Les Paul

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.

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

No, working is what will keep you alive.

A guitar is something you can hold and love and it’s never going to bug you. But here’s the secret about the guitar – it’s defiant. It will never let you conquer it. The more you get involved with it, the more you realize how little you know.

Last time I saw Count Basie, he was in a wheelchair. They wheeled him up onto the stage, he sits down at the piano, and he gives the downbeat, and that band played like they were in heaven. And right in the middle, the band cuts. He had to take one hand and put the other on it, and he comes down with one note. And it was the greatest note I ever heard in my life.

The guitar is just a wonderful instrument. It’s everything: a bartender, a psychiatrist, a housewife. It’s everything, but it’s elusive.

You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.

It takes an intelligent ear to listen to Jazz.

We quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.

Genius is a word too often tossed around in musical circles.

I’m creating music – it doesn’t matter if anyone else likes it.

Anytime you strike the drums, you have to be aware that you’re creating a musical event.

Excessive reverence for the romantic illusion of original thought is the most fraudulent and destructive element in Jazz education.

There’s nobody plays like me and I don’t play like anybody else.

I asked my mother could I have an instrument. She said, ‘Well if you go out and save your money.’ So I went and got – I made me a shine box. I went out and started shining shoes, and I’d bring whatever I made.

One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you’re into jazz.

I can’t sing it straight. I have no choice but to swing it.

Difference between sex and love? Well, you’re not always sure you’re in love. But when you’re having sex, there’s really no mistaking it.

I think you can play anything you wanna as long as you take the audience along with you.

I’d take my guitar and play on the streets. A gospel song would get me a pat on the head. But a blues would get me a dime. So you see why I stuck with the blues.

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