68 Quotes by Julian Bream

I don't mean this to sound pretentious but I think that artists of all kinds are a rung up the ladder of the spiritual heirarchy, and for me there is something very religious about music.

I much rather coach a string quartet in an interpretation of Haydn or Beethoven than to teach the guitar.

I was born understanding the language of music.

The lute is tuned differently than the guitar and of course it has many more strings.

When I began playing the lute, in 1950 there were not too many lutenists around. I had to work hard, writing out music in museums and libraries. It was before the days of photocopying. And I had just picked up the lute, adapted my guitar technique to it and went from there.

The lute I use has 10 courses and 19 strings, which is quite a lot of strings and a quite different fingerboard width from a classical guitar. I use a combination of flesh and nail when plucking the strings.

It takes a lifetime and a half to master the classical guitar.

I found I could speak through the guitar. Because you have the feel of the strings with both hands and it's up against your solar plexus, it's real, and so there's nothing between you and the music.

I think Englishmen or Northern Europeans in general are more naturally attracted to the lute than to the guitar, which always seems Spanish exotic - to our ears.