I became a professional musician and played all kinds of music. I played bluegrass, I played classical music, and for many years, I played jazz.
In Nashville, good guitar players are a dime a dozen.
It's great fun to play with a really good band.
I tried to play anything people would hire me to play, because I was a musician.
To this day, I still travel with scores. Every time I'm on a plane - it could be Stravinsky or Mozart or Ravel.
And as far as guitars go, I loved Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West's stuff.
When I was a kid, everyone wanted to be in a band - that was the path to girls, adulation, money.
My mom and sisters liked to sing and we would jam at home very often. I would also jam a lot in college, where I formed a fusion band and played the keyboards.
In high school no guys wanted to be in a band with me unless I was going to play bass or play grindcore or be in a scream-o band, so it was fun to finally have that experience of having my songs backed by a drummer and a bassist who were just as excited about it as I was.
My dad played in so many places, so I got to learn from so many other guys and they get to teach me.
Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.
When I started playing music, it was all face-to-face.
My major influences were primarily guitar players and bands; I started playing bass by accident.
I can just be one of those guys that used in the mix, playing 4 or 5 if we play smaller.
Because you have things like 'American Idol' and you've got radio stations that play music made entirely by computers, it's easy to forget there are bands with actual people playing actual instruments that rock.
I tried the guitar, but it had two strings too many. It was just too complicated, man! Plus, I grew up with Steve Cropper. There were so many good guitar players, another one wasn't needed. What was needed was a bass.
Sometimes I just wish I played in a band like Foo Fighters.
Looking back on it now, I felt that I was blessed much like the masters, I guess - the guys who wrote the concertos.
It's easier to collaborate with instrumentalists than singers; they know exactly the sound that I need.
You can be in the band, you can go buy your own guitar strings at Guitar Center, you can go and do everything the boys can do and you're not the oddity anymore.
I remember when I was a kid and I used to go and see Queen play live. It was like there was Queen the album band, and then Queen the four dudes on stage playing the songs on stage, and it never lacked anything to me when it was just the four dudes playing the big songs.
I'm a bass player from way back and Paul is a guitar player and we've been in many bands.
I wasn't a trained Mickey Mouse club performer. I played in jazz clubs and restaurants.
I am a musician, but I'm another type of musician.
I worked with a guy, I can't think of his name, him and his wife, and one of them had a saxophone and the other played drums. It wasn't a regular job but I did a few gigs around home with them.
