Brian McKnight Quotes

More of me comes out when I improvise.

I never work out my leads. Everything I do is usually totally spontaneous. If someone says, 'That was good; play that again,' I'm not able to do it.

Well, I would say that music just happens with me, I'm not in the driver's seat when I am at the piano, the piano is.

It was spontaneously composed as I was playing it. And then I added a couple of other overdub textures on top of it after the fact. But it's one of those things where I wouldn't be able to sit down and specifically write that. That's just what came out.

It struck me that it would be fun to just play stuff with Hauschka. Not even have a project in mind, but just get together and make up some music and see what came out.

I'd listen to a song and say, 'Hang on, I like that piano thing,' so I'd play the guitar like that and get the vibe from it, and it just evolved from the get-go. It was pretty obvious what to do; You don't think about rock n' roll: you just do it.

All of my solos were improvised initially - I would go in and get my bearings and see what I came up with.

I think that music, or at least the kind of music that I make, benefits greatly from improvisation.

If there's a song where there's a possibility of guitar stuff that would be fun to listen to, go for it. Don't worry about what anybody thinks.

You can't force music; It just has to come to you.

I don't put boundaries on myself when I sit at the piano.

I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.

As far as I'm concerned, dance is a passion for me. I don't do homework and go to the sets. I believe in being impromptu. I just go on the sets and start doing whatever comes to my mind.

I loved the freedom of improvised music.

Improvisation is the ability to create something very spiritual, something of one's own.

When I get into the studio, it's not about trying to get a good song, it's about whatever comes naturally.

Don't play the saxophone. Let it play you.

Comedy is the ultimate truth. Jazz is hitting the notes that that no one else would hit, and comedy is saying words that no one else would say.

I write songs, and I sing them. I never formulated a plan; I can't tell anyone else how to do this. But it feels right, so I just kind of enjoy it and get on with it.

To me, songs come of their own volition - and with an open-ended philosophy.

It's really easy to project this whole ideology of what being an artiste is, and I'm just not down with intellectualizing it. I just think, if you feel like doing something, then do it.

I'm by no means a pianist. I think that's safe to say, but the piano, for me, I would say it's the enabler. It gave me what I needed and gives me what I need in order to write a song. And I think playing or improvising on the piano is where I feel most liberated and sort of less conscious of all my insecurities or inadequacies.

When I start playing I'm just a rollercoaster of sound. I don't know what's coming next, I never do, and I sit and sign and talk to the people afterwards.

I honestly can't characterize my style in words. It seems that whatever comes to me naturally, I play.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.