Patty Griffin Quotes

I play purely from the heart, y'know, and so if it doesn't work the first couple of hours, forget it.

I always say that improvisation is the utterance of one's spirit, and it dictates your life experience, and that's how you find your concepts and your way for painting your musical picture.

All of my solos were improvised initially - I would go in and get my bearings and see what I came up with.

Weezer isn't stuck in roles, so we just do what we want to do, what makes us excited.

I think good artists know when they're on a roll, and they recognize when lightning is striking. It's a very fortunate thing to have that inspiration and not to overanalyze it or mess with it; you just follow it if you love what you do.

Some people wish above all to conform to the rules, I wish only to render what I can hear. There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law.

Writing is like jazz. It can be learned, but it can't be taught.

I used to look at composing music as problem solving. But as I get older, it's not about problem solving anymore. There are no solutions, because there are no problems. You just turn the tap and it flows out.

Usually, I create tunes that are fragmented. I think the biggest obstacle for people with their creativity is that they feel they have to sit down and create this finished, polished product.

The artist discards all theories, both his own and those of others. He forgets everything when he is in front of his canvas.

I don't like to box myself in when I'm composing.

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

With human beings it could be argued that all music-making is, in essence, grounded in improvisation.

Jazz is all about improvisation and it's about the moment in time, doing it this way now, and you'll never do it this way twice. I've studied the masters. Why would I want to play ball after the guys who sit on a bench? I want to play like Michael Jordan.

When I'm in the studio, there are no boundaries.

I found it was really impossible for me to write songs when I couldn't sing.

I always say that I'm at my best when there's no example of what the character is supposed to be. I thrive when there's not much and I have to create it.

Melody is pure intuition. I don't use any thinking brain when I do that. That's totally in the zone.

To me, a song is new every time I sing it.

Maybe some people, when they sit down to write their great novel or make their great record or paint their great painting, they have it all planned out in their head. But for me, it's never worked that way.

I don't know what aids creativity. All I know is that it feels natural to hold a guitar in my hands and sing.

I didn't know what kind of sound I wanted to make. I didn't have no influences. I just heard my voice in the microphone and was like, damn, I like that.

Music happens. It cannot be made.

You know, we never really know what we're going to write next. Which is part of the excitement when we go in and do a new album. No battle plan, we just go in and do it and what comes out, comes out.

I would say any creative person has that: you can't just force a topic. Whether you're a painter, you want to do a cartoon. Anything. Something may come up that's not your style or suited to what you are working on at the moment. So you file it away and hopefully find a place for it.