Quotes About Dedication

As a young musician, you really want to play.

When I was 17 or 18 and it was time to figure out what to do with my life, I realized that I didn't enjoy anything as much as I enjoyed playing music. I felt that I had no choice: that I had to become a musician.

I'm a guitar player, really - I mean, first and foremost - I grew up with all that great 1960s music, in terms of growing up, becoming a musician, so it's like first-love stuff; I'm always going to go back to it.

I enjoy people who have passion, whether it is as a musician or whatever they do. All people who have success keep it very basic. Try your best. But without passion, you will not have success.

There's more to being a musician than just making music.

What motivates me is just to do a really, really good job at something. If I were a better musician, I probably would've ended up as one.

I am a muso, and I love doing it. I assumed that would be my career for a long time. I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn't think that anyone could actually be that full-time, so I always go back to conducting and arranging and playing. If you scratch me, I'm a musician.

As I grow older, I just want to be a better musician, to play more.

I don't think I ever thought of growing up to be anything other than a musician. There really wasn't a plan B. Well, a kind of a distant plan B was to be a Formula One driver, but there really wasn't an entry point.

I'm lazy. I don't practice enough. I do other stuff. I'm not a musician's musician, and I don't necessarily know if I want to be. When I hear something and want to work on it, then that's what my project will be.

If you're a musician, there's no instrument that can be withheld from you. If you're drawn to it, develop the talent for it.

You don't want to make records so you can win a Grammy. You make records because you want to be a musician.

I still want to make Kyra proud of the person I am - father, husband, actor, musician.

The greatness of a musician is measured by the degree of fanaticism he brings to his playing.

Thelonious Monk was one of the musicians I most connected with early on. I'm a huge Betty Carter fan, and the way that Abbey Lincoln and Shirley Horn grew immensely from the time they were young is so inspirational.

I have a feeling a lot of the records I grew up listening to and the records I still like, as hard as musicians worked making them, I feel like they were really enjoying what they were going through. They weren't just going through the process. You can tell that with certain things that you listen to.

Musicians are always gigging and never have a chance to stop for a minute.

A lot of musicians talk about how they were into music from the start; they always wanted to be musicians. It wasn't like that for me. I didn't think of it as a job or a career - it was just something that was constant.

I'm just lucky to have the type of friends and musicians and people dedicated to my music that I do.

I think the future looks great for music, musicians, bass players, and all we love about music.

I mean, look how many musicians have come through and played beside me, and I'm workin' and they're not.

By and large musicians are pretty lazy; they don't do a whole lot. They're usually very busy doing nothing.

I started playing when I was 5. I'm from a family of musicians.

I'm envious of writers and musicians. I think it must be so difficult. Not just the frustration, but the discipline.