Vivian Campbell

All of the technique doesn’t matter… only if the feeling is right.

If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all

By giving the public a rich and full melody, distinctly arranged and well played, all the time creating new tone colors and patterns, I feel we have a better chance of being successful. I want a kick to my band, but I don’t want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.

The melody is generally what the piece is all about.

You explore beautiful songs and create your own interpretation of them.

I can’t understand guys who just have to have your autograph. What do you do when you get home, take it out and look at it?

Well if I could play like Wynton, I wouldn’t play like Wynton.

I’m no good with chords. I’m horrible with chords.

I learned to play guitar on my lying back while I was bed-ridden. I only thought to record the songs because sometimes I would I couldn’t remember what I had just done. Eventually I started singing, because I thought if I sang it that would help to remember even more. But I wasn’t trying to sing. And then one day-this is really weird -I just wrote a song. It came out at a rapid rate and I recorded it and I listened back to it and was like ‘Wow, it’s a tune’.

You only get better by playing.

You’ve got to learn your instrument.

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

Miles told me not to use vibrato because when you get old, you’re going to shake anyway.

The extreme dynamic and percussive possibilities of an acoustic guitar amplified through a bridge pickup have, over many years of performing, informed not only the way I play, but the way I write and sing too. My guitar taught me to sing in textures, from the roundest lingering harmonic to the sharpest snap of a pulled string. Being a percussion instrument as well as a melodic instrument, my guitar also teaches me about the relationship between rhythm and melody. Portable. Did I mention it also taught me about being portable?

One very important thing I learned from Monk was his complete dedication to music.