Henry Mancini Quotes

I had to learn chord shapes. I bought books with chord charts. I used to listen to all kinds of pop music.

I can play just about any keyboard but I can't read or write a note.

I've grown up with a piano in the house, and that's where I started to be able to learn things by ear. Guitar kind of happened, and I was using it just for writing at first. Then, I was writing so much that I began to realise that I knew how to play, and that's when I started getting nerdy about it.

I think my knowledge of music theory is rooted in jazz theory, and a lot of the writers of standards - Rodgers and Hart, and Gershwin.

I never got formal training in music. I would just sit with my ear to the speaker and my hand on the needle. I'd listen to Wanda Jackson and think, 'How did she do that?,' and lift the needle and try it myself.

I learned some chords and I started watching anybody I could, once I really got into it.

I'm a self-taught musician aside from what I've been able to pick up from other players.

I've always considered transcribing to be an invaluable tool in the development of one's musical ear and, over the years, I have spent countless glorious hours transcribing different kinds of music, either guitar-oriented or not.

I was up playing violin at seven and translating that information to play guitar, piano at eight.

I taught myself to play the guitar by listening to Paul Simon records, working it out note by note. He is an incredibly intelligent musician. He's not someone who has a natural outpouring of melody like McCartney or Dylan, who are just terribly prolific with musical ideas.

It wasn't until after private lessons and learning bass lines that I even noticed bass in the music I was listening to at that age. My ears were blown wide open.

Basically, everything I've learned on guitar, I've learned from listening to my favorite albums. I never had any formal training. My teachers were Dimebag Darrell and Slash and the guys in Rancid and Slayer.

The piano is where everything starts and ends. Everything is based off of it. If you understand that, you wind up understanding a lot more in all other instruments. For me, it had always been something important to try and learn.

My folks bought a baby grand piano and that's where I did the majority of figuring out the songs I heard on the stereo.

When I was younger, I was always a musician that could play by ear better than I could analytically.

I don't really do scales... I mean, I play parts of them, but then I bail and start playing parts of other things. The term 'scale' feels very scripted to me because I'm an improv player.

I always wrote for musicians, especially guitarists. I write songs that people who aren't great virtuosos can play.

I used to be totally into Steve Vai and Joe Satriani and other shredders, and I tried to emulate what they did and really grow as a guitarist.

With guitar, bass and drums, you've got limited horizons.

I'm pretty good at delivering my songs, but I just want to perfect the craft by creating melodies.

I write my own music. By myself, on a computer, I program guitar and piano.

I learnt everything to do with music in my own time.

A lot of producers don't have any musical education. I couldn't make the music I make without playing the piano.

My advice for someone just learning the ukulele would be to have fun with it and not take anything too seriously. Some songs that I think are great for beginners would be, 'House of Gold,' 'Riptide,' and 'I Don't Know My Name.'

After 35 years of bone-crushing rock guitar playing, I'm finally starting to get my head out of the harmonic sand and learning how to play over chord changes.