George Benson Quotes

The greatest teacher is just going out and playing.

I have been doing music all my life so everyday when I get up I expect music will be part of it.

The melody is the most important thing that must stay in the minds of the people who listen to you. No matter how many notes you play, you can't let them forget what the song is.

Larry Carlton is an incredibly versatile guitarist who has been a major force for guitar for many years. He is easily recognizable - all you have to do is hear him once and from that point on you'll be a fan, just like me. It gives me great pleasure to extend congratulations to Larry on his 2011 George Benson Lifetime Achievement Award. Congratulations !

Never give up on a good thing, never give up, never give up!

I spent a lot of time teaching myself theory and harmony so I could be free to express myself on the instrument.

The less one remembers about the day before, the more the new day will be unfettered by triviality.

As my career has progressed, I've had the pleasure of playing with the baddest jazz cats on the planet. But that doesn't change my desire to entertain folks. That's really who I am.

Love songs are one of the great essences of life, the only thing thats lasting.

The first time I tried to sing along with my guitar, everybody in the studio booed. They all said it wouldn't work.

No matter what they take from me, they can't take away my dignity.

You might not feel like playing pretty all the time. Instead, you might want to play something nasty....you might want to play something out of context with the tune. It might be a note that creates so much tension it becomes unpleasant, but you want it to sound that way.

The greatest guitar player in the world today for me is Paco de Lucia, who is actually Spanish.

Of course we've lost so many superstars who've made jazz what it is. We've lost so many musicians who created new things and changed the way we think about music and who took jazz to a new level. So jazz is suffering from that. But we still have a lot of incredible people playing jazz in the world. We have a lot of people leading the way.

I listen to other guitar players, yeah. It gives me new concepts and shows me where the instrument is going for the future and it is going some places. There are some musicians who are really putting out a good vibe with new theories. I try and keep up.

Lenny Breau dazzled me with his extraordinary guitar playing... I wish the world had the opportunity to experience his artistry.

People who love jazz musicians love us when we play what we want to play and we're starving. But as soon as you commercialize your sound like Wes Montgomery did, the jazz fans and the critics are down on you!

My whole career from the early 70s on has been mind-blowing. I didn't imagine in my life that I would ever be considered a guitar player first of all because I started off as a singer.

I've had the pleasure of playing with the baddest Jazz cats on the planet.

Guitar gigs were everywhere in the '50s, and I started diddling around so I could keep working. Playing honky-tonk, simple stuff. I took a few gigs with an organ band that put me out front.

There is no finer guitarist than Kenny Burrell

I like Simon Cowell - look at how many great artists have come out of the U.K. because of him.