“I was never really the top student type. Looking back, I spent most of my time with a guitar in my hands,” said Aerosmith’s Joe Perry while discussing The Beatles, Jack White, and the massive number of guitars he owns.

The Joe Perry of Aerosmith probably owns more instruments than almost anyone alive — unless, of course, you happen to be called Guitar Center.

In his 2008 book Outliers: The Story of Success, British-born journalist Malcolm Gladwell argues that mastering a skill requires around 10,000 hours of practice and dedication before someone can truly become exceptional at it.

Breaking that down, it amounts to roughly 20 hours of concentrated effort every week for ten years before Gladwell would consider a person an expert. One musician who perfectly illustrates this idea is Joe Perry.

Perry picked up the guitar at the age of 10 and has continued playing for more than six decades. Over the years, he has performed on about 24 studio albums with Aerosmith, The Joe Perry Project, and Hollywood Vampires.

In this 2018 interview, Perry reflects on how he first became interested in guitar, discusses the equipment he values, and shares advice for aspiring musicians.

What inspired you to start playing guitar?

“When I was very young, I experimented with a few instruments because a lot of my friends were taking piano lessons or joining school bands. I tried piano around the age of 10, but it felt too focused on technique and classical music, and it just didn’t connect with me. I even gave the clarinet a shot for about a month.

“The guitar, though, immediately felt natural. My Portuguese uncle owned a four-string cavaquinho, which resembles a ukulele, and he occasionally let me play it. I became completely fascinated by it. This was before The Beatles and before I really discovered rock ’n’ roll. Eventually, I persuaded my parents to buy me a student guitar when I was around 10 years old.

“After that, everything took off. I started hearing rock ’n’ roll on the radio and realized I could play along with some of the songs. Then The Beatles arrived, and that sealed the deal for me.”

Did you learn to play I’m Down early on? You would have been around 15 when it came out.

“Funny enough, when I first met Steven [Tyler], the band I had with bassist Tom Hamilton — called The Jam Band — was already playing clubs and house parties. Steven didn’t have a group at the time and was even considering leaving music altogether.

“A friend of his, Henry Smith, who worked as drum roadie for John Bonham, mentioned that Jeff Beck was forming a band and searching for a singer, so Steven thought about sending in a demo tape. He asked us to back him up, and the song we recorded was I’m Down. We cut the demo in a single afternoon and sent it off. That was actually the first song Steven and I ever played together.”