Did you have your chops when you rejoined?
I didn't have my chops at all. But I've come to deeply understand that it doesn't matter. I could have been a defeatist: "I remember when my left hand used to be strong like Jimi Hendrix's." That's a sign of somebody's strength as a guitar player -- the sound of the strength of their left hand. But everything I learned as a person in that period, everything I had been through as a soul -- that all went into the music. I'm happier with my playing on Californication than with my playing on BloodSugarSexMagik. Even though I had way less ability, I see myself doing the best I could and coming from the right places. On BloodSugar, I'm still seeing everything in relationship to Hillel. On Californication, it's "What can we do? It's four friends playing music. We can do anything."

Do you have a favorite Hendrix album?
I'm an Electric Ladyland guy. His music always sounds perfect to me, because he's bending sound, taking care of music in every dimension. Where most people think of it in two dimensions, he's thinking of it in four. I don't think there's a better guitar player in history. He's not something that can be improved on. And there's the spirit that goes into it. He creates a place where you can be high and hang out and lose yourself. He's bringing out aspects of sound we didn't know were there. I feel there are people moving ahead on that front, but they're not so much guitar players -- like [electronic artists] Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. They continue the work Jimi Hendrix started, but not on the guitar.

Do you ever wonder if, after half a century of rock guitar, there is anything left to discover?
Luckily, I've always thought of myself as a musician more than a guitar player. Since I'm always changing as a person and my tastes are always changing, that is reflected in the ways I approach my instrument. I never feel like I'm running out of ideas, because it is clear to me -- music is infinite.