Tommy Bolin Quotations

If you're not having fun it's not worth doing.

I replaced Walsh, I replaced Blackmore, now I just gotta be me.

I think the way I play the guitar is very percussive. I play a lot of rhythm chops as though I were playing congas or something.

I started on drums when I was 13 and played them for two years. Then I went to guitar for a year, played keyboards for a year and a half, and went back to guitar.

How do you stop somebody from growing?

For me, practice isn't doing scales but doing things like writing, jamming with other people, or playing gigs.

I used to listen a lot to Rolling Stones records and play along with them when I was first starting. It's a good way to learn, jamming around basic music.

I used to try and take things in leaps and bounds. Now I've realized it's got to be step by step.

Blues teaches you to develop coherent solos, because the form you're playing over is so basic. You have to develop leads that go someplace.

All the different styles I've played have really helped me as a guitarist and helped me develop my own way of playing.

I'll play drums a lot at home, and it will help my wrist action.

A lot of times I wish I would have learned to read music, but I'm very impatient.

My family were all musicians. I really wasn't interested in school or anything.

My first joint I smoked onstage in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I smoked my first joint live.

A lot of things just got distorted, like stories about each other. After the tour we never talked. I believe a band should be a band.

Right now I feel so inspired, it's hard to believe. I've written about 20 songs in the last two days. I'd gone about four months without writing a thing.

The best money I made was panhandling.

When I first colored my hair, my mother loved it. I got kicked out of school when I was 15, just for my hair.

When I'm with Purple, I'm totally with Purple; when I'm doing my thing, I'm totally doing my own thing.

I blew my voice out and the doctor said, don't even talk for a week.

I'd rather work than not.

I have my own style, but it's different for each kind of music. There are certain little characteristic things every player has.

I just started off on my own by learning the regular chords then the barre chords. Then I'd lean the notes that would go with them.

I can't see. I used to wear glasses off stage. Now I'm thinking of getting a pair of contract lenses.

I don't like English bands. They're too structured.

When I got to LA and was with the James Gang, I got the opportunity to write a lot, to play in front of large audiences, make some money.

I learned a lot about lead; you don't have to blow your cookies in the first bar. It is much harder to be simple that to be complicated during solos.

I want the new band to work together for a while, and when we're ready we'll invite every major record company to see us.

When you come from the Midwest, you have a more open mind than if you come from the West Coast or the East Coast.

Lots of times it really doesn't matter what notes you play, but what notes come before and after a run.

Once I was playing and moving around and I fell right on my back. Just straight on my back. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

You're in direct contact with the music by having the strings under your fingers. It's not mechanical like a piano.

I can't do anything but play guitar.

I came in with a completely new perspective. I would write songs and they would pick tunes they felt were in the Purple vein.

I'll hear something in my head, then eventually play it. But it's a subconscious thing. Most of the time I really don't know what I'm playing.