I couldn't concentrate on music. So I made the choice to give up my career as a musician in the frontline to deal with the business.

It'd be really great to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame mature. It's a good facility there in Cleveland. I like the museum a lot.

I knew that I was going to have a life as a musician, because I always felt the pull. I don't remember ever having to make a choice.

There's a lot of injustice in the world and it's what I sing about in my music and what I try to confront in my life as an activist.

When you sign with a label, they do insist upon certain rights, and if you have a competent attorney, your rights will be protected.

As far as guitar goes, it's weird to have such a challenging activity in my life for so long - I love it. It kicks my ass every day.

My mom really wanted me to be a musician so she gave me a guitar for my fifth birthday, but I didn't start playing till I was seven.

Ive also just come off a year and a half playing acoustic shows which is fantastic for the hands, and changes your head a little bit.

I wear my shadows where they're harder to see, but they follow me everywhere. I guess that should tell me I'm traveling toward light.

There had to be a market in order for you to be successful in a business. The market had to need your business, or the product of it.

You see, everything I know, I learned from my dad. He learned it all from his, and his dad just happened to be wrong about everything

I'm going to make people happy. I'm going to make them forget about their cancer. I'm going to make them forget about their diabetes.

I love the Dead. As far as Jerry Garcia, Jerry Garcia could walk on water. He could do anything any man could ever do. He's a prince.

The guys in my band buy instruments and sell and trade them. But if I have something I hang onto it. Everything is sentimental to me.

If you choose to become a smoker, you are an idiot, and you may lack the discipline and intelligence to be a successful entrepreneur.

That old funny-shaped bit of wood is still staring me in the face every day saying 'come on, you haven't started yet!' It's infinite.

I don't care about the rules. In fact, if I don't break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I'm not doing my job properly.

Where I live, there's a lot of canyons. We're climbing constantly - we're like mountain goats. I'm just trying to get better at that.

But for me if I'm gonna read about something I'd rather read a pamphlet or the instructions to a synthesizer than a book on Buddhism.

I learned mainly by listening to Andres Segovia and that was a great inspiration. And also the gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

It's very good for one's brain and muscular system to work in harmony. If you keep up your playing it just keeps things ticking over.

One very fundamental thing has not changed and I realized that it will never change... is that I really need to go home and practice.

The Unity Band project has been life-changing for me. I have led many groups of talented musicians, but this is unlike anything else.

Throughout my career as a songwriter, I've had a knack for writing songs that were about me and my life experiences and observations.

When I die, nobody cry at my funeral, in fact let's all have a party; I've lived the life of ten men. I lived all my dreams and more.

When I was about six, I was kind of a cowboy. I'd dress up in boots, straps, hat and bandanna, and my dad would take us to the rodeo.

A lot of things just got distorted, like stories about each other. After the tour we never talked. I believe a band should be a band.

Steve Morse is a very good guitar player, but he's American, and he's using humbucker pickups. If you ask me, those two are not good.

I think the singer in Pearl Jam should eat some Pearl Jam! He cannot sing to save his life! And the guitar player needs to seek help.

From the first album, we've had songs like 'The Jack' that are blues based. We also did it in 'Ride On,' where we went into the blues.

I wear my shadows where they're harder to see, but they follow me everywhere. I guess that should tell me I'm travelling toward light.

I started out playing guitar because Jimi Hendrix was my hero, so my roots were really based on Jimi Hendrix and his style of playing.

Dream Theater music, there's a lot of background and context to the songs, as far as the subject matter and the albums they come from.

Dad made it to Gold Shield Detective, so he always busted Robin, my oldest brother, and me. Always got caught, whatever we were doing.

Steve Marcus was one of the greatest saxophonists in all of music. He truly was able to unite jazz with the popular music of the time.

Being a female hard rocker and guitar player, I felt the need to put out a memoir. Almost like a rock 'n' roll women manual for women.

And if I ever DO see [Kenny G] anywhere, at any function - he WILL get a piece of my mind, and maybe a guitar wrapped around his head.

Nashville may be famed for its country music, but this may well be the capital of rock and roll music in the United States of America.

When Lonnie Mack came out with the guitar instrumental "Memphis" I thought, Oh God, finally somebody we guitar players can relate to !

Cricket is a team game where individuals inspire each other to achieve performances which surpass what might otherwise be beyond them.

What has drug addiction done for me? It's cost me my career, my fortune and basically my sex life when I found out I was HIV positive.

People like our stuff, some people hate it, but that's like anything, right? Some people love donuts, some people are allergic to 'em.

I'm a big fan of cultural music, and that's how I try to expand my playing, by listening to music that is not conventionally American.

I can't wait to play the Hammerstein shows. Things have been exploding in the last week, and that's going to be the exclamation point.

I think Ace is a great guitarist, and with the four original members of KISS, there's a magic and chemistry that you just can't touch.

We also did something called the Texas Peace Festival, which was actually a better gig both musically, and in the way it was organised.

Blues is a big part of rock and roll. The best rock and roll got its birth in the blues. You hear it in Little Richard and Chuck Berry.

I tried a Les Paul when I was a lot younger. I tried the Les Paul, and because of the weight of the thing, it nearly dislocated my hip.

The mainstream media tend to lump everything together. To them, there's no difference between Madonna, the Rolling Stones, or whatever.

Start enjoying the things you like about yourself, and if there are things you want to change, either get to work on it or get over it.

Share This Page