At some point around ’94 or ’95, ‘Rolling Stone’ said that guitar rock was dead and that the Chemical Brothers were the future. I think that was the last issue of ‘Rolling Stone’ I ever bought.
I could have probably gone on and still played the part of the guitar player of Limp Bizkit, but musically I was kind of bored. If I was to continue, it would have been about the money and not about the true music, and I don’t want to lie to myself, or to them or to fans of Limp Bizkit.
Nobody could understand why a guy would love his guitar, then all of a sudden turn around and try to destroy it. Jimi was just different.
I went to see John Mayall at the Marquee, with Peter Green on guitar, and that was a particularly good gig.
The best music happens when you have a personal connection to it. That same philosophy can extend to the instrument you hold in your hands: if a guitar means something special, you’re bound to do great things with it.
Well, you know it was so different from when you rehearsed. You’re out there with your guitar and trying to get a sound, but it doesn’t sound anything like what you expect!
I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.
I’m a struggling guitar player.
Can you imagine a guy breaking into your car, and he steals your guitar case ’cause he thinks it’s a guitar, and he gets it home and opens it up and there’s a rake inside it, an electric toilet plunger and a dog skull? That actually happened.
It was in San Diego and I was onstage and couldn’t remember how to play the guitar properly. I was in terrible pain and my nervous system was just going wild, like somebody had just run a car over me.
Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.
I play the piano a lot at home. I write songs on the piano and guitar. I would like to actually play piano on stage. I don’t think I’ll get the chance for a while.
It’s that kind of in-born music thing – I could pick up the guitar and play something. It’s not something I consciously do.
If we are going to list guitar influences, the biggest one by far is Wes Montgomery. Also, Gary Burton was obviously huge for me in a number of ways. But beyond that, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard.
Rock n’ roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the ‘roll’ and called it ‘rock,’ which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It’s just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it’s sort of become like professional wrestling.
Radiohead and Our Lady Peace are doing the seven layers of guitar, and I kind of jumped on that before anyone else did.
I taught myself how to play the guitar, I taught myself how to play the drums, and I kind of fake doing both of them. But drumming comes more natural to me, and it just feels better.
I’ve just been recording mostly acoustic stuff, drums, and sax, and electric guitar. I’m just still writing songs and what not.
I don’t really love the guitar hero trip, anyway, so it’s not something I’m actively searching for or after. I don’t like what it’s about.
I can play guitar – but I can’t really. I wouldn’t say I’m talented at it. I just kind of watch videos on YouTube, and I follow the instructions… OK, yeah, my hidden talent: I’m good at following instructions!
It’s much easier to work on other people’s music and play in other people’s bands as a guitar player instead of being the main songwriter and singer. That’s a really big job to do that.
To stay a great singer or guitar player, you’ve got to do it 24/7. That’s what I do.
It’s just something I’ve always done. In South Texas, the first guitar you get is a Mexican guitar. And the first one I got, the first thing I did was take it apart.
There’s more to playing the guitar than being able to split your legs.
I always have a guitar or ukulele in the trailer, and I write songs. That keeps me in an artistic mind-set.
There’s just not a lot of guys around playing like that these days; a lot of steel players are plugging into stomp boxes, trying to sound like Jeff Beck on a steel guitar.
I have a sloppy style of playing guitar. A percussive style. Unique in fact.
I think maybe people see bands and musicians as some sort of superhero unrealistic sport that happens in another dimension where it’s not real people and not real emotions. So, I grew up listening to Beatles records on my floor. That’s how I learned how to play guitar. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be a musician.
I got a guitar when I was about 14, for a Christmas present, and went from there.
Give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string; I wouldn’t get bored anywhere.
I enjoy playing the band as the band. I ‘be’ the whole band and I’m playing the drums, I’m playing the guitar, I’m playing the saxophone. To me, the most wonderful thing about playing music is that.
It may be a coincidence, but from the minute I took anti-depressants, I didn’t pick up a guitar or a pen for seven years.
We actually added an extra electric guitar to beef up ‘Need You Now’, but we haven’t changed any of this ‘Own The Night’ record at all for the international releases.
I have to work really hard to get the record deal – I have to spend years at it to get good. I have to practice to be good at guitar.
My ideal travel companions are my surfboard, wetsuit, and guitar.
Robert Duvall saw me playing at a restaurant in Louisiana and invited me to be an extra in his movie ‘The Apostle.’ He gave me a guitar for my sixth birthday, and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.
That was the reasoning behind learning to play bass, and then after that it was more like it was neat to play songs together – for me to play bass and for him to play guitar.
I started out in the folk music world only because of the way my songs were written and performed, with just an acoustic guitar, but I always related to the rock n’ roll lifestyle.
I started playing guitar when I was 12 and probably from that age knew that I wanted to make music and make my own music. Playing with other bands like the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens was more like an apprenticeship for me than anything.
I always thought Kurt Cobain was the perfect embodiment of the great alternative guitar player.
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.
I had this big thing about guitar harmonies. I wanted to be the first to put proper three-part harmonies onto a record. That was an achievement.
There comes a point with any collaboration like that where you start having other interests creatively. I was moving in one direction musically, and as a guitar player, Mark wanted to move in another direction. That was essentially the reason we broke up.
Someone told me the smile on my face gets bigger when I play the guitar.
I’ve looked at photographs of myself during concerts and it sometimes looks as if I’m in a fencing move, with a guitar in my hands instead of a sword.
I’ve played piano and guitar when I was younger.
I’m like a bad musical cliche because I bring my guitar on the road and try to write songs in hotel rooms.
Since I first picked up the violin, I’ve been very interested in tone and texture: I would have very visceral reactions to the texture of a snare drum or a pedal steel guitar or a violin.
Mike is a genius guitar player and keyboard player. I realized that, with this group, I just joined Mike Keneally’s band!
I started playing guitar before I can really remember, and I started writing really early, too.
Generally my songs are just some riffs slung together as an excuse for a guitar solo.
I loved playing the guitar and I knew I was pretty good at it, so that’s what I wanted to do with my life.
I got my first guitar at age of 7 and never laid it down. Momma taught me G, C, and D. I was off to the races son!
I was a big fan of Jim Hall as well. I liked his comping style, his accompanying. And that he played, generally, four note chords, the top four strings of the guitar.
I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn’t seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it.
I don’t like playing to guitar players, actually. I’d rather just play to ordinary people.
When I was, like, 12, I remember grabbing a mic, pretending it was a guitar, and performing in front of my friends. I didn’t know at the time I wanted to be an artist.
My mom always told me I should have a Plan B. I said that if I’m not going to play guitar I’m going to play drums. And if I’m not going to play drums, I’m going to play bass. I always just wanted to play music. I was completely obsessed.
I don’t mind sitting at home playing the guitar for a year as long as I’m making good films.
My father kind of had hopes that I was going to become an artist like him – the typical thing. Of course I could play guitar better than him when I was about 12. But I couldn’t paint better than him. So I went, ‘I’m going to be the guitarist of the house, not the painter.’
