Rick Nielsen Quotes

I found it easy to produce. I'm not the musical guy. I can't read and play music like that, but put some drums and a sample in front of me and I can whip it up nice, and I'll work out some keys and find some interesting instruments to put under it.

That it's a lot harder to make a keyboard sound not-cheesy than a guitar.

The louder I sang, the more it brought out the basic quality of the voice.

I'd just as soon be on a good Steinway or Yamaha just as well.

We knew we wanted to put a lot of melody into it - a lot more than what we did on our first album.

I never think about rhythm versus melody; I've always just played to what's in my head.

And the thing about me is, I have a lot of mellow songs, because they're the easiest for me to write. I wanted to try to make some more upbeat songs, so, I ended up gravitating toward writing songs with friends, which was a great learning process, and also we came up with great songs. Those are the songs that came out the most naturally.

I wanted to try to write songs on the piano to get a different flavor.

It's hard - some people get inspired by a feeling, but I'm mostly inspired by melodies.

I've always been a fan of just writing songs and making music.

The creative part for me is making songs, and that's what I really love the most, and that's what I've always done for every band I've ever had.

It's very demanding to make up your own music.

I write my songs and just play them, so there are not a whole lot of fireworks. As long as the music comes first, it's OK to have some fireworks. But not the other way around.

When I first decided I wanted to make beats and write songs and stuff like that, it wasn't like I sat down and the first thing I wrote was even halfway legit. It took a while to find my way through it.

You have got to make new music, that is the way that I look at it anyway.

The best way to do that is to pick up a new instrument or an instrument that you don't typically write on and see where it takes you. Whether it's using an acoustic guitar, or piano, or electronics as tools, all of these lead to creating different types of songs and I used all of these methods for this record.

I agree totally with Metheny regarding the sound influencing the way you play.

I believe that melody is such a lost part of music and country music. People are either scared of it or not using all the colors that are available.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

My vibrato was my weakness. With romantic pieces, I could be a lot more schmaltzy. My wider vibrato fit that.

I love the sound and temperament of an upright piano.

As a singer, you kind of are able to feel notes.

Success is good, but I have seen the other side. I don't think much about it. I just work towards making a good melody, with catchy yet meaningful lyrics, and as I'm a music producer and arranger myself, I know the sound I need.

Pianos - if they don't like what you're saying, then they won't talk back to you. And you want it to talk back to you.

I wrote 'Don't Stop' just like I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' - I didn't try to make either a hit. I just wanted to write a song I liked.