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Despite his numerous accolades and platinum albums, Peter Frampton is still on a quest to be the best guitarist he can. Frampton is back with the critically acclaimed instrumental covers collection, Frampton Forgets The Words, which pays tribute to such icons as Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, and David Bowie, among others.

While chatting to The Chicago Sun-Times, Frampton admitted, “I just don’t feel I’m good enough. I’ve got to be better than yesterday. And that’s been my MO from when I was 12-years-old to today, that I don’t feel good about myself unless I’ve either come up with a brand-new chord sequence, played a solo on somebody’s piece of music that I’m really excited about. It’s got to be better than yesterday. I feel like I’ve gotten better over the years. And I think that’s my secret is that never accepting the fact that ‘well, you’re pretty good Frampton.’”

Frampton was forced to wind down his road dates upon discovering he’s suffering from a degenerative muscle disease called Inclusion-Body Myositus (IBM), that slowly weakens the body’s muscles. He went on to reveal, “If I was only allowed to do one thing, which is ironic that I have this disease, but I would choose to play guitar if I couldn’t sing. My guitar playing has a style and a recognizable sound and I feel that. . . after a couple of notes, you know who it is.”

Peter Frampton told us that his 2006 Fingerprints collection, which earned him the Grammy for Best Instrumental Album, solidified himself to both his peers and the public — once and for all — as a musician first: “Fingerprints is a huge milestone for me and helped me inordinately accept my career before, for what’s it’s worth, for what I did, because it was the first iota of — well more than that — but it was the first independent success I had had that had nothing to do with Comes Alive whatsoever. It’s me, the musician, playing an instrumental record.”

Frampton told us that having his own personal studio at his deposal 24/7 is the ultimate luxury for a still-avid music maker: “The bunker, we call it — but I do have a window down there (laughs). I don’t really come out anymore. Y’know, I feel like I’m that. . . y’know, in the old mad scientist horror movies, when the German scientist says to the maid, (yells) ‘Don’t come in! Just leave the food outside!’”