Miles Davis Quotes

I like to have space between the notes. I like to use silence.

For me, music is in the choice of what not to play as much as in what you've chosen to play.

The bass and drums are the engine, and the key to good bass playing is it's not what you play, it's what you DON'T play that counts. You leave the spaces, they're more important than anything.

If you don't know what to play, play nothing.

The older I get, the more I just like plugging directly into my amp. I'm tired of trying to impress myself with weird sounds. It's about the notes more.

Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk. Don't talk anything you can whisper. Don't whisper anything you can smile. Don't smile anything you can nod. Don't nod anything you can wink.

Too many notes

'English Vinglish' is simple; that's why people like it. The film has simplicity and sensitivity. There is no melodrama. Some things have been conveyed just through expressions and no lines.

Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one.

The sign of a mature musician is knowing what not to play.

The essence of Bonham is what he didn't play rather than what he did play - what he left out.

Explain nothing. Put it there. Say it. Leave.

It is far more difficult to be simple than to be complicated; far more difficult to sacrifice skill and easy execution in the proper place, than to expand both indiscriminately.

If directors, actors and writers have the ability to drop their alpha-male egos, you will always get better work. In terms of my own demands, I actually want fewer lines. If I can lose a line and do it with my face, I'd rather do that.

It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play.

I always try not to overload my music with orchestration and to use only those instruments that are absolutely necessary.

I'm an enemy of exposition. I feel there's no need to overstate.

The most important thing for poets to do is to write as little as possible.

For me, the best rock is not what you play - it's what you're not playing.

Never say more than is necessary.

Music needs room to breathe.

Silence can be very effective, and it gives the music space to breathe.

Usually, when I see films that don't have any score attached to them, I think they're beautiful. I love just the naked sound of the voice. That's already music.

As a songwriter, simplicity - what not to do, what not to play - can be the hardest thing to achieve.

I'm big on simplicity. I'm not too much on all the extra instruments.