Tommy Bolin

I can't do anything but play guitar.

— Tommy Bolin

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

— 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…

— 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

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— 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…

— 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…

— Tommy Bolin

I'd rather work than not.

— 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…

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

Once I was playing and moving around and I fell right on my back. Just straight on my back. It was the…

— 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

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

I used to listen a lot to Rolling Stones records and play along with them when I was first starting. It's a…

— 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

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

How do you stop somebody from growing?

— Tommy Bolin

When I got to LA and was with the James Gang, I got the opportunity to write a lot, to play in…

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

— Tommy Bolin

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

— Tommy Bolin

I think the way I play the guitar is very percussive. I play a lot of rhythm chops as though I were…

— Tommy Bolin