“Kurt [Cobain], from the moment he could hold a paintbrush in his hand, was painting. And from the moment he could hold a guitar, he was playing” MomentsHandsPaintingGuitarCobainPaintbrush Author:Brett Morgen
“Mike Bloomfield sat down and started playing, and I went, whoa! Because I had never heard any white person play like that before. And he was about my age, and he just, that finished off my guitar career, just like that, in one afternoon.” PersonsPlayAgeWhiteCareersHeardDown AndGuitarFinishedSatAfternoonMike Author:Al Kooper
“I grew up playing the guitar. I started when I was nine, and by the time I was nine and a half or ten, I was doing seven or eight hours' practice every day. I did two hours' practice at six o'clock in the morning before I went to school, and another two hours as soon as I got home from school in the afternoon. Then I did four hours at night before I went to bed. I did that until I was fourteen or fifteen.” TwoHomeSchoolNightHoursHalfPracticeMorningFourGrewBedTenSixGrew UpSevenGuitarEightNineClockAfternoonDedicationFifteenFourteen Author:Joe Pass
“My father would say, 'Play a scale,' and I'd play one and he'd say, 'What about the rest? There must be one above,' so we'd figure them out. I'd start the scale on the root of the chord and I'd go as far as my hand would reach without going out of position, say, five frets, and then I'd go all the way back. So when ! practised I'd start right away on scales. As well as the usual ones, I'd play whole tone scales, diminished, dominant sevenths, and chromatic scales. Every chord form, all the way up, and this took an hour.” WayWellsPlayWholeHandsFormFatherHoursFiveFiguresPositionRootsGuitarScalesToneUsualGoing OutDominantChords Author:Joe Pass
“I love to photograph the tools of one's trade: Duncan Grant's paintbrushes, the typewriter of Herman Hesse, or even my own guitar, a 1957 Fender Duo-Sonic.” My OwnToolsTradeGuitarPhotographGrantsTypewritersDuncanPaintbrushDuos Author:Patti Smith
“I don't know what it would be like to actually play guitar. I've toured with a lot of comedians and it's never been like it is for a rock band.” KnowsPlayWould BeRocksBandGuitarComedianRock Bands Author:Eugene Mirman
“The Marshall guitar amplifier doesn't just get louder when you turn it up. It distorts the sound to produce a whole range of new harmonics, effectively turning a plucked string instrument into a bowed one. A responsible designer might try to overcome this limitation - probably the engineers at Marshall tried, too. But that sound became the sound of, among others, Jimi Hendrix. That sound is called electric guitar.” TryingWholeMightTurnsSoundProduceOvercomingResponsibleInstrumentsGuitarLimitationRangeDesignerStringsEngineersElectricHendrixElectric GuitarAmplifiers Author:Brian Eno
“The hole on the face of an acoustic guitar is called the sound hole. The one of the face of its player is called the sincerity hole.” FacesSoundPlayerGuitarHolesSincerityAcousticsAcoustic Guitar Author:Dana Gould
“Say what you will about Gypsy women, but they are remarkable assessors of blues guitar talent.” TalentGuitarRemarkableGypsy Author:Gary Gulman
“It is very important to me that my songs can sound amazing with a big band or orchestra, but just as powerful and touching with just me and my guitar.” ImportantBigsSongSoundPowerfulBandGuitarTouchingOrchestra Author:Tessanne Chin
“I wish I had met [Francesca] Woodman forty years ago. It would have been great to live with her for a year. She didn't save anything. She played the camera like a new guitar. She murdered herself out taking pictures.” YearsHas BeensWishMetsYears AgoCamerasGuitarFortyTaking Pictures Author:Richard Prince
“Looks like my baby dont live here no more...thats alright, ive still got my guitar..I might as well go back over yonder, way back across the hills, if my baby dont love me no more....i know her...sister will” IfsKnowsWayWellsLooksStillsMightBabyGuitarHillsAlrightMy Baby Author:Jimi Hendrix
“I started on drums when I was 13 and played them for two years. Then I went to guitar for a year, played keyboards for a year and a half, and went back to guitar.” YearsTwoHalfGuitarTwo YearsKeyboards Author:Tommy Bolin
“When I see 16 year-olds waiting for me, I just want to spank them and give them guitars and tell them to start bands. It's a bummer that girls have to respond to rock artists sexually instead of, like, 'wow, me too!'.” WantGivingYearsArtistGirlWaitingRocksBandGuitarWowSexuallyThat GirlBummer Author:Courtney Love
“I think if you're a lady playing a guitar, other ladies need to see you playing the guitar, and they don't need to see men come out and fix your equipment for you. It just looks incredibly pussy. So I just do it all myself.” IfsThinkingMenNeedsLooksGuitarEquipmentJust Do ItPussy Author:Neko Case
“I like referring to the saxophone and having a guitar lick instead. Same with the cymbals; having the cymbals and not playing cymbals.” GuitarReferringSaxophoneCymbals Author:Mike Gordon
“By the time I was 12 or 13, I felt that I was special, because I could play the guitar and write songs.” WritingPlaySongFeltSpecialGuitar Author:Paul Simon
“When Johnny Cash died, ... I picked up my guitar and got the idea that Bob Dylan was the last man standing, the last of the real gods. It was for Dylan, Cash, Lennon, Elvis that's what I was thinking.” ThinkingMenIdeasRealLastsStandingDiedGuitarCashBobDylanLennonLast Man Standing Author:Jon Bon Jovi
“I fingerpick a lot because I can get more of a range of feeling from the guitar than I can when I bash away with a pick.” I CanFeelingsPicksGuitarRangeBecause I CanBash Author:Suzanne Vega
“I did a song, "Court and Spark," for a Joni Mitchell tribute album that's yet to see the light of day. So she's someone I'd like to do something with, sure. I worked with the great guitar player Bill Frisell on Phantom Moon - that was fun. I'm such a fan; he's amazing.” LightSongFunPlayerFansMoonBillsCourtGuitarAlbumsSparksTributePhantomsGuitar Player Author:Duncan Sheik
“Well, Smoke n' Mirrors has very much a world music flavor and it doesn't park itself in one country. It borrows heavily from the Brazilian angle, which is dear to my heart, and I recorded several albums with that flavor. Probably even more so than the Brazilian flavor, there's an African, South African and West African influence and on a couple of other tracks there's some Latin flavor and there's some Indian tables on one track, all centered around my jazz guitar and acoustic guitars, and very much a Lee Ritenour sound.” WorldWellsHeartCountrySoundInfluenceCoupleMy HeartMirrorsTablesJazzWestSouthGuitarDearTrackAlbumsSmokeIndianParksLatinSouth AfricaAngleFlavorAcousticsWorld MusicAcoustic Guitar Author:Lee Ritenour
“The first time I tried to sing along with my guitar, everybody in the studio booed. They all said it wouldn't work.” FirstsSaidFirst TimeGuitarStudios Author:George Benson
“I quickly learned to take anger and use it to motivate me. My sister ran away from home, and she was my world. And that was that. The guitar became my world.” WorldUseHomeGuitarRanMy SisterAway From Home Author:Meredith Brooks
“Psychology Today is probably one of my favorite magazines, Guitar, Guitar World. People.” PeopleWorldTodayPsychologyGuitarMy FavoriteMagazines Author:Meredith Brooks
“Whatever it is that you love to do, be it collect comic books or play the guitar, that you can make a living at it, do it.” BookPlayGuitarComicComic Book Author:Meredith Brooks
“When I was a kid in Eugene, Oregon, there was this fantastic guitar player who went out on the tables, chairs, out in the audience and played. So I started taking my guitar in the audience. I tripped, fell backwards and ripped my pants.” KidsAudiencePlayerTablesGuitarFantasticChairsPantsBackwardsRippedGuitar PlayerOregon Author:Meredith Brooks
“I think there are some good players coming up. I think we are at a point where people can swallow a guitar solo in a pop rock record again.” PeopleThinkingRecordsPlayerRocksGuitarPopsSoloGuitar Solos Author:Gary Cherone
“I was making guitars and I was a sheet metal worker and if you ever see sheet metal workers' hands, you've never seen so many cuts in your life.” IfsHandsCuttingWorkersGuitarMetalsSheets Author:Roger Daltrey
“If you mean do I use the guitar when I'm sitting at home writing stuff, then basically no, never. All I would ever write would be stuff that my fingers easily fall into.” IfsWritingMeanUseHomeWould BeFallStuffSittingFingersGuitar Author:Fred Frith
“I started getting interested in the notes that I could hear being generated when I hammered on while playing a classical guitar.” NotesGuitarHammeredClassical Guitar Author:Fred Frith
“Anybody who's a guitar player that's spent that time with another guitar player, there's nothing better than that.” PlayerGuitarGuitar Player Author:John Frusciante
“Well, I have been playing electric guitar all these years and acoustic was something new to me.” YearsWellsHas BeensGuitarSomething NewElectricAcousticsElectric Guitar Author:Gary Moore
“Lots of kids when they get their first instrument hammer away at it but they don't realise there are so many levels of dynamics with a guitar. You can play one note on a guitar and it really gets to people if it is the right note in the right place played by the right person.” PeopleIfsFirstsPersonsPlayKidsLevelsInstrumentsNotesGuitarRealisingHammersRight PlaceRight PersonDynamics Author:Gary Moore
“I bad a piano long before I bad a guitar, and the practice I got just playing those three chords in a basic 12-bar blues song was very important.” LongImportantSongThreePracticeGuitarBarsPianoChords Author:Mark Knopfler
“It was 2002, we all got guitars for Christmas and started playing in my garage that summer, rehearsed there and in a warehouse for a bit for about a year. We did our first gig in June 2003 and we played a few gigs in and around Sheffield for a bit then started doing gigs outside of Sheffield about this time last year, recording demos while all this was going on.” YearsFirstsLastsBitsSummerGuitarLast YearJuneGigsGarageDemosWarehouseSheffield Author:Alex Turner
“I just naturally started to play music. My whole family played-my daddy played, my mother played. My daddy played bass, my cousin played banjo, guitar and mandolin. We played at root beer stands, like the .Drive-ins they have now, making $2.50 a night, and we had a cigar box for the kitty that we passed around, sometimes making fifty or sixty dollars a night. Of course we didn't get none of it, we kids.” SometimesPlayWholeKidsMotherNightCoursesRootsDollarsGuitarBoxesBeerFiftySixtyDaddyCousinBassCigarWhole FamilyMy CousinKittiesBanjosRoot Beer Author:T-Bone Walker
“My first love in music was jazz, but I like it all," "I reacted emotionally to Art Blakey and, of course, to Joe Pass and Wes Montgomery. I was all of 16 when I had my first guitar lesson with Joe. But I never focused on being a bebop player. I loved the harmony, rhythm and phrasing, but I wanted to apply them to my own concept and sound.” FirstsArtWantedCoursesSoundMy OwnPlayerLessonsConceptsHarmonyJazzGuitarFocusedRhythmFirst LoveMontgomeryBebop Author:Larry Carlton
“I suppose I am proud of what has gone on, after all I only ever wanted to play the guitar for a living, and that is what I am still doing.” StillsPlayWantedGoneProudGuitar Author:Bernie Marsden
“I started harmonica at the age of four, and when I was 12 I started the guitar. Then I played at school.” AgeSchoolFourGuitarHarmonicas Author:Peter Ham
“I was really crying the morning after the indication. However I am over that now. Nevertheless, I am proud for it to be in the Rock and Roll hall of fame. But I've got two copies of the guitar now, to remind of the original Teardrop.” TwoMorningRocksCryProudFameOriginalsGuitarCopiesHallsNeverthelessRock And RollIndicationHall Of FameMorning AfterTeardropRock And Roll Hall Of Fame Author:Dave Wakeling
“I think I come under the singer/songwriter badge. I've always written songs right from the very beginning. Because of my style of playing people tend of me more of a guitar player than a singer sometimes.” PeopleThinkingSometimesSongPlayerWrittenStyleGuitarSingersSongwritersSinger SongwritersGuitar PlayerBadges Author:Bert Jansch
“I'd always had an interest in guitar from about seven years old. But I first actually had lessons when I was about fifteen in Scotland, in Edinburgh. There was a folk club there and a girl called Jill Doyle taught me the guitar, who happened to be Davey Graham's sister. Davey Graham is one of my heroes and always has been. Fantastic guitar player. And he's had a strong influence on me all the way through.” WayYearsFirstsHas BeensGirlStrongInterestPlayerHappenedInfluenceTaughtHeroLessonsSevenGuitarFolksClubsFantasticFifteenScotlandSeven YearsMy HeroGuitar PlayerEdinburgh Author:Bert Jansch
“It's like I'll sit down and put my hands on the piano or the guitar, and then I'll hear a sound or I'll feel a chord that will resonate and then I'll get something happening in my voice. My voice is like a car that I get into and drive but I don't know where I'm going. And I record everything. And often, I sort of get into a state, a creative state that is, where I'm just feeling around melodically, and playing things off the top of my head. Then I go back and listen to it and for the first time, hear what I just did. It's like Elvis has left the building while the thing is happening.” KnowsFeelsFirstsStatesFeelingsHandsLeftSoundVoiceCreativeRecordsCarBuildingHappeningsFirst TimeDown AndGuitarThings HappenPianoChords Author:Beth Nielsen Chapman
“I tend to prefer the band thing. I think playing solo is good for about 45 minutes. I remember when I was on my solo tour that I got a chance to play with Martin Stephenson of the Daintees. He's now refashioned himself as almost a delta blues guitar player and he's got all the technique, all the persona and the charisma on stage. I think I do too, but I'm more of a first position strummer guy with a little bit of filigree work. I could listen to him for hours; I could listen to myself playing solo for about half an hour!” ThinkingFirstsLittlesPlayRememberGuyBitsHoursChanceHalfPlayerMinutesStagePositionBandLittle BitGuitarTechniqueSoloRemember WhenPersonaCharismaGuitar PlayerDeltaDelta Blues Author:Bill Mallonee
“I used a fifties Les Paul custom on most of the stuff. I also used a Strat, a newer Strat. I had a million guitars in there but I used the Strat & the Les Paul in just about everything. There were a lot of different amp choices, I was working with a pro tools plug-in which is like an amplifier stimulator. The possibilities with something like that are just endless.” DifferentUsedChoicesStuffMillionsPossibilityToolsGuitarEndlessCustomsPlugsAmplifiers Author:Tracii Guns
“I still do one song by myself onstage. it gives people the extremely personal thing where it's just me on guitar. But, I think the songs are better as a band. I think with all of the extra little hooks and backing vocals, it just adds to what my initial idea was.” PeopleThinkingGivingLittlesStillsIdeasSongBandAddGuitarExtrasHookInitialsVocalPersonal Things Author:Butterfly Boucher
“I usually start with a guitar riff or some little pattern of chords, and then I kind of go from there. Usually my lyrics are the last thing to go onto a song. For years and years I only ever did instrumental, so I'm still trying to get confidant with my lyrics and find the right balance. I'll generally get inspired from the music. I'll have a guitar line, and then I'll have a melody line, and I hook the lyrics up to fit that rhythm. So, my lyrics to tend be very rhythmic as well. They work with the music rather than the music works around them.” TryingYearsWellsKindLittlesStillsLastsSongLinesBalanceFitInspiredGuitarPatternsRhythmMelodyHookChordsConfidant Author:Butterfly Boucher
“I like The Smiths as well. They took a cue from The Buzzcocks. They have jangly guitars instead of distorted guitars. All the Manchester bands have a character about them. The Stone Roses and The Smiths and all that. Even if you don't like them, they have a certain original sound.” IfsWellsCharacterCertainSoundBandStonesOriginalsRoseGuitarManchester Author:Steve Diggle