Robin Trower Quotations

If I could sing, I wouldnt be a guitarist.

When you start believing you're something special, then you're not going to be striving to move forward.

It all comes down to the density of the wood. Every guitar's different.

I feel I've been blessed with a gift of creativity and composition. That's why I've been able to keep going.

I go for as much feeling as I can rather than show what I can do up and down the neck. I don't play to show people ability.

I got a guitar when I was about 14, for a Christmas present, and went from there.

I have short hands. That's why I have to bend up to notes; I can't always reach the frets.

I was very keen on people like Elvis, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Gene Vincent.

I wouldn't count myself as being a true blues guitarist because I feel you have to live it.

I've always been the first to admit that Jimi was a very big influence on my early stuff.

It was an experience being on a Beatles tour. They weren't very good. The singing was great, but the playing was a bit weak.

I go through about two Fender mediums a night because I don't pick straight down; it's sort of sideways, and it shaves them off.

Music has nothing to do with your technical ability.

It's impossible to play a run with as much feeling as a single note. I've never been so much into runs as making single notes cry.

A certain death of an artist is overconfidence.

A wah-wah is important as well. I love it; it makes the guitar scream.

I can't say I feel influenced by today's guitar players.

I don't tend to have a favorite album; I tend to have favorite tracks. There are flaws in every album that spoil it for me.

I think it's a sensible thing not to read your fan mail - not to take it too seriously.

My songs are more arrangements than they are songs.

Radio is commercial, isn't it. Its a business.

I didn't want to get attached to one guitar; I didn't want to have an instrument that was irreplaceable.

I feel that my playing on the first album was probably some of my best.

I have done some things that I'm very proud of. I don't think you can say any more than that, really.

I think the fundamental part of my technique is my vibrato.

When I was a little kid, I was very impressed with Elvis.

The first real thing I heard was Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King. That's where it all began for me.

People often say very, very nice, complimentary things. But I think it's better if you don't take that too much to heart.

If you feel people getting on about what you are doing, it gives you a lift.

If all you've got is somebody else's stuff that you've lifted, nothing really deep, then it is going to thin out.

I've got very strong hands from playing for many years.

I will obviously take on board everything from my past, I always do.

I use a combination of all my influences on my albums.

I remember the snow in Canada and the lovely weather in New Zealand. And I slightly remember going to school there.

I don't tend to stand still for very long.

I didn't sit down and work out other people's material; I've never believed in that.

I can't imagine ever going back to working with somebody else.

During my early period I had custom-made overdrive stuff because I didn't like what they were making at the time.

If you want to do rock and roll, forget about those who've come after '65.

There's more power in the simpler things, I think.

The States still has the best audiences by far.

The guitar part is the pivot of everything we do, so if you change the guitar part you no longer have what it is.

The BBC, during its 24 hours on the air, plays a very wide range of stuff. And it's not commercial.

Once you start copying other people's licks, you begin thinking they're yours. Doing that's just an easy way out.

Once I've settled on something I'll stay with that at least throughout the whole tour.

Oddly enough, Hendrix is not my favorite guitar player. There are very few guitar players I get feeling from.

My energy flagged because of heavy cold but the guys took up the slack.

It's great to have something you can be proud of.

There are no plans to do any more live stuff. I really feel like there's enough live shows out there.

It gives me a good feeling to know that people out there really care.

To me there's a definite way of doing a song. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't have done it that way in the first place.

The ability to make music is a gift that you're born with; it's not something you can learn.

While I was with Procol Harum, the only time I'd see my guitar was either when I walked onstage or in the studio.

The first real thing I heard was Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King. That's where it all began for me.