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I have been training since 8th grade, but it has to do with listening, more than practice.

Practicing is not only playing your instrument, either by yourself or rehearsing with others - it also includes imagining yourself practicing. Your brain forms the same neural connections and muscle memory whether you are imagining the task or actually doing it.

I'm not a huge practicer, which is probably not a good thing because my band definitely needs to practice.

If I don't practice the way I should, then I won't play the way that I know I can.

Listening is such a simple act. It requires us to be present, and that takes practice, but we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, or coach, or sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.

When you are not practicing, someone else is getting better.

You can have the greatest player in terms of mastering an instrument and you could be yawning your head off when you hear them. So, it's not what you do, but the way you're doing it and in the end that's all that we have.

It's only through listening that you learn, and I never want to stop learning.

For me, playing music is like meditating - I just play and don't really think about what I'm doing, I just let it happen.

As far as how I expressed 'practice, practice, practice' over and over again, I wouldn't take that back because, obviously, that sound bite is great for the media and for the fans, because they love it.