If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Neil PeartRead
I've heard the stories. Like, Eric Clapton said he wanted to burn his guitar when he heard Jimi Hendrix play. I never understood that because, when I went and saw a great drummer or heard one, all I wanted to do was practice.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the drive to improve oneself through inspiration rather than feeling defeated.
Neil Peart expresses a perspective on how artists respond to the exceptional talent of others. Rather than feeling demoralized or wanting to give up, he emphasizes the importance of being motivated to practice and enhance one's own skills. The admiration for great musicians should fuel one's desire to strive for greatness rather than to retreat or feel inadequate.
In practice
Use this quote during a music workshop to encourage budding musicians.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
The real test of a musician is live performance. It's one thing to spend a long time learning how to play well in the studio, but to do it in front of people is what keeps me coming back to touring.
Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely.
It seems to me that's the only way you can have a truly creative aggregate of people is if they're all contributing in different ways.
What I've learned over the years is that the craft of songwriting is trying to take the personal and make it universal - or in the case of telling a story, taking the universal and making it personal.
Half the world hates What half the world does every day Half the world waits While half gets on with it anyway
If you have a strong mind and plant in it a firm resolve, you can change your destiny.
If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don't back down.
Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to change. Care enough to win.
I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.
Anytime someone tells me that I can't do something, I want to do it more.
Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.