My past is very interesting, and I treasure it, but to write about it, it's just not on my radar.
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.
You can never deny the immense talent, rock credibility and iconic historical contribution that Van Halen made.
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.
If I remain true to what's in my heart, that's all the success I need.
The only time I'm miserable is when I can't keep an instrument in tune.
I can tell you this: I'm an extremely passionate individual. I try to be careful how I display it because you never know how people are going to take it.
It's very hard to come across as a passionate human being in print. People can't hear the inflections in your voice.
When I was growing up, the blues did seem too simple to me. I was just a muso.
I was always one of those guys who was a seeker after truth. I want to know what's going on.
Criticism can be devastating. When push comes to shove, we are all very sensitive.
When I was young, I wasn't a misfit or anything. I had friends in all the different social groups. But I had issues - just personal issues, insecurities and other things that had happened in my life.
As a musician, I look for certain things that stimulate me. And what I look for is something that's an evolution on a particular genre that I never heard before.
I wanted to be a composer before anything else. And my sister was listening to Led Zeppelin in the other room! When I heard that, it was a game-changer.
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.
I'm always pursuing knowledge; I'm a seeker of spiritual equilibrium - and music is a big part of that.
I've never really heard anybody imitating anything of mine the way they do with Edward Van Halen's stuff.
It just happens in life, where you resonate with a particular artist. Or it can be a kind of food or a fashion - you discover it and it gives you a whole new lease on life.
That's the thing about great artists: They find the thing that's most obvious to themselves, what's most conscious and natural, and they put it out there and the audience comes.
I can count on one hand the people who are legendary in my book, and Tom Waits is certainly right at the top. It's funny, though: When I tell people that I like Tom's music, it surprises them.
I was about seven or eight years old when I first heard West Side Story, and it had a huge impact on me. If you look at the elements of that record, it contains many of the things I enjoy doing today.
You know, there's times when you should play and there's times when you gotta hold back.
We have the insight and the tools to identify and bring to fruition the dormant talent that our artists possess. Favored Nations will be branded as the home base for inspired musical talent.
Still to this day, I am deeply satisfied when watching a guitar player who is connected with their art and instrument. GuitarTV helps you tap into that connection, and to each other.
Reps once took chances on art, History's most treasured musicians were believed in and cultivated to reach their potential. Today, it would be difficult for those musicians to get deals.
Ray and I do not draw salaries, Any profits will be re-invested into marketing the music we believe in.
It's hilarious, because my guitar has what's known as a tremolo bar or a whammy bar. And the whammy bar is probably the most alien thing on my guitar that could possibly relate to a classical guitar.
I have an independent record label called Favored Nations on which I released an album by an artist called Johnny A, who plays an arch top Gibson through a Marshall, but the tone is all in his fingers.
I don't believe in 'greatest'. I believe in favorites.
I awake, I meditate, get the kids off to school, go to the gym, go to the Favored Nations office, and usually at around 1 pm I'm home and do music the rest of the day.
