Joe Satriani Quotes

It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.

I've never known how to read music in my life.

I will never master this craft. Orchestras are very, very forthcoming with me.

And I had not much of a voice. I didn't play that great guitar either.

I can sit on a chair with a score and give myself a wonderful performance.

I'm an interpreter of music.

That's what it is that you rehearse - the making of music, not the playing of notes as abstractions.

To play music, you have to understand it. I didn't understand 'Topographic Oceans.' That's why I hardly played on it. It frustrated me no end - and playing the whole thing on tour, I got farther and farther away from it.

I don't think I could have ever had a career as a pianist because I never ever wanted to play the notes the way they were written, I was too sloppy to learn them quite right.

I'm a natural piano player. So all the practicing I do at this point is in my head. If I don't play for a year, my chops aren't going to get any worse. I've spent my time playing scales, and I don't necessarily want to play any faster than I play. So everything I do at this point is more philosophical.

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.

I played piano, I learned a lot about music.

I know a few chords on the guitar, but I wouldn't be able do a show or even be part of a jam session with one.

I never learned to verbalize an abstract musical concept. No thank you. The whole point of being a serious musician is to avoid verbalization whenever you can.

I think when you're learning an instrument, you are restricted because much of it is the noise of individual theory and your ability to play the instrument.

I was playing 'The Flight of the Bumblebee,' and I totally forgot the ending, so I performed the whole piece again, and I still couldn't remember it.

The thing with music education is that it is good at teaching technique, but not texture. You only learn about that from listening to music and experimenting on your own.

I don't think you can have a calculated approach towards learning music.

I didn't have to apply my mind to the aspects of scales and playing, and instead, I focused on creativity. I wrote music, but I didn't 'practice' it. So yeah, you can always get better and improve your technique, but hopefully, that comes through being a musician and composing and being a creative individual.

I don't feel like I'm very good at making music.

Studying music involves a lot of mathematics and a lot of exercises of memory. Or you've got to be able to be like somebody, to play like somebody, to play Mozart's music the way he played it and how he intended it. You've got to make it perfect, and that's not what I want to do. Although it is beautiful.

My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I'm a natural musician.

I'll never be the best guitar player.

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

I read and write classical piano and percussion, also guitar.