Quotes About Guitar

Oftentimes, whenever I do interviews with guitar magazines and we discuss my influences, I mention people like Steve Morse, Alex Lifeson, Al Di Meola - but John Scofield's name never comes up. And that's funny because he's so amazing; he's the epitome of a really cool guitar player.

Whenever I hear my playing, I can't detach from my influences: there's my Jeff Beck, there's the Clapton bit, the Eric Johnson bit, the Birelli Lagrene bit, the Billy Gibbons.

Here I was, this good guy that played football; I was gonna go play in college but I had a bad senior year. But I played guitar in assemblies whenever I could.

I used to listen to the Beatles and Stones, whereas Angus was more into the heavier stuff - Cream, Hendrix - with the lead guitar.

'Spellbound' has a lot of guitar playing on it, obviously, but I wanted to keep it with a more straightforward beat. It doesn't have so many stops and things like that. Whereas if you listen to 'Majestic 12,' that's like a little symphony.

I did buy an electric guitar while shooting 'Split.'

My mom and dad divorced when I was 8 years old, but my Dad never left my life. We would go over there on weekends and he'd be playing his guitar, listening to Bobby Blue Bland and B. B. King and KBLX radio while he was out in the garage painting custom cars.

If I played something incorrectly, I whipped myself mercilessly. Whenever I made a mistake, I made sure that I would never allow myself to repeat it. Every guitarist wants to play well. But in reality, if good intentions were all it took, then everyone would be great.

My main electric guitar belonged to Clarence White, the great guitarist for the Byrds.

My mom bought me a white Strat, but that wasn't what I wanted, so I went to a guitar store in Cleveland and - the guy told me it was a really good deal - made an even swap for a blue Teisco Del Ray. I loved that guitar and used it a bunch.

The first song that made me interested in music was 'Oh, Pretty Woman' by Roy Orbison. It was the guitar intro, that riff, that I really liked and made me listen in a different way.

One of the first things electric I ever saw was a guitar. I was living in a house with no electricity until, at 7, we moved to a house that had it. It had electric lights, but the previous owners had even taken the light bulbs with them when they moved.

I was mostly influenced by bands like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest - Metallica's 'Kill 'Em All' was also a hell of an inspiration.

My major influences were primarily guitar players and bands; I started playing bass by accident.

I discovered early on that I was more of a strummer than a picker.

I just started exploring the guitar and seeing where it would take me.

I've always expressed myself on guitar, and so I look at it as another voice that is available to say what you need to say.

I do play the guitar, but I do it for fun. And I am terrible at writing music as well. I have tried and failed, horribly.

My nails are a disaster. If I play guitar when my nails are long, I just tear them off.

I'm an intuitive musician. I have no real technical skills. I can only play six chords on the guitar.

Once you've developed some technical facility on the guitar, the musical side (which entails theory, harmony, chord structure, ear training, sight-reading, composition and being able to hear chord progressions and licks) comes into play a lot more.

Is there someone who can play guitar better than me technically? One hundred percent. But does anyone look better playing a guitar in my generation? Absolutely not.

Guitar players in the nineties seem to be reacting against the technique oriented eighties.

I'm pretty basic as far as technique is concerned. I don't use many gadgets, and I like the sound my guitar makes, anyway.