"Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I'd rather lie around. No contest." "I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist." (About "Layla"): "To have ownership of something that powerful is something I'll never be able to get used to. It still knocks me out when I play it." "My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice. At the time when I was still thrashing around on the acoustic guitar trying to sound like Leadbelly or Jesse Fuller, there was someone who had already achieved this particular goal. That was Hank Marvin of The Shadows. He had found, and settled on, a clean, pure sound which disallowed any kind of ham-fisted playing. Only the lightest touch was permitted. The result was a marvelous mixture of clear, sweet melody over a strong rock beat (and what a great drum sound). On top of all this, he looked like Buddy Holly and played a real Stratocaster!" "When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition. I recognize that I have some responsibility to keep the music alive, and it's a pretty honorable position to be in." "I would challenge anybody to come up with a better design for a guitar. The Stratocaster is as good as it gets."