Charlie Parker Quotes

The best way for me to teach myself an instrument is to just jam on it, and sound awful sometimes, and sound great other times.

I always communicate musically. I want my band not only to learn the form and feel of the song by ear, like I do, but also have the freedom to contribute.

I didn't have to apply my mind to the aspects of scales and playing, and instead, I focused on creativity. I wrote music, but I didn't 'practice' it. So yeah, you can always get better and improve your technique, but hopefully, that comes through being a musician and composing and being a creative individual.

I can sit on a chair with a score and give myself a wonderful performance.

I'm an intuitive musician. I have no real technical skills. I can only play six chords on the guitar.

I don't think I could have ever had a career as a pianist because I never ever wanted to play the notes the way they were written, I was too sloppy to learn them quite right.

The only downside to playing the violin is that you never know when you're going to be asked to play. I could be out to dinner or having a drink at a bar, and someone could just give me a violin, and I've got to be ready to play.

I never learned to verbalize an abstract musical concept. No thank you. The whole point of being a serious musician is to avoid verbalization whenever you can.

No, improvising is wonderful. But, the thing is that you cannot improvise unless you know exactly what you're doing.

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

I can't even read music. All I know is whether I think it sounds good and if I like what I'm doing.

I was put through piano lessons when I was a kid. I say 'put through' because it was fun and I loved it, and it's been beneficial now, but it was difficult because, although I can read music, I much prefer just playing and improvising and at least finding my own way to play an instrument.

When it comes to songs and music, yeah, people love to sing and dance and play music and tunes, and that stream of consciousness that exists in music, nobody knows where that comes from.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. How do you get away from it? Improvise.

I play music - I write my own music, but I play music, just background music really, and just let it happen.

There's no performance where I never have to think about setting up a phrase or making a technical adjustment while I'm performing.

My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I'm a natural musician.

In the past, I have not been able to hear myself. 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.

Until you learn to play what you want to hear, you're barking up the wrong tree.

I've never, ever in my life enjoyed playing live the way I am now.

When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.

To have everything written for you... It's not really creating. That's why I think symphony drummers are so limited. They 're limited to exactly what was played a hundred years before them by a thousand other drummers.

I can't read music. That's not where I come from musically. I come strictly from feeling, and that feeling comes from rock & roll.

There's something interesting about playing live; you're in the moment, and I think it would be beneficial.

I've figured out what to do with my hands... onstage. I'm a percussion player, so I grab a tambourine as much as I can.