I'm not like other guitar players. In fact, I'm not even like most acoustic players because I use the nylon-string acoustic. I do play steel-string and the electric guitar, too, because I love rock 'n' roll and guitarists like Jimi Hendrix. But my bread and butter has always been the nylon-string.
I can't deny that Eric Clapton's and Eddie Van Halen's lead stuff has influenced a stack of people, but for me, it's the rhythm thing that's way more impressive and important to a band.
The blues appealed to me, but so did rock. The early rockabilly guitarists like Cliff Gallup and Scotty Moore were just as important to me as the blues guitarists.
I used to listen to the Beatles and Stones, whereas Angus was more into the heavier stuff - Cream, Hendrix - with the lead guitar.
Guitars are fun. There are plenty of different kinds to play. They look cool. They sound cool. Don't you want to play guitar?
I was a virtuoso of all the folk-blues guitar styles by the time I reached 17.
I've played guitar in so many different styles, and I want to revisit them all.
There's such a wealth of arts and styles within the guitar... flamenco, jazz, rock, blues... you name it, it's there. In the early days my dream was to fuse all those styles. Now composing has become just as important.
I can't say I feel influenced by today's guitar players.
Guitar players in the nineties seem to be reacting against the technique oriented eighties.
