John Fahey Quotes

• There is something about guitars—maybe something magical—when played right, which evokes past, mysterious, barely-conscious sentiments, both individual and universal.

  John Fahey

  Past, Guitar, Mysterious

  John Fahey (2000). “How bluegrass music destroyed my life: stories”, Drag City

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• How can I be a folk? I'm from the suburbs you know.

  John Fahey

  Folks, Suburbs, Knows

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• I had a big background in listening to classical music and I started trying to compose, like I was playing the guitar but I heard an orchestra in my head.

  John Fahey

  Guitar, Listening, Trying

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• When I play, I very quickly put myself into a light hypnotic trance and compose while playing, drawing directly from the emotions.

  John Fahey

  Light, Play, Drawing

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• The other thing in composition is opening up the unconscious.

  John Fahey

  Opening Up, Opening, Unconscious

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• From a social perspective, I am looking for friends, not acolytes.

  John Fahey

  Perspective, Social

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• I just want to be treated like an average guy.

  John Fahey

  Average, Guy, Want

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• But I say these things in an objective dispassionate manner because, you know, and I can't explain why, but being one of the greatest guitarists in the world simply is not very important to me.

  John Fahey

  Guitar, Important, World

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• I was using them as teachers for technique but I was never trying to be a folk.

  John Fahey

  Teacher, Trying, Technique

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• Well folks, that's about it for the show tonight.

  John Fahey

  Tonight, Shows, Folks

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• See my father knew a lot about music, he played the piano and he would do theory and stuff like that, but I didn't learn anything from him, but I played that for him and he liked it a lot.

  John Fahey

  Father, Piano, Stuff

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• I thought I'd be wasting my time to go to commercial record companies and make demos for them, because don't forget, I was doing what I was doing and nobody understood what I was doing.

  John Fahey

  Records, Forget, Wasting My Time

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• I also know that I am not a great technician.

  John Fahey

  Technicians, Knows

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• Being worshipped is a horrible experience.

  John Fahey

  Worship, Horrible, Horrible Experience

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• Well I was on the one hand, the more I played the guitar the more I began to really love the guitar and to love virtually any kind of music that anybody played well on guitar.

  John Fahey

  Guitar, Hands, Kind

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• So I learnt a few country western songs, I bought a chord book, and right away I started writing my own stuff, which nobody else did that, I don't know why.

  John Fahey

  Country, Song, Book

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• As for fame, it can go to your head and you can become full of yourself.

  John Fahey

  Fame, Full Of Yourself

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• More American young people can tell you where an island that the 'Survivor' TV series came from is located than can identify Afghanistan or Iraq. Ironically a TV show seems more real or at least more meaningful interesting or relevant than reality.

  John Fahey

  Meaningful, Real, Islands

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• Early Bluegrass is my favorite kind of music, not to many people know that.

  John Fahey

  People, Kind, My Favorite

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