Quotes by Dick Dale

Every song is like a painting.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

There's a saying. If you want someone to love you forever, buy a dog, feed it and keep it around.

— Dick Dale

Love

I'm a perfectionist. I'm not going to cheat the people.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I'll just tell you the way it is. You ask me what time it is and I'm gonna tell you how to build a clock.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I called it Rockabilly 'cause I was rocking the strums, which you're not supposed to do.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

Guitar Player Magazine says Dick Dale is the father of Heavy Metal, blowing up 48 amplifiers, creating the first power amplifier.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I learned everything by ear and played all the different instruments. So then I was able to find a guitar. That was, like, in the seventh grade. And then I didn't know how to put my fingers on all the different strings, so I had to figure out how to do it upside down and backwards, and I still play that way today.

— Dick Dale

Education

You know, music is sex. It's a sensual driving mode that affects people if it's played a certain way.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

Buddy Rich was one of the most incredible technicians in the world, on this planet, but the only people he could really impress, who knew what he was doing was another musician or another drummer.

— Dick Dale

Life

I've got holes in my guitar.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I grew a love for helpless, defenseless things. People would give me lions and jaguars. I had cheetahs, monkeys.

— Dick Dale

Love

I almost had to have my leg amputated because of an infection.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

Jimi was a good guy 'til he got into drugs. That's the way it is. I just tell it like it is.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

My aunt played the piano and I used to sit and listen to it.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I used to be a mean maniac. Someone once threw a firecracker at a show and I jumped off the side of the stage and whacked 'em on the side of the head.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

As a little kid I had a girlfriend, and her boyfriend used to beat me up, so then I used to sing these songs, and that's what it's all about. Country music is all about your heart and your people and things like that.

— Dick Dale

Love

I actually first picked up an ukulele before I picked up a guitar.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

My uncle gave me a trumpet, but I loved the Louis Armstrong sound and the Harry James sound and I played by ear and I played always soulful or very direct from the gut.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I don't play pyrotechnic scales. I play about frustration, patience, anger. Music is an extension of my soul.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

My philosophy is the thicker the wood the thicker the sound, the bigger the string the bigger the sound. My smallest string is a 14 gauge.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I always felt people should live with animals.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I became stereotyped.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom

I can play every instrument there is, every horn, I've played all the saxes and trumpets and everything and keyboards.

— Dick Dale

Wisdom