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Guitarists love to talk about their instrument, from witty quips and puns to profound
expressions of a poetic bent. We have collected some of the more common classical guitar
sayings and, hopefully, a few uncommon classical guitar quotations as well. If you know
of any sayings about guitar, particularly classical guitar quotes, please share them with us.
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“Sometimes when I play the guitar, I feel like I am dancing
with God. And although I step on her toes from time to time, she is content to
let me lead.”
-Anonymous
"Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar, save perhaps
two.”
-Fredric Chopin
“All the worst things happen in the best works, and the
worst music appears to be all streaked through with the most luscious
bits”
- Bernard Van Dieren
“(I was) my own teacher and pupil, and thanks to the efforts
of both, they were not discontented with each other.”
- Andres Segovia
“The guitar is a wonderful instrument which is understood by
few.”
- Franz Schubert
“The [guitar is the] instrument most complete and richest in
its harmonic and polyphonic possibilities.”
- Manuel de Falla
“I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant
companion in all my travels.”
- Nicolo Paganini
“If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the
critics know it; three days, the public knows it.”
- Jascha Heifetz
“Yes, we three were so happy, my wife, my guitar and
me!”
- Big Bill Broonzy
“A guitar has moonlight in it.”
- James M. Cain
“My guitar, I sing of thee
‘Tis with thee that I
decoy
And ensnare enchantingly
the ladies I enjoy.”
- Pierre de Ronsard
“Electric guitars are an abomination, whoever heard of an
electric violin? An electric cello? Or for that matter an electric
singer?”
- Andres Segovia
“The turning point in the history of western civilization
was reached with the invention of the electric guitar.”
- Lene Sinclair
“Take but degree away, untune that string, and hark, what
discord follows!”
- William Shakespeare
“It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one,
better to perform one than listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse
it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisition of
‘culture’.”
- John Cage
The harmonious efforts which our guitarists produce
unconsciously represent one of the marvels of natural art.”
- Manuel de Falla
“Never having thought of writing for the guitar, I asked
Julian Bream for a chart which would explain what the guitar could do. I managed
to write some rather pretty pieces for him, except that the first six notes of
the first piece all need to be played on open strings. So when he begins to play
the audience will probably think he’s tuning the bloody thing
up!”
- William Walton
The following quotes are either unsourced or a little
dated (read ‘sexist’).
“If a lute player lives to be 100, he spends 99 years tuning
and one year playing.”
“It is not the water that wears down the stone but the
unceasing relentlessness of the individual drops.”
“Guitarists spend half their time tuning and the other half
playing out of tune.”
“To use a woman or a guitar, one must know how to tune
them.”
- Spanish Proverb
“The guitar… is like a lady, but one to whom the saying
“look at me but do not touch me” does not apply; and its rose is quite different
from a real rose, since it will not wither however much it is touched with the
hands, and moreover, if it is plucked by the hands of a skilled master, it will
produce in them ever- new bouquets which delight the ear with their sonorous
fragrances.”
- Gaspar Sanz
“One must make of one’s fingers well drilled
soldiers.”
- Fernando Sor
“To play the guitar well is easy, to play the guitar poorly
is difficult.”
- Pepe Romero
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