Johann Johannsson Quotes

I just start playing music and eventually I sing something, a line of a verse or a B section or a line of a chorus, and the line that I end up singing is related to the music I'm playing, if that makes any sense. And I go from there.

From the time I could play the piano, I remember trying to write tunes. They were in my head, and I would just sit down and start noodling. Next thing I knew, I had written a melody.

When I was a kid, I wrote music - from the age of 11 until the age of 18.

I just scribbled away and eventually a C-major chord was there. I didn't ever decide I was going to be a composer. It was like being tall. It's what I was. It's what I did.

I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.

I like making songs up. Whether or not they're great songs or good songs, whatever. It's something I've always done, and I definitely feel like I've gotten better at it.

If I try to write a song, I will completely fail to write a song. But if I'm just holding my guitar and I just start humming, then I'll have a song in an hour.

I usually have an idea of how I want a song to sound, but I don't always know how to get there.

The music I wrote as a kid already was always instrumental. It was never based on lyrics.

To be honest, I don't have a particular recipe, but I normally start with the chord progression and then I build it from there. I listen to a lot of jazz, so the chords are really important to me.

I like to compose, but only for myself. I write my own lyrics and compose the music around them.

I like to tinkle at my piano when I'm working out a new song - I just put my fingers down and see what comes out.

Writing music is very, very clinical. You just sit down at a piano, map out a theme and when all the technicalities come together, out pours the music.

I've been writing and composing songs since I was 5 years old.

I started playing guitar before I can really remember, and I started writing really early, too.

I can take any series of numbers and turn it into music, from Bach to bebop, Herbie Hancock to hip-hop.

I can write music but I'm not much for words.

I've always written songs since I was a kid - always.

Music is a lot more like solving an intricate puzzle with moments of pure, random creative bliss... whereas painting is much more purely random creative bliss with moments of problem solving.

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

The advice I am giving always to all my students is above all to study the music profoundly... music is like the ocean, and the instruments are little or bigger islands, very beautiful for the flowers and trees.

Experimenting with different sounds is great, but when it comes down to it, you're still playing a guitar.

With music, it feels natural that, in my head, I can pull things apart and then put them back together very quickly.

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

I've always made music - pretty much since I was born.