GreatQuotes:

One of my favorite features in bass magazines & the likes is the the little gems of wisdom that can be extracted from the interviews. Sometimes one little sentence I read can forever change the way I approach my instrument, my music & life in general. With that in mind, here's several lifetimes' worth of wisdom, in concentrated form:

"Only become a musician if there is absolutely no other way you can make a living."

- Kirke Mecham

"Something ugly can be beautiful; something pretty never can."

(Unknown)

"It's been my experience that great musicians become great not because they want to beat other musicians in popularity contests, but because they want to satisfy their own aesthetic standards. I've also found that those motivated primarily by competition tend to limit themselves artistically - and they tend to become obnoxious."

- David Hungate
Nashville Session Bassist, Bass Player Magazine Columnist & Poll Winner
From his column "Nashville Notes", Bass Player Magazine, February 1997

"Successful communities will be those that drive forward by looking through the windshield and not the rearview mirror."

- Andy Kerr
Author & Conservationist
In his book: Oregon Desert Guide

"Whatever the situation or level you're playing at, my feeling is you've got to be a strong player. Bass is a strong instrument; you can't allow yourself to play it weakly, with no authority. You've got to play with an attitude, because everybody's listening to the bass - and I dare anyone to challenge me on that..."

- Chuck Rainey
Studio legend (Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, etc...)
In an interview in Bass Player Magazine, February, 1997

"Are you a prover or are you a groover?"

(unknown)

"The best grooves have conversations going on, like little subtleties that kick them up to the next level and add excitment. Simplicity is what make you tap into that, because when you leave space, you listen... When you hear what everyone else is doing you can answer them."

- Chris Wood
Bassist for Medeski, Martin & Wood, and John Scofield
In an interview in Bass Player Magazine, October 1998

"It's amazing, but I don't even bother to tune up my bass anymore. One of the nicest compliments Joan Armatrading paid me was when she said Pino Palladino and I were the only two fretless bass players who could play in tune. I didn't tell her I wasn't actually tuning the bass at the time - I probably would've been off the session!"

- Mick Karn
Solo artist & bassist for the group "Japan"
In an interview in Bass Player Magazine, January 1996

"Funk to me is where I came from; it's the way I grew up. It's even deeper than the music. It's the way we communicated; actually the way we lived. It's like ten people in a small room and it's 110 degrees outside and there's no air conditioner. It's when the bill collector comes and you don't have any money to pay. It's when you've had as much as you can take and you can't take no more. What do you do? Funk it. That's when you grow into the funk.

- Bootsy Collins
In an interview in Bass Player Magazine, December 1998

"I never heard him play a note he didn't mean..."

- Dave Pomeroy, of his late fellow Nashville bassist, Roy Huskey, Jr.
From his column in Bass Player Magazine