Adrian Belew Quotes

What I want to happen is to be really creative, and to play something new in the improvisations, every time.

I'm definitely a risk-taker with my music.

To keep creating something with this type of music, you have to take it out of the box.

I don't even think whether I play the blues or not, I just play whatever feels right at the moment. I also will use any gadget or device that I find that helps me achieve the sort of sound on the guitar that I want to get.

I've been really trying to hone the art of songwriting in a way that doesn't follow any sort of guideline.

I like to experiment when it comes to music.

The isolation of Eastern Europe actually helped me to be so original. I couldn't travel so much, I had to find my own things, such as making the strings sound like electronic music.

I've never been one to just play safe music and think that's all there is to it.

The beautiful thing about working with new instruments is that you sort of approach it with a fresh perspective.

It can be really weird to say, 'Hey man, let's make a record and start with this horrible zither sound.' But I was obsessed with the idea of taking a sound and completely phenomenologically thrashing it."

A lot of people from my generation of music are so focused on playing things correctly or to perfection that they're stuck in that safe place.

I wanted to make sounds that I'd never heard before.

I can't re-define music every week!

What I always try to do is to respond to the song; I've always rebelled against theory.

I had to teach myself to let go of the conventional rock way of playing guitar and singing. Some things you wouldn't expect to work, did and some things won't ever work.

I'm starting to play all the melodies with kind of keyboard sound but playing it from the bass guitar.

If you're a guitarist, you should not be intimidated by using your instrument as a synthesizer, but you shouldn't feel that you have to own one, either.

There is no such thing as a wrong note.

I never considered Miles Davis a perfectionist; I always considered him as an excellence-ist, where deviation is actually kind of cool.

I associate creativity with independent music.

I never thought that I would be creating my own 'cross-over' genre. What I did was very real and organic. I have worked in so many different styles so it all just came together.

I started doing up-and-down strumming, basically to keep time and to play fast. As time went on, I started realizing other guitar players couldn't do it. I always went against the grain.

Hip hop is doing the new rock thing; there are no rules. They can do anything, really. And that's inspiring.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

I think differently, I think it's about reaching everybody on every different plane and every different level, and if I could remix the song and do a dance remix, that's great. If I could do a classical version, that'll be great too. It's all just about expression.