Blackmore's Night Quotes
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Learning to play with a big amplifier is like trying to control an elephant.
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Pete Townshend used to crash chords and let the guitar feed back. He's overrated.
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Stevie Ray Vaughan was very intense. Maybe that's what caught everybody's attention. As a player, he didn't do anything amazing.
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Session work makes you more strict. You can't hit notes all over the place. You've got to make each one really count.
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Everything I do is usually totally spontaneous.
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Hendrix inspired me, but I was still more into Wes Montgomery. I was also into the Allman Brothers around the time of those albums.
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I have never met one person who likes Grand Funk.
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Johnny Winter is one of the best blues players in the world. He's very underrated.
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I don't use the twang bar anymore. It's become too popular.
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Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and I wanted to be a hard rock band - we wanted to play rock and roll only.
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When you're recording, if you're not really clean in your playing, it sounds like a mess.
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I see someone like John Williams, the classical player, and the amount of discipline and the natural ability that man has is so frightening. That requires so much natural talent. And I think my talent came from just practising, and I feel a bit intimidated when I see players that good.
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One of the reasons I took up the guitar was I didn't want to speak to anybody. I really felt uncomfortable speaking to people, so I took the guitar up so I could hide behind it. I'm not comfortable explaining things, because my brain doesn't work that way.
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I had given up the guitar between '75 and '78. I completely lost interest. I was sick of hearing other guitar players and I was tired of my tunes.
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I was impressed by Hendrix. Not so much by his playing, as his attitude - he wasn't a great player, but everything else about him was brilliant.
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When you've toured for about 10 years like me, you end up feeling like you're always waiting for somebody or something. The whole day is a drag
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I've always played every amp I've ever had full up, because rock and roll is supposed to be played loud. Also, that's how you get your sustain.
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I'm not into that Keith Richard trip of having all those guitars in different tunings. I never liked the Rolling Stones much anyway.
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I criticize my own work pretty harshly.
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Those record companies don't know what's happening at all.
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The only way you can get good, unless you're a genius, is to copy. That's the best thing. Just steal.
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Most guitar players get a name because the band that they're in has become popular. That doesn't mean that they're particularly good, whereas conversely, you've got people like Albert Lee, an incredible player, one of my favourites who's not in a famous band, so he doesn't get into the popularity polls. I have to laugh at some of the people that do get into the popularity polls - some of them are so bad, but they're in a band that's at the top of the hit parade. I think people mix that up.
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Combing my hair doesn't make me a better musician.
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I'm definitely not a guy that comes in the dressing room saying, "Hey, everybody, what a wonderful life." I'm usually brooding about something I think is wrong. I care so much about getting the music right, and if I think someone's slacking I get very upset about that. I just can't go on stage and say, "Another day, another dollar," which I've heard a few people say: I can't go along with that at all. It's got to be as good as you can do - to my own detriment.