Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I aim to inspire a bunch of female guitar players to get out there and take it seriously and never give up.
Sometimes I want to hear something fun to cook or bake to; other times, I need specific songs to to lift me up.
Success has been a gradual thing; it hasn't been overnight. So I appreciate everything and never take it for granted.
I play a PRS Custom 22. I learned on a Custom 24. It was set for a country guitarist, so it had a really high action.
When I was around 11, my dad took me to see Santana live, and then I got 'Sacred Fire,' and everything changed for me.
At school I had a really hard time being a guitar player. It’s like being a male ballerina in a way. It’s not the norm.
It's a guy thing, playing the guitar. Being a female and trying to go to the same auditions as the guys, it's pretty hard.
I think it is so great when artists use their voice to help other people and it is really great to be a part of the benefit.
A great guitar solo is really a song within a song. You can always go off and do your pageantry, but it has to be structured.
You want a solo to be structured, a song within a song, but you want it to sound like it's the first time you're playing it, too.
My dad is a guitar player with huge vinyl record collection. I loved listening to his albums, especially Cream and The Yardbirds.
I think if you can get the right bunch of people together, and you're in the room and it just feels right, then the music will come.
Sometimes I write from personal experience, but so much depends on what mood I'm in. If I'm in a good mood, I'll write happier songs.
This PRS is perfect for anyone who wants an awesome quality, versatile, rockin' guitar at an affordable price. I love it; try it out!
I think you can hear the Delta blues thing in something like the intro to 'Heaven in This Hell,' which has that down-home acoustic riff.
It's hard to solo when you're walking around, especially when you're in Michael Jackson's presence. There are easier things in life to do.
It was pretty insane to play the Grammy Awards and looking out in the audience and seeing rock royalty - Bono and Paul McCartney. It was crazy.
Working with Michael Jackson was awesome. He was an incredible entertainer, dancer, singer, magician, everything, and he was really sweet, too.
You have to think outside the box. The world is changing every day, the music industry is so different but I think the more creative you are the better.
My outlook on life is to keep looking up. If you're looking down, you don't see the light. For me, it's all about embracing that and thinking positively.
There's a lot of players I look up to, and I hope that I can be a role model to young female guitar players. Hopefully they can believe in themselves more.
If somebody likes your videos, they're gonna tell their friends. They're gonna send e-mails about you, and before you know it, your name is getting around.
It's such a great feeling being able to play shows for a great cause to help people in need. If we all try to help one another the world will be a much better place.
All of my solos are blues based. Even though a lot of my songs get into pop, I wind up going back to the blues. Trying to escape it is like trying to run from the devil.
I had two roosters at one point ,and that was pretty noisy. Our neighbors didn't like us very much. They would crow at the same time. That's why we had them in soundproof kennels.
I was inspired to play electric guitar from listening to a lot of Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and B.B. King, and that's always been the kind of music that I gravitate toward.
I was contacted through MySpace to come and jam out for Michael Jackson. I thought it was a joke. I forwarded it to my manager, and it actually was legitimate, so I went the next day.
I wanted to have all the songs to be the strongest they could be and all the choruses to be catchy. One of those records you could put in your car and just drive and not have to change it.
My dad is actually an amazing guitarist, and he always had an incredible record collection, which is how I discovered things like Jimi Hendrix and Santana. I'll always be grateful for that.
The song could start with a riff that I base the song around. Or a chord progression or a melody I have, I just write a story about it. Lyric-wise, it's cool to have someone else's input too.
In 2007, when I first moved to Los Angeles, I got a call from Prince, and he had been watching my YouTube videos. It was crazy, because I thought it was my friend calling and pretending to be Prince.
I got to work with [Carlos] Santana, who's been my idol forever. When I was 18, I got up with him in Australia and jammed with him. That was an amazing moment because I got up in front of my hometown crowd.
I think some people are born to Entertain. They just have those personalities and they are great at it. Their forte isn't singing so they use auto tune, etc... But they have a lot of talent in entertaining.
I'm lucky that my family is musical. Music was encouraged. So when I saw Carlos Santana play and decided to really pursue the electric guitar in earnest, it was OK. My parents knew I was going to go for it.
You go with what you 'get,' and I get playing the guitar. It's a challenge because it's not an easy instrument to play. There are so many interesting sounds you can make out of it and so many different elements. I dig it.
I've seen some female players, and they get up there and play an A chord and leave... and it's not a good representation. You can take it seriously and love it as much as a guy loves it, not just to get up there and pose.
I get really excited about collaborating because by the end of the day you have something that you never thought you'd have. I was really happy about writing "Bad News" and a bunch of other stuff on the record that came out so well.
I just love food and the art of it. There's such an art to being a good chef and the way you present food and the different ingredients you use. It's like music - you get inspiration from different genres. It's the same with art, too.
Eric Clapton was such a great player. He sounds like he's Freddie King or someone like that. He plays the roots of blues and Delta blues. He really affected me with the way that he plays, because he never really plays that many notes.
When you're up on stage, especially being a female guitar player in a male-dominated field, if they just see you're into it, and it's your passion, and you're just giving it your all - it's not, like, an accessory - then it's all cool.
My dad used to listen to Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, and my mom liked Michael Bolton and Roy Orbison. She was pretty big into country music, too. So there was a wealth of music being played in the house, and I kind of took it all in.
My parents went out of their way for me ever since I left school. When I was 15, I said to Mum, 'I'm leaving school,' and she was like, 'Okay.' I joined a cover band and played three nights a week, and they were really supportive of that.
Girls are supposed to sing. It's the guys' thing to play the guitar. Crossing the line is kind of like trying to be a male ballerina. But if you work long and hard enough, are really passionate about it, people will finally shut up and listen.
I've always looked for ways to inspire people, especially young people, to play guitar. When I first saw Fretlight, I immediately connected with the vision. Today's kids expect technology to help them on their journey, and that's exactly what Fretlight does.
Being promoted as a bubble-gum type artist that has one hit and it's all over is not something I want to do. I want a long career. I want to continue to play guitar and have as much guitar in there as possible in a commercial song without being too indulgent.
Being a female guitar player back in school wasn't great, and I had to change schools so many times. The male drummers and bass players thought it was cool, but male guitar players said, 'It's a guy's thing. You should be doing something else, like playing the harp.'
I'd like to be able to get more girls to play guitar. I think with a girl playing electric guitar, sometimes it's seen a bit like a guy doing ballet. All the people I learned guitar from have been guys. There are some great female players, like Bonnie Raitt and Jennifer Batten, but very few.
Playing Michael Jackson's memorial service was one of the hardest things to do because it was literally a few days after he had passed, and Kenny Ortega, who was directing it all, was like 'You're gonna come out and sing.' So not only was I completely shaken up, I didn't know how I was gonna get through it.
I swear that he is an alien. There is something about his phrasing that is so unpredictable and cool. It makes you wonder where it came from. I wish I could play like that. I listen to Jeff Beck and think, 'Bloody hell!' The way that Jeff Beck and his band play together is just amazing. Yeah, those guys definitely come from another planet.
I like rock and roll t-shirts, tight jeans, and sneakers or boots. Really just laid back, sort of rock and roll. I'm a sneaker person. I don't really like to wear high heels. I'm always really paranoid when I'm on stage playing guitar that I'm going to trip over one of the cords when I'm prancing around so I have on wedges or shoes that are not too high.