John 5

I never wished to be a 'rock star.' I just wanted to be a working musician. My dreams didn't even go past a session player or a working musician. It was too far beyond my dreams.

I'm a vegan now, and I've never felt better in my life. In my life.

A lot of bands, they take a lot of planning to do a live record. They have to hire a crew, and they have to have a recording truck and all this equipment, and they record every single show.

When my parents gave me that first guitar, I became totally obsessed. I would stay in my room all the time with it, and my parents were concerned.

'This Is My Rifle' is a kind of tribute to Al Di Meola.

I have tons of Telecasters but also about 50 Les Pauls, six or seven SGs, and a bunch of Gretsches.

I'm a Telecaster connoisseur, and I love my Teles. I have one from almost every year since the very beginning, in 1950. I'm so obsessed with them.

If you go out to dinner with a group of people, pay for the dinner at a nice restaurant, for the amount of money for that dinner, you can get a John 5 Squier Telecaster and have it for the rest of your life.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been a Fender connoisseur. And to have my name associated with greatness like that, it's amazing. I couldn't be more proud of anything. My children, and then being associated with Fender. In that order!

When I saw Kiss, and it was monsters with guitars, I thought this was the greatest thing that ever happened.

You pick up a lot of things as a kid. That's why I play Telecaster.

I love Loretta Lynn, and I love Roy Clark and Johnny Cash, everybody.

I love to learn, and I started doing a lot of studying of Spanish-style music and really started getting into it and how it is just a completely different form of guitar playing. It is just like if you started speaking in a different language like Japanese or something. It is something that you have to study and work at a lot.

Oh my God, Guns N' Roses - it's like, jeez, that's what made me move out to Los Angeles. 'Welcome to the Jungle,' you know - it's been a huge inspiration for me.

I am from Michigan; I am from Grosse Pointe. I was upper class growing up there.

'Hee Haw' was a huge influence on me.

I've been playing live since I was in sixth grade.

I love doing instrumental records; I love doing that.

I would love to work with a Beatle: Paul McCartney or Ringo Starr.

I liked what any other kid did back in the day. You know, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, and everything else that was on the radio in Michigan. There was a lot of Steely Dan; just a lot of great music inspired me.

Slayer just goes from generation to generation to generation, because it's just so great.

Jimi Hendrix is one of the main influences on why I wanted to play guitar. He really shook me. I think it was his whole style - the look and what he did with the guitar.

Steve Vai had a unique style of playing. Steve Vai didn't sound like anyone else: Steve Vai sounded like Steve Vai.

I remember where I was when I heard Yngwie Malmsteen for the first time. It was such an epiphany for me, and it really shaped the way I play today. I think I heard him in '83, if I'm not mistaken - I was 13 years old - and it really was amazing for me.

Chet Atkins, I love his singer style and the country thing that he did. He really had a huge impact in my life, just his style - western swing and the country thing he did - it really changed my life.

I remember this vividly: It was 1977, and I was in Sears with my mom. And I saw this display, and it was for 'Love Gun.' I bought the record just because of the look of that display. Because I really loved monsters.

I like people writing great songs on guitar or piano or what have you. I miss people getting on stage with real bands and real instruments and expressing themselves that way instead of with computers and technology.

What I do is, I look at rock guitar players, and I say to myself, 'What is this guy doing? What does he have that can inspire me?' I try to see what other people are doing and take what they have and turn it and twist it into my own thing.

I'm always up early. I have so much to do, it's unbelievable how much I have to do in a day. So I have to get at 7 o'clock every morning, and I go to bed at midnight. You know, and I'm just going that whole time.

I'd love to work with Prince. He's such an amazing musician.

When I came to California, I came from such an upper scale neighborhood, I was so sheltered, but I always knew I wanted to live in California, and I wanted to play guitar.

I always play so many different styles that I don't think anything I do surprises anyone.

I wanted to be a guitar player and musician so badly, and I prayed to get this the very few times I went to church, and I feel like I got my prayer answered.

I just try to go outside the box. In fact, I go outside the box so much I go... 'What box!'

I love Jimmy Bryant, and I love Albert Lee. Roy Clark. Chet Atkins. I love those pickers.

I just love music and great guitar players.

I was such a big Kiss and Van Halen fan, Yngwie Malmsteen, Racer X... all that stuff. I loved everybody.

I would hear Steely Dan on the radio all the time, and I listened to 'Aja' a lot. I mean, 'Black Cow' and 'Aja' and 'Deacon Blues' and 'Josie' and 'Peg'... all these songs are on one record. It's crazy!

There's not many crazy guitar instrumentalists out there that put on a crazy monster show.

I loved TV, and I watched anything with music - 'Hee Haw,' 'Happy Days,' anything like that. So I loved the Monkees.

I'm still obsessed with Kiss. I'm still obsessed with Van Halen. I guess we don't change that much from being kids. Either we don't change that much, or we just have really good taste.

Inspiration is one of my favorite things. That's all I want to do - I want to inspire people.

Whenever you listen to a CD or an album, it gets tiresome hearing the same thing over and over and over again.

I like streaming music. I'll be in the car going, 'I want to hear Scotty Anderson.' He's a great guitar player not many people know about - maybe me and two other dudes know him. But I love him, and I can pull him up on Apple Music, and there it is, right there in my car.

When I was younger, I had a horrible flight. Horrible. It was well before I was 10 years old. So I always thought to myself, 'I know I don't want to travel.' That's why I wanted to be a session guy, because I knew I could still play guitar and make a living at it - hopefully.

You know how kids will wait outside after a gig and try to get an autograph from the band? I would do that, but when I found the guitar player, I would say, 'What advice can you give me?' And a lot of my heroes would say, 'Have your own style.' I always kept that in my head.

You can go pretty much anywhere in the world, and people know 'Beat It.' When I was growing up, you heard it everywhere. I remember being a kid and going to school dances and stuff, and they always played it.

I love instrumental guitar records, but I also understand that, as a listener, it can be difficult to get through a whole album of just that one thing.

You gotta go after your dreams and do it. Go and do it.

I love meeting the fans, and I love shaking hands, and that's what it's all about. It really is.