Bobby Keys Quotes

You really have to play with the space in a riff so it can be allowed to breathe.

Music deals with time and timing. It's so magical, but when you get into it, every little sound and every little space between the sounds, it's critical, so critical. And if it's not there, it not only feels wrong, but it ruins things.

Rhythm is sound in motion. It is related to the pulse, the heartbeat, the way we breathe. It rises and falls. It takes us into ourselves; it takes us out of ourselves.

Well, rhythm is 90 percent of the interpretation.

Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.

If you listen to the way I speak, I have a lot of rhythm, use a lot of accents. When I'm playing my instrument, that concept comes through very clearly.

Rhythm is God. I think, without rhythm, you can't create - there is no art.

Playing drums, for me, is like breathing. It's like thinking. It's like eating. It's like walking.

One of the ways to use your depth is to play with speed.

Perhaps of all the most basic elements of music, rhythm most directly affects our central nervous system.

Of course the most difficult thing on the violin is always intonation. The second one is rhythm. If you play in tune, in time with a good sound that's already high level. Those three are the main things.

How can you not love a man banging on the drums? He knows how to keep a rhythm.

You need a pulse in a film. If I see a film that doesn't have rhythm, it's like listening to music that doesn't have rhythm; it doesn't really work.

To me, there's way more to being a good drummer than precision and technique.

Obviously, I like the drums to be heard. I think they're important.

The core of all the music I love is a good bass line and a good rhythm.

My techniques are basics, but my willingness to be in the pocket and see things is very high level.

I'm attached to the beat. The beat speaks words. I love music.

My playing is always just a little on top of the beat. I can't lay down the kind of groove that Brad Wilk can. I'd really have to lay back to do that; it just doesn't feel natural to me.

I've listened to musicians who say that using a metronone makes you robotic, that it decreases your 'feel.' That's ridiculous. Either you have feel or you don't. Feel is one of those intangibles that can't be taught. But if you do have feel, using a metronome will allow you to play cleaner - and that'll make your 'feel' have more, well, 'feeling.'

Everybody's been blessed with something, and my gift is my timing. Let's face it, it's all about keeping time and having a groove.

I was a little worried that the familiarity would be a little weird, but I think for me everything is musical in my life. For me, timing is a rhythm.

When I watch drummers, I always want to see energy. It's not about the proficiency of the musicianship; I'm just into the vibe and excitement of it. With drums, it's such a primeval thing.

Music and silence combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.

Sound is more than just noise. Ordered sound is music. My life is music.