My chops were not as fast... [but] I just learned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops. I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes

Every setback might be the very thing that makes you carry on and fight all the harder and become much better.

This guitar is such a pal. It's a psychiatrist. It's a doggone bartender. It's a housewife. This guy is everything. Whenever I find that I've got a problem, I'll go pick my guitar up and play. It's the greatest pal in the whole world.

You can't go to the store and buy a good ear and rhythm.

..I wanted to create music that was so different that my mother could tell me from anyone else

I used my mother's radio as a PA system. I'd take the telephone, the speaking part, and take those two leads off and lead them into the radio and the sound would come out of the speaker.

The audience, they're not professionals. They just love music. It isn't necessary to play over their heads to be admired.