Bill Cosby Quotes

"...among the guitarists, Wes Montgomery is fantastic. He's always good to let you know what the art form is all about. It's the same still life that everybody is painting, but in comes Wes Montgomery, and it's right there!" - Bill Cosby

source: Interview with Victor L. Schermer of AAJ (June 2, 2010)

Pat Metheny Quotes

"1962 to 1965, where suddenly the guitar became this icon of youth culture all over the world, thanks mostly to the Beatles. Add to that, that I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times, and that the guitar was the one instrument that my parents absolutely refused to let in the house. So you add it up and see that irresistible forces led me to the guitar." - Pat Metheny

source: digitalinterviews.com

Joe Pass Quotes

"My father would say, 'Play a scale,' and I'd play one and he'd say, 'What about the rest? There must be one above,' so we'd figure them out. I'd start the scale on the root of the chord and I'd go as far as my hand would reach without going out of position, say, five frets, and then I'd go all the way back. So when ! practised I'd start right away on scales. As well as the usual ones, I'd play whole tone scales, diminished, dominant sevenths, and chromatic scales. Every chord form, all the way up, and this took an hour." - Joe Pass

source: Interview with Guitar Magazine (June, 1974)

Joe Pass Quotes

"Guitarists should be able to pick up the guitar and play music on it for an hour, without a rhythm section or anything." - Joe Pass

Joe Pass Quotes

"If you hit a wrong note, then make it right by what you play afterwards." - Joe Pass

Larry Coryell Quotes

"Barney Kessel was 'Mr. Guitar,' the foremost jazz guitarist of his generation. He had an amazing imagination, his solos were incredible, he swung his tail off, he was a heck of an arranger and could out-read anybody..." - Larry Coryell

Larry Coryell Quotes

"Over the years I hope I've become more of a musican and less of a guitarist." - Larry Coryell

George Benson Quotes

"Lenny Breau dazzled me with his extraordinary guitar playing... I wish the world had the opportunity to experience his artistry." - George Benson

Wes Montgomery Quotes

"I got a standard box. I don't never want nothing special. Then if I drop my box, I can borrow somebody else's." - Wes Montgomery (his "standard box" was the hollowbody Gibson L5-CES - cutaway electric Spanish)

Barney Kessel Quotes

"Playing scales is like a boxer skipping rope or punching a bag. It's not the thing in itself; it's preparatory to the activity." - Barney Kessel

Jeff Beck Quotes

"... by far the most astonishing guitar player ever has got to be Django Reinhardt ... Django was quite superhuman, There's nothing normal about him as a person or a player." - Jeff Beck

B.B. King Quotes

"Charlie Christian had no more impact on my playing than Django Reinhardt or Lonnie Johnson. I just wanted to play like him. I wanted to play like all of them. All of these people were important to me. I couldn't play like any of them, though ..." - B.B. King

Charlie Byrd Quotes

"Usually, no one quite knew where Django Reinhardt was going to be, but I met his brother and about an hour later in walks Django with an entourage of friends. He always traveled with a large group--carried his own admirers with him, the most sinister-looking bunch of hoodlums you've ever seen. I walked up and offered to buy him a drink. That seemed to be the right thing to do... he was the first really brilliant solo guitarist I ever became aware of, I had records of his when I was 10 years old. It just blew my mind that anyone could play a guitar like that. Still does." - Charlie Byrd

Tom Verlaine Quotes

"I always hated jazz guitar. I loved jazz saxophone but I hated jazz guitar. If I would buy an organ trio record I would make sure I'd buy one that did not have a guitar player on it. The sound was awful!" - Tom Verlaine

Kevin Eubanks Quotes

"If you play jazz, then you play with your fingers. If you're playing rock, you use a pick. There's really no rhyme or reason to that other than that's just the way it has been." - Kevin Eubanks

Dave Mustaine Quotes

"I like jazz, but I could never play it. You just sit there with a guitar the size of a Chevy on your chest, wearing a stupid hat, playing the same solo for an hour." - Dave Mustaine

Ronnie Scott Quotes

"Wes Montgomery played impossible things on the guitar because it was never pointed out to him that they were impossible." - Ronnie Scott

Les Paul Quotes

"As a guitarist Charlie [Parker] was simply the best around...he had a way of getting on one note and driving it right into the ground." - Les Paul

Oscar Moore Quotes

"To me, playing guitar is like talking to a girl. You just kind of know how to do it." - Oscar Moore

George Benson Quotes

"The greatest guitar player in the world today for me is Paco de Lucia, who is actually Spanish." - George Benson