“The best piece of advice I have ever read or gotten is to play like there is nobody watching, just you and the music. Nothing is better than that. Who cares what other people think of you as long as you’re doing something you love?”

“Practice, practice, practice!”

“Make music that you like, no matter what the trend is at the time. Oh, and screw anyone that gets in the way of what you want to do.”

“The best piece of musical advice I have ever received was from my bass teacher, John Hamil. ‘If you hit a wrong note or mess up in the middle of a song, smile and do it again. They’ll think you’re a genius.’“

“No matter how good you are, someone out there will always be better.”

“My uncle said to me, ‘Grab it by the balls and never let go,’ in a fake English accent. Here I am, years later, still ball grabbin’.”

“Have a day job.”

“The best advice I was ever relayed was to listen and play. Listen first, and then play. It is that simple.”

“Your band sucks. Go home while you can.”

“I was in a guitar clinic at Massey music, in Joplin Missouri. Steve Morse from Dixie Dregs fame was then in the band Kansas and teaching the clinic. He pulled off some head exploding riffage that day. He is a guitarist often asked to join projects of well-known musicians because of his extreme versatility. Versatility was his advice that day. Everything he taught or showed was centralized around it. He said, ‘It doesn’t matter what style you play, learn other styles and you will become better in the style you play.” He said, ‘A versatile musician is a working musician.’ You may not be familiar with him, but if you listen to his stuff from his multiple projects as well as the Dixie Dregs it will rip your face off. He is respected for his expertise. It ended up being excellent advice, as I have utilized it and feel I would not be the guitarist I am today without it.”

“If someone says your band is the best they have ever heard and that they will make you a star, they are probably a liar.”