazines over the years but are far too elaborate to cover in one article.
-- Adrian Belew -
Currently I'm working with Parker Fly on a new Midi guitar to arrive next year.
-- Adrian Belew -
For my 20th birthday in March, I'll buy myself a present for doing my best. A one way ticket to Tokyo. All I need is my guitar and a pack of cigarettes.
-- Ai Yazawa -
I played guitar. I've always considered myself an actor, but I wasn't making a living as an actor. So I was in a couple of folk groups that managed to keep me in underwear and burritos.
-- Alan Arkin -
George had taken off all ten of his fingers and tied them into a bundle with what appeared to be either his own small intestines, or a guitar string; as I walked into the room, he lovingly placed the bundle on his head.
-- Alan Goldsher -
What made me want to play guitar was that painting of Wings in concert in the gatefold of Wings Over America. It looked so exciting... I wanted to be part of it.
-- Alan Licht -
The only time it dominates is during a solo, or when we play a low blues and I put figures in behind Eric's vocals. There's never any real problem fitting guitar and organ together.
-- Alan Price -
I use a lot more chords than most organists and I'm careful to phrase them with the guitar.
-- Alan Price -
I first met Jimmy Page in London in 1961, and he was listening to James Burton, Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup with Gene Vincent, as was I ... these were the rock and roll guys who really sparked our interest in the guitar, and later we delved into other things and went different directions ... during my time with Eric Clapton, we talked about what we'd listened to early on, and he was a huge fan of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis
-- Albert Lee -
I'm not that fluid when it comes to scales and modes. I just pick up the guitar and play. It's all about exploration: just tune the guitar any way you want and start playing.
-- Alex Lifeson -
I play guitar a bit. I'm trying to learn drums - I feel like I can play violin. I've never tried, but I just feel like I can.
-- Alexa Chung -
My ideal travel companions are my surfboard, wetsuit, and guitar.
-- Alexander Ludwig -
My favorite travel pastime is writing music, either with my guitar or on my computer.
-- Alexander Ludwig -
I actually write my own music whenever I have a chance. I play guitar and sing.
-- Alexander Ludwig -
I wanted to be able to play guitar. I wanted to be able to make music hurt.
-- Alexis Korner -
I just couldn't take school seriously: I had this guitar neck with four frets which I kept hidden under the desk. It had strings on it so I would practice my chord shapes under the desk and that's about all I did at school.
-- Alvin Lee -
I was in 'Jacques Brel' Off-Broadway for many years, so I've always been a singing actress, but the songwriting was a complete surprise. I had never written a song in my life. We were on the road with 'Jacques Brel' doing the national tour, and I picked up a guitar one day and I wrote a song.
-- Amanda McBroom -
I have written some songs, but I would really call what I've done poetry at the end of the day, because I'll sit with my guitar for hours and hours on end for, like, a week and then I won't touch it for a month. I also just have no confidence. And you know what? I don't have time, because I'd rather be doing other things, like knitting.
-- Amanda Seyfried -
I've had three wives and three guitars. I still play the guitars.
-- Andres Segovia -
The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.
-- Andres Segovia -
Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart.
-- Andres Segovia -
The guitar is the easiest instrument to play and the hardest to play well.
-- Andres Segovia -
When I began, the guitar was en-closed in a vicious circle. There were no composers writing for the guitar, be-cause there were no virtuoso guitarists.
-- Andres Segovia -
Electric guitars are an abomination, whoever heard of an electric violin? An electric cello? Or for that matter an electric singer?
-- Andres Segovia -
(I was) my own teacher and pupil, and thanks to the efforts of both, they were not discontented with each other.
-- Andres Segovia -
When I started to play with my fingernails, it was not just for volume. The most important thing was giving the guitar different colors in its voices...
-- Andres Segovia -
Guitars are kind of just, you know, sexy, especially old vintage ones.
-- Andrew Bird -
My parents signed me up for classical guitar lessons, which made for two years of the most depressing Wednesday evenings.
-- Andrew Garfield -
Before, I was terrified on stage. I only play guitar during the acoustic songs. After a while, you can elicit certain responses from the crowd, like Elvis.
-- Andy Gibb -
I still play that guitar. It's a Martin D-18 with a clear pick guard. I've played that guitar on and off my TV shows for nearly 50 years.
-- Andy Griffith -
I suppose my father was more influential in my starting to play the guitar.
-- Andy Partridge -
It was in San Diego and I was onstage and couldn't remember how to play the guitar properly. I was in terrible pain and my nervous system was just going wild, like somebody had just run a car over me.
-- Andy Partridge -
If you're a guitarist, you should not be intimidated by using your instrument as a synthesizer, but you shouldn't feel that you have to own one, either.
-- Andy Summers -
There was a period when I'd just come out of college where I'd been playing classical guitar and I suddenly realised that it wasn't what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
-- Andy Summers -
More recently, I used guitar synthesizer extensively on the two albums I did with Robert Fripp.
-- Andy Summers -
What I wanted to do was play the guitar but I don't like instrumental rock. I think it is tripe.
-- Andy Summers -
I've got four or five records in my head at a time that I try to work on and I would like to do a guitar trio record next - since The Police I've mostly made records with keyboards.
-- Andy Summers -
For me, the guitar synthesizer is a great writing instrument.
-- Andy Summers -
It's been very hard for the guitar as a serious synthesizer to compete with keyboards.
-- Andy Summers -
The most obvious thing you can't do with a guitar synthesizer is to really sound like a guitar.
-- Andy Summers -
Every guitarist I would cross paths with would tell me that I should have a flashy guitar, whatever the latest fashion model was, and I used to say, 'Why? Mine works, doesn't it? It's a piece of wood and six strings, and it works.'
-- Angus Young -
I remember one of the first gigs I played with that amp was at a local church. They wanted someone to fill in with the guitar and my friend say, 'Ah, he can play.' And so I dragged the amplifier down and started playing and everybody started yelling 'turn it down!'
-- Angus Young -
Actually, because I'm so small, when I strike an open A chord I get physically thrown to the left, and when I play an open G chord I go right. That's how hard I play, and that's how a lot of my stage act has come about. I just go where the guitar takes me.
-- Angus Young -
I honestly believe that you have to be able to play the guitar hard if you want to be able to get the whole spectrum of tones out of it. Since I normally play so hard, when I start picking a bit softer my tone changes completely, and that's really useful sometimes for creating a more laid-back feel.
-- Angus Young -
I wouldn't want to compare myself to David Byrne whom I consider a genius, but what I think what we have in common is that he's also a guy who is very interested in the world and who has a lot of passions beyond singing and playing guitar.
-- Anthony Bourdain -
The music that really moves me is music that's written by people where there isn't a lot of money and they're really singing with just their voice and a guitar about their feelings and about their life. Their poetry is relatively simple, in the sense that it's about their soul in jeopardy.
-- Anton Yelchin -
It's about the time I was riding my Motorcycle, going down a mountain road at 150 miles an hour, playing my guitar.
-- Arlo Guthrie -
I use music as therapy. Whenever I'm feeling angry or needing some 'me' time, which is quite regularly, I'll go and bang a piano or flesh out something on a guitar.
-- Arthur Darvill -
My dad bought me a guitar when I was very young, and I never looked back.
-- Arthur Darvill -
The Lounge Lizards were relating with a tradition and it was like I was playing within a musical context. The guitar playing stood out as being different in some way. That was a real education for me.
-- Arto Lindsay -
I sit down with a guitar player and if there's a situation I feel strongly about, or a guy that I've been thinking about or if I'm mad at a guy, it comes out.
-- Avril Lavigne -
I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions.
-- B. B. King -
Playing the guitar is like telling the truth - you never have to worry about repeating the same [lie] if you told the truth. You don't have to pretend, or cover up. If someone asks you again, you don't have to think about it or worry about it because there it is. It's you.
-- B. B. King -
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.
-- B. B. King -
I always liked the steel guitar. I also love the guys that play the bottleneck. But I could never do it; I never made it do what I want. So every time I would pick up the guitar, I'd shake my hand and trill it a bit. For some strange reason my ears would say to me that sounds similar to what those guys were doing. I can't pick up the guitar now without doing it. So that's how I got into making my sound. It was nothing pretty. Just trying to please myself. I heard that sound.
-- B. B. King -
I was glad to see other blues guitarists like Albert King have crossover successes like me. We played in the same places like the Whisky and the Filmore. When Albert made his guitar cry, he could cut you so deep!
-- B. B. King -
My ex-wife was trying to be nice once, so she took me to a concert in Los Angeles. I went with her to Symphony Hall, and the orchestra was playing. When the show started, the spotlight was sharp on this one man (Andres Segovia) and he had sombrero on and his guitar propped up like this and, oh man ... he was a master ! - I really heard it. That one guitar sounded like a whole orchestra to me.
-- B. B. King -
I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.
-- B. B. King -
I tried to connect my singing voice to my guitar an' my guitar to my singing voice. Like the two was talking to one another.
-- B. B. King -
A guitar is like an old friend that is there with me.
-- B. B. King -
... Charlie Christians' contributions to the electric guitar are as big as Thomas Edisons' contributions to the world...
-- Barney Kessel -
A guitar riff played on a piano doesn't come close to the purity of it being played on a guitar but I faked it enough to get by.
-- Barry Mann -
It was really fun. Well, Bobby was just basically a folk singer. He didn't play with any bands or anything, like all the rest of us. Just played his guitar and sang his songs.
-- Barry McGuire -
Yes, I took up the guitar when I was about 14 or 15, in high school.
-- Beau Bridges -
Yeah. I'm amateurish. I can play enough to write a song, or strum on a little guitar to write out a song. But, I don't play well at all. I wouldn't even attempt for a second to play in public.
-- Ben E. King -
That happens every time I get behind a guitar, regardless of what I'm saying, 'cause music is freedom and being free is the closest I've ever felt to being spiritual.
-- Ben Harper -
EverTune is, without a doubt, the most important advance in guitar playing since the electric tuner. Using the EverTune, both onstage and in the studio, has completely changed the game. It's almost impossible to explain how amazing this innovation is. Pure magic!
-- Ben Weinman -
I discovered after going to music festivals that I am a rock fan. I love the guitars, the phrasing, and the abandon of rock fans.
-- Beyonce Knowles -
Yes, we three were so happy, my wife, my guitar and me!
-- Big Bill Broonzy -
I spend a lot of time copying saxophone players and trumpet players. Not to say that it is not important to listen to guitar players, but there's so much music out there and so many possibilities. I like anyone who plays any instrument.
-- Bill Frisell -
I have about 50 guitars around the house. I can't take more than a few steps without finding one to pick up.
-- Bill Mumy -
Anyone who can do the splits and come back up on the backbeat, as James Brown and Prince can, has my eternal respect. Prince, who is a genius of the highest order, can come back up while singing and playing the guitar.
-- Bill Nighy -
I did pick up a guitar once, but the strings hurt my fingers so I put it down again.
-- Bill Nighy -
In fact, Russell Crowe once phoned me up to see if I wanted to go to a party but I had to bring my guitar and perform Oh Jean.
-- Billy Boyd -
We had a wonderful time with this kind of grunge awareness, where suddenly rock was cool again. People wanted to head loud guitars. It was a great time, and I'm glad we were there. But the gimmick part has worn off.
-- Billy Corgan -
Every once in awhile I'll call up Eddie (Van Halen) and ask, Found that fourth chord yet?
-- Billy Gibbons -
I play guitar... I like to say that I'm pretty good, but it takes someone else to tell you that you're really good.
-- Billy Unger -
I love Aerosmith. I love Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, anything from that era, Led Zeppelin. So my guitar style is very much like Slash or Jimmy Page. I love playing that kind of music. It's where my heart's at.
-- Billy Unger -
...I use Dr.Ducks Ax Wax on my entire collection of vintage guitars ... it's the best polish I've ever used...
-- Bob Daisley -
Some of the old folk singers used to phrase things in an interesting way, and then, I got my style from seeing a lot of outdoor-type poets, who would recite their poetry. When you don't have a guitar, you recite things differently, and there used to be quite a few poets in the jazz clubs, who would recite with a different type of attitude.
-- Bob Dylan -
Sold my guitar to the baker's son for a few crumbs and a place to hide.
-- Bob Dylan -
Bicycles are almost as good as guitars for meeting girls.
-- Bob Weir -
Duane Allman inspired the group to explore the extended jam format that was already a staple of the Allman Brothers act. Moreover, his ferocious slide playing motivated Clapton to turn in some of the finest guitar performances of his career
-- Bob Whitlock
