Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
The way you change and help music is by tryin' to invent new ways to play — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
We're not going to play the blues anymore. Let the white folks play the blues. They got 'em, so they can keep… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
You can tell whether a person plays well or not by the way he carries the instrument, whether it means something to… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I can hear what I want [people] to play. If you don't hear what you want someone to play, then you can't… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
If you have a tone like mine that is recognizable. No matter what I play, when you hear my tone you can… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
It took me twenty years study and practice to work up to what I wanted to play in this performance. How can… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
It's not the note you play that's the wrong note - it's the note you play afterwards that makes it right or… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Drummers - sometimes they play and they listen. And that little listen takes a speck away from the right tempo. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I would never try and play like Harry James, because I don't like his tone - for me. It's just white. You… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they're full of chords. I can't play them...I think a movement in… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I like Stan [Getz], because he has so much patience, the way he plays those melodies - other people can't get nothing… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
The reason [drummers] call things "unison", and they sound unison, is because you actually play two different tempos . . . like… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
When I went in there, we used drum machine on "Time After Time" and "Human Nature".We don't use the drum machine to… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Some musicians play with their heart, you know what I mean? I don't know what to tell a person that can't -… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
Somebody, my daughter or my wife, gave me a music box for Christmas. It plays "My Funny Valentine" on celeste, you know?… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
That was my gift . . . having the ability to put certain guys together that would create a chemistry and then… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I don't hold it against Dizzy [Gillespie], you know, but if a guy wants to play a certain way, you work towards… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
See, if you put a musician in a place where he has to do something different from what he does all the… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
When the band plays fast, you play slow; when the band plays slow, you play fast. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
You have to know 400 notes that you can play, then pick the right four. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
You ever hear Buddy Miles play the drums? You know, he doesn't vary the tempo at all. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I usually write from the rhythm section...If a drummer got a funky beat on some things - like a half-shuffle or a shuffle or… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
You have to practice for a long time before you can learn to sound like yourself — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I began to realize that some of the things Ornette Coleman had said about things being played three or fours ways, independently of each… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
...people will go for anything they don't understand if it's got enough hype. They want to be hip, want always to be in on… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
My father's rich, my momma's good looking. Right? And I can play the Blues. I've never suffered and don't intend to suffer. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
I'm out there doing the best that I can, My lip is cut and I'm still playing. — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
When I'm playing, I'm never through. It's unfinished. I like to find a place to leave for someone else to finish it. That's where… — Miles Davis Copy Share Image
![“I can hear what I want [people] to play. If you don't hear what you want someone to play, then you can't tell 'em.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b64/miles-davis-1842_ems_i-can-hear-what-i-want-people-to-play-if_2194818.jpg)
![“I like Stan [Getz], because he has so much patience, the way he plays those melodies - other people can't get nothing out of a song, but he can, which takes a lot of imagination.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/eef/miles-davis-1842_imagination_i-like-stan-getz-because-he-has-so-much_2629347.jpg)
![“The reason [drummers] call things "unison", and they sound unison, is because you actually play two different tempos . . . like you're a little sharp, or a little flat; it's so slight that they call it "unison", but it's not unison.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/78b/miles-davis-1842_different_the-reason-drummers-call-things-unison-a_1636596.jpg)
![“Somebody, my daughter or my wife, gave me a music box for Christmas. It plays "My Funny Valentine" on celeste, you know? So I had Bobby [Irving] just play "Jean Pierre" with the changes on celeste.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/575/miles-davis-1842_boxes_somebody-my-daughter-or-my-wife-gave-me_863480.jpg)
![“I don't hold it against Dizzy [Gillespie], you know, but if a guy wants to play a certain way, you work towards that. If he stops - he's full of crap, you know. I mean, I wouldn't do it, for no money, or for no place in the white man's world. Not just to make money, because then you don't have…” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/aed/miles-davis-1842_apes_i-don-t-hold-it-against-dizzy-gillespie_1460081.jpg)
![“[Prince] could very well be the Duke Ellington of Rock 'n' Roll.” quote by Miles Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0fa/miles-davis-1842_dukes_prince-could-very-well-be-the-duke-ellin_142140.jpg)