Top 107 Quotes by Dick Dale

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.

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

My mind never left 20, because once it does, that's when you start to die.

In the Shao Lin temple, they never allow you to touch the skin of a drum until you can tongue what you're going to play.

When my guitar was growling, playing surf beat, you could hear it; you could feel it.

When I start playing I'm just a rollercoaster of sound. I don't know what's coming next, I never do, and I sit and sign and talk to the people afterwards.

I do not play to musicians. I play to the people.

You know what the doctors call me? 'The Cancer Warrior.'

I don't like to use the word 'fans;' I call them 'Dick Dale music lovers.'

What I play now isn't surf music. It's too powerful. I used to go through paper bags; now I go through brick walls. I play hard.