TobyMac Quotes

Songs seem to always spring from improvisation.

I play with feeling so I need to hear what is coming out of the amplifier to inspire me; I don't just play mechanically. I need to hear what I am doing in order to create the next note. If I don't hear it then I can't feed myself.

The great songs just come out. If it comes quick, just leave it that way.

Ultimately, at the end of it, it's just trying to get into that space where you feel like you're hitting the right thing and you're making music. And it feels intuitive rather than being counterintuitive.

When you sit down to write something, there should be no guidelines. The main idea is not supposed to be, 'How many different ways can we sell it?' That's so far away from the true spirit of what music is.

R. Kelly is different - music is always going through his brain. I remember we'd be having a conversation, and he'd choose a word I said and write a whole song to it.

I just let the emotion dictate what the arrangement is.

Music should come from the heart. It should happen. That should be automatic, and if you labour on creating music, it will not have soul.

It's gotta feel natural. I'm always into that, and after awhile, if I am working on a song too long and trying to make something out of it that it's not... it's best just to stop and move on.

It is easy to write unthinking music.

Whatever I hear in my head is what I play.

As an artist, the most important thing and the most special thing is when your intention shines through on the work.

We just did a few takes of a song and just picked the best one. It was real organic and genuine.

I can't say that I'm always writing in my head but I do spend a lot of time in my head writing or coming up with ideas. And what I do usually is write the music and melody and then, you know, maybe the basic idea. But when I feel that I don't have a song or just say, God, please give me another song. And I just am quiet and it happens.

If I get in the studio, it's very organic. I like to go off how I feel.

You can tune your guitar funky, and something's gonna come out. There's no secret to it - either you got it, or you don't.

I don't choose the songs; the songs choose me.

It all comes together. It's - that's the way it's always worked for me with songwriting.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

I wouldn't sit down and work at writing a song like a novelist or something.

I am so highly skilled that when I pick up a phrase and then pick up my guitar, a form comes out almost immediately - a song - and once I start, I have to finish it.

I couldn't find a way to write music with numbers and rules and schedules. So I tried to forget the academic idea of music and started to see if it was possible to do creative work, taking in all the influences I wanted to keep.

Usually, I'll just be walking from my house to somewhere else, and melodies and words will start coming up, and I'll have to run home to write it all down.

The feeling that you want the listener to get, you should get yourself when you first hit that chord, and that melody comes to mind.

The way I did the first album... the way I wrote 'Church'... was just to trust my instincts with the music and let it kind of do what it does.