Collaborative Music Making Quotes

I like befriending my collaborators because I'd rather make music with people I like than people I pretend to like.

That's why I hate to get started in these jam sessions. I'm always the last one to leave.

It's always fun to play songs by somebody else.

Being in several, disparate bands is what I thrive on.

In general, we like to play as a band - guitar, piano, and voice. We also tour with a bass player, a drummer, and somebody who plays keyboard and guitar. We try to play all of our parts and flesh it out to get a lush sound, while also keeping the energy of a three-piece punk act. We want to be the best of all possible worlds.

Get people to sing together and they'll act together too.

It's great to have all this stuff at home. But when you want to make it for real, there's still nothing like making music with a bunch of other great musicians in the same room. That's one thing that'll never change.

I've always been interested in shaping music in odd ways, with odd riffs and that's been probably something that I've continued on with my studies with improvisation as I'm working with people.

In my bands, I don't really walk around telling people what to play, just out of respect really. I mean, if there's something I feel in my gut, I'll bring it up.

I enjoyed so much working with the guys from Wilco, and riffing off of them, and having someone come up to me with ideas, because normally in the studio it's me who has to come up with all the ideas.

I started playing guitar when I was 12 and probably from that age knew that I wanted to make music and make my own music. Playing with other bands like the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens was more like an apprenticeship for me than anything.

Bands work in a way where everyone, at some point, has to have a similar idea of how you do things.

I freestyle, but I'd rather sit down and write down my music to map out what I'm doing. But if I'm out with my friends, I will freestyle, you know?

Some of my biggest moments have been in jam sessions, but I don't want to talk about them. There were always other people involved.

For me, practice isn't doing scales but doing things like writing, jamming with other people, or playing gigs.

I did exactly what I wanted to do. It was always my intention to put a band together and be a band and not be about the solo pop guy. That was never me. All of the musicians that made me do what I wanted to do were bands. I didn't see it any other way.

When I produce other people, that's the thing I can do well because I've been in a band, and I can play the political game and make everybody feel happy, and I can check their performances, and I can work on the sound while they're being a band.

Often we make songs with people for us and one for them.

What I really enjoy about writing for orchestras is realizing that - and it's kind of self-evident - but the fact that they are 48 individuals. It's not, you know, a preset on a keyboard. It's all these people who have opinions and who are making decisions about how to play.

I've always loved playing in bands where there's like three or four people and we're all throwing out ideas and coming together to make an album.

And then, I was thinking of doing a record just like starting with voice, because I did this one song that was just kind of a cappella, and I did it for this art piece I did where people could come and play music to go with a voice.

I've been part of five different bands in my time.

I think people in electronic music are trying to get these big features: 'Oh my gosh, I'm gonna get the biggest pop star to feature on my track.'

Jamming with other people will create energy and excitement that you can feed off, and which will help push you to do things you'd never dream of doing by yourself.

I don't want to make music alone in a dark studio and make me feel awful and depressed. I want to make music and feel happy and get to share it with people.