Nita Strauss Quotes

When I was 13, I was just figuring out how to play 'Eruption,' poorly, by Eddie Van Halen.

Jimi Hendrix was the master of live stuff. He was my inspiration to do the yo-yo, everything he did on stage was awesome.

I just liked music, and I really liked rock guitar. I didn't think I was going to be a rock guitar player, because I was a girl. I would've been too shy to play with guys.

I think I always wished I could play guitar as well as Jimi Hendrix.

I probably spent more time as a kid playing air guitar to Jimmy Page than any other guitar player.

My dad loved Les Paul, and I wanted to be just like that.

I'd like to be able to get more girls to play guitar. I think with a girl playing electric guitar, sometimes it's seen a bit like a guy doing ballet. All the people I learned guitar from have been guys. There are some great female players, like Bonnie Raitt and Jennifer Batten, but very few.

In my world, before I knew about Eddie Van Halen, I was playing piano, and at that point in my teenage life, I thought he was just a guitar player.

Growing up, I didn't have a lot of role models - Bonnie Raitt, Lita Ford, Jennifer Batten.

I started out playing guitar because Jimi Hendrix was my hero, so my roots were really based on Jimi Hendrix and his style of playing.

I get to play a scorching lead guitar, and there's not much that's more fun than that.

I'm supportive of women, absolutely, and it's so gratifying to have girls come up and say, 'I'm really inspired by your guitar playing.' I mean no disrespect to the sisterhood, but musically I feel more drawn to things like Dirty Projectors, the National and Grizzly Bear.

Once I picked up an electric guitar, I lost interest in piano, and I just wanted to rock. I studied piano for so long, I got burned out on it.

Being 16 years old and getting an electric guitar is never going to get old. There's always going to be kids making music. There's always going to be kids in bands.

I decided early on that I wanted to be Michael Bloomfield, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton - not George Harrison.

When I got out of high school, I was in a blues band. It was the kind of music I was interested in, and listening to, mostly because it was becoming a vehicle for a generation of guitarists - like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Mike Bloomfield. And that's what I wanted to be, principally: a guitar player.

I would love to play Jimi Hendrix.

I pull a lot of the stuff that I play off the rhythm tracks - and Keith Richards has been one of the main contributors to my inspirational playing.

They sign a bunch of women, and they call it a movement. I don't like the way women in music have been identified as women first and musicians second.

I love Beyonce. She's so fierce. I also love Lily Allen, and she was an influence on my music.

T-Bone Walker was a big influence on just about every guitar player around.

My idols are Janis Joplin and Annie Lennox, who are neither of them from the typical pop culture.

I'm a guitar player first. So my first hero was Angus Young from AC/DC. I used to copy every move that he did, play every lick that he would. I knew I wanted to be some kind of a rocker, back in the day.

My dad has been playing guitar basically all his life. He's sort of who got me into rock music.

I got into rock music at thirteen, listening to Van Halen, learned how to play the electric guitar.