No, but I've always felt that with true talent, and a commitment to hard work, it is possible to achieve an enduring respect and appreciation. In other words, I don't take my fans for granted.

And I now think that Stratocasters and Telecasters are way cool.

I'm like a twenty-two-year-old kid in a new band trying to get noticed and break through, because the vast majority of people have never seen me play live.

On Eye of the Zombie, I had so-called studio musicians.

I usually destroy unreleased material. It has a way of coming back to haunt you.

I stuck with that size because I could bend the strings so well, and somewhere along the line I must have gotten it into my mind that I had small hands, so I was thinking I'd never be able to play a full-scale guitar, but I also felt like I was cheating or cutting corners.

The only sliding I did was on the kind of instrument that you put on your lap; no Spanish electrics.

No, but I've always felt that with true talent, and a commitment to hard work, it is possible to achieve an enduring respect and appreciation. In other words, I don't take my fans for granted.

The ones I have got great necks; of course, all of the Fenders from that era are incredible.

The Telecaster doesn't really sound that good for the kind of rock and roll that a lot of people played.

I've also become much more the musician I've always wanted to be.

I don't know that all the demons have been beaten, but I'm very, very proud of those songs.

I'm now comfortable playing a lot of the old songs, and I've gotten out a lot of the old equipment.

You should play with real musicians; the best music comes from real people interacting with each other.

Now that I'm older, I like almost anything that's done well, even surf music and instrumentals; I really enjoyed the interviews with the Ventures in your magazine.

When I made Blue Moon Swamp, there was a lot of trial and error; I was trying to find people who would be simpatico with my style, and with what I had in mind for the album.

I wrote that song for my wife, and it's what some guy who's sitting under a tree would be singing to the woman of his life, telling her how wonderful she is. To me, that's more lasting than something that sounds like it belongs on a movie soundtrack.

That song has the full extent of my mandolin abilities; I'm not a good mandolin player at all.

I work hard at that, but the fact that there are a lot of good songs means there are also a lot of really bad songs I've written that you never hear.

But I think beautiful is simple and elegant, like a ballad with simple harmony.

Even though I have often recorded alone, I still feel the best music is made by musicians playing off each other.

I went pretty much for one tone, and I knew at that time that I wanted to play a Rickenbacker.

There's just not a lot of guys around playing like that these days; a lot of steel players are plugging into stomp boxes, trying to sound like Jeff Beck on a steel guitar.

I've studied a lot of great people over the years - Pete Seeger, James Brown - and tried to incorporate elements that I've admired, though I can't say I dance like James.

I thought what I was good at doing was playing real simple guitar licks, since I'd cut my teeth on what Duane Eddy was doing; licks that were simple but had staying power.

Washburn's an old American name, but this one was assembled overseas.

I'm much more energetic now; you might say live performance is my mission.

Even though James Burton was my idol, I didn't think I could carry his shoes back then.

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo the trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

Sometimes I think life is just a rodeo, the trick is to ride and make it to the bell.

Many of the artists who have represented Negro life have seen only the comic, ludicrous side of it, and have lacked sympathy with and appreciation for the warm big heart that dwells within such a rough exterior.

The greatest humiliation in life, is to work hard on something from which you expect great appreciation, and then fail to get it.

As an alcoholic, you have no appreciation for your wife or your children's feelings, but I'm making up for that now. I'm winning my children's trust back.

Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you'll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it.

Kids in general make things fresh and alive and they have this great appreciation for, Holy mackerel, we're making a movie!

I've had a very good career and I'm grateful that the public has had some level of acceptance and appreciation of my work.

The task of a university is the creation of the future, so far as rational thought and civilized modes of appreciation can affect the issue.

The first Decline I did was out of sheer love and appreciation for the music. In 1977, it was more about bands, because punk was a new form of music. It was groundbreaking and political.

Such manifestations I account as representing the creative leadership of the new forces of thought and appreciation which attend changes in technological pattern and therefore of the pattern of human relationships in society.

President Reagan always gave the credit to the American people and American ideals. He treated his job as a valuable temporary loan from the American people, a loan that should be respected and returned with dutiful appreciation.

Hopeful thinking can get you out of your fear zone and into your appreciation zone.

The fixed stars signify the angel in man. That is why man orients himself by them; and that is why women have no appreciation for the starry sky; because they have no sense of the angel in man.

The thing I fail to do is fully comprehend what's given back to me by the audience. You would think you would be a performer partly so you could feel all the appreciation or adulation, but I haven't quite managed that yet.

There is really a whole new appreciation when you leave and then come back.

But perhaps the rest of us could have separate classes in science appreciation, the wonder of science, scientific ways of thinking, and the history of scientific ideas, rather than laboratory experience.

There are slavish souls who carry their appreciation for favors done them so far that they strangle themselves with the rope of gratitude.

Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.

One of the great things about being recognized is that you receive this feedback from people. It is easy to see how sincere people are. It's nothing fake or jive. They're giving sincere appreciation. And it's not that easy to express.

Surely no issue unites us more than our appreciation for our military personnel who are bringing aid to devastated countries, defending us against terrorism, and fighting to make a free election possible in Iraq.