Ritchie Blackmore Quotes


"If a ballet dancer falls over, it's knowing how to get out looking clumsy that counts."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Ballet)

"If you can play well in the studio, you can play well on stage."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Play)

"Jimi... He was the gov'nor and that's it. He was brilliant, wasn't he?"
- Ritchie Blackmore
"Johnny Winter is one of the best blues players in the world. He's very underrated."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Winter, World)

"Learning to play with a big amplifier is like trying to control an elephant."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Control, Learning, Play, Trying)

"Pete Townshend used to crash chords and let the guitar feed back. He's overrated."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Guitar)

"Playing a Fender is an art itself. They're always going out of tune."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Art)

"Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and I wanted to be a hard rock band - we wanted to play rock and roll only."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Play)

"The cello is such a melancholy instrument, such an isolated, miserable instrument."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Melancholy)

"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
(Related: Work)

"Those record companies don't know what's happening at all."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"What's the point of re-releasing an album? The original sounded good, why change something about it?"
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Change)

"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
(Related: Play, Song)

"When something is not good, it's bad. Period."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"When you're around someone good, your own standards are raised."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"When you're recording, if you're not really clean in your playing, it sounds like a mess."
- 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
(Related: Day, End, Feeling, Waiting, Years)

"Everything I do is usually totally spontaneous."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"Simplicity is the key."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Key, Simplicity)

"I can never remember what I do even in the studio."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"I can do the old hand vibrato just fine, but I like attacking the strings."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Old)

"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
(Related: Attention)

"I can imagine that Rod Stewart likes giving autographs because he's pure showbusiness."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Giving)

"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 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
(Related: Jazz)

"I criticize my own work pretty harshly."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Work, Pretty)

"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."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Car, Guitar)

"I don't see myself as such an important guitarist."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"I don't use the twang bar anymore. It's become too popular."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Popular)

"I feel like I own the stage."
- 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
(Related: Attitude)

"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
(Related: Guitar, Hearing, Interest)

"I'm not good enough, technically, to be a classic musician. I lack discipline."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Discipline)

"I was impressed by Hendrix. His attitude was brilliant. Even the way he walked was amazing."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Attitude)

"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
(Related: Class)

"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
(Related: Want)

"I have never met one person who likes Grand Funk."
- Ritchie Blackmore
"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."
- Ritchie Blackmore
(Related: Love, Music, Thought, Play)

"I'm not into that Keith Richard trip of having all those guitars in different tunings. I never liked the Rolling Stones much anyway."
- 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
(Related: Life, Guitar)