I'm a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.
I never took guitar lessons. I took classical piano lessons from the age of six when we lived in Holland.
My musical education started in the limelight, because I found myself surrounded by real musicians, but after my career had taken off.
My only real hobby is playing music. I write a lot of music on guitar and keyboards and hope one day to make a record or maybe even write the score for a film.
I learned tabla for three years when in school, then started picking up the basics of the acoustic guitar when in college.
I've been devoting quite a bit of my time to harmonic studies on my own, in libraries and places like that. I've found you've got to look back at the old things and see them in a new light.
My dad had a guitar that he gave me. I went to Walmart and bought a chord chart and hung it up in my room, and I was just trying to figure out how to play the guitar and put words with what I was learning.
I've been a list maker for years, even before I was a musician. I was always writing things down and kept long lists of things that would make good album titles and things like that. I'm constantly thinking in terms of songwriting.
I've never been much of a guitarist. I mean, I've played forever, but I was always more of a rhythm kind of guy. I don't read music.
I wish I could write music notation. Even if I couldn't play it, I wish I could just write it.
I played the Spanish guitar for eight years, like flamenco.
No, it's a Bb. It looks wrong and it sounds wrong, but it's right.
I have a degree in music, yeah, from the University of Montana. I studied voice and composition and conducting and all that.
I'm a guy who doesn't know the name of the chord, but I know that it sounds good.
I started playing piano around the age of five and, you know, I fell in love with music.
I never had any lessons. When I first started playing I used to read music. I was very interested in music. But when I started playing in groups I did a silly thing and dropped it. It's great if you can write things down.
I'm a composer, man.
You cannot go wrong by learning classical music because it trains the ear.
My whole musical life has been an educational process, and I'm just furthering my education and filling in the blanks. There's stuff that I want to know that I don't know.
I always wrote for musicians, especially guitarists. I write songs that people who aren't great virtuosos can play.
I play, like, 12 instruments. Guitar, piano, harmonica, African drums... I'm working on mastering the accordion.
I play guitar, piano, bass and percussion.
You've got to be an editor in order to be a good composer.
After I learned the piano, I went on to learn percussion, the tuba, b-flat baritone, French horn, trombone, trumpet, most of the instruments in the orchestra. Trumpet was my instrument.
Lyrics are the only thing to do with music that haven't been made easier technically.
