R.D. Blackmore Quotes

But you have to give your whole life to a cello. When I realized that, I went back to the guitar and just turned the volume up a bit louder.

...because I rant not, neither rave of what I feel, can you be so shallow as to dream that I feel nothing?

I've always played every amp I've ever had full up, because rock and roll is supposed to be played loud. Also, that's how you get your sustain.

The only way you can get good, unless you're a genius, is to copy. That's the best thing. Just steal.

Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and I wanted to be a hard rock band - we wanted to play rock and roll only.

When you're around someone good, your own standards are raised.

I have never met one person who likes Grand Funk.

Playing a Fender is an art itself. They're always going out of tune.

When something is not good, it's bad. Period

Pete Townshend used to crash chords and let the guitar feed back. He's overrated.

Combing my hair doesn't make me a better musician.

If you can play well in the studio, you can play well on stage.

I however don't go to clubs to show off and to be seen, and certainly not to make statements. I just want to be able to quietly watch a band.

I like leaping around on stage as long as it's done with class. None of this jumping up in the air and doing the splits

A lot of blues guitarists play with only three fingers, and they can't figure out certain runs that require the use of their little fingers. Classical training is good for that.

When I was 20, I didn't give a damn about song construction. I just wanted to make as much noise and play as fast and as loud as possible.

I'm very moved by Renaissance music, but I still love to play hard rock - though only if it's sophisticated and has some thought behind it.

I don't use the twang bar anymore. It's become too popular.

I don't see myself as such an important guitarist.

I'm not into that Keith Richard trip of having all those guitars in different tunings. I never liked the Rolling Stones much anyway.

All other species on this planet are gene machines only. They don't imitate at all well; we alone are gene machines and meme machines as well.

Learning to play with a big amplifier is like trying to control an elephant.

Free will and consciousness is an illusion, and the self is a complex of memes.

I don't put myself on Jeff Beck's level, but I can relate to him when he says he'd rather be working on his car collection than playing the guitar.

If everyone understood evolution, then the tyranny of religious memes would be weakened, and we little humans might find a better way to live in this pointless universe.

Simplicity is the key.

If a ballet dancer falls over, it's knowing how to get out looking clumsy that counts.

The cello is such a melancholy instrument, such an isolated, miserable instrument.

Jimi... He was the gov'nor and that's it. He was brilliant, wasn't he?

Hendrix inspired me, but I was still more into Wes Montgomery. I was also into the Allman Brothers around the time of those albums.

Imagine a world full of brains, and far more memes than can possibly find homes. Which memes are more likely to find a safe home and get passed on again?

I was impressed by Hendrix. Not so much by his playing, as his attitude - he wasn't a great player, but everything else about him was brilliant.

I had given up the guitar between '75 and '78. I completely lost interest. I was sick of hearing other guitar players and I was tired of my tunes.

Science has, after all, made some colossal blunders in the past... Our current materialism and its rejection of the idea of a spirit or soul might be just another great falsity.

I can do the old hand vibrato just fine, but I like attacking the strings.

Parapsychology seems to be growing further away from the progress and excitement of the rest of consciousness studies.

Those record companies don't know what's happening at all.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when they think about memes is they try to extend on the analogy with genes. That's not how it works. It works by realizing the concept of a replicator.

In my early days, I never used finger vibrato at all. I originally carved my reputation as one of the 'fast' guitar players.

I was impressed by Hendrix. His attitude was brilliant. Even the way he walked was amazing.

Consciousness is an illusion constructed by the memes.

Just as the design of our bodies can be understood only in terms of natural selection, so the design of our minds can be understood only in terms of memetic selection.

For the planet's sake, I hope we have bird flu or some other thing that will reduce the population, because otherwise we're doomed.

Johnny Winter is one of the best blues players in the world. He's very underrated.

Only a pint at breakfast-time, and a pint and a half at eleven o'clock, and a quart or so at dinner. And then no more till the afternoon; and half a gallon at supper-time. No one can object to that.

Session work makes you more strict. You can't hit notes all over the place. You've got to make each one really count.

I can turn on some jazz guitarist, and he won't do a thing for me, if he's not playing electrically. But Jeff Beck's great to listen to.

I can imagine that Rod Stewart likes giving autographs because he's pure showbusiness.

If you found a mammal with feathers, then you'd know that Darwin was wrong. Well, it's rather the same with memes.

When you've toured for about 10 years like me, you end up feeling like you're always waiting for somebody or something. The whole day is a drag