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Sling your guitar to wherever you're going, and you'll be amazed by the connective power of music: It knows no boundaries, cultures or class.

But the guitar, when you think about it, is the most versatile, really. I mean you can pick it up and take it with you wherever you go.

I always lived with guitarists. When they would leave, I would just pick up their acoustic guitars and start doing finger picking and write.

As a teenager, I used to travel everywhere with my guitar. I appreciated the fact it was with me, but it was always an absolute pain to carry around - even though, in those days, you could take in on a plane as hand luggage.

I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it.

When I got into music, I wanted to learn guitar just enough to be able to write songs. I wanted to be able to express myself.

I've never been much of a guitarist. I mean, I've played forever, but I was always more of a rhythm kind of guy. I don't read music.

It's a magical thing, the guitar. It allows you to be the whole band in one, to play rhythm and melody, sing over the top. And as an instrument for solos, you can bend notes, draw emotional content out of tiny movements, vibratos and tonal things which even a piano can't do.

When I began, the guitar was en-closed in a vicious circle. There were no composers writing for the guitar, be-cause there were no virtuoso guitarists.

I think a lot of modern day guitarists start off playing like Eddie van Halen, and they don't take the time to learn the basics.