Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" I listened to King Oliver and I listened to Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp... I listened to everything I could that came from that place that they call the blues but, in formality, isn't necessarily the blues. "

Related Quotes:

" This moment in time, on this tour, you know, I'm discovering a lot of new things. And to be 45 and doing that, it's a mixture of pleasure and pain, I can assure you. "

Eric Clapton

Know

New Things

Pain

" My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice. "

" I wish I could write easily. I'm one of those guys who's visited by the muse when things are dire. "

" When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition. I recognize that I have some responsibility to keep the music alive, and it's a pretty honorable position to be in. "

" I tried when I was 13, when my grandparents gave me an acoustic guitar, and I tried for a year. It hurt so much to play. I mean, the fingertips hurt so much, I gave up. "

Eric Clapton

Play

" Risk is trying to control something you are powerless over. "

" I don't have half the nerves there that I have anywhere else. "

" Although they can do it all the time, you know, they're far better than me, on a musically, on a theoretical music level. You know, they're out of my league. "

" I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men. "

" I mean, it didn't matter to me that there were people, it didn't matter that I was shy Just the sound was so captivating that it helped me to get rid of those inhibitions. "

" The toughest thing about being a celebrity, I suppose, is being polite when I don't want to be. "

" The point of being at home is to be with my family as much as possible. "

" My dedication to my music has driven everyone away. I've had girlfriends, but I always end up on my own. I don't particularly like it, but I don't see a way 'round it. "

" The first guitar I ever had was a gut-string Spanish guitar, and I couldn't really get the hang of it. I was only 13, and I talked my grandparents into buying it for me. I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere with it. "

" I like solitude. I like the anomalous life. I like a quiet life. "

" It was stumbling on to really the bible of the blues, you know, and a very powerful drug to be introduced to us and I absorbed it totally, and it changed my complete outlook on music. "

" Well, I think part of my gift, or if I have one, is that I love listening. "

" I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn't seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it. "

" The first band I identified with from Chicago was the Muddy Waters band. "

" I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy. "

" I often enjoy singing in an acoustic setting more than an amplified one. "

Eric Clapton

Acoustic

Enjoy

" I don't know if I believe in luck. I think I'm very fortunate. "

" Music became a healer for me. And I learned to listen with all my being. I found that it could wipe away all the emotions of fear and confusion relating to my family. "

Eric Clapton

Family

Emotions

" From the beginning, I knew intuitively that if nothing else, music was safe, and that nobody could tell me anything about it. Music didn't need a middleman, whereas all the other things in school needed some kind of explanation. "

Eric Clapton

Kind

Music

" They looked great, you know the drawings of the guys playing looked great and bits of string around their necks. So it didn't seem to be that difficult a thing to do, or that inaccessible. "

" A British pressing with a compilation of the best stuff really, I mean actually not only that but, these were all kind of semi hits for the people on it in America. "

" It's taken me to be an older guy, an old man, to have an old man's voice. Because I only liked old men's voices. As a kid, I didn't like pip-squeaked singers. "

Eric Clapton

Voice

Man

" Yeah, it is, because it's a real discovery of your inner resources, you know. That's what my character is all about and what my playing is all about. But to get up there and just go inside and draw out something that makes you feel good first and foremost. "

" Music became a healer for me. "

" I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there. "

Eric Clapton

Mean

People