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.

I try to be prepared for the moment, through understanding, and being warmed up, knowing all about chords and scales, so I don't even have to think and I can get right to what it is I want to say.

There's more bad music in jazz than any other form. Maybe that's because the audience doesn't really know what's happening.

Most guys at Berklee are going to wind up truck drivers.

I think jazz is actually quite unforgiving in its disdain for nostalgia. It demands creativity and change at its highest level.

My first relationship to any kind of musical situation is as a listener.

1962 to 1965, where suddenly the guitar became this icon of youth culture all over the world, thanks mostly to the Beatles. Add to that, that I saw A Hard Day's Night 12 or 13 times, and that the guitar was the one instrument that my parents absolutely refused to let in the house. So you add it up and see that irresistible forces led me to the guitar.