Jam Master Jay Quotes

I promise you, if you look at YouTube and see some of my first covers, you will hear that I don't sound good. But I was so obsessed with it and wanted so much to be good at it that I forced myself to figure out what sounds right and what sounds wrong.

When you start playing as young as me, and you've been in front of audiences your entire life, this is literally what I grew up doing.

I started playing guitar when I was, like, 5, and I picked up playing drums when I was 6 years old.

I'm not good enough, technically, to be a classic musician. I lack discipline.

I played for anybody and everybody from the time I started playing guitar, when I was 10 or 11.

My first gig was in Philadelphia and I played the drums for my older brothers. That same night, I also played drums for Martha and the Vandellas. Ah, the fond memories of being 14.

On any given night - there are nights that you feel better. There are nights that you are vocally better. There are nights that you are not as vocally good. No question about it.

I've never really been a confident person, except from a musical standpoint. I had to push myself early on, but it got easier with each gig.

I was for a minor amount of time but I was probably a better pianist at 15 than I am now.

I really practiced hard and got to a certain level of technical proficiency. I overcame some of my limitations. I was a hard-working, dedicated bassoonist, but I have to say I'm not a natural musician.

I basically had the idea when I was 18 that I wanted to write my own songs. I knew it was going to be a long, tough road, and I was like, if I just begin now, by the time I'm 40, I'll be good at it.

I started performing music about the age of 16. I lived in Brooklyn, New York, and this thing called the Flatbush Fair comes once a year. That was my first time on stage.

I met the Santana band when I was 14. By the time I was 15, I was a member of the band.

Drumming was the only thing I was ever good at.

I've really improved, I think, as far as just being able to get up onstage with my guitar and sing.

I'd love to give my music to someone who really likes to wow the crowd. I feel like half the time I just want to hide in the dressing room!

Every time I sing, it it's a reminder to myself that I have to be confident.

My first performance was in second grade with my friend Rodney Fisher, and we worked up versions of 'Long Tall Texan' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand.' It gave me a little early confidence that I could actually do this music thing.

It took me a long time to be alright with smiling onstage.

When I started out, all I did was play my trombone.

Especially with music, people want confidence.

Every time I would open my mouth to sing, everybody was paying attention to me. It became a habit.

I didn't even start playing the piano until I was about 13 or 14. I guess I must have had a little talent or whatever-you-call-it, but I practised regularly, and that's what counts.

You have to do stand-up quite a long time before you learn how to do it well. It was probably years before I was confident enough in stand-up that I was able to talk about the things I wanted to talk about, the way I wanted to talk about them.

I'm blessed with a pretty good voice. So just sitting back there banging on the tubs wasn't enough.