I'd say it's harder to play with an acoustic guitar strapped over your shoulder for a few hundred people than it is to play in front of thousands with an entire bombastic band behind you.
I'm an acoustic guitar owner - in the sense that I own them, and they sit at my house, and I never play them.
I like hearing fiddles, steel guitar, acoustics up loud - really rock & roll stuff but with a country sound behind it. That's just who I am. I'm not trying to prove a point; I am just doing what I like. But I don't have any problems with any other artist coming in and doing their own thing.
I was on the road with my buddy Alex - he's my guitar player - and we watched the movie 'Click' by Adam Sandler. And I don't know why, but me and him just got in our feelings. And then we ended up calling our girls, and we were like, 'We're so sorry. We wish you were here!'
I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.
My body is damaged from music in two ways. I have a red irritation in my stomach. It's psychosomatic, caused by all the anger and the screaming. I have scoliosis, where the curvature of your spine is bent, and the weight of my guitar has made it worse. I'm always in pain, and that adds to the anger in our music.
I had done a fair bit of traveling during the holidays in my school days with my guitar and discovered that I could live on it. Admittedly, I traveled with a sleeping bag but I could always find somewhere to lay my head.
The process of selecting the tone on the guitar is an aesthetic process like any other, so you try a lot of different things.
I actually love woodworking. I'm just getting into it. And I love playing guitar, I'm a big movie aficionado, and I like hiking.
I've always loved music, but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar, and having that sense of performing, I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music.
Like, back in Albania, all my cousins sing, they play the drums, they play guitar, it's like... a thing!
I only want to do what I really want to do; otherwise, I'm content to sit here and play my guitar all day.
I have a favorite blue Telecaster. It's an old '60-something, which I play at every show. That's probably my favorite all-around stage guitar.
When you pick up a guitar, you don't put down your First Amendment rights.
If you have a great-sounding guitar that's a quality instrument and a good amp, and you know how to make the guitar talk, that's the key. It starts with the guitar and knowing what it should sound and feel like.
I remember one of the first gigs I played with that amp was at a local church. They wanted someone to fill in with the guitar and my friend say, 'Ah, he can play.' And so I dragged the amplifier down and started playing and everybody started yelling 'turn it down!'
When I was 14 years old, I had the opportunity to meet Buddy Holly. I asked him how he got that big, powerful sound out of his guitar amp. He said, 'I blew a speaker and decided not to get it fixed.'
In a typical day, I would wake up about 8 A.M., pile all my stuff into my mom's minivan - my guitar, my amp, CDs to sell, a table and a rug - drive it down to the street, and unload it all. I'd wait until about 12, then play for two hours. You could only play in two-hour intervals, so then I would move it all somewhere else.
When I got my first Marshall amp, it was so empowering. No one ever forgets their first Marshall amp if you're a guitar player pursuing a big powerful sound. I mean, no one ever forgets their first Marshall amp.
I like the guitar better these days. I like the bass, too, but it's hard to fit a bass amp in a small car.