I picked up the guitar at 11, but even before then, I was writing songs on the organ.
Tracy ChapmanRead
My older sister encouraged me from early on and bought me one of the first guitars I had. She listened to all of the crappy songs that I wrote when I was 8 years old and encouraged me to keep doing it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Encouragement from loved ones can inspire creativity and persistence.
This quote by Tracy Chapman reflects the vital role that encouragement from family members, particularly siblings, can play in fostering talent and creativity. The support she received from her older sister not only provided her with an instrument but also a safe space to express herself, allowing her to embrace her passion for music even from a young age despite its imperfections.
Themes
EncouragementSiblingMusicCreativitySupport
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of family support in personal growth.
More from Tracy Chapman
All quotes →Stand up for yourself and fight for your right to be the artist that you want to be. There's plenty of pressure from outside; people tell you how to dress and how to sing or what to sing, but I always felt like if I'm going to fail or succeed, I want to do it on my own terms.
Tracy ChapmanRead
As I started to consider a career in music, I hoped for success, truthfully. I didn't imagine anything that would amass the level of the first record, but I hoped that I would be able to sustain a career.
Tracy ChapmanRead
I can't think of anything worse, really, than to try to live up to someone else's expectations of what you should be. You don't make art by consensus.
Tracy ChapmanRead
Now love's the only thing that's free /We must take it where it's found /Pretty soon it may be costly
Tracy ChapmanRead
I think it's important, if you are an artist, to use your music to stand up for what you believe in.
Tracy ChapmanRead
Similar quotes
There is something about the melody of 'Thunder Road' that just suggests 'new day.' It suggests morning; it suggests something opening up.
Bruce SpringsteenRead
Lenny Breau is one of the true geniuses of the guitar. I suppose he is a musician's musician. His knowledge of the instrument and the music is so vast, and I think that's what knocks people out about him. But he's such a tasty player too. I think if Chopin had played guitar, he would have sounded like Lenny Breau.
Chet AtkinsRead
If you come from Africa with your economic poverty and your cultural riches, and you meet someone like Peter Gabriel or a person from a big record company, and they tell you that what you are doing is marvelous, that makes you feel powerful.
Youssou N'DourRead
The great moments of rock 'n' roll were never off in some corner of the music world, in a self-constructed ghetto.
BonoRead
You've heard me call myself a bluesman and a blues singer. I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man. Well, that's because there's been so many can do it better'n I can, play the blues better'n me. I think a lot of them have told me things, taught me things.
B. B. KingRead
I can show you that I have played with just about every jazz musician, every African musician, every blues musician. It's not like I'm cashing in on a false concept. This is what I do.
Carlos SantanaRead