When you play the 12-string guitar, you spend half your life tuning the instrument and the other half playing it out of tune.

Harpists spend 90 percent of their lives tuning their harps and 10 percent playing out of tune.

Tuning must come first. Each recital begins with a careful tightening of the pegs on the cross-bar, twisting them in their socket of red threads as each string is plucked and tested. He uses his thumb for this, softer and subtler than the plectrum, his head bent to the vibrating string and his lips slightly open, breathing quickly, as over the body of a lover.

It's just a tune-up for the playoffs. You don't want to leave this thing not playing your best ball, that's for sure.

Although I dig my guitar playing, I think it's kind of an obvious situation; I play what I want to play within my own restrictions.

I approach playing acoustic guitar more of as a percussive instrument. It's fragile. I don't have a lot of finesse when it comes to my guitar playing.