Best Ritchie Blackmore Quotes & Sayings

What's the point of re-releasing an album? The original sounded good, why change something about it? — Ritchie Blackmore

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

Simplicity is the key. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

I feel like I own the stage. — Ritchie Blackmore

Stevie Ray Vaughan was very intense. Maybe that's what caught everybody's attention. As a player, he didn't do anything amazing. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

Everything I do is usually totally spontaneous. — Ritchie Blackmore

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

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

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

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

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

When you're recording, if you're not really clean in your playing, it sounds like a mess. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

They used to complain at school that I looked out of the window for long periods of time - that sums up my life. I like to look out the window, do nothing, daydream. — Ritchie Blackmore

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

I criticize my own work pretty harshly. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

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

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

I think a lot about death more than life, because we're going towards death. — Ritchie Blackmore

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

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

Listening to as many guitar solos as possible is the best method for someone in the early stages. But saxophone solos can be helpful. They're interesting because they are all single notes, and therefore can be repeated on the guitar. If you can copy a sax solo you're playing very well, because the average saxophonist can play much better than the average guitarist. — Ritchie Blackmore

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

I would just like to say that Ritchie Blackmore did a bunch of great stuff guitar - wise. I'm happy to play the solo from 'Highway Star'. I always thought it was one of the most exciting guitar solos I'd ever played ... — Steve Morse

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

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. — Ritchie Blackmore

Had Kurt Cobain not committed suicide in 1994, would his genius have survived the continuous incisions of a media that was only too proud of its ability to chisel away at his fragile psyche in the years before he decided that he'd had enough off their invasions? And, had Jimi Hendrix not passed way in 1970, would he, too have eventually fallen into decline, first equalled, then eclipsed by the brilliant wave of new guitarists: Robin Trower, Ritchie Blackmore, Mick Ronson, who emerged during the early 1970s? In death, Hendrix led by example: in life he could have been left for the dead. — Dave Thompson

Ritchie Blackmore was a huge early influence on me, but after that I had to find my own way ... Johann Sebastian Bach was probably the most influential guy ever on me ... Vivaldi, Beethoven and eventually Paganini ... all of a sudden I was thinking in all these other areas, instead of blues riffs ... — Yngwie Malmsteen

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

I was always stuck in a musical no man's land. — Ritchie Blackmore

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. — Ritchie Blackmore