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Thread: Musician quotes

  1. #1

    Default Musician quotes

    I thought it would be interesting, at least to me, to have a thread with quotes from musicians about mandolins and music in general.


    The sound of the mandolin is a very curious sound because it's cheerful and melancholy at the same time, and I think it comes from that shadow string, the double strings. -- Rita Dove
    Loar LM-370

    “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  2. #2

    Default Re: Musician quotes

    There's something cool about playing 'Tempted' and then picking up the mandolin and playing 'Dark as a Dungeon' and standing on the classics. It's nice to just let soul rule. --- Marty Stuart


    (I love playing Dark as a Dungeon on my mandolin...it's just right, somehow)
    Loar LM-370

    “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    One night before playing at a local beer festival, one of my musician friends left me this note:

    'Play fast so that they can hear you before they get drunk.'


    Another favorite is one that I was told was attributed to the great songwriter, Stephen Sondheim:

    'The advancement of art is simple - funding it is not.'

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "Work is serious play"

    and

    "You won't get far on enthusiasm alone, but you won't get anywhere without it"

    Robert Fripp

    "The emperor is not wearing any clothes"
    Frank Zappa
    Stormy Morning Orchestra

    My YouTube Channel

    "Mean Old Timer, He's got grey hair, Mean Old Timer he just don't care
    Got no compassion, thinks its a sin
    All he does is sit around an play the Mandolin"

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "I believe in things that are developed through hard work. I always like people who have developed long and hard, especially through introspection and a lot of dedication. I think what they arrive at is usually a much deeper and more beautiful thing than the person who seems to have that ability and fluidity from the beginning. I say this because it's a good message to give to young talents who feel as I used to."-Bill Evans
    I laid the tracks, never rode the train.

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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "Keeping time is more than looking at your watch son"

  7. #7
    Registered User T.D.Nydn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "Less is not more,less is less and more is more"..yngwie malmsteen..

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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    'The more I practice, the more natural talent people tell me I have' -Harmonica professional Steve Lockwood.
    - Jeremy

    Wot no catchphrase?

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  10. #9
    Expert on my own opinion Bogle's Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    One of of Byron Berline's from (I believe) the early 80's:

    "Here's an old Red Allen tune....Red Allen's not old, but the tune is."

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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    Jazz guitar legend Jim Hall (to an overactive drummer), "Don't just do something. Sit there."
    Paul Glasse
    Driftwood, Texas
    http://paulglasse.com

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  13. #11
    Registered User jim simpson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    To quote Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad:

    There's a fine line between playing old time music and not being able to play at all.
    Old Hometown, Cabin Fever String Band

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    Front Porch & Sweet Tea NursingDaBlues's Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    To some extent I happily don’t know what I’m doing. I feel that it’s an artist’s responsibility to trust that. ~ David Byrne

    I’m one of those regular weird people. ~ Janis Joplin

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    Registered User Eric F.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "If you make friends with whichever note you happened to land on it will give you directions to where you are trying to go.”
    ― Victor Wooten

    He is a good source of quotes about music and learning. I quote him pretty regularly to my students.

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  19. #14

    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "Music is hard... but it's fun."

    -Ronnie Bowman

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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    "On a good day I hear some improvement" Pablo Casals on why he kept a strict practice regium at age 90.

  21. #16
    harvester of clams Bill McCall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    Another Ron Thomason, on viewing the crowd at at Bluegrass Festival, "Ah, a typical bluegrass audience, the elderly and their parents"
    Not all the clams are at the beach

    Arrow Manouche
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  23. #17
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    I heard Tim O'Brien say, onstage as he announced a song: "Old time music - it's better than it sounds!". Someone told me that was said by someone else about Wagner.

    I saw Peter Rowan 10-15 years ago playing what looked like a brand new D-18. He kept having to re-tune, and after a few times he said "This guitar still thinks it's a tree..." Seemed like it just popped into his head, but maybe it's a old saying.

    At RockyGrass I was discussing the previous night's progressively worsening all night jam session near my tent with some neighboring campers. When I remarked that the bass player went from mediocre to much worse as the drinking continued, my neighbor said "Yeah, he sounded like two tennis shoes in a clothes dryer"
    Riley

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  25. #18

    Default Re: Musician quotes

    I'm a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice.-- Bill Monroe
    Loar LM-370

    “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  26. #19

    Default Re: Musician quotes

    Mandolins in the moonlight: beautiful music of love. -- Perry Como
    Loar LM-370

    “The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.” ― Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  27. #20

    Default Re: Musician quotes

    Another Ron Thomason quote:

    "John Duffey taught me almost all I know about English language grammar and usage. He taught me harass is all one word."

  28. #21
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    When I was a little boy, I told my dad, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a musician.’ My dad said: ‘You can’t do both, Son’.”
    ― Chet Atkins
    " Give me some words I can dance to and a melody that rhymes" - Steve Goodman

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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    One beautiful summer night in New England I was playing a gig at a local bar - while James Taylor was playing an outdoor show about 5 miles away. Needless to say, the bar where I was playing was nearly empty. At one point I stepped up to the mic, began counting heads and said: "1, 2, 3, 4 . . . 12 people who couldn't get tickets to James Taylor tonight!"

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  31. #23
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    My own quote: "Music is a wonderful mistress, but a lousy wife."

    And another: "Folk music is where the audience is better dressed than the performer."
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

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  33. #24

    Default Re: Musician quotes

    Jethro Burns: How to select a mandolin
    First, it should be cheap. How it looks isn't important. Nobody's going to see it but you. Tone isn't too important. Chances are no one's going to listen anyway.

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    Default Re: Musician quotes

    My partner has said for years," yes we take requests, no we won't quit"
    THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!

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