Blues Improvisation Quotes

You've heard me call myself a bluesman and a blues singer. I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man. Well, that's because there's been so many can do it better'n I can, play the blues better'n me. I think a lot of them have told me things, taught me things.

I wanted to know everything about the blues. I think it constantly changes for me.

My definition of Blues is that it's a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you can have either of those things but it's the two together that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things alone don't do it.

If you can play the blues, you can do anything.

My blues are so simple, but so few people can play it right

Eric Clapton was such a great player. He sounds like he's Freddie King or someone like that. He plays the roots of blues and Delta blues. He really affected me with the way that he plays, because he never really plays that many notes.

The blues has been the foundation of all other American music since the beginning.

All music is the blues. All of it.

Most blues don't have a beginning, middle, or end. You just cut a couple slices of blues.

I went through a whole blues period in the Nineties, and that had some influence on 'Load' and 'ReLoad.'

I was so used to doing old blues licks with the first three fingers. When I started using my pinky and finding more spread things, that's when I started getting my own style.

If you're going to get into music, you've got to learn the 12-bar blues.

The only time it dominates is during a solo, or when we play a low blues and I put figures in behind Eric's vocals. There's never any real problem fitting guitar and organ together.