Chick Corea – HuffPost 8.26.13

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Chick Corea: Well, gee… I mean, the advice is always pretty much the same whether they’re new or old. When I’m asked for advice, I usually try to explain that advice is real cheap, you know? It’s kind of true, because there’s a guy there giving advice and he’s saying, “I think you should do this” or “I think it would be better if you do this” or “it’s more important to do this,” and so forth and it’s easy to do that. You can sit there and pontificate all day, and then it’s the guy who you just told who has to be the one to do something and take responsibility for his own actions, you know what I mean? That’s why advice is cheap. I always just encourage–especially young musicians–to trust their own judgment. That’s what I always say to them. The only strength and joy they’re ever going to have in creating their music and their musical styles and whatever else they do in music is going to be when they do what they love to do and what their own particular tastes are. It doesn’t mean to become a loner. It means the final decision of what you play and what you choose to do and how you choose to involve yourself into the musical culture has to be your own choice and up to you and what you love. All of our musical heroes–I would think, the artists who have stayed there through the decades and who others look up to–that’s what they do. Every one of my musical heroes, that’s what they have done. That’s what I try to do. So that’s the advice I give; just think for yourself and create your own music and use your own judgment on things.