I designed a guitar for Ibanez and then they started manufacturing it - it's called the Jem - it's 26 years old and I still play it. As a kid I liked Les Pauls and Strats, but they had limitations for the kind of playing I wanted to do.

When Frank Zappa would get an idea for a song, he just did it. He didn't wait for anybody or expect anyone to do it.

A good solo is like a book. It will start out in a phrase, it will go on in paragraphs, and then it will have a great ending.

I don't believe in 'greatest'. I believe in favorites.

When I was a teenager in the '70s, I was really into those great bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen and Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper.

When you get down to it, the way that the music affects you individually is the most important thing, and when you let things like the location of a band get in the way or have an effect on your overview, you're cheating yourself out of a really good time.

The only thing that's holding you back, is the way you're thinking.