Eric Reed

A Les Paul feels like a guitar and I play differently on that and I sound too much like someone else.

There’s always this sound out there that’s just a little beyond my reach and that just sort of keeps me going.

I love Jazz because it has the perfect balance of discipline and freedom.

Critics don’t buy records. They get ’em free.

[on Glastonbury] I started off the show and I completely messed up the music. And me, as you can imagine by this phone call, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. So it really put me into a slightly depressed state.

For me, I started on a Les Paul and went through years of playing other guitars and just came back full circle to what was more natural to me.

Music is the most interesting thing in the world.

[Stratocaster vs Les Paul] It’s a totally different animal. One is for very subtle and, I would say, more musical things that you can distract and abuse. You can’t do that with a Les Paul. It’s too delicate. It’s got a very delicate tone; most people don’t ever realize that because they are plugged into monstrous amplifiers which completely, instantaneously covers up the unique sound quality it has. All those years of development go straight out the window when you overload the amp.

Jazz is not something that can be defined through blunt instruments. It is much more poetic than that.

I’m very shy, and I shy away from people. But the moment I hit the stage, it’s a different feeling I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it’s because it’s something I love to do.

He knows I rip him off every day. He’s the godfather for me. Nobody can say they aren’t influenced by what Stevie Wonder has done.

Applause felt like approval and it became a drug that soothed the pain, but only temporarily.

Not too slow, not too fast. Kind of half-fast.

Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.

I’ve worked with jazz artists, country artists, classical artists, pop artists. I never wanted there to be categories, because when I was a kid there weren’t.