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Our most favoured guitar idols are often people that inspire us with their musical ability and guitar prowess. Their songs often speak to us and tell us that we should try and pick the guitar up, whether it be to emulate some of our favourites or to start our own band or write our own music with our very own style. But it isn’t just the music that inspires us to create our own music, sometimes, when they are not getting wasted, sleeping with groupies or taking drugs, guitarists can say some pretty awe inspiring things.

So what are the best guitarists quotes ever? Well here’s a little list I have compiled to help you become better guitarists:

1) Keith Richards - ”Guitar is easy, all it takes is 5 strings, 3 notes, 2 fingers and one arsehole” – Richards hit the nail on the head with this quote. Lots of guitarists are cocky, arrogant arseholes, but they’re bloody brilliant at it. Richards was referring to the songs he plays in open G tuning without the bottom E.

2) John Lennon - ”I can’t play guitar, but I can sure make it howl.” – This is my favourite quote from John Lennon. It was given in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine and just sums up the whole philosophy of guitar, and more generally, music. It also shows that even John Lennon, considered as one of the greatest musicians that ever lived, thought that he could improve his own guitar ability. We can take a lot from this as we can constantly improve our skills.

3) Pete Townshend – “I played guitar for ten years before I realised it wasn’t a weapon.” – This quote is a very funny quote by Pete, looking back on his early days with The Who where, during gigs, he would constantly smash his guitar on the stage. I don’t think anything else could be read into this, maybe he didn’t think his playing was as good in the earlier days.

4) Slash - ”It’s not so much about how good a player you are, its how cool you are.” – This sort of sums Slash up. He is the coolest guitarist that ever lived and also one of the best.

5) Eric Clapton - ”It’s been very important throughout my career that I’ve met all the guys I’ve copied, because at each stage they’ve said, don’t play like me, play like you.” – A great little quote from olde slowhand himself about how important it is to play with your own original style. I also like the fact that he had guitar Gods that he looked up to, it makes it seem all more possible for us average guys.

6) B.B King - ”Playing guitar is like telling the truth. You never have to worry about repeating the same lie if you told the truth. You don’t have to pretend or cover up. If someone asks you again you don’t have to think about it or worry about it. It’s you.” – I love this quote. Its not like a normal arrogant guitarists quote. Its true. If you’re true to yourself and to you’re guitaring then you have nothing to hide.

7) Hendrix – “Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you’ll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded.” – This is such a humbling quote from a modest man. Its comforting to know that Jimi himself struggled to get motivated to play the guitar at times, but he carried on with it and was soon the best guitarist anyone had ever seen.

8 ) Jett – “My Guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am.” – I like this quote for a number of reasons. The first being that the guitar is part of who she is. I can see this as I just wouldn’t be me if I had never payed the guitar. The second thing I love about this quote is that it reiterates that music is universal. There are no boundaries when playing the guitar. Be it Black or White, Male or Female, Gay or Straight, Fat or Thin.

9) Beck – “Some people are sceptical. My Mum thought that the guitar would fizzle out in two weeks, that it was just a fad – and that was in 1958.” – This quote shows what many thought about guitar at the time, and how the guitar has lasted past lots of expectations.

10) Johnson – “My best songs came from making a lot of mistakes and a lot of garbage.” – Eric Johnson proving that you don’t have to be technically brilliant to be a good guitar player.

So there it is. The top 10 guitar quotes ever. Feel free to add some of you’re own in the comments section. It would be good to hear some new ones.

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