Tommy Bolin Quotes

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

“I'd rather work than not.”

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

“I can't do anything but play guitar.”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

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.

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“How do you stop somebody from growing?”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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.

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

“The best money I made was panhandling.”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

“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.”

— Tommy Bolin