John Frusciante Quotes

I didn't take lessons, and I don't know my scales.

There are notes between notes, you know.

I'm not a trained musician. When folks talk about 'Well, you go to this or that' - the tenor, or the third part - I don't really know what they're talking about.

I was fifteen years old, and I hardly knew how to play a simple Bach prelude on the piano when I began to compose music, and at the most advanced level. I had never studied such things as harmony.

You can sightread better if you know your scales and arpeggios.

I can read a chord chart, but I couldn't read a note chart.

I cannot say that I know a lot about scales, but I can write songs.

My favourite chord? Bb6th with added 9th.

I'm into scales right now.

I bought one of those Learn How to Play Guitar Chords By Yourself and it shows you the diagram where to put your hands and I took that in my room, sat with my singles and learned how to play guitar.

I just can't read music.

I've never known how to read music in my life.

When I was 12, I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, and I found a chord book in a shop, and I stuffed it down my trousers. And that's how I learned to play the guitar.

I've never really been schooled in music theory. I'm a guitar player, and I attack the guitar in a certain way that it not fully unique to me, but it's more unique that some other people.

I am moved more by melodies, song structure, and evocative textures.

I am, by nature, a guitar player... I learned all of these other instruments around that, and around the theory that I built learning the guitar.

It's easy to get next to music theory, especially between your peers and music classes and so forth. You just pay attention. I had a good ear, so I realized that printed music was just about reminding you what to play.

I studied harmony and composition in a very spontaneous manner.

I really had to think and learn about musical intervals.

Yeah, I can read music and I know the names of chords.

I use some pretty radical harmonics at the beginning of 'Heresy.'

There are only so many chords and notes in the world.

Some of my favorite harmonics are located between frets. There are two really cool ones between the 2nd and 3rd frets that I use a lot.

I had a drummer in my band who started teaching me tricks to come up with interesting rhythms. Because I don't come from a musical background, I've never studied music, and I don't know music theory at all, so a lot of stuff I discover on my own are things students would learn in the first grade of music.

My reading of serious books about serious music is seriously compromised by the way that I can't understand any musical theory. Any mentions of D major or C minor are meaningless to me.