We love what we do. We're passionate about making music and as composers; that's just who we are.

I listen to somebody like Shawn Lane, and unfortunately he is no longer with us, but I hear him playing and I am like, 'That is just absolutely ridiculous.'

In my touring rig, there's a pedal drawer, where I'm able to switch pedals in and out, going into the front of the amp.

When you watch your favorite guitarists play, notice how little their hands and fingers move sometimes. The economy of motion can't be overemphasized.

I love playing live, but our tours generally last about a year. I could never do this without the understanding and support of my wife. She's also a guitar player, and we knew each other before Dream Theater started touring.

Anytime I can use open strings in a chord, or add a ninth, I will.

Rush is one of the common denominators in our band as far as a band that everybody loves and grew up with and was a big influence.

Before Dream Theater took off I used to teach a lot, and one of the things my students often asked me was how to apply the chromatic scale to practical playing situations. You see, their other teachers would give them chromatic warm-up exercises without providing any explanation of how important and versatile this scale actually is.

Chopin was a master of melody, harmony and voice leading - the art of smoothly moving from chord to chord.

We're a band that really... It's important to us to write music and put it out there and to work together.

It's amazing how well real strings blend with metal, like that whole sound.

When I listen to symphonies, or long pieces of music, there are so many different moods and movements, and things that are really beautiful going to something with a lot of tension.

Rush and guitarist Alex Lifeson are among my biggest influences.

I could talk about technique, theory and gear for days!

Early on in my career, I was really into the volume pedal techniques that somebody like Steve Howe or Alex Lifeson would use.

When you use a metronome, you'll start to notice where the notes are falling, if they're on the beat, behind the beat, between the beat, and so on.

The guitar is the ultimate vehicle for expression and composition for me. It's a part of my DNA!

Seeing Rush the first time was huge for me. That was my favorite band and I couldn't believe they were actually in the same building as me. I was totally freaking out when the show started and when they started to play it was almost like cartoon characters coming to life. I couldn't get my head around the fact that it was really them.

As teenagers, we used to listen to entire Rush albums, entire Pink Floyd albums and shut down the lights and it was great.

Before you can apply chromatic ideas to scales and arpeggios, you have to get the chromatic scale itself under your fingers. You should learn it up and down the neck, and become comfortable with the fingerings.

The guitar is a funny instrument because you have bendable strings and distortion - there's a potential for noise. It is more exposing. Actually controlling the instrument, using proper vibrato, bending notes in tune, not fretting too hard, controlling the noise is a skill in itself that takes many years.

I don't know if people know this about me, but I'm into Billy Joel. I'm a huge fan of his and always have been. He's just a quintessential songwriter of our time. Talk about a storied career - so many classic songs and great albums.

There should always be some sort of conclusion or climax to your solos.

Just because you have developed the craft on your instrument doesn't mean that you don't have the ability to be expressive emotionally on that instrument, or vice versa.