Tycho Quotes

I've never been much for theory and scales.

I never got formal training in music. I would just sit with my ear to the speaker and my hand on the needle. I'd listen to Wanda Jackson and think, 'How did she do that?,' and lift the needle and try it myself.

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.

Yeah, I can read music and I know the names of chords.

Reading music has opened up me up so much. I've been experimenting for so long and trying to make sense of things just from my ears. It takes forever. Now I can get where I want much quicker.

I don't read music. I refuse to learn how to do that. I barely know half the chords I'm playing. I like being naive when it comes to that.

I didn't take lessons, and I don't know my scales.

I've played the guitar since I was 12, and just taught myself songs chord by chord.

I'm a self-taught musician aside from what I've been able to pick up from other players.

I bought one of those Learn How to Play Guitar Chords By Yourself and it shows you the diagram where to put your hands and I took that in my room, sat with my singles and learned how to play guitar.

I'm a professional musician.

You know, many people do not know that I am so immersed when it comes to music. I have such a huge knowledge of music. I like my songs, I like my melodies, my harmonies, you know.

I'm not a trained musician.

When I first started writing songs, I was almost quite embarrassed that I couldn't read music and I still to this day don't really know what chords I'm playing, I don't know the name of them.

I had to learn chord shapes. I bought books with chord charts. I used to listen to all kinds of pop music.

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

I do remember actually learning chords to Beatles songs. I thought they were great songwriters.

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

If you look at an old piece of sheet music, there's all kinds of text on it, there are ads, there are proclamations of the greatest songs' success, there's artwork. So there is a tactile, physical experience of learning the song and the way it's notated.

I had no idea what those cords were in the bridge of 'Prisoner In Disguise' when I wrote them. I had to go over to Don Gorman, the piano player, and ask what in the world I was playing.

I have never learned to read or write music so I am not a virtuoso musician like the others you mentioned. I am completely unable to play like them because I never learned classical music, I just developed my own crazy style!

I grew up playing the saxophone. I joined the jazz band in high school, but somewhere along the way I realized the guys who strummed acoustic guitars at parties were the ones who got the attention. So I asked a friend to show me a few chords, and when I moved to L.A. I spent a lot of time practicing my guitar.

I play, like, 12 instruments. Guitar, piano, harmonica, African drums... I'm working on mastering the accordion.

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 consider myself a musician.