Great Guitarist Interviews that Tell a Story & Inspire

Here are several must-view interviews with guitarists that will make you want to play guitar or raise your guitar playing to the next level:

Mark Knopfler

First up, Mark Knopfler. On learning to finger pick: “It’s like learning to water ski — I’m up I’m up, I’m down.”

Josh Homme

Second up, Josh Homme. “When you expect anything from music, you expect too much. You play for yourself, you play to enjoy it, and you make the most of it for you — period. I never thought i would be doing this now — I feel so lucky to be doing this now. I can’t believe this is what I do all the time. I know I’m not the greatest guitar player in the world but I just love it. I honestly think that’s enough.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDvl4fZGk40

Dick Dale

Dick Dale — the King of Surf Guitar, and heavy metal — and a heavy influence to the guitars and amplifiers of Leo Fender. Dick was Lebanese — his real name Richard Monsour.

It is an amazing interview; Dick starts with the story of how he got started:

“When I got my first guitar, I was in the woods picking blueberries and my buddy and me heard this guitar strumming. And it was god we were like in Deliverance or something.

So we went into this old building, and 4 or 5 were in this old house, cigarettes rolled up in here and stuff like that, and he goes “My guitar is for sale.” They were doing the old strumming like cowboys. I said, “how much” he said “8 bucks.” That was all the money in the world for me because I was only making 5 cents an hour at a local bakery making bread. I made payments of 50 cents a week until I paid it.

So then what happened is I came to California in 1954 when I graduated 11th grade in Quincy Massachusetts. And I went down to Balboa — rode my motorcycle down there — my Harley — I had a 1941 Flathead Harley. I met this kid who played folk guitar — Nick O’Malley — and he goes, ‘Dick it would be nice to start up a band, but you gotta play all strings; I don’t know how you’re doing it but you’re playing upside down backwards.’

Leo Fender was like a second dad to me. When I first met Leo Fender, I said ‘Hi I’m Dick Dale — I’m a surfer I got no money can you help me out? I’m playing Balboa.’ He said, ‘Hey I just made this guitar.’ He handed me the strat…”

Here is another interview with Dale, where he goes into greater detail on his story: