I'm very moved by Renaissance music, but I still love to play hard rock - though only if it's sophisticated and has some thought behind it.

What I look for in music is artistry, sincerity, and simplicity, and Tom Waits has all of that. I want to make a connection to the creator.

Blues teaches you to develop coherent solos, because the form you're playing over is so basic. You have to develop leads that go someplace.

Once I was playing and moving around and I fell right on my back. Just straight on my back. It was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

Ideally the point of music is community, not the player. Musicians are simply channels to link the audience to the music and to each other.

I always dreamed of writing in an orchestral context. But when you finish a piece, you want to hear it. So we played everything with Phish.

Good Charlotte, for us, comes from a place of youth for us, back when we were struggling and fighting for every inch, just trying to get by.

It really is draining: when you sing a song, it means so much to you, and every time you sing it, you feel it ,and these emotions come back.

Elvis is not so difficult as Johnny Cash because his voice is so distinctive. If you try to copy Johnny Cash, it's just going to sound dumb.

Sometimes the entire thing comes out in one burst. Sometimes you hack away at a thing for years before you get something that satisfies you.

I make my guitar scream with pain or pleasure or sensuality. It makes people move their feet and shake their bodies. That's what music does.

Let's say you're a garage mechanic, and you have big dreams about opening up your own chain of branded garages around the country. Terrific.

Why is it that most of the folks I know think "personal growth" is caused entirely by those second and third helpings of biscuits and gravy?

Obviously the best way to retain the most profit is to not give any of it away. That's something that you certainly learn through the years.

I always recommend to any player to always compose their own music. It's one of the best things you can do to find a road to your own style.

I just have never seen anyone build anything significant in any field without having a deep and detailed sense of what they are building on.

Core strengthening is key to everything. It's not just about the way I look, but about stabilizing my body so I can perform better on stage.

But you have to give your whole life to a cello. When I realized that, I went back to the guitar and just turned the volume up a bit louder.

We wanted to grow, and we were really over the circus theme at that point. We went out in the woods and got new clothes and all grew beards.

The people at Jazz at Lincoln Center are an amazing group and have done a phenomenal job teaching kids and audiences of all ages about jazz.

Life is tough, man. No one is spared from obstacles and trials, but there is such a beautiful plan for each of us. Just gotta let it happen.

In a world of bands called Limp Bizkit and Hoobastank, Electric Sheep rolls off the tongue like a Shakespearean love sonnet. Leave me alone.

I love the idea of stepping out of the band situation into a solo world with no boundaries, no expectations, where nothing is out of bounds.

As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member

The band feels loose in all the right ways, and it's just so cool looking out and seeing all of these people that I haven't seen in a while.

I've been lucky with the circle of people I'm playing with. We've played enough that there's a language we talk with each other when we play.

Resisting the powers that be, we are keeping things from getting worse than they otherwise might be. And that effort is very much worthwhile.

A long apprenticeship is the most logical way to success. The only alternative is overnight stardom, but I can't give you a formula for that.

If you ask me what I'd rather be doing, well, I'd rather be home in California, watching TV, polishing my tools and working around the ranch.

I'm more than happy to say that I am a part of the return of Rock n' Roll.And that what we have to say means so much to these amazing people.

My religious point of view is something I can't talk about. It goes against my belief system to talk publicly about my own spiritual beliefs.

But I have been avoiding talking about what I'm doing now because it's frustrating for people to hear about things that aren't available yet.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra - when it came out, it was an explosion, completely unexpected as far as I was concerned. I was just forming a band.

I was born at the beginning of rock and roll. I got to experience the entire evolution of popular rock and roll music even before it started.

The best way to learn sweep picking is to first isolate the right- and left-hand techniques, master them separately and then coordinate them.

On a very technical level, I am a geek who is interested in the intricacy of rhythm playing, so I like comparing and working out its details.

Musically, I am still hooked and just hypnotized by the sound of the guitar itself. I mean, a guitar sounds good if you drop it on the floor.

I didn't want there to be a computer on stage. When I see people with computers on stage, I think, 'Are you sending e-mail?' That's so corny.

There's a difference between standing up and telling people what you're planning to do and standing up and going and accomplishing something.

I however don't go to clubs to show off and to be seen, and certainly not to make statements. I just want to be able to quietly watch a band.

Brendon has always been a fan of pop music, but that's such a broad term, because I guess I would say I would be too, but in a different way.

I can walk into Tower Records, go get my box set, take out my Steve Miller credit card, and the clerk will look at me and go, 'Thanks, next.'

I really enjoy working with luthiers, and have a couple of really old Les Pauls and one of my original Strats that I still carry on the road.

I met Les Paul when I was about 5. I was taken to see him perform and the place was sold out, just packed and full of really great musicians.

As a solo artist, I just felt cemented in front of the mike stand. There was very little time to play with the audience and be a band member.

I got a little tattoo on my face, I'll never be able to work another real job so I consider that to be kinda forcing myself to stick to music.

Everyone thinks because you're from the south you know everyone down there, but it's not like that; I never knew nothing about no Mississippi.

I'm not trying to denounce the visual past. It just seems impossible to me to be able to keep making the same image that I made six years ago.

Television and comic books are, and continue to be, probably the biggest influence in my life. It's the biggest influence on everybody's life.

I think perfect dates involve walking a lot, and not a bunch of driving around in cars. Ideally, you can walk together and go to a restaurant.

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