Love playing guitar and want some uplifting quotes from successful musicians?
So we’ve got a bunch of quotes from great artists that will help you pursue your passion for music.
The process of learning a new skill often draws surprising advantages and guitar learning is no different.
Apart from the benefit of being able to play an instrument, you would be surprised by the physical and psychological benefits that can be linked with it.
These motivational lines will give you the urge and desire to continue your love for music.
Read the full collection below.
And don’t forget to check out these Eddie Van Halen quotes.
Best Guitar Quotes by Famous Guitarists
1. “A guitar is like an old friend that is there with me.” – B.B. King
2. “I’ve been imitated so well I’ve heard people copy my mistakes.” – Jimi Hendrix
3. “If you wanna write a song, ask a guitar.” – Neil Young
4. “Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.” – Jimi Hendrix
5. “Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.” – Eddie Van Halen
6. “Whenever I get down on my playing, I just bend a note, shake it and listen…” – Dimebag Darrell
7. “I’m just a guitarist in a kick-ass rock and roll band. What more could I ask for?” – Eddie Van Halen
8. “Music is the one thing that has been consistently there for me. It hasn’t let me down.” – Jimmy Page
9. “In playing, I suppose my greatest gift was to express the way I felt or the willingness to express myself.” – Eric Clapton
Famous Guitar Quotes
10. “I like to be quiet and play guitar and just chill.” – Post Malone
11. “My big fear was that my guitar would go out of tune.” – Bob Dylan
12. “I’m not trying to play the guitar. I’m trying to play music.” – Michael Hedges
13. “I’ve got holes in my guitar.” – Dick Dale
14. “I call myself a blues singer, but you ain’t never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.” – B.B. King
15. “Where words fail, music speaks.” – Hans Christian Andersen
16. “The history of music is mortal, but the idiocy of the guitar is eternal.” – Milan Kundera
17. “Guitar playing is just something that came to me and is really second nature now.” – Dave Navarro
18. “The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself.” – Ludwig van Beethoven
19. “I can communicate far better on a guitar than I can through my mouth.” – Jimmy Page
Love for Guitar Quotes
20. “I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant companion in all my travels.” – Nicolo Paganini
21. “If you really love guitar, you’re going to spend every waking hour stroking the thing.” – Frank Zappa
22. “The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar.” – Jimi Hendrix
23. “My first love was the sound of the guitar.” – BozScaggs
24. “I picked up a guitar, and I knew what I wanted to do.” – Stone Gossard
25. “If I could sing, I wouldn’t be a guitarist.” – Robin Trower
26. “My interests are guitars, cars, and vacation. I’ve been playing guitar all my life. My dad was a professional guitarist… I just play for myself.” – Josh Hartnett
27. “Guitar is just something I can do. So much of it now is muscle memory, just instinct.” – St. Vincent
28. “The guitar is the instrument most complete and richest in its harmonic and polyphonic possibilities.” – Manuel de Falla
29. “His heart was like a battered guitar; worn and scuffed from a life spent out on the road, but still capable of bringing forth beautiful music.” – John Mark Green
Importance of Guitar Quotes
30. “Guitars have been the obsession of my life. I first picked one up at the age of four, and I’ve been a guitar junkie ever since.” – Johnny Marr
31. “Life is like a guitar and the combination of chords are called moments. Playing them is the called living the moments.” – Vikrmn
32. “When I have downtime, music is a big part of my life. Not so much singing, but I play the guitar.” – KJ Apa
33. “My life has been a roller coaster ride, but somehow I’ve always been able to land on my feet and still play the guitar.” – Ace Frehley
34. “When you play the 12-string guitar, you spend half your life tuning the instrument and the other half playing it out of tune.” – Pete Seeger
35. “When I’m having a bad day, I pick up my guitar.” – Michelle Branch
36. “The guitar is a wonderful instrument which is understood by few.” – Franz Schubert
37. “Sometimes the nicest thing to do with a guitar is just looking at it.” – Thom Yorke
38. “My guitar playing has not developed as much as I think it could because I never practice. I only play when I’m writing or recording or when I’m playing on tour. When I’m sitting around at home, I never play.” – Juliana Hatfield
39. “Except for a few guitar chords, everything I’ve learned in my life that is of any value I’ve learned from women.” – Glenn Frey
Funny Guitar Quotes
40. “I smash guitars because I like them.” – Pete Townshend
41. “I was the drunk rhythm guitarist who wrote all these weird songs.” – Robert Smith
42. “Guitar is easy, all it takes is 5 fingers, 6 strings, and 1 asshole.” – Keith Richards
43. “Shut up and play your guitar.” – Frank Zappa
44. “To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.” – Eddie Van Halen
45. “This week, I’m a gypsy. Maybe next week it’ll be glitter rock.” – Jimmy Page
46. “I’ve always wanted to smash a guitar over someone’s head. You just can’t do that with a piano.” – Elton John
47. “Give me a guitar, give me a piano, give me a broom and string; I wouldn’t get bored anywhere.” – Keith Richards
48. “Anyone who used more than three chords is just showing off.” – Woody Guthrie
49. “As far as guitar goes, it’s weird to have such a challenging activity in my life for so long—I love it. It kicks my ass every day.” – Vernon Reid
Learning to Play Guitar Quotes
50. “I’d think learning to play the guitar would be very confusing for sighted people.” – Doc Watson
51. “The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
52. “I learned to tune a guitar by ear. That method has served me pretty well.” – Charley Pride
53. “My dad wanted me to play when I was a kid, so I learned to play the guitar. I pursued a career in music because I love it so much, and I enjoy what it does to those who hear it.” – Randy Travis
54. “There’s a weird period of learning how to play guitar where your fingers are constantly messed up a handful.” – Jason Reeves
55. “The guitar is the easiest instrument to play and the hardest to play well.” – Andres Segovia
56. “I started out playing guitar because Jimi Hendrix was my hero, so my roots were really based on Jimi Hendrix and his style of playing.” – Joe Satriani
57. “Practice is a word I don’t use. I used to play. If you play, you get better.” – Tommy Tedesco
58. “That’s the cool thing about the guitar- there’s always more to learn.” – Jim Heath
59. “Guitar playing is both extremely easy for me and extremely difficult for me at the same time.” – Kirk Hammett
Experience Playing Guitar Quotes
60. “I don’t understand why some people will only accept a guitar if it has an instantly recognizable guitar sound. Finding ways to use the same guitar people have been using for 50 years to make sounds that no one has heard before is truly what gets me off.” – Jeff Beck
61. “You couldn’t like someone who liked the guitar.” – Stephen King
62. “Nothing is more beautiful than a guitar. Except, possibly two.” – Frederic Chopin
63. “My guitar is like my best friend. My guitar can get me through anything. If I can sit down and write an amazing song with my guitar about what’s going on in life, then that’s the greatest therapy for me.” – Miley Cyrus
64. “When I was growing up, there were two things that were unpopular in my house. One was me, and the other was my guitar.” – Bruce Springsteen
65. “Guitarists always start in the bedroom.” – Martine Murray
66. “Guitar is a lot like life, it can be strummed gently, or you can play it furiously, either way, all the resonance is temporary.” – Jason Edward Shiffman
67. “I grew up in a world that told girls they couldn’t play rock ‘n’ roll.”- Joan Jett.
68. “Any guitar solo should reflect the music that it’s soloing over and not just be existing in its own sort of little world.” – John Frusciante
69. “The guitar part is the pivot of everything we do, so if you change the guitar part you no longer have what it is.” – Robin Trower
Dedication for Guitar Quotes
70. “A guitar is more than just a sound box… it is part of your soul.” – Manuel Velazquez
71. “One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen.” – Paul McCartney
72. “I dedicated all the time I had to it. The 10-hour workout was just what I put in the magazine at the time, but for me, it was every waking moment.” – Steve Vai
73. “It’s been up to me to inspire me.” – Eric Clapton
74. “I love playing guitar. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really been great at.” – Johnny Winter
75. “Who I am as a guitarist is defined by my failure to become Jimi Hendrix.” – John Mayer
76. “The guitar is like cuisine, and you can’t expect people to eat the same thing all the time.”- Richard Lloyd
77. “The string slices into the skin of his fingers and no matter how tough the calluses, it tears. But this beat is fast and even though his joints are aching, his arm’s out of control like it has a mind of its own, and the sweat that drenches his hair and face seems to smother him, but nothing’s going to stop Tom. He’s aiming for oblivion.” – Melina Marchetta
78. “A guitar riff played on a piano doesn’t come close to the purity of it being played on a guitar, but I faked it enough to get by.” – Barry Mann
79. “The guitar I now have is permanently out in my house, which my wife loves. But now my kids are interested in it. They definitely thought the old man was much cooler once I started playing again.” – Michael Bland Wife
Guitar Quotes on Ambition
80. “Every guitar I own gets used and has its purpose.” – Mark Knopfler
81. “You don’t find a style… a style finds you.” – Keith Richards
82. “We’re musicians. We make music for a living. It’s that simple. Nothing else matters.” – Eddie Van Halen
83. “When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition.” – Eric Clapton
84. “Most people are prisoners, thinking only about the future or living in the past…” – Carlos Santana
85. “I started out as a guitarist in the early ’80s.” – Johnny Depp
86. “Besides being a guitar player, I’m a big fan of the guitar. I love that… instrument.” – Steve Vai
87. “A guitar is just theoretically built wrong. Each string is an interval of fourths, and then the B string is off. Theoretically, that’s not right, all the strings should be off.” – Eddie Van Halen
88. “I think a guitar solo is how my emotion is most freely released because verbal articulation isn’t my strongest communication strength. My wife thinks that I should do interviews by listening to the questions and playing the answer on guitar.” – David Gilmour
89. “The guitar is something you kind of embrace, and the piano is something you kind of when you play it, you sort of push it away. It feels very different.” – Nick Cave
Guitar Quotes on Self Expression and Practice
90. “Guitar is the best form of self-expression I know. Everything else, and I’m just sort of tripping around, trying to figure my way through life.” – Slash
91. “I’m only myself when I have a guitar in my hands.” – George Harrison
92. “With a guitar, I would be able to express the things I felt in sounds.” – William Christopher Handy
93. “Music doesn’t lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” – Jimi Hendrix.
94. “I want every girl in the world to pick up a guitar and start screaming.” – Courtney Love
95. “Soon as I could play one guitar chord and laid my ear upon that wood, I was gone. My soul was sold. Music was everything from then on.” – John Prine
96. “The guitar was my weapon, my shield to hide behind.” – Bryan May
97. “Technically, I’m not a guitar player, all I play is truth and emotion.” – Jimi Hendrix
98. “My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am.” – Joan Jett
99. “If you play acoustic guitar you’re the depressed, sensitive guy.” – Elliott Smith
Guitar Quotes on Having Fun
100. “If there’s a song where there’s a possibility of guitar stuff that would be fun to listen to, go for it. Don’t worry about what anybody thinks.” – Brad Paisley
101. “Relax. Be yourself. Play a lot.” – Joe Satriani
102.“Success is falling nine times and getting up ten times.” – Jon Bon Jovi
103. “Rock ‘n’ roll will never die. There’ll always be some arrogant little brat who wants to make music with a guitar.” – Dave Edmunds
104. “Someone told me the smile on my face gets bigger when I play the guitar.” – Niall Horan
105. “The good thing about playing guitar is that once you’ve strapped it on you can let your stomach out.” – Joe Brown
106. “I don’t read music. I don’t write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.” – James Taylor
107. “I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions.” – B.B. King
108. “Your sound is in your hands as much as anything. It’s the way you pick, and the way you hold the guitar, more than it is the amp or the guitar you use.” – Stevie Ray Vaughan
109. “Guitar playing isn’t really for everybody.” – Brad Paisley
Guitar Quotes on Passion
110. “For me, I think the only danger is being too much in love with guitar playing. The music is the most important thing and the guitar is only the instrument.” – Jerry Garcia
111. “There are secrets hiding inside this six-string just waitin’ for somebody to find ‘em and turn ‘em into music.” – Brenda Sutton Rose
112. “Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it’s the last time.” – Eric Clapton
113. “Music is freedom, and being free is the closest I’ve ever felt to being spiritual.” – Ben Harper
114. “I don’t even know if I can take the credit for writing ‘Cliffs of Dover’. It was just there for me one day… a kind of gift from a higher place….” – Eric Johnson
115. “If you don’t know the blues…there’s no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.” – Keith Richards
116. “Playing guitar is a never-finished journey.” – John Fogerty
117. “Don’t use your brain to play it, let your feelings guide your fingers.” – Jimi Hendrix
118. “I was interested in folk music. But rock represented power… I became the best rock guitarist in my school.” – Billy Squier
119. “Rock guitarists usually do not wish to think trains of thought about anything but their own guitar playing during a long solo…” – John Frusciante
Guitar Quotes on Perseverance
120. “I just go where the guitar takes me.” – Angus Young
121. “I don’t want you to play me a riff that’s going to impress Joe Satriani; give me a riff that makes a kid want to go out and buy a guitar and learn to play.” – Ozzy Osbourne
122. “Never give up on a good thing, never give up, never give up!” – George Benson
123. “Everyone’s got their own character, and that’s the thing that’s amazed me about guitar playing …” – Jimmy Page
124. “So, my big brother was playing guitar and I figured I’d try it too.” – Stevie Ray Vaughan
125. “Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taut and vibrating like a guitar string.” – Pele
126. “The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.” – Duke Ellington
127. “I don’t care how famous a guitarist is… There’s always somewhere to go… You never learn everything on that guitar…” – David Edwards
128. “I’ve always wanted to be the best guitarist in the world, ever since I was eight years old.” – Peter Frampton
129. “But that guitar is the perfect companion to the human voice. You rest it against your gut, against your heart, and when you strum it the vibrations go outwards for all to hear, but the vibration also hits you on your body.” – Jason Mraz
Inspirational Guitar Quotes About Life
130. “A good player can make any guitar sound good.” – Michael Bloomfield
131. “You don’t just go to the studio and say, ‘I’m going to write a hit.’ It becomes a hit when people like your compositions.” – Chuck Berry
132. “Just as a Blues player can play 20 Blues songs in a row but find a way to make each one different….” – Joe Satriani
133. “Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war—for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people…” – John Lennon
134. “I can’t get anything out of an orchestra if I have the 10 best guitarists, but I don’t have a pianist or a drummer.” – Manuel Pellegrini
135. “The heavy guitars are the ones that sound good. They are not that comfortable, but they do sound great.” – Neal Schon
136. “Just as with a guitar, you can improvise a guitar solo, and they’d probably be similar each time, but they won’t be exactly the same. With the word, it’s probably a bit freer than that. I probably repeat myself more musically than I do verbally.” – Robyn Hitchcock
137. “My guitar only has five strings ’cause the top one broke, and I decided not to put it back on: when I play chords I only play bar chords, and the top one always used to cut me there.” – Brian Eno
138. “Experimenting with different sounds is great, but when it comes down to it, you’re still playing the guitar.” – Scott Putesky
139. “Guitars are kind of just, you know, sexy, especially old vintage ones.” – Andrew Bird
Profound Guitar Quotes
140. “One must make of one’s fingers well-drilled soldiers.” – Fernando Sor
141. “The guitar is your first wing. It’s assigned and designed to unfold your vision and imagination.” – Carlos Santana
142. “To me, a guitar is kind of like a woman. You don’t know why you like ’em, but you do.” – Waylon Jennings
143. “I wanted to create music that was so different from what my mother could tell from anyone else.” – Les Paul
144. “Sometimes you stumble upon a few chords that put you in a reflective place.” – David Bowie
145. “My guitar is my torch, my soul carries the flame. Make no mistake, I’m a true bluesman.” – Big Bill Morganfield
146. “Music is magic. Magic is Life.” – Jimi Hendrix
147. “Everyone has their own sound, and if you’re heard enough, folks will come to recognize it…” – Chet Atkins
148. “A guitar for me is pretty much strictly in the context of writing songs for my band, coming up with ideas with my band, and then being able to perform those songs as best as I can on stage that’s what the guitar for me has always been.” – Scott Ian
149. “Guitar comes more out of its limitations for me, like putting it in a weird tuning and then just go places.” – Sam Amidon
Guitar Quotes on Entertainment
150. “The true beauty of music is that it connects people…we, the musicians, are the messengers.” – Roy Ayers
151. “The guitar has a kind of grit and excitement possessed by nothing else.” – Brian May
152. “Bass is for people who can’t play guitar.” – Eddie Van Halen
153. “If we replaced guns with guitars, then the world would be a concert.” – Thomas Ian Nicholas
154. “I never wanted to sing. I just wanted to play rhythm guitar—hide in the back and just play.” – Kurt Cobain
155. “Mimi Fox is one of the most exciting contemporary jazz guitarists I’ve heard.” – Paul Gilbert
156. “I sit down and create atmospheres, start playing guitar or piano and just sing whatever comes out of my mouth.” – Martin Gore
157. “I’m definitely not a super great guitarist. Ultimately, I just write a lot of love songs.” – Vance Joy
158. “As a guitarist, I’m usually able to play any sort of instrument – as long as it has strings…” – Ramin Djawadi
159. “I sing a bit and play guitar.” – Jesse Metcalfe
Guitar Quotes on Personal Development
160. “I’m always writing and learning… I’m growing as a musician, as a guitarist.” – D’Angelo
161. “The more you play music, the better you’ll get.” – Glen Campbell
162. “I think it’s so cool that you can pick up the guitar and create something that didn’t exist 5 minutes ago. You can write something that one’s ever heard before you have music at your fingertips.” – Rupali Rajput
163. “When you strum a guitar you have everything—rhythm, bass, lead, and melody.” – David Gilmore
164. “The guitar is a much more efficient machine than a computer. More responsive.” – Colin Greenwood
165. “I guess you go too far when pianos try to be guitars.” – Tori Amos
166. “I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing.” – Jimmy Page
167. “They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.” – Jimmy Page
168. “You’re not born with certain skills, you have to acquire them.” – Ry Cooder
169. “I’m a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.” – Adam Jones
Guitar Quotes on Motivation
170. “Playing the guitar isn’t as easy as it looks.” – Jack Mendelsohn
171. “If you’re playing, that’s the most important thing.” – James Hetfield
172. “In pop music, you say, you can do what you want to me.’ Rock ‘n’ roll says, ‘I’m gonna do what I want to you.” – Joan Jett.
173. “When I first started playing guitar, everyone was playing Chuck Berry and B.B. King licks…” – Robby Krieger
174. “The guitar is the coolest instrument in the world.” – Steve Vai
175. “The guitar is featured in a lot of popular music on the radio, on TV, and in films.” – Anna Claybourne
176. “Humans have been singing, dancing, and playing instruments for thousands of years. Music can cheer you up, pass the time, inspire you, and help you have fun with others.” – Anna Claybourne
177. “As long as you’re excited about what you’re playing, and as long as it comes from your heart, it’s going to be great.” – John Frusciante
178. “If you’ve got a guitar and a lot of soul, just bang something out and mean it. You’re the superstar.” – Krist Novoselic
179. “I play guitar because it lets me dream out loud.” – Michael Hedges
Guitar Quotes on Musical Journey
180. “It’s so satisfying as a guitar player to play stuff that’s related to the blues.” – Paul Gilbert
181. “Unless the guitar works as a color, then I don’t use it, so I haven’t been playing guitar too much lately.” – Trevor Rabin
182. “Everyone gets frustrated and aggressive, and I’d sooner take my aggression out on a guitar than on a person.” – Paul Weller
183. “The guitar’s not all that expensive either when you compare it to gettin’ a tooth pulled or something.” – Merle Haggard
184. “A guitar is basically a box with strings are played instruments similar to guitars for thousands of years. They did not all look like a modern guitar, but they worked in the same way.” – Kevin Macdonald
185. “You probably hear music often. It seems to be everywhere, from your dentist’s office to the supermarket.” – Anna Claybourne
186. “If all you know is the guitar to the exclusion of everything else, your playing will be empty.” – Philip Toshio Sudo
187. “Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you’ll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you’re gonna be rewarded.” – Jimi Hendrix
188. “I can turn on some jazz guitarist, and he won’t do a thing for me if he’s not playing electrically….” – Ritchie Blackmore
189. “It takes a big man to play a little guitar.” – Brian Gun
Guitar Quotes on Musician’s Perspective
190. “From the strings of my guitar, that seeks only your love, a voice comes forth, that speaks of kisses, lost on your lips, my heart sings with newfound happiness, at the dawning of this new love.” – Marcel Camus
191. “If you can’t play as good or as fast as me, just give up, sell your guitar on eBay and kill yourself.” – John Petrucci
192. “You know what has one strap? Machine guns. You know what else? Electric guitars.” – Jackie Filgo
193. “The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar; now that’s my idea of a good time.” – Frank Zappa
194. “Maybe if musicians got off their blogs and picked up their guitars, the music business would be in better shape.” – Josh Schwartz
195. “Country music isn’t a guitar, it isn’t a banjo, it isn’t a melody, it isn’t a lyric. It’s a feeling.” – Waylon Jennings
196. “I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.” – Eric Clapton
197. “When we moved back to the US, folk music was all the rage. So I traded in my banjo for a guitar.” – Michael Storm
198. “I might have a guitar or a piano on set to play something for the actors.” – Mike Figgis
199. “I learned to play guitar at a young age and converted poems and stuff that I had written to songs.” – Gregory Harrison
200. “I don’t play a lot of fancy guitars. I don’t want to play it. The kind of guitar I want to play is mean, mean licks.” – John Lee Hooker
Which of These Guitar Quotes Caught Your Attention?
We see playing guitar as a form of conscious deception, a way of conceiving a space between a person and their busy mind. Playing guitar has beneficial effects on your overall wellness and mental health. It helps us to escape from our problems and enjoy the moment we have.
Did you get inspired by these famous lines from various guitarists? Let us know in the comment section below and discuss your thoughts about it.
