A certain death of an artist is overconfidence.

I didn't want to get attached to one guitar; I didn't want to have an instrument that was irreplaceable.

I think the fundamental part of my technique is my vibrato.

It's impossible to play a run with as much feeling as a single note. I've never been so much into runs as making single notes cry.

I have done some things that I'm very proud of. I don't think you can say any more than that, really.

While I was with Procol Harum, the only time I'd see my guitar was either when I walked onstage or in the studio.

I think it's a sensible thing not to read your fan mail - not to take it too seriously.

The ability to make music is a gift that you're born with; it's not something you can learn.

I have short hands. That's why I have to bend up to notes; I can't always reach the frets.

A certain death of an artist is overconfidence.

I was very keen on people like Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent.

If I could sing, I wouldn't be a guitarist.

I feel that my playing on the first album was probably some of my best.

The States still has the best audiences by far.

My songs are more arrangements than they are songs.

It was an experience being on a Beatles tour. They weren't very good. The singing was great, but the playing was a bit weak.

I got a guitar when I was about 14, for a Christmas present, and went from there.

A wah-wah is important as well. I love it; it makes the guitar scream.

I've always been the first to admit that Jimi was a very big influence on my early stuff.

I go through about two Fender mediums a night because I don't pick straight down; it's sort of sideways, and it shaves them off.

Radio is commercial, isn't it. Its a business.

I don't tend to have a favorite album; I tend to have favorite tracks. There are flaws in every album that spoil it for me.

It all comes down to the density of the wood. Every guitar's different.

The first real thing I heard was Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King. That's where it all began for me.

When you start believing you're something special, then you're not going to be striving to move forward.

I feel I've been blessed with a gift of creativity and composition. That's why I've been able to keep going.

I go for as much feeling as I can rather than show what I can do up and down the neck. I don't play to show people ability.

I can't say I feel influenced by today's guitar players.

Music has nothing to do with your technical ability.

I wouldn't count myself as being a true blues guitarist because I feel you have to live it.

When I was a little kid, I was very impressed with Elvis.

When you start believing youre something special then youre not going to be striving to move forward.

The guitar part is the pivot of everything we do so if you change the guitar part you no longer have what it is.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

I'm inspired by nature. Other artist's work is important for developing my perception.

There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

What do you say when someone has truly inspired you? How do you express to an artist how deeply their work has affected you?

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

I've always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

The most colorful section of a bookstore is the display of SF books, with art by people like Wayne Barlow, who is a terrific artist.