“I think the real test of a musician is not how fast you can play, but how you can make a simple melody sound beautiful.”— Gary Burton
“It's all about the song. It's not about how fast you can play or how many notes you can play.”— Eddie Van Halen
“I try to play the melody. I'm not a jazz musician who is going to play a thousand notes. I'm looking for the melody and trying to touch people.”— Herb Alpert
“I tried to make the bass a melodic instrument, so it wouldn't just be 'oom-pah, oom-pah.'”— Ray Brown
“I think the most important thing is to have a good melody. If you have a good melody, you can do anything with it.”— Vince Clarke