Quotes & Sayings About Playing Records

The tremendous leisure industry that has arisen in the last few generations has been designed to help fill free time with enjoyable experiences. Nevertheless, instead of using our physical and mental resources to experience flow, most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated athletes playing in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we go to admire paintings that brought in the highest bids at the latest auction. We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

So much of what we do now started in 1954 at Sun Records in Memphis Tennessee ... those guys were inventing that stuff (Rock & Roll) ... you can really tell on some tracks ... they were actually afraid at times of what they were playing. But Rock & Roll definitely didn't come before that time; it started right there — Brian Setzer

I started playing jazz by slowing down Tal Farlow records and analyzing his runs — Lenny Breau

Playing Etta James in the movie 'Cadillac Records' really changed me. It was a darker character, and I realized that if anything is too comfortable, I want to run from it. It's no fun being safe. — Beyonce Knowles

Century-old records are the closest thing we have to a time machine. To listen to the voice of Theodore Roosevelt or the piano playing of Claude Debussy is to feel the years falling away like autumn leaves from a maple tree. — Terry Teachout

You can take the first step right now. Start listening to the voice in your head as often as you can. Pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, those old gramophone records that have been playing in your head perhaps for many years. This is what I mean by "watching the thinker," which is another way of saying: listen to the voice in your head, be there as the witnessing presence. — Eckhart Tolle

It's different now but I enjoy it more than I did then. I think I appreciate it more now and I love playing acoustically. This is the way I started. Herb and I met each other forty years ago when we were both eighteen years old, playing bluegrass, and that's what drew me into music, and I enjoyed every particular part of my career. But now I enjoy it because it's the twilight of my career, where I can play what I want and I can play when I want and where I want. And that's the greatest part it all. So it's sort of a right that I've earned. I can record records the way I want to. — Chris Hillman

Nobody heard records of you playing whatever the melody was on those low strings. It worked out good, you know, about 25 or 26 million records later. I guess it worked out alright. — Lee Hazlewood

We listened to a lot of Rolling Stones and Beatles records when we were recording. They were really good at not playing loud, but generating really big sounds out of everything. — Mike Lowry

No one's playing records anymore, so find your favorite and frame it, then get rid of the rest - try selling or donating them. — Niecy Nash

When I die, just keep playing the records. — Jimi Hendrix

He was Jimi Hendrix! He didn't sound like anybody else but himself. He was like Charlie Parker in his way of playing, he played well, he was a person that made waves. When you heard Jimi Hendrix you knew it was Jimi Hendrix, he introduced himself in his instrument ... You know, many radio stations play records and a lot of the times they don't call out the names who you just listened to, but when they play Jimi Hendrix, you don't have to tell me, [you know] it's Jimi Hendrix ... — B.B. King

Some of us have been playing the same self-defeating records over and over again in our heads for so long that we don't know how to think any differently about ourselves. — Steve Harvey

Being a musician, being a person who's playing tours and making records is a part-time thing for me at age. I did it, I lived it and I breathed it every day of my life for 30-odd years and now I am slowing down a little bit. But it does not mean that I am any less intense and dedicated to the work that I am doing now. I have other priorities in life as well. — David Gilmour

It's a pleasure playing your big hit records and it's a real joy to see the audience. — Martin Fry

I got a drum set at the age of four. I wasn't playing that well, just kind of banging around. I just wanted to play drums and my dad got me a set. I played for several years, but I wasn't meant to be a drummer, I guess. I can play drums on my own things - obviously on some of my own records I play drums. But I didn't start playing guitar until I was 11. — Shuggie Otis

The most important thing is how you program and how you choose your records. That really does sort out who is a good DJ and who is just playing records. — John Digweed

Playing an old record doesn't interest me at all. It's exactly the opposite of what I want to do. — Michael Gira

I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well. — Aretha Franklin

I'm playing to the sort of people who like the same records. — Nick Lowe

The record of a month's roulette playing at Monte Carlo can afford us material for discussing the foundations of knowledge. — Karl Pearson

In all the time that people have known me, has anyone ever heard me talk about the importance of rushing records or finishing with the most touchdowns? So if that's never been important to me, then why would that be a motivation to keep playing? — Barry Sanders

Because my mother was in love with Bobby Darin, I grew up with his records playing in our house all the time. — Kevin Spacey

Records are just moments of achievement. They're like receipts for work done. Time goes on and people keep playing music. — Bill Laswell

With Dollars And Cents on the album, we had it as a band jam and I sometimes spend evenings playing with records over the top of things we were working on to see what works. — Colin Greenwood

All I want is to have fun in what I'm doing every day. I don't want to break records. To become the greatest player ever could take me like ... 10 more years and I don't think I'll still be playing at 31. — Serena Williams

I missed out on the Spice Girls. I missed out on all those big pop phenomenon and missed out even on the Madonna records. It's okay, cuz I'm playing catch-up on everything now. — Katy Perry

There is nothing like a Bach fugue to remove me from a discordant moment ... only Bach hold up fresh and strong after repeated playing. I can always return to Bach when the other records weary me. — Edward Weston

In every corner a gramophone shop
in every shop a hundred gramophones
in every gramophone a hundred records
in every record
an alive person playing with a dead one.
Take the steel needle and separate them
if you can. — Giorgos Seferis

The whole having records and selling records and being on TV, that was something that I didn't ever think would be for me. I thought that would be for other people. All I wanted to do was make a living playing the drums. — Phil Collins

My favorite records are by bands where the musicians are all playing like themselves, but those personalities connect in an exciting way and create music that is one cohesive unit. It's not catchy like a pop song, but it's a really cool song. — Dylan Baldi

The real amazing thing about all of this is I think I've maintained the mentality of a musician throughout it all, which I'm proudest of. And I'm still playing on people's records and singing on people's records. — Vince Gill

I used to tell myself when I was much younger that I didn't want to wake up one day and be 32 years old and still playing records. It's just not going to happen. Well, the joke is on me, because I'm 56 years old now. — Frankie Knuckles

English banjo players really were a law unto themselves - you don't find that kind of brisk banjo playing on the original Louis Armstrong or Bix Beiderbecke records. — Pete Townshend

At least in the world we know, it takes trials to make something beautiful and useful out of the raw materials of life. The student's struggle with truth develops his intelligence; the athlete's struggle with his records and his opponents helps to develop his muscles and coordination; the musician's struggle with more difficult pieces develops his playing skill; and the soul's struggle with the trials of life helps to build character. — Warren W. Wiersbe

We play some smaller songs larger than they are the record, and vice versa. It took me a while to get used to playing live. — Iron & Wine

I didn't start to collect records and listen to guitar players properly until I went to art school, when I'd already been playing for five years. So my style was already formed, and that's why I think it's so unique. — Pete Townshend

I don't think my playing style has really changed over the years; it's just gotten better. I can hear the improvement in comparing older records and later records. I'm referring to soloing ability, to having a better sound, to knowing chords better, and getting rhythmically stronger. It also has to do with ideas - learning how to edit your ideas and being better able to follow ideas out to a logical conclusion. — Gary Bartz

It is difficult for young players to learn - because of the great emphasis on records - but, ideally, the joy and frustration of sport should come from the performance itself, not the score. While he is playing, the worst thing a player can think about in terms of concentration - and therefore of success - is losing. The next worst is winning. — John Wooden

If you're in music, you're in music, and if you're in music you just want to keep making records and playing. That's what it's about, isn't it? At least, that's what I always thought it was about, anyway. — Paul Weller

When I started playing music, people weren't selling 5 million records. That was not the standard; that was not the focus. — Prince

My mother was the only one who encouraged and inspired me for singing. She was singing all the time in the house, playing records also. — Bonnie Tyler

Traditionally, when we lived here [in Portland], we have a record player in the living room, and there's lots of stuff playing, all different kinds of music. I don't listen to any of those Internet radio things. I have iTunes on my thing, but I've never bought a single thing on it. Except for "Call Me Maybe," for the kids or whatever. Carly Rae Jepsen. — Stephen Malkmus

I live for playing live. All my records are live, since After the Gold Rush, with the exception of Trans and the vocals on Landing on Water. — Neil Young

I learned how to play guitar by playing along to Jane's Addiction records and Smashing Pumpkins records, things you can totally hear if you listen to my guitar. — Chino Moreno

Playing along with records is key. And as far as equipment goes it has gotten so much more affordable and the drum sets are of great quality. I play Pearl; their Export Series is great for a beginner. — Chad Smith

Sometimes a radio station will get ONE phone call from ONE person who screams that he is going to complain to the FCC. Instead of the guy at the stating thinking about how many listeners love the song, want to hear it again, and will support the station for playing it, usually the guy panics
and takes my records off the air. I object that.
It has never mattered to me that thirty million people might think 'I'm wrong.' The number of people who thought Hitler was 'right' did not make him 'right.' The same principle should be applied to anyone who has an individualistic attitude. Why do you necessarily have to be wrong just because a few million people think you are? — Frank Zappa

My school music teacher, Al Bennest, introduced me to jazz by playing Louis Armstrong's record of "West End Blues" for me. I found more jazz on the radio, and began looking for records. My paper route money, and later, money I earned working after school in a print shop and a butcher shop went toward buying jazz records. I taught myself the alto saxophone and the drums in order to play in my high school dance band. — Bill Crow

Man, you'd be surprised how much I'm learning - not only about myself, but about the musicians who came before me. You don't realize at first when you listen to Armstrong's records how great this man was and how hard that Hot Five music was to play. After the experience of reading and playing those parts, I have an even greater respect for Louis Armstrong than before — Freddie Hubbard

You don't often get a chance to record with the other actors who are playing the characters, mainly due to the fact that you don't have to, the actors' schedules are all over the place, and it's difficult to get everyone in the same room. — Elijah Wood

People who love our record love us even more when they hear us live?playing live is what it is all about and that is our main focus. — Jeff Martin

Playing shows and making records keeps been getting easier and more fun. — Jonathan Richman

In the years between 2000 and 2004, I always got the feeling that people were just starting to hear about me, and they were all late to the game. I'd be out playing shows for records that I recorded back in 1999 that were just coming out. — Ariel Pink

I don't look at records, that's not why I'm playing the game. Goals, of course. Every player in my position wants to score goals. But most of all, trophies. My target is always to win trophies for Barcelona, and that will always be my motivation, to win things. Nothing feels better than doing that as a team. — Lionel Messi

The last two records I liked playing a lot. — Kim Gordon

I think my first impression (of Bix Beiderbecke) was the lasting one. I remember very clearly thinking, 'Where, what planet, did this guy come from? Is he from outer space?' I'd never heard anything like the way he played-not in Chicago, no place. The tone-he had this wonderful, ringing cornet tone. He could have played in a symphony orchestra with that tone. But also the intervals he played, the figures-whatever the hell he did. There was a refinement about his playing. You know, in those days I played a little trumpet, and I could play all the solos from his records, by heart. — Benny Goodman

American baseball, by luck, trial, and error, and since the famous playing rules council of 1889, had struck on an almost perfect balance between offense and defense, and it was that balance, in fact, that and the accountability - the beauty of the records system which found a place to keep forever each least action - that had led Henry to baseball as his final great project. — Robert Coover

It's hard if you're just touring constantly. It's like, "What am I going to write about? I'm in the van, I'm playing another show ... " I'm still writing about heartbreak that happened years ago. I don't see the point of writing and putting out another record until I can do something else. — Sharon Van Etten

What we're doing now, it's usually more based on records that I've bought or a projection of what I can do well now and the inner dynamics of playing with the people I'm playing with, Janet Weiss and Joanna Bolme, what we come up with. What works for us doesn't, like, have that much relation to the past. — Stephen Malkmus

I also hope that with the assistance and expertise of Dome Records, that I will be able to further pierce the UK and European market. I really like playing there and I want to do more! I've found that the audiences get quite involved and really listen to what's happening. — George Duke

I go to clubs and if I notice the DJs are playing the records faster, then I'll push the beats a little on the next record I make. A lot of people don't know how to watch out for things like that. — Jermaine Dupri

People used to make records, as in the record of an event, the event of people playing music in a room, and now everything's cross-marketing, its about sunglasses and shoes, or guns and drugs that you choose. — Ani DiFranco

Aqualung was a difficult and very tense album to record ... while I was playing the solo, Jimmy Page walked into the control room and started waving, I thought, should I wave back and mess up the solo or should I just grin and carry on ? ... I just grinned — Martin Barre

I remember I did quite a lot of interviews when the book and the CD came out, and I did a drivetime interview for Radio London or something. You wouldn't immediately associate the music on Ocean Of Sound with drivetime radio, but people found things that they liked, and the DJ was playing some records at 5 o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday.The man who was playing them said to me, "That Peter Brotzmann track, it's like having your head boiled in acid." — David Toop

I just kinda like playing. I don't necessarily go on tour to promote my albums. I'm on the road all the time. The fact that I have a new record is out is a coincidence. — David Sanborn

I've always spent a lot of time on my records with what I think were unique rhythmic approaches ... but no one ever writes about your rhythm playing — Joe

I guess I probably took New York for granted. Growing up, playing in the street, going down to the Avenue to the record store and to the grocery store and stuff like that. — Noah Baumbach

I started off playing the clarinet, after I was inspired by listening to my dad's Benny Goodman records. — Alvin Lee

My band is the best band in the world, period. So, I insist on every song being better then it is on the record. So by the end of the tour, we have to be playing the song better then how it's recorded. — Ben Harper

My mum loved Joan Armatrading and used to play her records all the time and even took me to see her a couple of times when I was really quite young. I didn't really like her music back then because my mum was always playing it, but I've grown to appreciate it more. — Katy B

(As a boy) I was listening to Sonny Boy Williamson's (I) records and I would close my eyes and I could visualize myself playing the harp. — Junior Wells

Our Victrola stood in the diningroom. I was allowed to climb onto the seat of a diningroom chair to wind it, start the record turning, and set the needle playing. In a second I'd jumped to the floor, to spin or march around the room as the music called for - now there were all the other records I could play too. I skinned back onto the chair just in time to lift the needle at the end, stop the record and turn it over, then change the needle. Winding up, dancing, being cocked to start and stop the record, was of course, all in one the act of listening. Movement must be at the very heart of listening. — Eudora Welty

My dad is a huge folk music fan, so growing up, there were always records playing in my house. Carole King, James Taylor, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles - I grew up with this music, and I was aware of how special this music was to a lot of people. — Jake Epstein

They were playing old Bob Dylan, more than perfect for narrow Village streets close to Christmas and the snow whirling down in big feathery flakes, the kind of winter where you want to be walking down a city street with your arm around a girl like on the old record cover — Donna Tartt

Partying means drinking. It also means playing records by Lou Reed and Chicago, which I thought was a city but is also a band it turns out. — Ron Currie Jr.

If you're successful in what you do over a period of time, you'll start approaching records, but that's not what you're playing for. You're playing to challenge and be challenged. — Lou Brock

I've played with so many people that I never really noticed that I was playing with so many people until after it was compiled on the Internet. I just kept going. I haven't even heard half the records I've played on, to tell you the truth. — Harvey Mason Jr.

I remember one time - it might have been a couple times - at the Fillmore East in 1970, I was opening for this sorry-ass cat named Steve Miller. Steve Miller didn't have his shit going for him, so I'm pissed because I got to open for this non-playing motherfucker just because he had one or two sorry-ass records out. So I would come late and he would have to go on first and then we got there we smoked the motherfucking place, everybody dug it. — Miles Davis

So, it just seemed like it happened naturally. We nailed our live show to some extent in a year or about a year and a half, maybe just a year of playing songs pretty much around L.A. then we went and scheduled a mini-tour up-state on the West Coast and that's when the whole Rough Trade [Records] thing started happening and from there, things just happened so quick. It changed really quickly. — Theresa Wayman

I don't think about goals and records. Competition is what keeps me playing. — Lou Brock

We're not ignored by The Guinness Book Of Records, but we've been largely ignored by the media during our lifetime. If you read any article, no mention is ever made of Pink Floyd. We're never included in the same sentences as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who. I wrote 'The Wall' as an attack on stadium rock - and there's Pink Floyd making money out of it by playing it in stadiums! Pathetic. They spoiled my creations. — Roger Waters

No one starts playing my kind of music to make a fortune. But I do want to keep doing what I do and I do want to continue selling records. And I would, eventually, quite like some money. — Laura Marling

I think that where it came from and the initial birth of it - it did come out of a jam at Bruno's studio, you know? He was playing drums. And Jeff Bhasker, who co-produced the record with us, is on synths, and I was playing bass. — Mark Ronson

Most of the EDM tracks right now are not very musical, they have one note that keeps playing. You really don't need to be a musician to do records like this, so I think me playing guitar for so many years and listening to rock 'n' roll and real music helps me when I work with vocalists like Lana Del Ray and Miley Cyrus. — Cedric Gervais

I would get records by Earl Scruggs ... I would tune my banjo down and I'd pick out the songs note by note. Learned how to play that way. I persevered. There was a book written by Pete Seeger, who showed you some basic strumming and some basic picking ... And I kind of worked out my own style of playing. — Steve Martin

The alternate media are becoming important and viable alternatives to playing live. Records, videos, that kind of thing. They're going to start to count for something. Because there's only a limited amount of us-time available to us. — Jerry Garcia