The Guitar Legends Speak – 5 Famous Guitar Quotes
While I’m growing on my journey as a guitarist and a musician just like everyone else, I find it very beneficial, every so often, to sit back and listen to what some of the great guitarists of our time have to say. The wisdom that comes from their experience can be passed onto us, if we are willing to listen.
If you think over what they said, sometimes it can change the whole way you approach music and playing the guitar.
So without further ado, here are some famous guitar quotes from our heroes..
Joe Pass
“You can’t think and play. If you think about what you’re playing the playing becomes stilted. You have to just focus on the music I feel, concenctrate on the music, focus on what you’re playing and let the playing come out. Once you start thinking about doing this or doing that, it’s not good. What you are doing is like a language.
You have a whole collection of musical ideas and thoughts that you’ve accumulated through your musical history plus all the musical history of the whole world and it’s all in your subconscious and you draw upon it when you play”
Jeff Beck
“I don’t understand why some people will only accept a guitar if it has an instantly recognizable guitar sound. Finding ways to use the same guitar people have been using for 50 years to make sounds that no one has heard before is truly what gets me off.”
“I don’t care about the rules. In fact, if I don’t break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I’m not doing my job properly.”
Eric Clapton
“It’s been very important throughout my career that I’ve met all the guys I’ve copied, because at each stage they’ve said, ‘Don’t play like me, play like you.”
“My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice.”
Carlos Santana
“A good way to carve your individuality is to get a tape recorder and get into a room that’s kind of dark — where you don’t have interruptions — and then just play with a rhythm machine.
After a while, it’s like a deck of cards on the table, and you can begin to see the riffs that came from this guy, the riffs that came from that guy, and then the two or three riffs that are yours. Then you start concentrating on your riffs until you develop an individual sound.”
Bob Brozman
“Recording is God’s way of telling you that you suck.”
“There may be a lot of police in this world, but there sure is no music police”
Your Say
What’s some of your favourite quotes that guitarists have said in the past?
About The Author: Danny
I have been playing guitar for over 20 years now and love it more every day. I hope through this blog I can inspire and be inspired by other musicians. Music is a journey, and this blog is my way of sharing that.
View all articles from Danny (61)
09.03.11
“You’ll never see a guy sitting on a horse, playing a synthesizer.” – Les Paul
09.03.11
So many guys want someone elses tone! Great Steve Lukather quote.
09.03.11
”Listening is the key to everything good in music.” – Pat Metheny
09.03.11
“If you play music for no other reason than actually just because you love it, the skills just kinda creep up on you.” ~ Nuno Bettencourt.
09.03.11
my fav mayer quote
“I came from the last couple of years in a generation where we didn’t have a computer around so we didn’t waste as much time on the internet as we do now so I had large chuncks of time which to devote to doing something.” ~ John Mayer
09.03.11
“A lot of people think that if they learn to read music they are gonna lose their feel or their groove or something. It’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard.” ~ Frank Gambale
11.02.12
“Among God’s creatures two, the dog and the guitar, have taken all the sizes and all the shapes, in order not be separated from the man.” ~Andre Segovia
My dog, Elvis, died last fall. At least I still have my guitar.