Les Paul

You can’t go to the store and buy a good ear and rhythm.

I gave up the guitar in 1965. Didn’t want to see a guitar. I’d go out and get drunk. When I came out of the heart surgery, the doc said, “Promise me you’ll work hard.” I said, “I thought working hard is what got me here.” He said, “No, working is what will keep you alive.”

Paint pictures with sound. First, find your white-the deepest, roundest sound you can play on the guitar. Then, find your black-which is the most extreme tonal difference from white you can play. Now, just pick the note where you’ve got white, pick it where you’ve got black, and then find all those colors in between. Get those colors down, and you’ll be able to express almost any emotion on the guitar.?

I think the most important thing about playing is to walk out with confidence, look the people right in the eye and say ‘Here I am,’ and go and do your thing. As soon as they know you’re confident, they’re confident. As long as you adjust to them you’re not in trouble. You should eyeball them, find out what they want, and give it to them. They didn’t pay to come out and look at the tapestries.

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.

You could go out and eat and come back and the note would still be playing.

There’s only one thing that everyone in this world has in common: whether you want to love somebody and you want to be loved in return.

I’m fascinated with the electronic devices that we can mess around with.

The only award I’ve ever worked for or wanted really were the ones that were given to me by the fans. So, whether it’s a platinum record or hit songs, those are the ones that last the most.

I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton… oh, there’s many more! I wouldn’t want to be like them, you understand, but I’d like to be equal, if you will.

There is two kinds of music, the good, and the bad. I play the good kind.

Jazz is the continual pulsation of the now.

I love it when people hear my music but can’t figure out what instrument I’m playing.

I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions.

I am inclined to just write music and not worry about what people can or can’t do.

I like people who have worked long and hard, developing through introspection and dedication.

I used my mother’s radio as a PA system. I’d take the telephone, the speaking part, and take those two leads off and lead them into the radio and the sound would come out of the speaker.

For most dates I was paid the sum of $1 per hr and they always tipped me at the end of the night.

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.

I didn’t know the right names for anything at first, but I knew what knocked me out. Changes… man I dug.

Jazz is a white term to define black people. My music is black classical music.