"Most of the stuff I learned to play, I learned in high school. I had a band in high school, a jazz-fusion thing, and I was the keyboard player. I was interested in how the instruments worked and the theory behind playing with them"
About this Quote
The detail that does the real work is “a jazz-fusion thing” with him on keys. Jazz-fusion reads like a teenager reaching above his weight class, choosing a genre that’s less about three chords and more about stamina, harmony, and listening. It subtly reframes McKnight’s later mainstream smoothness as an earned clarity, not a lack of ambition. When an artist who’s often categorized as romantic R&B mentions fusion and theory, he’s pushing back against the soft-focus version of his image: the guy with the voice was also the guy with the charts.
“I was interested in how the instruments worked” is the giveaway that this isn’t only about performance; it’s about systems. He’s describing musicianship as mechanics and architecture, not just feeling. In a culture that loves to treat singers as natural phenomena, McKnight positions himself as a craftsperson who learned to think like an arranger and producer early. The intent isn’t nostalgia. It’s a claim to authorship: the emotion in the songs is real, but it’s engineered on purpose.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
McKnight, Brian. (2026, January 16). Most of the stuff I learned to play, I learned in high school. I had a band in high school, a jazz-fusion thing, and I was the keyboard player. I was interested in how the instruments worked and the theory behind playing with them. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/most-of-the-stuff-i-learned-to-play-i-learned-in-101254/
Chicago Style
McKnight, Brian. "Most of the stuff I learned to play, I learned in high school. I had a band in high school, a jazz-fusion thing, and I was the keyboard player. I was interested in how the instruments worked and the theory behind playing with them." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/most-of-the-stuff-i-learned-to-play-i-learned-in-101254/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Most of the stuff I learned to play, I learned in high school. I had a band in high school, a jazz-fusion thing, and I was the keyboard player. I was interested in how the instruments worked and the theory behind playing with them." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/most-of-the-stuff-i-learned-to-play-i-learned-in-101254/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
