Alex Lifeson Quotes

I don't really do scales... I mean, I play parts of them, but then I bail and start playing parts of other things. The term 'scale' feels very scripted to me because I'm an improv player.

The ultimate guitar players can play every scale in the book.

I feel like I'm just learning how to play the guitar. I mean, really learning to play the guitar.

The first time I learned how to play, my guitar was out of tune. I didn't know it; I just started writing songs.

I am a self-taught guitarist. I just try to piece together passages that have some melodic value!

I don't think that you can write music if you don't know how to play an instrument. You have to know the basics, then you can go forward.

I've started to look at guitar playing from more than just a standpoint of using certain modes and techniques.

I took one guitar lesson, and they wanted me to play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' or 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore,' and that was the last guitar lesson that I ever took, so I taught myself what I wanted to know.

I always wrote for musicians, especially guitarists. I write songs that people who aren't great virtuosos can play.

I would never say I 'play' guitar. But yeah, I play to write. Same with piano.

In improvising, you've got your scale; you've got the notes that are going to sound good with other notes, the intervals that are going to sound good. But you've also got all the chromatic possibilities, the possibilities of sounding dissident, of being unexpected.

Picking up a guitar - I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

The spirit of jazz is the spirit of openness.

You never learn everything on that guitar neck.

I taught myself how to play guitar - pretty badly, but I knew enough about music to start to figure it out.

I'm learning on the guitar all the time.

I'll always do the guitar parts since it's my main instrument.

I can play just about any keyboard but I can't read or write a note.

Even if you're improvising, the fact that beforehand you know certain things will work helps you make those improvisations successful. It really helps to have a certain amount of knowledge about musical structure.

You have to know composition to be a good improviser.

I play bass. I play a bit of guitar. I've never been to a lesson, so my theory of music is non-existent in any instrument, but we always had guitars around.

What I try to impart to a musician is to really try to practice the instrument in a really sincere way. Learn as much about music as you possibly can. Learn composition. Study to try to create compositions of your own and put your own personal touch on your music.

I never set out to write a certain kind of song, I just play my guitar and see if I catch something.

I love playing the piano. I have one in my apartment, and I learnt by ear. I sing a lot of Coldplay, but do my own stuff too.

There are no rules to writing a song.