Ian Anderson Quotes

I know in my heart of hearts that Ritchie Blackmore is one of the great guitar players of all time. He's a fabulous technician, and he's got incredible skills, and he was a great showman.

Mention Hubert Sumlin, as well, because Hubert's a great man, and again, you know, I don't play the guitar very good, but when I'm playing this kind of music, I always have him in my mind. I wish I could play like Hubert.

I think guitar-wise, Eric Clapton was a big influence on me. I got to spend time around him. He's kind of strange, mysterious, serious and he always has played such hot guitar.

I have a Stratocaster, which is part of my long, doomed ambition to become Jimi Hendrix.

I wanted to be the greatest woman guitarist alive. I had fantasies about being a female Jimi Hendrix.

I'm not capable of wielding the guitar like Jimmy Page, one of my all-time favorite guitarists. My skill set is more based on the grinding, sort of human heartbeat - almost playing the guitar more like a drum.

Santana is the reason I play guitar - I studied his style so much, I actually wore out the video tapes.

I have seen Tommy Emanuel play; my wife and I went to see him and he just melted my face off. How do you play guitar like that? There are so many people that play at a ridiculous level and I sit there watching them and I'm like, 'Wow, wish I could do that.'

It's insane for me to say this, but I've never been in a room with anyone that's more talented on the electric guitar than Brendan O'Brien.

My chosen instrument is guitar and, fortunately, I'm able to muddle through that. I can play guitar to the point where I can express myself artistically.

Well I was on the one hand, the more I played the guitar the more I began to really love the guitar and to love virtually any kind of music that anybody played well on guitar.

Guitar playing isn't really for everybody.

The greatest guitar player in the world today for me is Paco de Lucia, who is actually Spanish.

I always just wanted to be the singer or the bass player in the band. I'd love to have a band, where I was obviously the singer, but where it wasn't me, it wasn't my name.

As a songwriter, you tend to develop your own style, your own technique, based around what it is you're trying to write and perform, in terms of your own music. So a way of evolving a guitar style as a songwriter is much easier, I think, than developing a true style of your own just from listening to music or playing other people's music.

The one thing I do have is good ears. I don't mean perfect pitch, but ears for picking things up. I developed my ear through piano theory, but I never had a guitar lesson in my life, except from Eric Clapton off of records.

I've always loved the guitar. You see Jimi Hendrix playing the guitar with his teeth, and OK, you know you're never going to be able to do that, but I always wanted to play an instrument of some sort.

I can never make up my mind if I'm happy being a flute player, or if I wish I were Eric Clapton.

I played guitar all my life, all the way through the Yardbirds, but I knew that for me, this was going to be a guitar vehicle, because that's what I wanted it to be. There is no way I would play guitar like a tour de force like I did in Led Zeppelin.

Most people can do what I do - they can do guitar solos - but they can't do a good, hard rhythm guitar and be dedicated to it.

As far as I'm concerned, it's no good being able to wail out smokin' leads if your rhythm chops hugg!

I'm not a guitar hero.

I wanted to be the best guitar player in the world. And then my dad got me a portable recorder, so I started writing my own music.

I've always wanted to be the best guitarist in the world, ever since I was eight years old.

In my opinion, Slash is probably one of the last of the iconic guitar players carrying the torch of what it's really all about.