“I’m not a drunk anymore, but since they cut out my tongue, I sound drunk.”

Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.

I think Clapton is brilliant. He’s the only one who moved me. The only one who made me want to play the guitar.

Holdsworth is so damned good that I can’t cop anything. I can’t understand what he’s doing. I’ve got to do this [does two-hand tapping], whereas he’ll do it with one hand.

It’s always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you’re the same, and they hate you if you’re different.

I have selective hearing.

I’m writing, and just doing the same thing I always do.

Every song is like a kid. How can you have that many kids and have a favorite? Which one do I like to hang most with?

A good producer brings out the best in the artist he’s working with. You shouldn’t be able to listen to something and say, ‘So-and-so produced this album.

You only have 12 notes. Do what you want with them.

I’m the one in the band that said I’m not going on tour unless we do a record.

Cancer is like a cockroach. It just comes back stronger. I’m tearing apart the immune system of the cockroach and seeing how it ticks. I’ve opened up my own pathology center.

When I was growing up and listening to bands like the Dave Clark Five, the groove was what initially got me going. I really like that funky, heavy groove.

I was trying to take the band in a direction that I thought was appropriate, and Roth was trying to take the band in more of a Las Vegas direction. And there he is.

I’m just a guitarist in a kick-ass rock and roll band. What more could I ask for?

I was so used to doing old blues licks with the first three fingers. When I started using my pinky and finding more spread things, that’s when I started getting my own style.

To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.

I drink to the ones who can sit with their souls and not wish for sleep and the nightmares it brings.

I’m drinking doubles now that you’re running around single again.

The Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for theologians to swim in without ever reaching the bottom.

My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down – but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let’s all have another round.

I’m not trying to be a big shot or anything like that, but I get my drinks half price.

Writer’s block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they can have an excuse to drink alcohol.

My wife actually got worried about my drinking so much regular milk, you know, so she got me into rice milk and now soy milk, which I greatly enjoy. A soy mocha’s a fine thing.

She needs to have a few drinks and cry a little-then she’ll be perfect.