Wes Montgomery Quotes

I use a lot of tunings because I listen to a lot of jazz.

What I always try to do is to respond to the song; I've always rebelled against theory.

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.

There is no such thing as a wrong note.

I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.

I smoked this joint and then it hit me. I thought, what you gotta do is play your own simply blues.

When I listen to my favorite songwriters, they have such simple melodies and chords. I occasionally manage to stop at the right time, but all too often I keep on going until I have way too many notes and words. But that's just what I do.

You can play a shoestring if you're sincere.

Until you learn to play what you want to hear, you're barking up the wrong tree.

Comedy is the ultimate truth. Jazz is hitting the notes that that no one else would hit, and comedy is saying words that no one else would say.

Through improvisation, jazz teaches you about yourself. And through swing, it teaches you that other people are individuals too. It teaches you how to coordinate with them.

You have to know composition to be a good improviser.

I record cello Etudes that are fewer than four minutes long and post them on YouTube. How can one execute fully-formed ideas with utmost perfection, yet stay free enough to allow improvisatory nuance? This has immediate application in almost every area of life, but especially in performance.

It's really only all about music. It's not like a big rocket scientist kind of philosophy or anything.

As long as there are musicians who have a passion for spontaneity, for creating something that's never been before, the art form of jazz will flourish.

To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming.

I honestly can't characterize my style in words. It seems that whatever comes to me naturally, I play.

You can time a part perfectly and play it badly. And some people have very individual offbeat timing, which is their own. It works simply because they are who they are.

The beauty of jazz is that it's malleable. People are addressing it to suit their own personalities.

I don't work out a lead section and practice it for a day and then lay it down. I don't do that. The first time I do something I think is expressive or really cool, that's what's actually on the recording.

When you're playing the part of a saxophone or a trumpet player, both of which I have done, it would be nice to be able to play like John Coltrane, but you can't. Your job is to do something else. And I'm not sure what it is, but I don't think I'd be acting Niels Bohr any better if I went and studied physics for five years.

The art of interpretation is not to play what is written.

Well, I think writing is basically about time and rhythm. Like with jazz. You have your basic melody and then you just riff off of it. And the riffs are about timing.

If you listen to the way I speak, I have a lot of rhythm, use a lot of accents. When I'm playing my instrument, that concept comes through very clearly.

I write my songs and just play them, so there are not a whole lot of fireworks. As long as the music comes first, it's OK to have some fireworks. But not the other way around.