I'm trying everything I can not to be jaded 'cause I don't like jaded musicians.
When you're a kid and you're trying to find your own voice, it's rather daunting to hear somebody like Howlin' Wolf, because you know that you'll never achieve that.
I played guitar when I was young and never really considered it as a way to make a living.
I think that selling rights is a bad move commercially, not just morally. It cheapens the songs. When people come to my concerts, they often hold up candles when we do "Let It Be." I don't think they'd do that anymore if the song suddenly became part of an Oldsmobile ad.
I'd rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.
It's interesting because all I want to do is make music. I want to sit in my room, play the guitar, make beats, sing... And I have never made less music than when being a musician became my job.
I'm not trying to stay away from being a celebrity, I'm not saying, 'I'm sooo not famous,' I'm trying to continue being a musician in a time when everyone is very celebrity-led.
I've got a few guitars that I like. The trouble with fame and riches is that you have more than one guitar.
Every year that goes by, I lose that much more motivation to play rock.
It feels weird to play songs that I don't really... feel any more.
Dude, if you want to be a great musician, you have to try heroin. You'll see. It's like being back in the womb.
The violin is my mistress, but the guitar is my master.
I feel very privileged to have played China, and the pyramids, all these fantastic places, but it created a kind of smoke curtain between the audience and me as a musician.
Every time I turn on the radio, I must be on the wrong song or something. But, to be honest, since I went on the road back in 1970, I didn't listen to radio music because I didn't want to subconsciously steal somebody's stuff.
I play enough guitar to get by. I don't like to play guitar live.
Around the world, I am known as a great musician. But in America, I am known as the cuchi-cuchi girl. That's okay because cuchi-cuchi has taken me all the way to the bank.
I love staying at home and not seeing a guitar for ten days... but then I love that feeling of picking it up again.
If you want me to play only the notes without any specific dynamics, I will never make one mistake.
One may imagine that a man who blew the trumpet for his living would be glad to play the violin for his amusement.
From a very early age, I decided that I wanted to be able to do my music but still be able to live a normal life.
It's really hard to smile when you play. As a performer, if I ever find myself focusing, it's like, 'Oh no - orchestra face!' It's not attractive at all, so I have to focus on smiling.
Touring is a young man's game, but after 30 years of it, I want to stay home.
I've sort of had an investigatory relationship with being a musician. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I felt I had had my run - I had done Jane's and I wasn't particularly interested in music anymore.
If I could sing, I wouldn't be a guitarist.
My own style on the guitar grew out of my experience with the lute. I suppose some people might say I play each like the other. And of course I know a lot of guitar fans who wish I would stop playing the lute and vice versa.
