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 you want to play something that you hear, you need to listen with your mind’s eye. You’ve heard of the mind’s eye, right? Your mind has an ear too. It’s a kind of listening,...

The classical guitar has a dynamic to it unlike a regular acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. You know, there’s times when you should play and there’s times when you gotta hold back. It’s an...

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 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.

My past is very interesting, and I treasure it, but to write about it, it’s just not on my radar.

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.

Windows to the Soul,

I don’t think I approach my songs differently from other artists. You get a big picture of it, and you imagine the song and hear and feel it, and that big picture is like a...

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...

I loved the idea of recording. The idea of sound-on-sound-recording captured me as a young kid, and once I realized what it was I had an epiphany. Before I was even playing the guitar, I...

Ray and I do not draw salaries, Any profits will be re-invested into marketing the music we believe in.

All musicians practice ear training constantly, whether or not they are cognizant of it. If, when listening to a piece of music, a musician is envisioning how to play it or is trying to play...

A lot of those little things that I really like doing are just moments of cool articulation, just little moments of phrasing that probably go over everybody’s head.

I think every artist subconsciously wants to evolve themselves. Sometimes they get stuck in ruts because of pop culture, peer pressure, stuff like that. But what excites me most is exploring my own musical insights...

I know it is common nowadays for artists to start labels but this is a thoroughly constructed vehicle for inspired talent. This is a market that we’ve been living, breathing and eating for our entire...

Most people are fascinated to see someone play an instrument in an inspired way. We are moved by witnessing musical brilliance, and it was this notion that led me to purchase the GuitarTV domain 10...

You can never deny the immense talent, rock credibility and iconic historical contribution that Van Halen made.

Besides being a guitar player, I’m a big fan of the guitar. I love that damn instrument.

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. We have the insight and the tools to identify and bring...

The only time I’m miserable is when I can’t keep an instrument in tune.

I was a kid, 12 or something, when the Partridge Family was big on TV. I liked the curly cord running from the bass to the amps, which were real fancy. That cord looked so...

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.

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...

If you’re feeling emotional when you’re creating something, it’ll sound that way.

I created this picture of this character who would play the guitar effortlessly, who had no limitations, performing beautiful music, and he moved around with great acrobatic skills, just capturing the audience and being a...

The older I get, the more I just like plugging directly into my amp. I’m tired of trying to impress myself with weird sounds. It’s about the notes more.

My main calling in life is to seek and achieve spiritual balance, and to express that through my instrument. Everything else is here today, gone later today.

I’ve never really heard anybody imitating anything of mine the way they do with Edward Van Halen’s stuff.

Favored Nations is a long-term commitment. Our hope is that those who are passionate about real musicianship will want to hear and own most of our albums. We will set out to attain the same...

I’ve learned over the years that you’re going to be most successful at the things you’re most excited to do. Every artist has a special set of tools. When you really use those tools, and...

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...

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...

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.

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.

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,...

I have a deep love for life and my fellow human beings. I try to understand everything that everybody does, even if it seems wrong to me.

I didn’t have any aspirations of becoming famous or successful; in fact I was scared to death of all that. I remember somebody once said that if a rock musician goes on tour, he goes...

Acting, at least for me, is very unreal, and when I’m doing it, I actually feel embarrassed.

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 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’ve always considered transcribing to be an invaluable tool in the development of one’s musical ear and, over the years, I have spent countless glorious hours transcribing different kinds of music, either guitar-oriented or not.

I could never overstate the importance of a musician’s need to develop his or her ear. Actually, I believe that developing a good ‘inner ear’ – the art of being able to decipher musical components...

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...

I’m always pursuing knowledge; I’m a seeker of spiritual equilibrium – and music is a big part of that.

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...

Criticism can be devastating. When push comes to shove, we are all very sensitive.

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...

If I remain true to what’s in my heart, that’s all the success I need.

I’ve been approached many times to write all sorts of books about my past and my personal life. I get interest from people who want to do reality shows, and somebody just offered me a...