Someone told Chet Atkins, "Man, that guitar sure sounds good!"
Chet set the guitar down on a chair and asked him, "Ok, how does it sound now?"
Chet AtkinsCreativity is making mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
Scott AdamsAn amateur practices something until he gets it right.
A professional practices until he can't get it wrong!
unknownIf you don't make a mistake, you're not trying hard enough.
Charlie ParkerUse what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van DykeOnce you get to a certain level of craftmanship, then inspiration becomes your key.
Eric KleinIf you learn music, you'll learn most all there is to know.
Edgar CayceI am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
Pablo PicassoInstitutions treat us as parts of a machine. They assign us ranks and place considerable pressure on us to fulfill our defined roles. We need something to help us restore our lost or distorted humanity.
Each of us has suppressed feelings that have built up, a voiceless cry in the depths of our souls, waiting for expression. Art, both in practice and appreciation, gives those feelings voice and form.
Daisaku IkedaThe moment we believe that success is determined by an ingrained level of ability as opposed to resilience and hard work, we will be brittle in the face of adversity.
Josh WaitzkinNothing in music is hard, just unfamiliar.
Kenny WernerTo be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated.
Robert CarseAll a musician can do is to get closer to the sources of nature, and so feel that he is in communion with the natural laws.
John ColtraneI'll play it first and tell you what it is later.
Miles DavisPeople who make no noise are dangerous.
Jean delaFontaineNo artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
Martha GrahamDo not fear mistakes. There are none.
Miles DavisNo one is able to make music actually, but some have learned how to make it happen.
Lorenz WeilerEducation is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.
B. F. SkinnerThere are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
Sir Thomas BeechamOnly play what you hear. If you don't hear anything, don't play anything.
Chick CoreaThe practice of scales solves the greatest number of technical problems in the shortest amount of time.
Andres SegoviaPractice makes perfect. But on-the-fly makes art.
Danielle EgnewIt doesn't matter if you're the greatest guitar player in the world. If you're not enlightened, forget it.
George HarrisonYou have to persist, and out of the sheer frustration of what you've been doing or haven't been doing, you just come out the other side.
Of course, when you come to the other side, you find that there's an even bigger hill to climb than the last one.
Allan HoldsworthThey just said, "Roll the tape." No rehearsal or nothing.
Muddy Waters didn't come in and say, "I wanna rehearse." He used to look at me and say, "Let's just play the blues. That's all you need to do."
Buddy GuyHow you play a note is just as important as what note that is.
Henry KaiserI try to be prepared for the moment, through understanding and being warmed up, knowing all about chords and scales, so I don't even have to think and I can get right to what it is I want to say.
Pat MethenyMy chops were not as fast, but I just learned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops.
I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes.
Les PaulIf you're going to sweep the floor, sweep it better than anybody in town.
And if you're going to play the guitar, really, really, really get in it, and don't be jivin'.
Carlos SantanaThe general attitude is, "I want it, and I want it now!"
But it really takes years if you're going to do it right, and a lot of kids just don't want to take the time to work on it and see where it's all going, and what it means, and where it comes from, and how they should apply it and use it in playing their songs.
It doesn't make any difference how technically good you are or fast you are or how many notes you know. You just can't do it in two years.
Johnny WinterApproach your guitar intelligently, and if there are limits, don't deny them.
Work within your restrictions. Somethings you can do better than others, some things you can't do as well.
So accentuate the positive.
Chet AtkinsIt takes a lot of discipline to be very proficient on your instrument.
You really have to exercise your willpower - reach down really deep within and pull out stuff you never knew you had, strength you ever bothered to find before.
Steve VaiI don't think you can ever do your best.
Doing your best is a process of TRYING to do your best.
Townes Van ZandtI've done a drum clinic in L.A. Nice kids but they all asked the same question. "How did you work out that fill?"
I told them, "I don't know." I don't know! I feel it, it's that particular day, who knows?
Just play. Let your personality come out.
Manu KatcheThe music has generated all the techniques I use.
When I sit down to learn to play something it is not because I want to master a technique. It is because I want to hear what an idea sounds like.
Pat Martino"Yeeeeah," he says, fingering the valves, "when she gets broken in, a few weeks down the road, this is going to be a nice horn."
"Sounds like she blows real easy, Diz."
He fixes me with a stagey stare. "Sheeeeeet. Ain't none of them blow easy."
Dizzy Gillespie(On Practice:) It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe I should say play, because if you love it, that's what it amounts to.
I haven't found any shortcuts, and I've been looking for a long time.
Chet AtkinsBeing completely free to choose what to do is actually quite difficult: it can lead you to very depressive crises.
If your time is structured you don't have this problem of "what am I going to do today?"
Brian EnoLuck is being ready.
Brian Eno"Hollywoodization": This is the process where things are evened out, rationalized, nicely lit from all sides, carefully balanced, studiously tested against all known formulae, referred to several committees, and finally made triumphantly unnoticeable.
Brian EnoThere's nothing worse than a brilliant beginning.
Pablo PicassoThe fruit takes a long time to ripen, but it falls suddenly.
proverb