"I started playing guitar when I was about five or six, because my dad played guitar, and, when you're a kid, you want to do what your dad does. I was in junior high when I decided I wanted to be a professional guitar player. Early on, I knew what I wanted to do and I pursued it heavily. From the time I was about 15 until I graduated from Berklee I practiced at least five hours a day."

"I grew up in the '80s, and I was barraged with MTV and artists like Eddie Van Halen. There was basically a guitar solo in every song, and I was totally drawn to it. I never even thought of another instrument."

"When I started teaching at Berklee, I was performing a lot, touring with several bands. All my students want to know what touring is like. They want to know what it's like to play in front of large crowds, so [having that experience] helps out a lot. I've also worked as a recording engineer. I have my own recording studio that I built in my house in Maine. I'm heavily into the production aspects of music."

"Teaching has made me a better guitar player; it's taught me a lot of things about how people learn and how I learn. And it helps me learn things faster. Anytime I need to learn something quickly, I think, 'How would I teach this to somebody?' And all of a sudden it clicks for me. I try to approach it that way with my students, as well. I ask them, 'If you had to show this to your roommate, how would you go about explaining it?'"

"I want my students to understand that you don't learn everything in two seconds. It's a process, and you have to be patient and persistent, and eventually you'll get there."