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United States
United States
"We never thought about the recording process, of how we were going to cut it with drums and bass, then add this later. We just went in and played live. That's what Escape is and pretty much all of our records."
"My goal here is to have a vehicle that can handle big storytelling, big immersive musical experiences and trans-media experiences, that each time it happens it’s big enough and loud enough that it moves people to think a little differently at times."
"It’s the greatest thing in the world to be able to have something to express yourself besides your mouth... which usually gets you in trouble anyway. Shut up and play the guitar."
"I still enjoy the feel of the guitar on my hands. It’s really exhilarating to stand on stage in front of people... to elicit and emotion from them and to feel that emotion yourself, it’s a transfer of energy and that’s really the whole thing."
"There’s politics in it, there’s obsession in it, there’s romanticism in it, there’s poetry in it, and there’s your own personal relationship to it. It’s an entire world really."
At some point it literally comes down to sitting in a room with a guitar... if you want to get on stage, then do. If you want to practice, sometimes it’s going to be hard. Music is about a feeling and it’s about having fun.
"When I’m playing music or I'm writing music it's the closest I can get to what I'm hearing in my head. It's the closest I can get to what I'm trying to express, or what feeling I'm trying to slowly chip away at inside of me."
"I want to make sure that every time we get to experience that power and that feeling... that you're playing something on guitar that is new or feels explosive, and important. It's trying to channel all of the stuff you've loved, been influenced by, and trying to find something new."
"I cite guitar playing and I cite this band with pushing me forward and giving me that North Star. It's a feeling, it's a thing that you carry with you, it's a fire." In this episode Ernie Ball? artists, Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger of Halestorm discuss their beginnings with guitar, their love of playing, and their relationship with Ernie Ball.
"Guitar playing is kind of like therapy... you can go and not think about things for a while, and just feel. It’s pretty cool." In this episode Ernie Ball artists, Phil Manansala and Alan Ashby from Of Mice & Men discuss their beginnings with guitar, their love of playing, and their relationship with Ernie Ball.
"I don’t think I picked music, music picked me… I don’t know where I’d be without it, it’s always been apart of my identity." In this episode, guitarist Daron Malakian of System of A Down and Scars on Broadway discusses his beginnings with music and guitar, his love of playing, and his relationship with Ernie Ball.
"Guitar playing is a gift. It’s something I got into when I was 7 years old... just learning three simple chords led me on a journey that would forever change my life.” Watch as guitarist Dave Navarro dives into his early inspirations, his creative process, and how he gets his signature tone with Ernie Ball strings.
"I always try to think a little bit out of the box. A little to the left. Everyone does 4/4, 4/4." Watch Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe dive into his early inspirations, his creative process, and how he gets his signature tone with Ernie Ball strings.
“I love guitar playing. It's a passion for me....It's one of the few things I've been sure of in my entire life....It's the one thing consistently throughout my life that I've strived to get better at and...always felt challenged and engaged in.” Watch Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! dive into her early musical influences, her creative process, and why she’s played Ernie Ball strings since she was 12.
"The need to play music is like feeding the soul. You can only go so long without it and then you have to have it back." Clint Black talks about his tone, hunting for new sounds, and why he’s played Ernie Ball strings since 1991.
“The guitar was like a language, each chord was like a sentence, each part was a paragraph or a chapter, and then you could create a whole story, and I became obsessed." Watch Tim McIlrath of Rise Against dive into his creative process and why he’s always played with Ernie Ball strings.
“Songwriting for me is finding what the idea is and exploring it. You're not questioning it, you’re just going with it." Watch Jimmy Adkins of Jimmy Eat World dive into his creative process and why he’s always played with Ernie Ball strings.
"It's that desire to want to create. Why do artists draw and why do writers write? Because you have to." Watch John Petrucci of Dream Theater dive into his creative process and why he’s always played with Ernie Ball.
"It's a super power. It's an invisible cape. It's a magic trick. It's a tenuous operation of unfathomable nuance. It's an ever-evolving stream of happy accidents. It's a culture made up of weirdos and rule breakers, and geniuses of design and beach freaks and brainiacs and cavemen and beautiful little flowers...and it's been a huge part of my identity for as long as I can remember." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails, Guns N' Roses) discusses his beginnings with music and guitar, his love of playing, and his relationship with Ernie Ball.
"The first time I ever picked up a guitar it was empowering, it was almost like a magical sword, pulling it from the stone and looking at it....at that moment my life was completely changed forever." Ernie Ball artists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance of Avenged Sevenfold discuss their beginnings with guitar, their love of playing, and their relationship with Ernie Ball.
"This way of playing the guitar as a soloist, you can't really fake anything up there. You have to be a genuine sort of person for people to connect with it, I think, and to be able to express yourself the right way." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Andy McKee discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"Bass playing to me is the anchor, but it's also finding your song within the song". In this episode, Ernie Ball artist and Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt discusses his beginnings with bass and guitar, his love of playing, and his relationship with Ernie Ball.
"It was freeing to have the ability to show up with an acoustic guitar really anywhere and express myself. And the rhythm gave me a bed to enhance my vocal. I sing better when I'm playing guitar than when I'm just standing there. I can put my whole body into it." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Lissie discusses her influences, her history with playing guitar, and her Ernie Ball strings.
"Guitar is the people's instrument...It's very welcoming. A couple chords and you're ripping". In this episode, Mac DeMarco discusses his influences, his evolution as a singer-songwriter and musician, and his long-time relationship with Ernie Ball guitar strings.
"Music to me is about camaraderie with someone that you make something really special with." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Rex Brown discusses creating music with his friends, being influenced by his sister's collection of rock music, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"Guitar has always been the messenger of rock and roll. That is the voice, the bullhorn, the call to arms and the foundation of rock and roll. I've always been incredibly enamored and taken by it, before I could even play." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Paul Stanley discusses his influences, playing in KISS, and his guitar strings.
"The guitar has been a part of my daily life since I was ten years old." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Don Felder discusses acquiring his first guitar, being influenced by Elvis Presley at a very young age, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"When I'm playing, and I'm in the moment of just sitting and playing, there's a lot of freedom in my head, and melodies. I love when I just play and the first thing that comes to mind just comes out. It's very liberating." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Steve Vai discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"I almost resisted being a shredder and learning stuff, because that put you in another world. That put you in the metal world, whereas punk was just about aggression and simplicity. Early on it crept in there because I realized I actually like to shred." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Jade Puget of AFI discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"A good friend of mine that lived two doors down needed a bass player. At the time, I was playing violin, and it had four strings, so I said okay I should be able to figure it out. One thing led to another, and it just became the best idea." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist John Myung of Dream Theater discusses his influences, his history with playing bass, and his Ernie Ball bass strings.
"I'm a musician and an artist. I was born to create things and make music. It makes me happy." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Shavo Odadjian of System Of A Down discusses his influences, his history with playing bass and guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"I feel like I play guitar like a cavewoman or something, you know? Like, I'm just like [makes windmill motion] and sometimes it works." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Lindsey Troy of Deap Vally discusses her influences, her history with playing guitar, and her Ernie Ball strings.
"Coming up with a new song or new riffs, being that it’s what moves me as if I’m listening to someone else’s record, it just gets me. It’s all the same, it’s in my blood." In this episode Ernie Ball artist Kurt Vile discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"With the guitar, I think it's the challenge of being able to make something sound beautiful on it, especially even with distortion; you want to sound aggressive, but you still want it to sound beautiful." In this episode Ernie Ball artist Chris Broderick discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"What is guitar playing? It's creativity, it's expression; it's something that my life would not feel complete without." In this episode Ernie Ball artists and 311 guitarists Nick Hexum and Tim Mahoney discuss their influences, their history with playing guitar, and their Ernie Ball strings.
"Guitar playing is sometimes the greatest expression of pure joy that you can have. Guitar playing has become the means by which I’ve gotten to see the world. Guitar playing means the ability to express yourself outside of mere words." In this episode Ernie Ball artist and guitarist for Eagles of Death Metal Jesse Hughes discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"I'd never thought of myself as a very accomplished guitar player, but I've always played in my own way and it's served me emotionally, I think, as a way of being a person." In this episode Ernie Ball artist Dhani Harrison (thenewno2, Fistful of Mercy) discusses his love of guitar, influences, and choice of strings and gauges.
"I just found by playing the guitar louder, you can get some air moving and it hits your body and impacts you somehow. So I've always worn earplugs since the beginning too, 'cause I wanted it to affect my body and not just hear it, you know?" In this episode Ernie Ball artist and guitarist for influential rock band Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"I guess my fingers were just ready, and I learned to play guitar really quickly. It was something that drove me through my teenage years." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist Tom Dumont of No Doubt and Dreamcar discusses his influences, his history with playing guitar, and his Ernie Ball strings.
"It's something that helps define myself to myself. It gives me a real sort of foundation as to what I feel--I believe--that I was put on this earth to do, which is to make music." In this episode, Ernie Ball artist and Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett discusses his love of guitar, influences, and choice of strings and gauges.
"Where all the stars align is where I can have a solo just kill--like really great solo--but also the audience realizes it was a really great solo. When the two world collide, and everyone's happy, and you're really proud of what you did, you can't replicate that." Clay Cook explores his upbringing, influences, and why he's been a die hard Ernie Ball and Music Man fan since the beginning.
"Playing bass for me is the ultimate freedom. When I play music, expressing myself is a lot easier". In this episode Ernie Ball artist and bassist for the legendary hard rock band TOOL, Justin Chancellor explores his early influences and how performing live is the ultimate confluence of emotions.
"I don't know what makes a guitar sound great...I just know the moment I pick it up and hit one chord if it sounds right. It's energy. When it shoots a bolt of energy through you the first time you pull it off the rack, that's how you know it's right. It's like love at first sight". Butch Walker discusses choosing a guitar in this episode of String Theory.
"It's not the gear, it's the intent. When you play, play with bad intentions. And when you play, the soul of the music has to come out". Watch Joe Bonamassa talk about his early touring days and lifelong passion for guitar playing in this episode of String Theory.
"Music to me is obviously everything I've been doing my whole adult life. It's in everything. It's always there. It's something that we kinda get used to, and take for granted in a lot of ways, but when it's not there you notice". In this episode Mike explores how different gauges of Ernie Ball Slinky strings help him craft his sound from bass to acoustic guitar, his first Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay and his creative process.
"If you're not bending, you might as well be a harpsichord player. With bending you get to pretend you're a vocalist, even if you have a lousy voice." Paul Gilbert of Mr. Big and Racer X talks about the power of the guitar in this episode of String Theory.
"Guitar playing to me is something that I do that's almost as important as breathing air." Watch our conversation with Kenny Wayne Shepherd in this episode of String Theory.
"It's always going to be a life-long exploration about finding different sounds, finding different ways of playing that interest me...it's my life." Watch the full interview with Bobb Bruno of Best Coast in this episode of String Theory.
"The way the guitar wants to be played is dynamically. You're physically and viscerally transferring energy into the strings." Dustin Kensrue from Thrice talks about "playing outside of the box" in this episode of String Theory.
"Playing live ends up being energizing and exciting. Trying new stuff live and knowing it could totally fall apart... that's kind of fun when you pull it off." Courtney Barnett discusses playing live and her color-coded songwriting process in this episode of String Theory.
"You hold that high note and it's just soaring. And it's like, there's the reason why you're put on this earth." Listen as Joe Don of Rascal Flatts talks about the power of music in this episode of String Theory.
"Music and the guitar are synonymous to me. They are what I do for fun, for therapeutic purposes, for work...it's all that I do." See Ilan Rubin of The New Regime, Nine Inch Nails, and Angels & Airwaves talk about his passion for playing in this episode of String Theory.
"A lot of people ask me, 'how'd you get that synth sound.' I'm like, 'that's just guitar.'" Josh Carter of Phantogram talks about how learning the guitar enhanced his songwriting abilities in this episode of String Theory.
"The guitar is one of those instruments that's just endless. There's always more that you can do on it." Steve Stevens reminisces about playing solos with Billy Idol in this episode of String Theory.
"Guitar playing to me is pretty visceral. It's primitive in a sense. But it really is a vehicle for all songwriting and performance. It's my livelihood." Jake Smith aka The White Buffalo discusses his songwriting process and more in this episode of String Theory.
