Quotes on Playing Music

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

Master your instrument. Master the music. And then forget all that bullshit and just play.

There is no truer truth obtainable by Man than comes of music

No matter how many times people say it - 'Oh, I'm just writing this for myself' 'Oh, I'm just doing this for myself' - nobody's doing it for themselves! You're doing it for an audience. So whether I'm performing or writing a book or playing music, it's definitely to be put out there and to be received in some way, definitely.

You'd think I'd have been happiest in my life playing music in front of 50,000 people at Gillette Stadium. But let me tell you, it's an odd feeling to feel alone in the spotlight.

Music is well said to be the speech of angels.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

The pleasure we obtain from music comes from counting, but counting unconsciously. Music is nothing but unconscious arithmetic.

Music is enough for a lifetime - but a lifetime is not enough for music.

Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.