Les Paul

I have younger friends who don’t work and they aren’t doing so well. My secret is to keep going, keep working.

I was walking down the street, and I saw a sewer digger on his lunch hour open his lunch pail, dig out a harmonica, knock out the cracker crumbs, and play a bunch of tunes on it. I was fascinated by that harmonica, so I stared the guy out of it. I just stared at him. He said, ‘Here, kid, take it. Get out of here.’

I got the mumps. They threw me in a crib so I wouldn’t roll out onto the floor. And there’s a big bay window in my house, and that window stayed perfectly still until that train started to chug. At a certain speed, I could reach up and feel the pane, and that glass pane would vibrate. I said, Doggone, there’s got to be a reason for this. So I go to the kindergarten teacher, and she takes me to the science teacher, and the science teacher takes me to the library and reads it off to me — “This is called resonance.” That was the beginning.

..I wanted to create music that was so different that my mother could tell me from anyone else.

Every setback might be the very thing that makes you carry on and fight all the harder and become much better.

The audience, they’re not professionals. They just love music. It isn’t necessary to play over their heads to be admired.

Apparently Jazz is now considered high art and the average person has trouble understanding it.

Just ’cause I’ve forgotten more than I can play, doesn’t mean it’s not Improv.

I never have any trouble playing anything I can think of. The trouble is thinking of what to play.

I want the music to connect to people; reach people every time I perform.

I wanted to sustain a note like a singer. I wanted to phrase a note like a saxist. By bending the strings, by trilling my hand – and I have big fat hands – I could achieve something that approximated a vocal vibrato. I could sustain a note. I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions. By fooling with the feedback between my amplifier and instrument, I started experimenting with sounds that expressed my feelings, whether happy or sad, bouncy or bluesy. I was looking for ways to let my guitar sing.

You could still improvise but do it with lyrics.

I’m not claiming divinity. I’ve never claimed purity of soul. I’ve never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can… But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.

They said Bird played bebop, but Bird could still swing. I’ve heard a lot of guys play bebop, but they wasn’t swinging.

Nobody has ever been able to define Jazz satisfactorily. This is probably because anyone who was capable of doing so never really wanted to, knowing how much you would have to leave out of the definition.

I play as I feel.

Bebop was about change, about evolution. It wasn’t about standing still and being safe.

I worked hard learning harmony and theory when I was growing up in Chicago in the 1920s.

Music’s a good thing, it calm the beast in the man.

I think you have to leave a lot to the imagination!

We don’t talk music. We just play.