“A lot of people said to me, ‘Enough with the guest vocalists for a while. We want to hear the Mexican play the guitar!’”

The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace.

The worst thing you can become in life is cynical. Cynical is like concrete. and nothing grows in concrete.

You meditate and you got the candles, you got the incense and you’ve been chanting, and all of a sudden you hear this voice: ‘Write this down’

Most people don’t have that willingness to break bad habits. They have a lot of excuses and they talk like victims.

The guitar is your first wings. It’s assigned and designed to unfold your vision and imagination.

When you are in your heart of hearts, you can see beyond appearances.

There is divinity in your DNA. Live your light.

I realised a long time ago that instrumental music speaks a lot more clearly than English, Spanish, Yiddish, Swahili, any other language. Pure melody goes outside time.

I knuckle down with my demons, and with my weaknesses.

Live up to your convictions. You walk in grace or you walk in fear. You can’t have it both ways.

The Devil is like a strainer that separates the mud from the gold.

I would invite all Latin people to do nothing for about two weeks so you can see who really, really is running the economy I am here to give voice to the invisible.

Your mind is a magnet. You don’t attract what you need or what you want; you attract who you are. And I love who I am!

There is no person that love cannot heal; there is no soul that love cannot save.

First of all, the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that.

There is nothing more contagious on this planet than enthusiasm.

I did pick up a guitar once, but the strings hurt my fingers so I put it down again.

It’s hard to go out in front of people with an acoustic guitar and improvise for 30 or 40 minutes, but I had a compulsion to do it. I just had to in a way that I can’t really explain.

My wife bought me a vintage Gibson guitar that isn’t just beautiful but has tremendous sentimental value. I have plenty of guitars for live gigs but this is one to treasure.

When I was around 7 or 8 my Dad took me to a B.B. King recording session, well, that really did it. Huge and lasting impressions.

I definitely have a different perspective on music in general. But once I actually have a guitar in my hands, I think I disappear into the same black hole that I was disappearing into when I was 15.

I enjoy the song writing process more than anything. It’s what I like the most, just sitting in my room with guitar or at the piano or something.

Yes, we three were so happy, my wife, my guitar and me!

I don’t read music; I taught myself guitar.