Steve Lukather is always a blast to chat with. And as the man who has held down Toto’s proverbial fort — along with thousands of iconic sessions — dialed in with Guitar Player to catch up, he was in rare form.

“What do you wanna know?” Luke asks, laughing. “I don’t know, man. What can I possibly tell you right now?”

Lukather, of course, knows that the world is wondering about the project he’s working on with Alex Van Halen. Rumors have ranged from Luke taking his old pal Eddie Van Halen’s place to the duo writing new music.

The facts, most of which Luke isn’t allowed to talk about, reveal that none of the above are true. What this project really comes down to is a brother and a close friend working together to pay their respects to an electric guitar legend via music.

With that said, Luke is not playing guitar on a new Van Halen album. In fact, this isn’t a Van Halen album at all, and as of now, Luke isn’t playing a lick of guitar but co-producing.

“I’m telling you, this is not throwaway shit,” Lukather says of the tracks Eddie Van Halen left behind. “When I heard them, I said to Al, ‘How fucking come you didn’t use these?’ And the answer was because nobody could write to it. So if you think this is a bunch of throwaway crap that we’re trying to Mickey Mouse together to suck the dollar out of poor, unsuspecting Van Halen fans, it’s not.”

Lukather admits that he doesn’t know what the project will be called. “Those are Alex Van Halen questions,” he says. “I’m just here to be his sidekick, and somebody that he’s gotten very close with since Ed’s death.”

Though Lukather’s relationship with the Van Halens goes back further than that. “We’ve always been pals,” Lukather says. “It’s like Al’s missing a piece of himself. That’s how I feel. He looks at me as somebody he trusts, and who was close with Ed.”

For Lukather, the reward comes via the process. “I don’t have ulterior motives,” he says. “This is not about money. This is about love of the guys and trying to help. I’m not gonna be involved in an obvious way. So, I wish people would get the fuck off my back!” he says with a laugh.

And even if Lukather was asked to play guitar, which he isn’t, he doesn’t feel he’s the person for the job. “I’m not qualified,” he says. “Call Dweezil — he plays that shit. Call Nuno! I can name 10 guys, like Vai or Satch. I’m nowhere near qualified to start dabbling in the Van Halen world.”

What did you think about the initial rumors that you were taking over as guitarist of Van Halen?

Well, first off, that’s the most ridiculous and humorous thing I’ve ever heard. I am no more qualified to try and play like Ed Van Halen than I am to be the first man to tug my dick on the planet. [laughs] I don’t know how anybody could think that would even be a reality. Honestly, it’s laughable. I don’t play… I couldn’t… I don’t play like Ed. It’s crazy.

How far back do you and Alex go?

We’ve been friends for 45 years. I mean, I was close friends with the Van Halens, but I really love all the guys. The only guy I don’t know is David Lee Roth. I met him once or twice, but very briefly. I’ve just always been a fan since the beginning, you know? What can I say?

What are you and Alex actually working on?

Well, being a fan isn’t what it’s about. Alex needs some help. He came to me and said, “Look, I need some help with this.” I went, “How can I help?” But there’s no need for another guitar player.

Meaning you’re not playing guitar on this?

First off, Eddie played some of the most amazing shit I’ve ever heard. And it’s not pieces on the floor that have to be snapped back together and try to Mickey Mouse something together that might be sellable. These are fucking finished tracks with Ed and Al, and Ed’s playing bass on a lot of it. That’s all I can say right now because it’s a much bigger picture, and it’s Alex’s story to tell.

You can’t reveal the nature of the music, but can you expand on your role?

I am there 100 percent to be his co-producer and help him through the technical aspects. I’m not gonna play. There’s not gonna be any Lukather or Toto fingerprints on a Van Halen thing. I can fucking promise you that. I’m there to be Al’s wingman, and go, “How can I help you do this?” I’m there to go, “Want me to help you do some vocals? How do we do these mixes?” It’s about making sure that there’s quality control from somebody he trusts.

Does being a friend and a contemporary make you the right person for the job?

I can listen to stuff, and go, “I know Ed wouldn’t like that.” I can say, “I think Ed would dig that,” you know? I’m just being that third ear.

Is Wolfgang involved?

I’m hoping that Al is gonna ask Wolf to be involved on some level. I haven’t talked to Wolf in a long time. It’s sad, actually. I’d like to, you know? We sort of just got busy, and we haven’t. But I think what he’s doing is wonderful. I think he’s an incredible musician. I think if anybody is gonna play anything that’s needed, he would be qualified to do so. But there really isn’t a need for other players to come in at this point.

Surely, listening to this stuff has to be a reminder of Ed’s greatness.

We all did the tapping thing when it first came out because it was an amazing trick to learn. And after a while, guys like Satch and Steve Vai did it their own way because all the guys were doing a very derivative and obviously Van Halen thing. It just got a little tired.

But that’s not what Ed was trying to do—Ed was trying to fill out a three-piece band. The intricacy between his lead and rhythm playing at the same time was pretty peerless, man. There’s not a lot of guys who could make the racket that Eddie Van Halen did, man. It changed the world.

You won’t be disappointed in the playing; I can tell you that. Ask Steve Vai. I think somebody asked him, and Steve may have heard a few things that I’ve heard. I think he said something in the press about it. But with Ed, man, I felt the same way you did when you heard him. It was jaw-dropping, and it still is.

As a bassist’s bassist, Billy Sheehan has, not surprisingly, played with an assortment of similarly accomplished electric guitarists — from Dave Constantino in his first band, Talas, to Mike (K.) Krompass in his current group, the Fell.

The Buffalo native was, most famously, part of former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth’s band on his first solo album, Eat ’Em and Smile, and the accompanying tour, with Steve Vai on both. He formed Mr. Big after that with Paul Gilbert and has also logged time with Explorer’s Club, Niacin, the Winery Dogs (with Richie Kotzen), Sons of the Apollo (with Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal) and more. You’ll also find him on Kotzen’s solo albums and on recordings with Terry Bozzio, Tony MacAlpine, Michael Kocab and others.

“I’ve just started to create a catalog of everyone I’ve recorded with, and what songs I did, and it’s going to be gargantuan,” Sheehan tells us with a laugh via Zoom from his home studio in Nashville. “It’s a Herculean task. It’s a reminder of all the great players I’ve been fortunate enough to work with… ’cause you never really stop and think about it all at once. You look at it all together and it’s just, like, ‘Wow…’”

Sheehan is just as excited about the Fell, which also includes frontman Toby Rand and drummer Nick Chiarore. The hard-hitting quartet started about 10 years ago, according to Sheehan, and released its first EP, Killswitch, last October. A full album is on the horizon, too, giving Sheehan another entry for his bulging résumé.

“I’ve just gotta play,” he explains. “I want to play. I’ll play till I can’t play, or until my playing isn’t as good as it should be. But I feel like I’m still improving every single day, so to be out playing is very important to me. And having the opportunity to have the Fell and make more music has just been great.”

That said, we tapped Sheehan for a personally guided trip through his past and the guitarists he’s shared stage and studio time with.

Steve Vai

“I got him in the David Lee Roth band. The original idea was Steve Stevens, but he was busy with Billy Idol and wisely decided to stay with him. I told Dave I know another Steve, ’cause at the time my band Talas was on Relativity Records out of New York City, and Steve was also on that label and we’d talked about doing something together before the Roth thing happened.

“Steve, because of his association with Frank Zappa, had a sense of humor about his playing, which was very important for the Roth band. I was into Zappa in my early years as well. Being into Zappa will do things to you — in a good way. It was impossibly complicated music, and I learned how to dissect it and play it.

“I didn’t end up playing music like that, but that lesson was great, and Steve and I can sit down and recite side two of Live at the Fillmore together. Zappa. That had a lot to do with his playing. His guitar playing became kind of quirky. He had all the fundamentals very, very down, then added the quirkiness from the Zappa thing.

“So Vai came in and was just awesome, a great, great player. So he was in and we had a great time putting that Eat ’Em and Smile tour together. And he’s such a dedicated player. We’d be in the dressing room before the show and he’d be there for hours, just working on stuff, head down for hours at a time before every show, pretty much. That also shows how much he cares about the audience, too, ’cause you want to do the absolute best for them all the time. Steve is definitely in that club.

“And on the road we had a blast. Some things changed after that, and I left the band, but I’m forever thankful to David. He was a huge help in my career, and I learned so much. It was a real Ph.D. in Showbiz 101.

“I did some of Steve’s solo tours, and it was always a blast. We had so much fun on those tours — no nonsense, no drugs, drinking, disrespectful rock star bullshit. We were all just legitimately having fun, and it was like a 24-hour comedy show. There was a lot of mutual respect in the bands I played in with Steve. I have nothing but great things to say.”

Paul Gilbert

“Paul came to see me play in Talas when he was a kid, still a teenager. We were playing in Pittsburgh once, and I remember a tall guy in the audience; the stage was only about this high — there wasn’t any space between the stage and the crowd — and Paul was standing in front of me.

“I did my very first bass guitar clinic in Pittsburgh, and Paul was there. Then we started having opening acts and we wanted to help promote the local scene, so we’d hire an opening act from the city we were playing. And one of the bands that opened up for us was Paul’s band — ‘Oh, that’s that tall kid!’

“We became acquaintances, and when he moved out to L.A. I’d go see him at the Musicians Institute. One night I judged this contest at Gazzarri’s and there he was, and I told the other judges, ‘Watch this guy…’

“When it came time to put Mr. Big together, I thought Paul would be a great addition to it. I talked with Pat Torpey first, then got Paul, then found our singer [Eric Martin]. I watched Paul grow from a really great and competent guitarist, which he already was, into a consummate musician who knows so much — great songwriter, singer, performer, entertainer.

“He’s the whole package. But when we were starting Mr. Big it was his very beginning in that, and I watched him grow through the years. I’m very, very proud of what he’s accomplished for himself — and he’s a sweet, wonderful guy as well.”

Richie Kotzen

“One of the reasons I wanted to do the Winery Dogs was to let the world know about Richie, ’cause he’s so great, yet somehow wasn’t hugely famous, which I think is an abomination. I wanted people to hear him sing and play and write, ’cause he’s great. And he’s another wonderful guy, just a great, hardworking player dedicated to his craft.

“He’s way more bluesy and less of a, let’s say, technician, but his technical abilities are more influenced by jazz from that brief stint he had with Stanley Clarke. I hear that a lot in his playing. One of the first things we did, I could hear, like, the pads of a saxophone. There was no sax, but he phrased it so expertly that you can almost hear the same kind of pads, which is a really cool aspect of his playing.”

Steve Lukather

“I’ve known Steve and seen him and hung with him a lot of times. Great guy. So he came in to do the solo on ‘Things Ain’t Like They Used to Be’ [on 2000’s Niacin album, Deep] — Glenn Hughes sang on it — and Steve just flew in from somewhere. He was probably jet-lagged, and his gear showed up and we played him a little bit of the song. It got to the solo part and he played this solo off the top of his head — just picked up his guitar and played it. Didn’t think it through or plan anything.

“Then we spent three hours trying to top it before we finally said, ‘Let’s just use the first thing,’ ’cause it was so good. To me that spoke volumes about his capabilities; he just came in and, bang, it’s done. We were foolish enough to think we should get something different. Sometimes you’ve gotta let an artist do his thing, and with Steve I’ll tell anybody, ‘Just let him do it. I guarantee you’re gonna be happy.’”

Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal

“What a genius player. I don’t know when I met him initially — I think in L.A. at some of the jams he was around — but I’ve known him for years and years and years. He is a supremely capable and competent musician. That fretless double-neck — he kills on that thing. It’s very unique; it sounds very much like a slide guitar, the way he phrases some of his passages on that. It’s just brilliant.

“I don’t know if there’s a better player out there, and he’s another wonderful, sweet, giving, honest, righteous human being, which is very important. He knows all the Talas songs, which I think is pretty cool. I took that as a great compliment that he knew about Talas and could play the songs.”

Steve Lukather had been playing guitar for six or seven years before his parents relented to his begging for a top-quality instrument, and his retelling of the story has brought him to tears.

Like countless other young players who grew up in the 1960s, the Toto and session-playing hitmaker says George Harrison, whom he first saw perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, was “the reason why I play.”

Lukather received his first guitar at age seven, but as he told the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in 2020, it was a “broken thrift-store guitar, which ironically, people now covet.”

“It was a crappy guitar,” Lukather says with a laugh. “One of my idiot friends knocked it over and broke the neck — not off, but it screwed up the headstock to the point where it wouldn't tune up very well.”

Despite the damage, he was stuck with the instrument.

“I had to play it because my dad would say, ‘You broke it, you're not getting a new one.’”

Lukather devised a way to get his hands on nice guitars.

“Instead of going to the toy store, I'd go down to Guitar Center in Hollywood every couple of weeks,” he says.

Unfortunately, those electrics were beyond his means.

One day, however, things played out a little differently when his dad agreed to drive him down to the store and added, “Maybe we'll buy an amp.”

“I didn't wanna push it, man,” he says, “my dad worked hard. He knew how much I loved it. When I'd get into trouble, they didn't punish me, they'd take music stuff away. A stereo or whatever.

“Anyway, I wanted to try out an Ampeg VT22, the one Keith [Richards] used on Exile on Main St. So they put me in a practice room, and I grabbed a Les Paul Deluxe. I crank the amp, and I'm ripping on it. People are looking, going, ‘Who's that playing?’ and it's just a little kid. I guess I was quite good for my age.”

His dad had left him to his own devices until eventually he came back to collect his son and take him home.

“He goes, ‘All right, let's get out of here. Let's get this stuff in the car.’ And I go, ‘What do you mean?’”

His father’s words stunned him.

“‘The amp and the guitar. It's yours.’”

It's at this point he starts tearing up, calling it a “huge moment” in his life, while revealing that the outlay saw his dad give up on getting the new car he wanted.

“I love my parents so much,” Lukather continues. “My dad sacrificed that for me. I got this great guitar, I man. I woke up in the middle of the night to polish it. And the smell of the case. It changed my life.”

His dad's caveat was that, now that he had pro gear, he needed to take lessons and honor his craft with the weight it deserves. As the five-time Grammy winner continues to work on a new Van Halen album with Alex Van Halen – they're currently searching for a singer after a big-name turned them down – suffice to say the investment paid off.

He’s since clarified his role in the record after the story of their collaboration blew up. Jimmy Page, meanwhile, has explained what sets Lukather apart from his peers, and the Toto man has named his best guitar in a chat with GP.

Paul Rodgers has confirmed he turned down an invitation to sing on Van Halen’s proposed farewell album, adding another twist to one of rock’s most closely watched unfinished projects.

As drummer Alex Van Halen presses ahead with plans to complete the late Eddie Van Halen’s final recordings, conflicting signals from the band’s inner circle — including founding bass guitarist Michael Anthony — underscore both the ambition of the effort and the unresolved questions surrounding how, or whether, it should be finished.

Alex Van Halen is attempting to shape a final album from material recorded before Eddie’s death in 2020, originally intended as the follow-up to the band’s 2012 comeback, A Different Kind of Truth. He had briefly explored using artificial intelligence to complete the recordings but has instead enlisted Eddie’s longtime friend Steve Lukather to help bring the music to completion.

Lukather, however, quickly clarified after news of his involvement leaked that he would not be contributing new guitar parts.

Alex recently said the search is underway for a vocalist, with classic-era frontmen David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar both believed to be out of contention.

Rodgers’ own comments suggest he was approached — but passed.

“Thanks to Van Halen for inviting me to work on a track with them,” he wrote on X. “But I am in my acoustic, zen phase of life.”The singer, best known for his work with Bad Company, also used the post to downplay health concerns that kept him from attending the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last November.

Rodgers’ decision leaves the project without a confirmed vocalist — and Anthony believes that may be for the best.

“The way I personally feel about it is, if they wanted to do it justice, [the best idea would be] to just finish it up as a great instrumental nod to Eddie,” he told Cleveland radio station WNCX (via Ultimate Classic Rock).

Anthony, who appeared on every Van Halen studio album except their most recent — after being replaced by Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen — has long advocated for unreleased archival material to surface as a tribute to Eddie’s legacy. But he cautioned that adding vocals now could complicate and delay the process.

“We’re not forming a new band,” he said. “Then you’ve got to work on lyrics and all that stuff. And who knows when anything would be put out at that point.”

Rodgers’ reference to being invited to sing on “a track,” rather than the entire album, raises the possibility that multiple vocalists could appear — or that prospective singers are being tested on individual songs rather than formally recruited.

Anthony’s own language is similarly ambiguous. His shifting use of “we” and “they” reflects both his historic stake in the recordings and his uncertain role in their completion, particularly as some of the demos under consideration date back to sessions he originally played on.

What remains clear is that Alex Van Halen is determined to finish the music he and his brother left behind. Whether that final statement arrives as a fully realized rock album or a purely instrumental farewell remains an open — and deeply symbolic — question.

Alex Van Halen says the Van Halen album he’s working on with Toto’s Steve Lukather was intended to be a follow-up to 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth, and that the pair are now looking for a vocalist.

It’s just shy of a year since Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, reported that the drummer and brother of late virtuoso Eddie Van Halen had sought Lukather’s help to turn unfinished demos into a Van Halen album. That followed claims by former bass player Michael Anthony that there was a treasure trove of unheard Van Halen material, leading many to believe that it was the pool of riffs that the pair would be working with.

Following De Telegraaf’s article, Lukather promptly clarified his role in the project, saying, “I will not ever play a note on a Van Halen song.” Given Lukather’s long-standing friendship with Eddie Van Halen, Alex hints that he was drafted as director rather than lead man.

Now, speaking to Brazilian outlet, Kazagastão (via Blabbermouth), he's offered the deepest insight into the project’s context yet.

“These are recordings that were going to be the next [Van Halen] record,” Alex states, noting that the process was halted following Eddie’s passing in 2020. “The drums are already recorded. The drums, the guitar, and the bass are already in there. What we didn’t have was a vocalist.”

It isn’t known if Eddie’s son, Wolfgang, is on the record, or if Ed himself played bass on the track. Either way, the album is one step closer to completion. Whoever is chosen as vocalist would become the band’s fourth singer after David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone.

Roth had returned to the band for their 12th LP. Still, Sammy Hagar has taken the mantle following Eddie’s death, with Roth reportedly refusing to acknowledge Ed’s legacy during a mooted tribute tour.

As such, Hagar has turned to Joe Satriani for the Best of All Worlds Van Halen tribute shows, and released a song he claims features “beyond the grave” contributions from Eddie.

“Ed and I had a lot of stuff that we made [and] never let go,” Alex Van Halen continues. “Many people have asked, what about releasing unreleased stuff? Well, we're not gonna release it in its embryonic form because it wouldn’t make any sense.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have Steve Lukather, but it has to be of the quality and the level of where we left it. Steve is the connective tissue. I can’t play guitar — I can work things out on a keyboard, but it takes me too long to figure it out. By that time, the moment is gone.

“Steve knows where to put the solo. I have my opinions, and he has his, and they are just opinions. So he can facilitate things that would've taken me 10 times as long.”

In 2024, Alex shared the previously unheard song “Unfinished,” currently the only posthumous Eddie Van Halen material that has been released.

Alex Van Halen says he’s getting ready to make a new album with guitar ace Steve Lukather, a longtime friend of Alex and his brother, the late Eddie Van Halen.

Talking with Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain for the Metal Sticks podcast, the Van Halen drummer offered few details about the project.

“I’m getting ready to do this record with Lukather and a couple other people,” Van Halen said. “It should be exciting.”

Asked if they’d begun rehearsing, Van Halen replied, “No, we don't need to rehearse,” and laughed.

“There's a lot to be said for spontaneity,” he added. “That's how we did a lot of things together in the studio. [Eddie] would just play and we would just take snippets of it, and then you elaborate on little ideas and make a song out of it. Beethoven made a whole symphony out of [snippets],” he added, before singing the opening notes from the composer’s famed Fifth Symphony.

Van Halen also spoke of his close friendship with Lukather.

“If you're in this line of work… it goes beyond a superficial contract, and ‘I want you to do this and do that.’ We do it because we like something, or we want to do it because it's creative. The moment you get into contracts that are very specific about what your role in the project is, it falls apart. That's our experience anyway.

“And we've known Lukather for a long time. He was one of the real, real true best friends.”

Van Halen’s announcement is the first he’s said about his work with Lukather in nearly a year. Last March, the drummer announced that he was working with the guitarist to create a new album of tracks from Eddie Van Halen’s unfinished demos.

“Ed and Steve Lukather were very good friends, and they often worked together,” Van Halen told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraf. “There is no one who can do this process with me as well as he can.”

Soon afterward, Lukather added context to Van Halen’s announcement, noting that he would not be playing guitar on the album,

“I will not ever play a guitar note on a Van Halen song,” he said. “Al asked me to help him go thru a ton of unfinished recordings of Al and Ed writing and recording that never saw the light of day. As of now that’s all I got.”

Lukather and Eddie Van Halen first crossed paths on projects in the 1980s. Both men worked on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” on which Eddie played the electric guitar solo at the invitation of producer Quincy Jones. Eddie performed bass on a song from Lukather’s 1989 solo debut and contributed to a track on Luke’s 2003 holiday album, SantaMental.

“I’m very honored to have been Ed's friend — really a friend,” he told Metal Master Kingdom, “not just a guitar buddy who had a beer with him once. [There is] 40-plus years with him, Al and I."

From writing timeless prog-pop anthems with Toto to working with Alice Cooper when he was just 20 and forging chart-topping hits with Michael Jackson, Steve Lukather has had a colorful career.

And Jimmy Page says Luke has something that made him stand out from his peers, Eddie Van Halen included.

Lukather says he’s met the Led Zeppelin icon only once, but the encounter is deeply embedded in his memory, thanks to Page's praise.

“I have a funny story about Jimmy,” he recounts to Ultimate Guitar. “It was the one and only time I ever met him. I went over to this Guitar Center thing honoring Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap. In fact, I ended up producing four tracks on their next record because of that night.

“I showed up with Eddie [Van Halen] and my boys,” he continues. “Hey, we're going to meet Jimmy Page, [it’s] a big deal, right?”

Luke met his hero, who, much to his surprise, singled him out.

“Jimmy's standing there, greeting everyone,” he says. “He points at me. I think he's pointing at Ed, of course, but it's me, and he motions for me to come over.

“He said, ‘You have something that these other guys here don't.’ And I go, ‘What's that, Jimmy?’

“He said, ‘You understand, and I understand, but those other guitarists don't. We were studio players. They don't know what that means.’”

Speaking to Guitar Player in 2023, Page relayed the importance that his early session work had on his craft. The diversity of work he performed, in turn, helped him survive in the cutthroat world of studio musicians.

“The bottom line is that, in the studio world, all the musicians were considerably older than I was,” he said. “So, suddenly, I come in as this new kid on the block, and I’ve got all of these strings to my bow. I was playing fingerstyle guitar and slide, and I was playing harmonica.

“If you made mistakes or you mucked about, you would never be seen again. So, clearly, I was able to deliver. And if they asked me, 'Can you come up with something on this?' I’d say, ‘Sure!’”

Similarly, Lukather — whose exhaustive session résumé fills 18 pages of his own website –— says session work was a scary, yet deeply educational environment.

“I showed up blind, man,” he tells Guitar Player of one particular session with Lionel Richie. “We never got demos. We never got to rehearse. I think James Carmichael, his producer, had a road map, but it was all A minor. I said, ‘Let me fuck around with it,’ and they rolled the tape.”

Despite having cut some very notable guitar solos in his time, Lukather has also been eager to dispel a myth about session work.

“I've been paid to play rhythm guitar 90 percent of the time,” he reveals.

And players without a solid grasp of rhythm won't survive.

“Ever hear someone pick up a guitar and start strumming a blues shuffle or something, and it feels so good it just makes you want to jump in and play with them?” Lukather asks. “That’s the kind of player people want to hire in the studio — the person who comes up with parts that make the song feel better.

“Kids can learn every lick in the world from the internet now, but a lot of them have no groove.”

Former Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre believes he didn’t become a “complete player” until he focused on improving his “terrible” rhythm guitar chops. And he credits another famous guitarist with helping him see the life rather late in life.

Perhaps more than other guitarists, Barre has been vocal about the difficulties he's faced in his six-string career. He filled Jethro Tull's guitar slot in late 1968, following the departure of Mick Abrahams and a brief cameo from Tony Iommi, who used his experiences to take Black Sabbath to the next level.

Barre subsequently weathered a trial by fire during his first few months in the band that left him “terrified,” as he shared stages with his high-flying heroes. He certainly proved his mettle over the years, leading the progressive rockers through their most creative and influential years before departing in 2012.

He's continued on as a solo performer, but as he makes clear in a new interview with Guitarist, he hasn't stopped growing. In fact, he says he's finally begun to focus on an aspect of playing that he never gave much attention to: rhythm guitar.

“In the beginning, I was a terrible rhythm player,” Barre says. “I sort of avoided it like the plague.

"But Steve Lukather famously has said that most of his sessions were playing rhythm guitar, and that made me sit up and take notice.”

Indeed, Lukather — whose session credits include Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and work with artists ranging from Elton John to George Benson — spoke about the importance of rhythm guitar playing with Guitar Player in 2018.

“Ever hear someone pick up a guitar and start strumming a blues shuffle or something, and it feels so good it just makes you want to jump in and play with them?” he asked. “That’s the kind of player people want to hire in the studio — the person who comes up with parts that make the song feel better.

“Kids can learn every lick in the world from the Internet now, but a lot of them have no groove because they haven’t learned how to play rhythm guitar — like that’s not important!”

The concept resonated with Barre, who set to work improving a part of his playing he had not so much neglected as outright abandoned.

“I examine every aspect of what I do," he says. "It could be my left-handed technique, using my little finger, more bending notes with it, scales, modes, or listening to and trying to play classical.

“There’s always some aspect that will grab me, and right now, it’s my right-handed technique. I knew that I needed to up my rhythm game. Even in playing solos, the rhythm of what you’re playing is vital for the feel. You can’t not be a good rhythm player. You have to understand it and feel it; otherwise, you’re not a complete player.”

Which just goes to show it's never too late in your career to start working on something new.

Barre stepped away from life in Jethro Tull in 2012, although his comments from 2023 suggest it wasn’t exactly a mutual decision.

Anderson, meanwhile, sat down with GP to weigh in on Tull’s long line of guitarists, praising Barre — despite their frosty relationship these days — for his versatility, and being the final piece for his revitalized vision for the band.

“The good and interesting thing about Martin’s playing was that he was aware of the blues,” he says, “but he wasn’t a blues player. So he fitted much better into the songs that I was writing for our second album, Stand Up, in 1969.”

Steve Lukather took to his Instagram on March 15 to clarify his involvement in a new effort to salvage unheard recordings featuring Eddie Van Halen.

Alex Van Halen announced last week that he had enlisted the Toto guitarist’s assistance pulling together a new Van Halen album using unreleased recordings that exist in Van Halen's vault.

“Ed and Steve Lukather were very good friends, and they often worked together," Alex said. "There is no one who can do this process with me as well as he can."

That led to much speculation — and confusion — about what Lukather’s role would be.

As he now explains, it’s not what some people thought.

“Ever since Alex Van Halen dropped some [sic] we were gonna work together I think there is a huge misunderstanding,” Lukather wrote.

"I will NOT EVER play a guitar note on a VH song ever!

"Al asked me to help him go thru a ton of unfinished recordings of Al and Ed writing and recording that never saw the light of day.

"As of now thats all I got.

"The fact that ANYONE would think for even a second that I would play anything on this is ridiculous. I have too much love and respect for that and ... I play nothing like Ed.. more as a co-producer or something.

"I am honored Al would ask me though.

"Lets see ...

News of the Van Halen archive has been tantalizing fans for months. According to former Van Halen bass player Michael Anthony, the group had a habit of recording "everything we had.”

Alex Van Halen dipped into the trove last year when he released a track he and Eddie worked on. Recorded on October 6, 2002, the song, “Unfinished," was issued with the audiobook version of the drummer's memoir, Brothers.

Since then, Alex has said Eddie left behind enough material for another “three or four records.” He's spoken of using AI to help turn those recordings — many of which are nothing more than snippets — into finished songs, much as Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr did to complete the last Beatles’ recording, “Now and Then.”

“They’re all little pieces,” Van Halen told Rolling Stone, adding, “a bunch of licks don’t make a song."

The drummer also said he was hoping to use ChatGPT’s technology to generate new solos and bring Robert Plant onboard to sing.

“You’re gonna think I’m out of my fucking mind,” the drummer offered. “But when conditions are right, things will manifest.”

It’s not entirely surprising Alex would bring Lukather onboard to assist with his effort. A famed session player as well as Toto's guitarist, Luke was good friends with the Van Halen brothers for decades.

“I’m very honored to have been Ed's friend — really a friend,” he told Metal Master Kingdom, “not just a guitar buddy who had a beer with him once. [There is] 40-plus years with him, Al and I."

He and Eddie crossed paths on previous projects, including Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” on which Eddie played the electric guitar solo at the invitation of producer Quincy Jones. Eddie performed bass on a song from Lukather’s 1989 solo debut and contributed to a track on Luke’s 2003 holiday album, SantaMental.

A Dutch newspaper reports that Alex Van Halen has turned to Toto guitarist Steve Lukather to get a new Van Halen record off the ground.

The revelatory article from the brothers’ home country says that the unfinished recordings they made together before Eddie Van Halen’s passing in 2020 will form the basis of the project. That means pulling from the same catalog of ideas that “Unfinished” was lifted from last year.

That song, one of the last songs the Van Halen brothers worked on together, had been released to promote Alex’s new memoir, Brothers.

He’d mentioned how many similar recordings existed, harmonizing with claims once made by Michael Anthony of a vast archive of unheard material. Curiously, however, there was talk of using AI to turn Eddie’s “little pieces” into full songs by allowing the technology to understand and recreate the nuances of Eddie’s world-slaying talents.

It seems Alex now wants a human touch to bring the same idea to life, one that was immensely close to Eddie during his lifetime. The pair famously played on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”, Lukater the rhythm parts, and Edddie a solo that, according to Alex, prompted David Lee Roth to quit the band.

Beyond that, Eddie played bass on Lukather’s debut solo album, with the virtuoso getting a songwriting credit for the opening track “Twist The Knife”. Both brothers would later feature on Lukather’s 2003 Christmas album, “Santamental” – so if you want to hear Eddie lend his chops to “Joy to the World”, you know where to look.

In that sense, there are echoes of how Pantera have reunited, with the late Dimebag Darrell’s void filled by his long-time friend Zakk Wylde.

Discussing the project with De Telegraf, Alex Van Halen is confident Lukather is the right man for the job.

“Ed and Steve Lukather were very good friends, and they often worked together. There is no one who can do this process with me as well as he can,” he says.

Speaking of the Van Halen archive of riffs and ideas last year, Alex told Rolling Stone: “They’re all little pieces... A bunch of licks don’t make a song.”

He then turned his attention to AI, believing it could analyze “the patterns of how Edward would have played something.

“You’re gonna think I’m out of my fucking mind,” he added. “But when conditions are right, things will manifest.”

There is no indication as to who else would feature in the band, although Alex had mooted Robert Plant as an ideal frontman for the AI-fueled project, so his recruitment policy may transfer over here. Wolfgang may get the nod for bass, considering he said the band’s 2006 reunion couldn’t have happened without him.

It seems unlikely that David Lee Roth would play a part, with Alex Van Halen saying a tribute tour with Joe Satriani fell apart after the singer refused to play tribute to Eddie during the shows. Interestingly, Jason Newstead had been asked about joining that tour.

As such, there is plenty to speculate about and very little truth to digest.

De Telegraaf, however, approached Lukather for comment while Toto toured the country.

“Did Alex say that?” was his response. “Oh, in that case, the news is true. Ed, Alex, and I were very close for years. It is true that we worked on it together.”

Meanwhile, Wolfgang Van Halen has opened up about his difficulty dealing with his father’s death before finding purpose in his life again with Mammoth WVH.

Al Di Meola is best known for his peerless classical guitar exploits and, over on the electric guitar side, his tasteful, yet often maze-like jazz-fusion licks. Of course, guitarists will always be drawn to his virtuosity, but he sees that aspect of his playing as icing on the cake.

It's his sense of groove — the result of unified interlocking rhythms — that brings his songs to life.

In his recent discussion with YouTube host Rick Beato, Di Meola is asked, “Can you teach groove?”

The answer, it would seem, is yes, and Di Meola underscores how those rhythmic sensibilities have been finely tuned over his lifetime by both playing and listening.

“I did spend a lot of years by myself, getting into New York City and hanging out in salsa clubs,” he continues. “I just took it all in.”

More importantly, he says many of his key learnings happened away from the instrument.

“I spent a lot of years on desktops, just tapping rhythms,” he explains. “I could do it on my guitar, too, but I did a lot of it with my foot, always concentrating on the 4/4, with that never going out of time."

In short, Di Meola says, if you want to learn groove, "focus on the foot. It becomes very important.

“Whatever syncopations you're playing with the upper half of your body cannot influence that quarter note down there; it's two separate parts.”

He accepts, however, that the disconnect he is able to create between the upper and lower parts of his body is “not achievable” for everyone. In those cases, he points to the obvious solutions: play with a drummer, or use a metronome.

Di Meola has also had the opportunity to learn from some of the best, including the otherworldly flamenco talents of guitarist Paco de Lucía, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, whose playing he describes as “off the charts,” and keyboardist Chick Corea, “the master of rhythm."

In the end, however, Di Meola returns to the foot.

“What's magical is when you have the ability to feel the quarter note, you can have these giant pauses in the music," he says, "and that's where the drama is."

Without that sensibility, he says bands can fall apart, but with it, pauses between chords and note flourishes bring a lot to the power of a piece.

His comments would have resonated with the late Tom Petty, who stated that “Rhythm playing is a lost art,” during a 1997 chat with Guitar Player.

“There aren't a lot of people who do it seriously anymore,” he bemoaned. “But it's really important to our band that I play the rhythm because the music sounds different if I don't.”

Indeed, rhythm playing is the cornerstone of session gigs. Steve Lukather says rhythm parts make up “90 percent” of his session work, while Heart's Nancy Wilson has discussed how her approach to rhythm creates a disparity between the hands.

“My hands are the true story of my personality,” she says. “One hand looks glamorous, and the other is a real worker with broken nails.”

For more tips, check out GP's guide to mastering the basics of rhythm guitar and, taking a leaf from Al Di Meola's book, dive into our list of the 50 Greatest Rhythm Guitar Players of All Time.

As one of ABBA’s core session musicians, he’s helped sell millions of records around the world. His guitar playing can be heard on some of the Swedish ’70s pop superstars’ classic hits, including “Waterloo,” “Mamma Mia” and the group’s U.S. number one, “Dancing Queen.”

But Janne Schaffer’s resume extends well beyond his work with that famous quartet. In Sweden alone, he’s a studio supremo, on par with America’s own session meister Steve Lukather. To date, Schaffer has performed guitar on more than 5,000 recordings.

“And that includes my own 488 compositions,” he tells Guitar Player. “I played on a lot of records in the ’70s, ranging from Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Indian Summer’ to recordings by Andreas Vollenweider and Johnny Nash, among so many others. I still do recordings with other artists today.”

Schaffer grew up with musical parents, although much of the music in their house was classical, which wasn't his preference. He started out on acoustic guitar but turned to electric guitar after hearing Elvis Presley's “Heartbreak Hotel” on the radio.

His early years were spent developing his six-string craft with a series of local bands in his native Sweden. At one TV show appearance, his group was slated to appear with the Byrds and Jimi Hendrix.

Another memorable date saw one of his band's headline a show in Stockholm with support from a young English group who had just released their debut album.

“It was September of 1967, and I was playing with a group called the Sleepstones,” he remembers. “And this band from England were a support act. And that band was Pink Floyd, who also had to borrow all our instruments so they could play the show!”

While performing with Nash in Stockholm, the singer and Schaffer offered a Jamaican musician a place to crash while he performed on the soundtrack to Want So Much to Believe, a 1971 film starring Nash. That turned out to be Bob Marley, who went on to write much of Catch a Fire, his 1973 breakthrough album, while staying with them.

Later on, a career as a studio session guitarist beckoned when Schaffer was hired by two Swedish musicians working as house producers for a local recording studio.

“The first session I ever did was with a Swedish singer called Björn J:son Lindh," he says. "Then suddenly from that gig, I was playing on all the records that were being recorded in Stockholm at that time.”

That included the earliest work to come from the pop group ABBA: guitarist Björn Ulvaeus, keyboardist Benny Andersson and singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog.

“I was recording with a young singer-songwriter Ted Gärdestad, and the producers of that session were Björn and Benny,” Schaffer explains. “And from that, I came to play on ‘People Need Love,’ the first real ABBA song, in 1972, which then led me on to recording with ABBA as well.”

Around the same time, Schaffer embarked on a solo career in parallel with his studio work. His self-titled debut album — an instrumental guitar record that showcased some impressive shredding — went Gold and topped the Swedish charts in 1973 for six weeks, outselling ABBA’s debut, Ring Rng. Schaffer’s second album, Janne Schaffer's Andra LP, also went to number one in that country.

Soon, his reputation as a hot-shot jazz-fusion guitar player came to the attention of Columbia Records in the U.S., resulting in a three-album deal.

“I signed with CBS to record my third album, Katharsis in 1975,” Schaffer explains. “The album was first released in Sweden and, later, in the States where it received a fantastic review in Rolling Stone magazine. The American record label people then came to Stockholm to see me in concert.

“After the concert they called me and said, ‘We liked the concert, do you want to record in Hollywood?’ And I replied, ‘Of course!’ They knew that I played with ABBA as a session musician, but at the time in 1975, ABBA was not well known in the States, so CBS wanted to do something to make some people know my name.

“So they got me to do a concert in Montreux, Switzerland, together with the CBS Jazz All-Stars in front of 3,000 people for a TV show, which was also recorded.” It was a history-making event featuring jazz greats like drummer Billy Cobham and saxophonist Stan Getz.

Landing in Hollywood to record his next album, 1979’s Earmeal, Schaffer hooked up with several members of the newly formed group Toto. The album is noteworthy for being one of the rare occasions when the entire Porcaro family of professional musicians — brothers Jeff, Steve and Mike and their father, Joe — appeared together on a recording.

The album’s lineup came about through some choice recommendations.

“CBS suggested bringing producer Bruce Botnick onboard, a fantastic producer who had worked with the Doors,” Schaffer recalls. Guitarist Les Dudek, who had made a name for himself with the Allman Brothers Band, Steve Miller Band and Boz Scaggs, put forth drummer Jeff Porcaro's name.

“Jeff then suggested I get his bass playing brother Mike to join us too,” Schaffer says. “And because we needed a percussionist too, they suggested their father, Joe.

“During a recording session one day, Jeff told me they had started a group and had just recorded a tune and invited me to listen to it. So, we went to their rehearsal studio and he played me the song which had no vocals at that time.”

That song was “Hold the Line,” Toto’s debut single and, as it would turn out, an international hit

Following the sessions for Earmeal, Schaffer returned home to Stockholm, but soon after received a call from management.

“They said I had made a very good record, but it needed something that was a hit single included on it,” he says. “So I wrote a tune called ‘Happy Feet,’ which features the Porcaro family as well as Steve Porcaro playing keyboard on it too.”

Almost 45 years later. the song has been included in the new film Bad Apples, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in February.

The final album in Schaffer’s trilogy of American jazz-fusion outings was 1980’s Presens, which was more commercial sounding in its musicality and approach. But with new wave and synth pop beginning to proliferate the musical climate, the album wasn’t able to build upon the success of it’s predecessor. CBS released it only in Europe.

Soon after, Schaffer left the label, but continued to release a consistent flow of solo albums. In 1989 he earned a Swedish Grammy Award for Instrumental Production of the Year for his album Electric Graffiti.

Today, Schaffer remains as busy as ever through touring and by contributing his unique guitar style to recordings, including those of this writer.

For gear, Schaffer mainly used a 1959 Gibson Les Paul ‘Burst for his ‘trilogy’ albums, alternating between a Mesa/Boogie and an Ampeg for amplification. His basic set-up today comprises a custom-made Larrivée guitar and a Peavey Stereo Chorus combo amp.

“After the Les Paul, and before I got the Larrivée, I used a Fender Stratocaster for a while,” he says. “But with the change in my playing style which had evolved, I needed to change guitar too, so that’s why I got a Larrivée. It is much more an all-around guitar, and I have the vibrato arm on it as well, which I use a lot of as it’s part of my playing style.”

In recent years, Schaffer’s work has been rediscovered by a new generation of artists such as Christina Aguilera who sampled Schaffer’s track “No Registration” that originally appeared on his debut album, for her song “Sick of Sittin,’” which appears on her 2018 album, Liberation. He also reunited with his former ABBA cohort Agnetha Fältskog by contributing guitar to “Past Forever” a song from her A+ album, released in 2023.

Looking back over his his 50-plus-year career as a guitar player, Schaffer is pleased to see his musical evolution, something he attributes to his desire to always look forward.

"If you go back and listen to my first solo album and then listen to my most current music I’ve released, you will hear a big difference in the way my playing and music has developed and in the way I also write music,” he offers. “I never wanted to get stuck in a special formula, I want to always experiment and do new things. I have a passion for playing music and will try to do it as long as I can."

You've heard his soaring solos on classic cuts like Toto's "Hold the Line" and feasted on his immense songwriting and rhythm cops on titanic tracks like "Africa." But beyond the licks, like most of us, Steve Lukather is one hell of a gearhound.

Sure, he loves his signature Music Man axe's but make no mistake — Luke has a killer collection of vintage guitars, such as a particular late-‘50s Les Paul Standard that you'd have to pry out of his cold, clammy fingers once he's six-feet under.

Elsewhere, Luke has his regrets, which also happen to be Gibson-related. More on that below.

But all in all, though his gear is mighty, and his skill as slick as it comes, it's Luke's personality and warm sense of humor that shined most when he dialed in with GP to talk guitars and pedals.

What's the one piece of gear that you can't live without, and why?

You have to remember I've been playing Music Man for over 30 years now. They've developed from the earlier, simple ones to be more high-end sophistication. I'm loving my Luke 4s, man.

These are the guitars that I really play and really love, particularly the wood. They're consistently great guitars and they work for me.

Is there a vintage guitar that you can't live without?

Of course. My 1959 Gibson Les Paul sunburst. It’s the holy grail, baby. It has a huge history of hit records. George Harrison played it, and it's just got a lot of history. I love that guitar. I found it through a drum tech friend, who said, "Man, Luke, you need to get one of these before they're out of control expensive."

That was in 1979. I picked one up for four grand in a music store in Arizona, and it was just appraised for… let's just say, a whole fucking lot of money. [laughs] I just retired it for a little while after realizing, "I don't want to take this thing around."

Otherwise, I'd be like my bro, Joe Bonamassa, who probably has to hire an armed machine gun staff to stand around his guitar rig. [laughs] But he enjoys and loves those guitars, and I love him for that.

What's the one guitar you'll never play, and why?

The one that I have the least amount of bond with might be a Gretsch. Not because they don't sound great or look cool; it just doesn't feel as comfortable in my hands. I don't know why; maybe it's a little too round of a neck.

I'm not really sure. They're cool guitars; I'm not saying they're not. But you wouldn't see me using one unless it was for something very specific. I've played them before, but I've never owned one.

What's the one guitar you still long for, and why?

One that makes me play really fucking good. [laughs] People will laugh when they read that and go, "Yeah, I can dig that."

I'd wager that any guitar will make a player like you sound good!

Oh, come on, man! I've had a great run. I'm really grateful for my little, teeny piece of acre of the insanity of the music business. I've had a great run, man. I'm grateful and humbled by that. I'm still fooling everybody, so don't tell anybody. [laughs]

What pedal is always on your pedalboard, and why?

When it comes to pedals, I'm a pretty simple guy. But I suppose some kind of delay will always be in the loop, and I will just give it a little throw. I'm not delay crazy like I was in the ’80s. [laughs]

Back when all the new stuff first came, it was like, "Oh, wow, let's turn it all on and see what happens " It was a very excessive decade in every possible way. That's all I can say. Take that any way you want, but when you think about it, you go, “Oh, now it all makes sense" [laughs]

Tell us about your coolest find.

It would have to be the 'Burst. How could it not be the 'burst? That's the most valuable thing I have. Just to have a real one that was legit… I got the “thumbs up” from Joe Bonamassa. [laughs]. So that's got to be the one.

Tell us about the one that got away.

My '58 goldtop Les Paul. I went through a period of purging about 25 years ago, where I thought, "Oh, I haven't played this thing in at least 20 years." And then, I realized its history after I sold it and thought, "Why'd I do that?"

On the other hand, I only paid a couple of grand for it. What I got offered for it was insane. And my daughter, the oldest, was going to college at the time. I said, "Well, this will take care of that," And I was just like, “Well, fuck… I wish I hadn't done that." So, that's the one, for sure.

To take a flyover of Steve Lukather’s long and storied career is to essentially reminisce about the heights of the past 40 years of pop and rock music. He is both an original member of Toto — who have sold more than 40 million records worldwide, including timeless hits like “Africa” and “Rosanna” — and a prolific solo artist, with an impressive nine albums to his credit, including 2023’s Bridges. These accomplishments alone would have most of us gratefully calling it a day.

But when you look at the 18-page discography on Steve’s website — a comprehensive list of every session he’s ever done, for a veritable who’s who of iconic artists over a broad range of genres — the enormous impact he and his guitar have had on the world of music becomes clear. In this lesson, we’ll look at some of the industrious guitarist’s most celebrated classic works, starting from the very beginning.

In 1977, Luke, as he’s often called, recorded his first sessions for singer/songwriter Boz Scaggs, who hired the then 20-year-old guitarist to lay down two solos on his album Down Two Then Left. Throughout Lukather’s solo in “A Clue,” one can already hear hallmarks of his distinctive playing as he creatively combines searing melodies, modern rock licks (that still sound that way today) and a polished, sublime finger vibrato. What also stands out is the guitarist’s rare ability among rock players to deftly negotiate challenging chord changes, a skill that is more commonly found among jazz musicians. To that end, Luke was inspired by one of his guitar heroes, the session legend Larry Carlton.

Ex. 1 brings to mind Lukather’s stirring solo in “A Clue” and reflects his well-developed melodic savvy. The entire phrase is based on the Bb major scale(Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A) and is used over a chord progression so ubiquitous in jazz that it has made its way to pop music: the ii - V - I (“two minor - five - one”), with the numbers corresponding to the degrees of the scale. Here that means Cm7 - F7 - Bbmaj7. Immediately, bar 1 targets a “color” tone, also referred to as an extension, a note of a chord that goes beyond the 7th. This is yet another jazz concept, and, right off the bat, we immediately target Cm7’s 9th, D. Also note bar 3’s use of an F triad (F, A, C) over the Bbmaj7 chord, which touches on the 7th (A) and 9th (C).

Lukather loves to emphasize wide intervals in his single-note lines, and, after the first note, bar 3 sets up a series of 4ths (notes two and one-half steps apart) and 5ths (three and one-half steps apart) between the F, C and G notes. Notice the accent marks above the G and F notes, indicating to pick these notes louder than normal, and how they fall on “16th-note upbeats” (between eighth notes), making us feel rhythmically off balance for a moment.

In the last bar, we encounter a chord that might cause you to wince at first, but it’s not as complex as it looks, and Lukather knows this. Ready for another jazz concept? (Last one!) The E7b5 (E, G#, Bb, D) is the tritone substitution of Bb7 (Bb, D, F, Ab), a tritone, or “augmented 4th,” being three whole steps. Briefly, these chords can be substituted for each other because they share two defining notes, their 3rd and the minor, or “flatted,” 7th. For E7b5, these key notes are G# and D, respectively. Since G# is just another way of saying “Ab,” you can see that Bb7 also shares those same two notes; the E7b5 just has a bit of a funny bass note, and jazzers love that sort of thing.

So what does Luke do? Similar to bar 4, he simply plays over it as if it’s a standard Bb chord, never venturing outside the major scale. He targets a D note, which is the 3rd of our key, Bb, and also the colorful flatted 7th of E7b5. The main takeaway here is that by treating the E7b5 as if it’s a Bb chord, Luke chooses the simplest option, knowing this will most often sound best. This is key to understanding why he has been
a first-call session player for decades.

Let’s take a break from all of these sharps and flats to have some fun with vibrato. Lukather often wields his like a samurai sword, and it’s on full display in Toto’s very first single, 1978’s “Hold the Line” (from Toto). Ex. 2 is not unlike Luke’s solo — brash, aggressive and just plain nasty in the best possible way. To cop this bold attitude, your vibratos will need to be wide and even. Think of them as being like a series of bends and releases occurring in rapid succession, with the motion coming purely from your wrist. Notice in the tablature the prescribed use of the 2nd finger to fret and shake the E note on the B string’s 17th fret, which offers you better control of the vibrato instead of your 1st, giving you more leverage for pushing the string upward (toward the lower strings).

Fast-forward to 1982, when Michael Jackson is at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, working on what would become one of the most seminal albums in music history, Thriller. By request of legendary producer/arranger Quincy Jones, Lukather appears on three of the album’s songs. For “Beat It,” Eddie Van Halen rightfully gets most of the attention, due to the rock guitar icon’s master class of a solo. But Luke’s rhythm part beforehand sets up the legend’s guest appearance perfectly, creating tension that portends something special is about to happen. This sort of thing is what the best session players do every day, and without much fanfare. Ex. 3 is reminiscent of the guitarist’s killer funk-rock riff in this classic track.

During the recording of Jackson’s “Human Nature,” Jones felt the track didn’t have the proper level of funkiness and tasked Lukather with resolving the issue. A tried-and-true move for session guitarists, and one that is often heard in classic Motown and R&B songs, is to add a “popcorn” part, consisting of stealthy, palm- and fret-hand-muted single notes that contribute a percussive, almost conga drum–like backing part that fortifies the groove with notes that “agree” with the key. Not surprisingly, Luke added just the right amount of funkiness. In fact, Jones was so taken with his parts that he gave him an arranging credit on the album, a very rare occurrence for a session player. Ex. 4 is reminiscent of the guitarist’s main part. To achieve the palm muting (“P.M.”), lightly rest your picking hand on the guitar’s bridge, resulting in a subdued attack and quick decay when notes are struck. Keep in mind that the pitchless, fret-hand-muted “dead” notes (indicated with Xs) are just as important, if not more so, to achieving the desired level of funkiness. To deaden notes, simply lift your finger so that it lightly rests on the string.

That very same year, Toto released what would become the group’s most successful album to date, Toto IV. The debut single, “Rosanna,” features Lukather playing two classic solos. He does something particularly nifty in the middle solo, along the lines of Ex. 5. After bending the initial note, continue to hold it while fretting the same string one fret higher with your pinkie. Doing this allowed Lukather to reach a note (C) that would otherwise be quite awkward to play, first having to release the bend, then reaching for it up at the 20th fret. As indicated, notes are played with a swing, or “shuffle,” feel. And be sure to nail the Luke-style wide, sexy vibrato on the last note.

As the story goes, while recording the song, drummer Jeff Porcaro continued playing when the rest of the band expected it to have ended, resulting in a spontaneous “outro jam.” Lukather immediately hits the ground running, delivering a 54-second blistering tour de force. Ex. 6 is inspired by one of its many great moments. Over the G7 vamp, he begins by spitting blues fire then suddenly switches gears, playing a Dm7 arpeggio (D, F, A, C) which notably targets G7’s 9th (A) and 11th (C). Once again, because he’s aware of the available extensions, Luke can creatively introduce new colors to shift to a different gear. The guitarist follows the arpeggio up with a cool chromatically descending lick, which is an especially clever way to move down the fretboard. Ex. 6 brings this crafty section to mind, and, as the song fades, we’re left to wonder what sort of additional magic ended up on the cutting room floor.

Lukather clearly excels at outro solos, and in 1983, he would record another for ex-Commodore Lionel Richie’s “Running with the Night,” from Can’t Slow Down, an album that would go on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide. In the studio, Lukather was playing along while listening to the track for the very first time. When the song ended, Richie declared, to the guitarist’s surprise, that no further takes would be required; they had been recording and the solo was a keeper.

We can sense Lukather is playing quite freely here — possibly even a bit busier than he would have if he had known the red “record” light was on. His opening is a great example of the adage, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression,” as how one begins a solo might just be the most important part. Luke is about to go into beast mode, but it’s notable that he doesn’t start there. Instead, he instinctively creates a motif, which, in a musical sense, refers to melodic and/or rhythmic patterns that can be repeated. Here it involves combinations of just three notes and a robust amount of space, either in the form of rests or a long-held bend. Leaving space builds anticipation, keeping the listener guessing as to what’s coming next, and Ex. 7 is informed by the guitarist’s entrance here.

Ex. 8 brings to mind a later section where Steve again builds tension, this time with more notes, including a nod to the ’80s shred ethos.

A couple of years earlier, in 1981, Lukather co-wrote and played on the Tubes’ classic track “Talk to Ya Later,” from The Completion Backward Principle. It remains a rock radio staple and is packed with great Lukather moments. Ex. 9 brings to mind his dynamic intro, and it’s challenging to keep up its blistering pace. Dyads (two-note chords) on the 2nd and 3rd strings alternate with chugging palm-muted 5th-string bass notes, requiring the 4th string to be repeatedly skipped over. Picked with
all downstrokes, it’s quite a workout.

Lastly, there’s a cool pedal point lick in Lukather’s earlier solo, some-thing he does often. A pedal point is a sustaining or rearticulated note that’s generally played below or sometimes above a melodic figure or accompaniment. Ex. 10 is reminiscent of the guitarist’s ping-ponging phrase at 3:38. Played on the G string’s 16th fret, the pedal tone, B, is left to ring under the higher-pitched, staccato (short) notes with which it alternates. To keep each higher note from ringing, simply loosen your grip on the string so that it breaks contact with the fret.

Perhaps even more than his extraordinary guitar skills, it’s Steve Lukather’s uncanny aesthetic sense of what a song ultimately needs to blossom that has distinguished him for over 40 years. Whether providing subtle background parts or enduringly listenable solos, the guitarist remains an active and highly sought-after top gun in contemporary music.

Back in June, many an eyebrow was raised when John Mayer wielded a reverse-headstock equipped white Stratocaster during one of Dead & Company's shows at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

The guitar bore an eerie resemblance to Jeff Beck's Custom white Strat, and it was soon confirmed – by none other than Joe Bonamassa – that it was in fact the genuine article.

Last week (September 1), during Toto's performance at the Hollywood Bowl, Steve Lukather got his own turn on Beck's iconic electric guitar, using it, appropriately, for a soulful take on Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing.

In the process, the session legend also revealed that his and Mayer's use of the Strat was part of an ongoing project of sorts – spearheaded by Beck's widow, Sandra – to put the late guitar hero's late-career favorite in the hands of various prominent admirers onstage.

“I’ve got something special to do tonight,” Lukather told the enthusiastic crowd prior to the performance. “I normally don't play a white Stratocaster – I've owned them – [but] this is a special one. This was brought from England – it's Jeff Beck's guitar.

“His lovely wife Sandra and his closest friend and guitar tech brought this out, and they’ve been bringing it out to guitar players to put a little of love on it. Jeff and I were friends – we worked together a bunch over the years, in the studio and live.”

Lukather went on to reveal that other big names have been approached by the Beck camp – the aforementioned Mayer and Billy Gibbons, specifically. But, he emphasized, “they’ve probably got a long list.

“I wish this would make me sound like Jeff Beck, but it won’t,” Lukather joked, perhaps underselling his subsequent cover, which was replete with fiery – but always melodic and graceful – lead guitar work.

Now, the big and obvious question is, who's next?

Mayer and Lukather have already taken their turns, with Gibbons confirmed to be in the wings as well.

Though one must take his encyclopedic knowledge of vintage guitars into account, Joe Bonamassa's role in confirming that Mayer was using Beck's Strat at the Sphere would seem to indicate that he's aware of the ongoing project as well.

Either way, we can't wait to see who takes the magical Strat for a spin next...

Dreamcatcher Events and Ibanez have announced Breezin' with the Stars – an immersive four-day event with George Benson. 

Taking place 3-6 January 2025 at the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, guests can rub shoulders with guitar greats including Steve Lukather, Cory Wong, and Tommy Emmanuel, alongside Benson, in an intimate but relaxed environment. 

Breezin' with the Stars will feature masterclasses, Q&As, jam sessions, and concerts featuring the event’s distinguished guests each night. 

The current confirmed guest list is rounded out by Andy Timmons, Stanley Jordan, jazz guitar players Lee Ritenour and John Schofield, Grammy-winning bass player Esperanza Spalding, and vocalist Patti Austin. 

Keyboardist Greg Phillinganes serves as the event’s musical director, while YouTuber Rick Beato has been tapped as host and moderator of the event sessions.  

In addition to the workshops and signing events, the guest musicians will deliver storytelling sessions, sharing unique experiences and insights into life as a musician. The provided jam rooms, meanwhile, come loaded with “top-notch gear for impromptu collaborations”. 

George Benson and co will also offer mentorship to all guests across the four days, with registration open to players of all ages and skill levels. 

Head to Dreamcatcher Events for full details and registration. 

It's no state secret that Steve Lukather is one of the more recorded electric guitar players of the last 50 years, with a mind-bogglingly large discography. But, we all have to start somewhere, don't we? Even a player as seasoned and well-respected as Lukather – difficult as it is to imagine now – had some early learning experiences in sessions.

Case in point was one Lukather wrote about in a 2010 GP column, which occurred when the guitarist was just 19 years old. 

Due to a flat tire, Lukather arrived late to the session, to find an incredibly dense arrangement awaiting him, and Lee Ritenour in the other guitar chair. 

“Gene Page was the arranger, and he was notorious for writing out all the parts. So I’m 19 years old, and I’m late, and I’m panicking,” Lukather wrote. “Lee Ritenour is in the Guitar One chair, obviously, and as I sit down, I’m looking at my part – which is Guitar Two – and it’s really the piano part in Db with no chord symbols anywhere. Everything was written notes. Now, I know we’re getting one or two takes to get this down before they move on to the next tune.

“There are 60 musicians in the studio, and time is money. If I had gotten there on time and relaxed, I could have gotten it together, but I’m all flustered. I’m late, I’m young, and I’m new. I’m trying to make a name for myself, and if I fuck this all up – well, bad news travels fast. And people want to kick you down, because it will open a spot for somebody else to come in. When you’re trying to build a reputation, there’s no room for error.”

Though Ritenour was the first-chair guitarist on the session, Lukather discovered that the former's part didn't quite match his in terms of intricacy.

“I looked over at Ritenour, and all the color had left my skin. And I peek at his chart, and it’s ‘tacet,’ ‘fill’ – nothing. Just nothing. And my part is copying the piano part with all these voicings and five flats. I don’t think I took a breath for two minutes. They start counting off the tune, and Rit sees the panic in my face, and he just reaches over and switches charts on me. He gave me the easy part.

“He didn’t have to do that, and I could have choked,” the Toto guitarist explained. “Of course, Rit can sight read anything, so he just relaxed through it, and at the end, I almost tongue kissed him. I go, ‘Dude, you could’ve thrown me under the bus.’ He just goes, ‘Ah, I like you.’ Back then, a guy like that could make or break you. We’ve been friends for 35 years now.”

It's pretty undeniable that Eddie Van Halen and Steve Lukather's most famous team-up was on Michael Jackson's 1982 smash Beat It — with Van Halen providing that iconic solo and Lukather taking care of just about every other guitar sound on the track.

However, the two shared studios and stages on many occasions over their careers. One of those times was for an all-star ALS benefit concert for Jason Becker, which featured not only EVH and Luke but also Zakk Wylde, Billy Sheehan and Becker's Shrapnel Records alumni Richie Kotzen, Marty Friedman and Vinnie Moore.

No official recording of the show (which took place on 17 November 1996 at the Rivera Theatre in Chicago) exists; however, thanks to a resourceful concertgoer with a camcorder, we can relive some of the guitar magic of that night in the video below.

Joined by Pat Torpey on the drums, Van Halen, Lukather and Sheehan appeared under the name The Lou Brutus Experience — a nod to the American radio DJ who helped promote the event. The "Experience" performed tracks from Jimi Hendrix (Little Wing, Fire), Led Zeppelin (Good Times, Bad Times), The Beatles (I Want You (She's So Heavy)) and The Surfaris (Wipe Out), as well as Van Halen's Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love with Lukather taking vocal duties on the night.

There are some truly immense musical moments throughout from all involved; however, Van Halen and Lukather's unabandoned guitar gymnastics, as they trade high-energy solos on each of the tracks, is the highlight. The event was a success in its fundraising efforts; however, due to his worsening condition, Becker could not attend on the night.

Less than a decade before, Jason Becker (teaming with Marty Friedman) had burst onto the scene with the release of Cacophony's Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 — before releasing his solo debut, Perpetual Burn, the following year. His star would continue to rise, garnering the attention of David Lee Roth; however, not long after taking over guitar duties from Steve Vai in Roth's solo band in 1989, Becker was diagnosed with ALS. He was 20 years old.

Before ALS took away Becker's ability to play the guitar, he managed to complete his contributions to David Lee Roth's third studio release, A Little Ain't Enough, by using lighter gauge strings combined with short productive bursts that would leave him physically drained. A Little Ain't Enough was eventually released in 1992, by which time Becker had lost control of most of his body.

Van Halen became aware of Becker's situation, and the two met at Becker's home in August of '96, where Eddie gifted Becker a "first run" (number 69) of his newly launched Peavey Wolfgang signature model and signed it, "Jason. We will play guitar together in the future. Love from heart to your soul. Eddie Van Halen, '96."

The guitar is set to go under the hammer on 14 December 2023 via auction house Guernsey's as part of its Iconic Items From The 20th Century collection. In deciding to part with the treasured instrument, Jason Becker told Guitar World, "A while ago, I was looking at the guitar Eddie Van Halen gave to me, hanging on the wall, covered in dust, and I thought that's a shame."

"It should be with someone who would love to have it and can give it the attention it deserves," says Becker. "I can't play it, and the best part of it for me now is the memory of his kindness."

Back in 1984, GP sat down for an extensive interview with Toto man and session electric guitar king Steve Lukather.   

In the conversation, Lukather discussed his time with Toto – at the time fresh off the success of their hit single Rosanna, and a little song you might've heard of called Africa – the importance of pairing any sort of guitar playing with strong songwriting, and his rapid rise to the top of the session guitar hierarchy. 

Lukather also discussed the players who most influenced him, one of them being Larry Carlton. 

The following is an excerpt from that interview, which originally appeared in the April 1984 issue of Guitar Player.

“I realized it was okay to play a bad note when I saw Larry Carlton at Donte's six years ago,” Lukather said. “He broke his E string and pulled it off, and everybody was looking at him like 'Oh, no.' Then he took his clippers and clipped off the B and G strings and played a killer solo on the low three strings! 

“I was on my knees with my mouth open, going 'Huh?' He was cracking up, and he was blowing through the changes with a fully built solo. Then I heard him hit a bad note, and he didn't even flinch. It was like, 'I'm blowing, man, I'm going for it. It doesn't matter. It's okay to make a mistake.' Nobody winced.

“See, the worst thing you can do is make a face, because then all you're thinking about for the next ten bars is how badly you blew it in bar two. Inevitably you'll make another mistake because your mind is tripping out. You can psych yourself out as a player – everybody has. If you are nervous and make a mistake, then you go to pieces. You start breaking the guitar or biting the neck with your teeth! Somebody told me, 'If you make a mistake, do it twice. Then they'll think you did it on purpose.'”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lukather discusses how Carlton's playing expanded his musical horizons, and what he thought was possible within the confines of rock guitar playing.

“I was into Larry when he was in the Crusaders, but I never heard him blow like on Steely Dan's Royal Scam album, Guitar-wise, that album changed my whole life. The only other person who moved me that much was Hendrix,” Lukather said. 

“Carlton had the rock and roll sound, but he was playing in and out of changes like a bebop player would. My mind was messed! I went, 'Yeah, that's what I want to do!' I played around town and got to meet him, and he was always very nice to me.”

To read more of GP's 1984 interview with Lukather, step right this way.

When it comes to session guitarists, Steve Lukather is at the top of the list. Wikipedia claims he has recorded tracks on more than 1,500 albums, and while the web encyclopedia is known to get a thing or two wrong, we’re not about to dispute that fact.

Though he’s known best for his work with Toto, Lukather has played on countless hit records for artists that include Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Peter Frampton, Joni Mitchell, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson… The list goes on. He’s also enjoyed an acclaimed solo career for over 30 years.

GP’s Matt Blackett sat down with Luke for an interview several years back, and in this excerpt, Lukather talks about four of the most surprising moments he’s ever had in his life as a session guitarist – which just goes to show that even a seasoned pro like Steve can be in for a shock once in a while.

Let’s talk about Lionel Richie’s “Running with the Night."

He called me and said, “I want you to play a solo on this song of mine.” It was right after “Beat It,” and everybody wanted to get a rock guy to solo on pop/R&B stuff. I show up with my ’Burst and Rivera-modded Deluxe Reverb, and I cranked it all the way up.

He plays me the song, and I just started noodling through the whole thing. I said, “I think I’ve got it. Let’s do it.” He said, “You just did.” I said, “Come on! I was just kind of wanking my way through.” He goes, “I love it. It’s fantastic! You don’t need to do it again.” That was a 10-minute session.

There was no chart or anything?

I showed up blind, man. We never got demos. We never got to rehearse. I think James Carmichael, his producer, had a road map, but it was all A minor. I said, “Let me fuck around with it,” and they rolled the tape.

GP’s Jude Gold called your “Running with the Night” performance a “zero-take solo.” Do you have any other zero-take sessions?

I once did a solo on a David Crosby record without ever hearing the song. We had done one song and Crosby said, “Luke, do a solo on this other track.” I love Croz, but I was trying to finish up because I wanted to go hang with Danny Kortchmar – he was the other guitar player. We’d been there all day. 

Crosby said, “Let me play you the song.” I said, “No, man. What key is it in? Roll the tape.” With all due respect, I knew it wasn’t going to be “Giant Steps” or anything like that. I just reacted to what I was listening to. I played the solo in one take and it was done. He said, “You bastard! You never even heard the song!”

You’ve told the “Beat It” story a million times [Lukather played guitar and bass on the 1982 Michael Jackson track, which features an Eddie Van Halen solo]. What’s another Thriller story?

“Human Nature” had no guitar part on it. The running joke was that Steve Porcaro wrote the song, so it’s really a Toto song with Michael Jackson singing [Porcaro played keyboards in Toto]. 

I had been working with Quincy Jones since his The Dude record, and I came up with a lot of parts for that. I’d get a chord sheet and come up with these quirky little muted parts. So Quincy knew I did that, and he called me and said, “Look, this is a great pop song, but it’s not funky. I need you to funk it up.”

I started noodling around, and I came up with the entire guitar part. It was all me. I wrote that part on the spot, to the point where he gave me arranging credit on the record, and we got nominated for a Grammy. We didn’t win, but it was nice for him to give us the credit. 

We were all over that Thriller record – me, Steve Porcaro, [Toto keyboardist] David Paich and [Toto drummer] Jeff Porcaro.

What about the Tubes’ “Talk to Ya Later”?

David Foster was producing the record, and he said, “I need you to co-write a song with Fee [Waybill, Tubes singer].” I had never met Fee, and some of the other guys in the band were pissed off that they brought in a ringer. I didn’t know until I got there that there was any bad vibe at all.

So it was me, [drummer] Prairie Prince, Foster and Fee. I came up with the opening riff, and we ran with it and came up with the song. It was written and recorded in less than an hour. I overdubbed a bunch of guitars on it, and I also played bass, because the Tubes’ bass player refused to play on the track. He said, “It’s not a Tubes song. It wasn’t written by us.” And it was their first hit!

For the solo at the end, there was one track left, and I had to do the thing in one pass. At the very end of it, it’s a little flat, but they wouldn’t let me fix it. There were certain imperfections on records back then. 

All the records of my childhood have things like the tambourine being way on top of the beat or something. But there’s a charm to the strings being out of tune, or the horns being a little off. It’s a vibe. Nobody cares. The standard for that is a lot different now.

Steve Lukather has shared the second taster from his new album, Bridges.

The "Someone" visualizer follows up the release of last month’s “When I See You Again” lyric video.

Slated for release on June 16 via the Players Club/Mascot Label Group, Bridges is the Toto frontman’s ninth studio album.

“I see it as a bridge between my solo music and Toto music,” explains Lukather. “The fact that Joseph Williams, David Paich and I wrote most of the record, and the fact I invited many of the old Toto gang to come and play – co-writers like Randy Goodrum and Stan Lynch – brings all this together.”

While he states Toto “will never record another studio album,” Luke is happy to point out that he is still good pals with most of his old crew.

“We still love writing and creating and recording together, and we will no doubt continue to work with each other on our respective solo works,” he says. “It's complicated, and at the age I am now, I do not wish to do anything complicated.”

Throughout the course of his solo career, Luke has enjoyed a close working relationship with prolific songsmiths Goodrum and Lynch.

“These guys are the guys that come in and write the lyrics way better than me,” he admits. “I knew they would bring it as always and they did. They are also dear friends as well, and we love working together.”

Working as a team player as far back as his 1989 debut, Lukather, the session ace is keenly aware of how other people’s strengths can elevate a solo project.

“I do have input to the lyrics,” he adds. “I give them ideas of what I want to say and they articulate my feelings into the music, and then perhaps once I see their first drafts we talk about it, edit here and there, and the end result is what we have on this record.”

Pre-order Bridges here.

The following appeared in the February 2018 issue of Guitar Player

When Steve Lukather was a kid, he had a recurring dream: He’d walk onto a huge stage in front of a vast audience with a guitar in his hands. “But right before I’d play my first note,” says Lukather, “I’d always wake up.”

It was only in real life, at age 19, that Lukather finally experienced that dream.

“The first real show I played was at Red Rocks Amphitheatre with Boz Scaggs,” he says. “There’s a photo of me at soundcheck with this huge grin on my face, because I’m like, ‘This is my moment. I’m having the same old dream, but, this time, I know I’m not going to wake up.’ It was a magical night. It changed everything for me.”

Fast forward to October 21, 2017, and Lukather is living another dream: He’s turning 60 years old at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas while backing a Beatle. “Why do I have Steve in my band?” says Ringo Starr before the show. “Because he was free [laughs]. He’s also good at getting the audience to stand and clap. Showbiz is his middle name.”

Lukather’s tenure with Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band is just one of many dream gigs the guitarist has lived out on stage and in the studio. The dreamiest gig, of course, is Toto.

Lukather established the multi-platinum rock group in 1977 with his North Hollywood homies (keyboardist David Paich, and the Porcaro clan of keyboardist Steve, drummer Jeff, and bassist Mike) – the same posse of studio aces who worked with Lukather in various combinations on legendary recording sessions for Boz Scaggs, Randy Newman, Michael Jackson, Don Henley, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, and other superstars during the golden era of session work in the late ’70s/early ’80s.

You can read all about it right from the source. Lukather’s adventures during the session era and beyond are detailed in the guitarist’s autobiography (co-written by Paul Rees), Steve Lukather: The Gospel According to Luke.

“I swear on the lives of my four children that every story is true,” he says, “Everything is in there. Well, maybe not everything. Let’s just say I can never run for office [laughs].”

At the time of this interview, Lukather was celebrating 40 years of Toto and, in a numerical coincidence, 40 million album sales worldwide. To mark the occasion, the band released 40 Trips Around the Sun (Sony/Legacy), a best-of album featuring remastered hits, as well as three previously unreleased tracks.

“Things have never been better for Toto,” says Lukather. “Everything we were told could never happen for us is now happening for us. And we don’t even have a manager!”

Why doesn’t Toto have a manager?

Well, I had to become Manager Guy. I have a staff, but Toto is my only client. I found out that classic-rock bands don’t need a manager just to call the agent, and say, “Book a tour,” and then take 15 percent.

All a band like us really needs is a tour manager, a production manager, good accounting, and a guy like me working with a great agent. And this new approach has really paid off.

We’ve always done well in Europe and Japan – that has kept us and all of our families alive – but the U.S. opened up for us in a huge way in the last few years, and that’s due to hard work. I mean, how many bands get a second chance in America?

Seeing Toto play at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles was amazing, because you’re the only band I can think of that has multiplatinum radio hits and takes things to the moon and back with extended solos.

We take pride in musically pushing things out there beyond what you might expect at a typical rock show, and we do give each member a moment to shine. I like to do my guitar spot within the context of a song.

I did “Red House” last year, even though Joe Bonamassa told me, “That’s the most over-played blues song in the world.” I said, “I used to do this one with dear Mike and Jeff Porcaro 25 years ago, so it has special meaning.”

Eddie Van Halen, Mike Landau, and just about every other pro musician who had the night off was watching you that night. Is it nerve-wracking playing for all those heavies?

I didn’t even think about it. I just looked at my ten-year-old daughter. Seeing her with a backstage pass and a walkie-talkie like she’s out on the road with us cracked me up.

Plus, I’m at an age where I am starting to get relaxed about things, because I’m not in competition anymore. Sure, there was a little pressure that night, but those guys are my friends. If I were to make a mistake, those guys would laugh with me, not at me.

When you were putting together 40 Trips Around the Sun, was it weird diving into the raw sessions for songs recorded way back in the early and middle ’80s?

It was like playing with Jeff, Mike, and my 23-year-old self again. I discovered some things, as well. On “Spanish Sea,” for example, we added new parts to the basic tracks, including a new chorus that I wrote.

The solo, though, was from the original ’85 session, where Paich said to me, “Just play the melody.” So that’s what I did, and, man, it’s the simplest, most non-flashy thing I’ve ever played in my life.

You’re really good at telling a story with your guitar – like on your solo tune, “Song for Jeff.”

As I get older, I realize that ‘playing pretty’ is what I do best. I can’t be Mr. Fast Guy anymore – not that I ever truly was. There are a billion guitarists who can play unbelievably ripping guitar better than I can.

I’ve changed my whole thinking about guitar. I’d rather be more like David Gilmour than anybody else. On the new songs, for example, I really held back, played simple stuff, and tried not to play the obvious notes.

It’s hard to classify what kind of guitar player you are.

I know! I’m not metal, not jazz, not country, and not funk, but I do all of it. And I do it all in my own weird little way. I’m probably more rock than anything else, but that’s a broad description. My job as guitarist in Toto has always been to put teeth on the parts.

What was it that motivated you to play music in the first place?

It was never for fame. People might think, “I want to be famous.” No, you don’t. Even at my low level of fame, it’s the weirdest, most bizarre thing in the world. I had to build a gate in front of my house, because people would just show up at my door and freak out my six-year-old autistic son. But that’s nothing. I have movie-star friends who have TMZ parked in front of their houses. That’s famous.

I started doing music because I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. By today’s standards, it might seem fairly tame. They were in suits, and they didn’t even have long hair yet. But for me, it was like that part in The Wizard of Oz when life suddenly goes from black and white to color. My life changed in one moment. My goal was simply longevity – to have a long career – not to become famous.

Was there ever a moment when your faith in guitar as a career choice was shaken?

I had a humiliating audition with Frank Zappa when I was 17. He embarrassed me in a room full of other guitar players, and I walked out of there trying not to cry.

I thought my career was over. But when I got home, I thought, I’m going to turn this energy into a positive. I’m going to prove Frank wrong. I’m going to make it, and someday he’ll know who I am.

So I played mad and practiced my ass off.

When I fell in love with the radio as a ten-year-old and started playing guitar, I loved the aggressive lead guitar on Boz Scaggs’ “Breakdown Dead Ahead.” I found out later that was played by you.

That was back when guitar solos weren’t shunned, but welcomed. I was playing solos on everybody’s shit. Boz really helped us – though we really helped him, too. If it weren’t for us, he would have just been a blues guitar player working through the scene.

Paich wrote him a bunch of hits, we played on those, and we sort of became the “L.A. sound,” if you will. Whether on purpose or not, Boz nurtured that sound, and soon we were all working all the time.

What was the biggest challenge of doing sessions back then?

Walking in with no rehearsal, having no idea what song you’re going to play on – or even what genre it’s going to be – and coming up with great parts. And you had to come with a good part quickly, because if you took too long, people would lose interest.

There was no editing your part together later in Pro Tools. Take the funky clean thing I came up with for Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” You’re in that room, you’ve never heard the song before, and Quincy Jones is two inches in front of your face going, “Come up with something funky for me right now.” That’s what we got paid for – not for reading the dots and playing what was written on the page, but for filling in the blanks where there was nothing on the page.

Being in that club of session players was great, because once you got in, you were in – if you got in. It was a hard club to get into. But while it took a little luck to get invited through that door the first time, it wasn’t luck to get asked back through that door a second time.

You played a pretty epic solo at the end of Don Henley’s “Dirty Laundry.”

That was a great session. Aside from punching in one spot where I made a little mistake, I think that was a first take. I was extra thrilled to be on that song because Joe Walsh – who I’m the biggest fan of – did the first solo.

When I was in there, I had a whole room full of people staring me down. It was intense. Jeff Porcaro was looking at me like, “You’d better bring it, asshole.” That’s how it was. We all encouraged and pushed each other, and we all became successful.

Denny Tedesco made a cool documentary about the Wrecking Crew. You guys came a generation later. Someone should make a film about you guys.

Maybe someone will someday – probably after we’re all gone. We’re all over Thriller – the biggest record in history – and we get hardly any acknowledgement for it. Sometimes, I think we’re the Rodney Dangerfield of Rock. We get no respect [laughs].

I’m not saying, “Poor, pitiful me.” That would be ridiculous, because I’ve had an incredible career, and I’m very thankful for it. I just wish the critics would take us a little more seriously, rather than “that joke ‘Africa’ band.”

If you don’t like Toto, that’s cool. I don’t like everything, either. But even if you don’t like my band’s music, I’m probably on more than one of the records in your collection. You just don’t know it.

You’re an interesting blend of alpha dog and sensitive cat.

I’m a very sensitive cat. People don’t realize that about me, because I cover it up with humor, but this is an intense business to be in. It can really eat you up.

Some people think I have an attitude because I’m defensive about my band, but try taking shit for 40 years and not have a little edge. I don’t mean to be that way. I’m the nicest guy in the world until somebody draws first blood. Then, look out.

A lot of sessions are done in home studios now. Do you think a truly great album can be recorded that way?

Some artists can get away with making a record at home with GarageBand, and that’s cool, but you can’t make Sgt. Pepper, The Wall, or Dark Side of the Moon in your living room.

There’s something about the wood of a great studio, the million-dollar console, the expensive microphones, the really great engineer, and the really great musicians and songs that make a record a classic that will last forever.

That’s why the Beatles got two billion streams in their first year on Spotify without even trying. No one’s ever going to catch up with those numbers. The Beatles are our classical music.

Speaking of the Beatles, what’s it like to play with Ringo?

It’s hard to describe how much I love playing with Ringo. Having recorded with both him and Paul McCartney on two songs on Ringo’s Give More Love album is the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten. I can die now.

Above all, I just love Ringo as a person. He’s a beautiful cat. He has a vantage you can only have if you’ve been one of the most famous people on earth for 50 years. You’re not going to get better advice than what he offers.

Plus, there would be no rock-and-roll drums without Ringo. He put drum fills on the map. Just listen to “Tomorrow Never Knows.” I’ve been with him since 2012, and he’ll have to kill me to get rid of me.

What’s your rig like these days?

It’s pretty straightforward. A few Ernie Ball Music Man guitars – including my signature models that are loaded with DiMarzio Transition pickups – and a couple of Bogner Ecstasy heads running in stereo.

I’m not even positive which pedals are in the loop these days, because my tech, Jon Gosnell, is so on top of things that I never have to think about the wiring. One pedal I use all the time, though, is The Luke. That’s my signature preamp boost from ToneConcepts. It works great as a distortion or a boost, or you can leave it on as a sort of mastering EQ for your rig.

I also use the Jam Wahcko wah and Waterfall chorus/vibrato. The Providence Anadime chorus is cool, too. No two choruses sound the same. Sadly, I’ll be forever known as the “Dytronics Tri-Stereo Chorus overuse guy,” because that title was somehow tattooed to me while I slept, due to one stupid guitar video that has followed me around forever like herpes [laughs].

There are TC Electronic and DigiTech delays, a MXR Uni-Vibe, an Xotic SP compressor, a Strymon blueSky reverb, and some other stuff on my pedalboard.

Lately, I’ve added Jeff Kollman’s signature Kollmanation pedal from T. Jauernig Electronics. I crank my Bogner up to about 8, kick on that pedal, and, amazingly, it doesn’t cause the tone to crash, as some overdrives will in that situation. It just makes things extra smooth.

Are you digging the next generation of guitarists?

Absolutely. Claims have been made lately that the electric guitar is dying, but I don’t believe it. They say sales are down, but I don’t believe that either. People are just buying stuff on eBay.

There are young kids who really get it. Sure, they start off playing the tricks and stuff – we all did that. But the cream rises to the top, and the best musicians are soon found out. I truly believe that Millennials are going rise up musically. It’s time. There needs to be an uprising of young 18-to-25-year-old kids who bring tunes that make us go, “Whoa!”

We need some amazing young kids who take a brave political, social, and musical stand, and bring on something positive. There needs to be another Beatles.

Order Toto's 40 Trips Around the Sun here.

***The following appeared in the February 2018 issue of Guitar Player***

“Ever hear someone pick up a guitar and start strumming a blues shuffle or something, and it feels so good it just makes you want to jump in and play with them?” asks Steve Lukather. “That’s the kind of player people want to hire in the studio – the person who comes up with parts that make the song feel better.”

If you want to work, you have to be that person says the Toto founder. And to be that person, you need to know how to play rhythm guitar.

“Kids can learn every lick in the world from the Internet now, but a lot of them have no groove,” he points out, “because they haven’t learned how to play rhythm guitar – like that’s not important!”

Flashy lead playing may entertain and impress on social media. But when it comes to working with other musicians, Luke underscores the ability to play great rhythm guitar as the most important thing.

“You need to know how to play behind a singer, and to have great time, a great sound, and a great touch,” advises the prolific studio veteran. “You need to come up with great ideas on the fly, as well as know how to stay out of the way when necessary.

“And once you find something that fits with what everybody else is doing, stay on it. It takes a certain instinct to hear a song for the first time and find a part that fits.

“While I’m very impressed with what Millennials are doing on guitar now, if there’s one thing severely missing in music today, it’s human interplay. When you’ve got real players in a room reacting to each other, you stop getting individual takes during a session, and you get a collective take as a group.

“That’s when the real magic happens in the studio.”

Steve Lukather will never forget the first time he played with Jeff Beck. It was at a huge outdoor concert in Japan in 1986 featuring sets from Beck and Carlos Santana, with a young Lukather guesting in both bands.

“I was ecstatic,” the guitarist says. “I mean, Carlos and Jeff – these were my heroes. I love Carlos, but Jeff’s playing hit me hard, just as much as Hendrix’s or anyone else’s from the post-Beatles era. I’m up there with Beck, having the time of my life, and so honored to be there, but I’m also super nervous. I’m just 26 or 27, in awe, going, ‘This is like some wet dream I had when I was a kid. How am I supposed to play with Jeff Beck?’”

Nor will Lukather forget the final time he shared a bill with Beck, last summer at a festival in France.

“Fucking Jeff,” remembers Lukather, who was playing with Toto that night. “He’s about to go onstage and says to me, ‘Don’t expect too much. I haven’t been playing much lately.’ And then he walks out and just eviscerates the venue and rips the place apart.

“Everybody was screaming after everything he played. I’m at the monitor board just dancing, hands in the air, going, ‘Jeff!’”

But Lukather’s most memorable time spent with Beck may have been the autumn of 1997, when Beck hired him as a producer.

“We did about six weeks at David Gilmour’s studio on the Thames, starting about three days after Princess Diana died,” Lukather recalls. “I got to see it all up close – the whole process of how Jeff liked to do things.

“He’d have a Marshall miked up in the live room, but he liked to play in the control room, with a little delay and reverb going in the monitors, and with a Fender Champ at his feet, facing up at his guitar.

“Jeff was so magical. I don’t think I ever saw him tune a guitar. He would pick up a guitar that was like rotted and out of tune. I’d go, ‘Jesus, Jeff, these strings are like 20 years old. Is this a B string where the high E should be?’ and he’d go, ‘Whatever,’ and play it, and it would be perfect.

“He had perfect pitch, and he didn’t know it, because he didn’t understand what that might be. ‘F#13’ meant nothing to him, because he was completely unschooled. But if you played it for him, he’d figure it out – and probably make it weirder!

“He was playing modal stuff back with the Yardbirds and didn’t even know it. The worst thing that could have ever happened to Jeff Beck would be for him to take lessons and learn how to do things properly. If that had happened, there would be no Jeff Beck.

“When we started recording, Jeff said to me, ‘No matter what it is, I don’t want it to sound normal, or like anyone else. If it’s one note, I want to find a really weird way to play that one note.’ So he’d do the note as a false harmonic or faux slide or something. He was always looking for sounds that were new and different.

“It was actually hard to record him, because, as a fan, I loved everything he did, but as a producer it would be difficult to say, ‘What happens if you try this another way, or do another take?’ I asked him to double something once and he goes, ‘Oh, okay, you want me to be “studio guy,”’ even though he had doubled things before on earlier records. To him, stuff like that was studio trickery.

“One time, I put a 50 or 60 millisecond delay to the left, getting a sound kind of like that beautiful stereo wah sound he had on ‘Ain’t Superstitious,’ and he says, ‘I don’t know, man, I did that 30 years ago.’”

Lukather is proud of the tracks he did with Beck, but the memory may be a tad bittersweet.

“We had about eight songs done, and he played amazing stuff on there,” Lukather says. “But one day he heard the band Prodigy and suddenly caught techno fever. He wanted to make a record like that, so we never got a chance to finish. “Jeff probably has 10 or 11 unfinished albums hidden somewhere. Still, recording him was one of the greatest times of my life.

“Jeff was like Pavarotti or Jaco or Holdsworth – a guy who took things to another level. His playing has that thing that you can’t learn. It’s extra. Some people get a little extra, some don’t. 

"He was the only cat who could play one note and everybody else would put their guitars back in their cases and go, ‘I’m outta here.’

“He had the fattest live guitar sound I’ve ever heard – two Plexis dimed behind the stage, old-school – but you can’t re-create it. It was in his heart and in his hands. It was his voice. The fact that I’ll never be able to stand on the side of the stage and watch him play live again, well, I’m busted up over it.”

If you like in-depth interviews with great guitar players AND you like to hear them play, then you need to listen to our No Guitar Is Safe podcast.

Presented by Guitar Player and hosted by Jude Gold, No Guitar Is Safe is free to listen to at your leisure on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With over 150 episodes uploaded there’s plenty to get your teeth into.

Just some of the featured artists include Joe Satriani, Nita Strauss, John 5, Robben Ford, Steve Morse, Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Lita Ford, Tommy Emmanuel, Zakk Wylde, Ace Frehley, Billy Duffy, Phil X, Celisse, Nile Rodgers and many, many more besides!

For fans of guitar, it’s hard to imagine a world without Jeff Beck. 

To help us process this unfathomable musical loss, we “land the ‘copter" in front of Steve Lukather’s house, where we go inside and join the Toto/Ringo Starr guitar ace by a warm fire and get his take on his friend Jeff Beck’s life, legacy and music, as well as his thoughts on the profound influence Beck has had on how most of us play electric guitar.

And, yes: Luke has had plenty of exciting adventures with Jeff Beck, which he relives here.

“In particular, Jeff’s playing hit me hard,” he recalls. “We hit it off as friends. We were really super tight for twelve years or something like that. We saw each other all the time, talked on the phone all the time. Every time he came into town, or when I was over there, we’d always hang. It was always great.”

Tip: For a deep dive into Steve Lukather’s playing, music and career, go back and listen to him plug in with us on episode 64 of this show, No Guitar is Safe, “the guitar show where heroes plug in.”

Jimi Hendrix has gone down in history as one of the most significant musicians of the 20th century. Even today, over 50 years on from his death, his influence on the electric guitar is still profoundly felt. 

For many he was the ultimate electric guitarist. Hendrix was a musical visionary, a virtuoso, and an incendiary live performer (literally), accomplished songwriter and a skilled wordsmith. He was perceived as a social and cultural icon, lauded by both music fans and by his not insubstantial peers and followers.

We asked an array of phenomenal guitarists about the influence that Hendrix had on their own guitar development and music in general. So enjoy this special tribute to a master as some of the greatest guitarists in the world explain what Jimi means to them. 

Starring, in alphabetical order: Jan Akkerman, Jennifer Batten, Joe Bonamassa, Kirk Fletcher, Marty Friedman, Eric Gales, Brett Garsed, Paul Gilbert, David Grissom, Steve Hackett, Allen Hinds, Greg Koch, Michael Landau, Ronni Le Tekro, Steve Lukather, Hank Marvin, John McLaughlin, Steve Morse, Oz Noy, Orianthi, Uli Jon Roth, Joe Satriani, Kim Simmonds, Andy Timmons, Walter Trout and Carl Verheyen.

But which one of them isn't even a Hendrix fan?

JAN AKKERMAN

JAN AKKERMAN

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

I think he was a great musician and showman, but I had very different influences like Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery or the first rock pioneers, and all different styles because I used to play the accordion when I was six years old. So in short, NO second-hand blues licks. 

So in the beginning I didn’t pay too much attention. I did like "Hey Joe" and "The Wind Cries Mary" as compositions, but didn’t think much of it until I hooked up with Joachim Kuhn, a monster keyboard player and friend and totally into free jazz and a big fan of Hendrix. He emphasised the freedom of Jimi’s playing, which I loved, also especially the albums Electric Ladyland and Axis: Bold As Love. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

His style was very expressive to say the least. It is difficult to describe his technique because he didn’t care for that. I liked his tone on the Stratocaster. I like the sound of single-coils like Fender or my Gretsch White Falcon. One of the reasons I couldn’t play a Fender is because the controls are always in the way. Jimi didn’t have that problem because he played upside-down so the volume pot was on the other side of the guitar. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why? 

I still like "Hey Joe," "Spanish Castle Magic," etc, but I heard some experimental stuff which was pretty out as well. All in all he was one of the greatest artists in any scene. 

JENNIFER BATTEN

JENNIFER BATTEN 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

He represented a movement in electric guitar of breaking the boundaries of what had gone before, and challenging expectations in the role of the guitarist in a band. With his presence the guitar’s potential became adventurous, dangerous, exciting, and wild. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar? 

He brought a renewed creativity as to what was possible with guitar effects, harmonic composition, tremolo bar use, and manhandling the instrument for a totally new level of entertaining engagement. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

My favourite Hendrix moment was going to a double or triple bill movie of all Hendrix films. It was total immersion when I was a young teen. My parents wouldn’t let me go see him live at my age, when my sisters went and saw a double bill with Jimi and Joplin. So it was as close as I could get. I’m sure that was a chunk of inspiration that pushed my desire along to continue down the guitar rabbit hole. 

JOE BONAMASSA

JOE BONAMASSA 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi Hendrix meant the world to generations. He was the total package. Player, showman and writer. As innovative and revolutionary as his playing was it’s the songs that stand the test of time. Great guitar playing needs a vehicle for it to do that. Jimi has great songs... period. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

Jimi brought fire... He used his guitar as a weapon. Up until that point only Buddy Guy had weaponised the electric guitar. It was visceral and almost terrifying to listen to and watch as a young kid in his formative years. Beautiful tone, phrasing and use of chords. Game changer. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

Jimi at Monterey... Black 1965 Fender Strat, a Marshall stack and a blackface Fender Showman amp covering Bob Dylan’s "Like A Rolling Stone." A life-changing moment for those lucky enough to witness it in person, and life changing for me. 

KIRK FLETCHER

KIRK FLETCHER 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi Hendrix has meant many things. When I was a kid I saw Hendrix as an amazing guitarist both in and out of the studio. A sonic genius way ahead of his time. His command of sound with this deep understanding of soul. 

As I grew older I started thinking about how he came up with his guitar parts and his lyrics, and also studio techniques. And then for myself becoming a songwriter, it made me view his work in another light. When I listen to Are You Experienced the man could write a song three minutes long, like "Purple Haze" or "The Wind Cries Mary," and it’s still played somewhere on radio to this day. 

Imaginative storytelling lyrics with the most beautiful melodic guitar in a three-minute pop song? I mean, wow! 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

I feel he brought a whole new language to the guitar. His command of playing and blending so many styles and influences. There are so many branches to the Hendrix tree. For rock guitarists you have his use of the whammy bar and overdrive. 

I feel that the great funk movement of the 70s, groups like Funkadelic, were definitely inspired by Hendrix. I feel he wrote the book on funk-rock guitar soloing. His use of double- stops and rhythm guitar is a whole language. His melodic phrasing on ballads. It would be difficult for me to think of a music world without Jimi Hendrix’s contributions. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

Picking one Hendrix song is like saying which one of your kids you love the most! I would say "Are You Experienced." I mean that song is from the first LP. It has poetic, lyrical content. Completely amazingly orchestrated guitar parts. And it still sounds so fresh to my ears. 

I think I love that album so much because I have often dreamed about hearing it when it first came out in 67. It’s like that great line in that Joan Baez song Diamonds And Rust: “You burst on the scene already a legend!” 

MARTY FRIEDMAN

MARTY FRIEDMAN 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

When I was a kid, I was a massive fan of Uli Roth, Frank Marino and Robin Trower. I loved their playing and learned so much of it, inside and out. I was told that those guys were heavily influenced by Hendrix, so I checked him out. 

I understood the connection, but Hendrix just sounded very weak and undeveloped compared to those guys. Kind of like being used to an iPhone 11 and then someone tells you that if it weren’t for the iPhone 1, there would be no iPhone 11. This is true, and very important. But I’d still rather use an iPhone 11, figuratively speaking, especially as a teenager discovering music. 

I wasn’t there in the 60s when he did the things that inspired literally all of my guitar heroes. So I just never ‘got’ it. I was never into hippie, psychedelic, druggy mind-altering motifs in music so there was just never anything about him that attracted me to his music. How I filtered these same elements out of Trower’s and Marino’s music is anyone’s guess. Had I been around when Hendrix came out I might have felt differently. 

So even though I certainly know, respect and admire his monumental influence on music and great musicians, his music never connected to me personally. 

Recently I was on a long flight and listened to a huge collection of Hendrix to try to find something that I could get excited about. Believe it or not, I still couldn’t hear what everyone else is hearing. Maybe I’m missing something. 

People have this magical unconditional love for the guy, which is fantastic, but they never seem to point me towards some great piece of music that I need to hear from him. I’m always open to suggestions. I feel like it’s in the ‘you had to be there’ category.

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He brought so many great things to the guitar. Fashion, charisma, beautiful noise, aggressive blues playing like never before, wonderful angelic clean chord voicings, wild showmanship, and was an early innovator in experimentation with guitar sounds. 

You have to respect these things. He was a pioneer and was the first to do a lot of guitar things that are taken for granted 50 years later. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

In my first band, Deuce, we covered "Purple Haze" and I sang and played it. You can believe this or not, but I had never heard Hendrix at this point. The Mahogany Rush Live album was on loop in my world at the time, and could not have cared less that most of that album was cover songs. 

I adored Marino (still do) and when I discovered him, I probably got the same feeling that many guys in the 60s got when they discovered Hendrix. It’s all good. 

ERIC GALES

ERIC GALES 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

It's hard to sum up. But what I can say is that he brought to the world things that had never been explored in music, period, and also the guitar. He was a major influence on every guitarist in the world that came after him and even during him. That was a domino effect that added to a lot of others’ styles, that led to them carrying on the inspiration and influence. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He brought things to the guitar that even still today leaves great minds puzzled. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

It’s hard to give a single answer as to what’s my favourite Hendrix song. But I’d have to say my earliest memory of "May This Be Love" was and still is one of the songs that emotionally moved me, even as a young lad. And as I said it still does. 

BRETT GARSED

BRETT GARSED 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

My older brother had the Isle Of Wight album and also the Woodstock soundtrack which I was listening to before I even attempted to play the guitar. So Jimi was feeding the urge to give it a go. 

I went on to learn the version of "All Along The Watchtower" from the live album note for note, and was astonished when I heard the studio version with all the overdubs. The live version sounded massive to me and it was incredible to think it was just three musicians creating that wall of sound. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

The obvious things are the authentic R&B influences and his experimentation with effects which he pretty much set the standard for. The level of musicality that he achieved using the simplest of tools is still a high bar that most players strive for. 

But, the thing that astounded me was the way he intertwined his voice with his guitar playing, almost creating a third instrument. He had total independence between what he was playing and what he was singing, and the two would weave in and out of each other, sometimes in harmony, unison or total counterpoint. It’s an incredibly difficult skill to develop and, once again, Jimi had it mastered. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

It’s Jimi’s performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" from Woodstock. Not because I listen to it constantly for enjoyment but because of what it taught me about the power of music and sound to make an emotional statement. 

At first I was intrigued with the feedback, whammy bar divebombs and just the overall pyrotechnics of it, but when I discovered that the whammy bar was imitating actual bombs and inside the other sounds were machine gun fire and people screaming, I learned that he was superimposing a song of national pride over the horror of the Vietnam war and all conflict in general.

I never listened to that song the same way again and it became so much more powerful to me, as did the man who created it. 

PAUL GILBERT

PAUL GILBERT 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi’s rock songs grabbed me first. I liked "Foxy Lady," "Purple Haze," "Spanish Castle Magic," and "Crosstown Traffic." My uncle Jimi (who changed the spelling of his name to match Hendrix), recommended an album called War Heroes. I bought that, and listened to an instrumental called "Midnight" a lot. 

My parents also had a live record from the Monterey Pop Festival. One side was Otis Redding. The other side was Jimi. So I heard Jimi’s live versions of "Like A Rolling Stone," "Rock Me Baby," and "Wild Thing." 

When I was around 12, my mom took me to a midnight movie showing the Jimi Hendrix documentary. The clip of Jimi playing "Rock Me Baby" at Monterey was one of those breakthrough moments, when I suddenly ‘got it’. 

As time went on, I started to love Jimi’s rhythm playing with a cleaner sound as well. "Wait Until Tomorrow," "Castles Made Of Sand," and the intro of "Bold As Love" are all so beautiful. 

Now that I’m older, I love to listen to Jimi as an improviser. He was fearless, soulful, melodic, angry, gentle, and seemed to be singing through the guitar. Sure, there were some noises and ‘wrong’ notes. But when you blast a hole in the side of a mountain, some boulders are gonna fall. And he was ‘chopping it down with the edge of his hand’. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He brought a voice to guitar. He used enough volume and distortion to make the guitar sustain in the way that a human voice can. And he brought the elements of expression that a voice has; sliding, bending, contrasts of volume, texture, and length, and the best vibrato anyone had heard in 1966. 

Traditional guitar was NOT built to do this. The guitar is designed more like a lute, where chords are fretted, and the strings are plucked. It’s sort of a portable harpsichord, and the great fingerpickers from Segovia to Chet Atkins, played it masterfully like that. 

B.B. King, Otis Rush, Freddie King, and other early electric blues players certainly opened the door for what Jimi did. But Jimi’s songs, live performances, and use of sustain, took the guitar ‘as a voice’ into sounds that made everything before him seem outdated. 

Jimi said, “And you’ll never hear surf music again.” And when you hear the guitar intro of The Beach Boys’ "Surfin’ USA," it sounds pretty stiff, compared to the world that Jimi created. 

I still love The Beach Boys, and I don’t mind when guitar players play guitar like a guitar. But I must admit that a good portion of my time is spent trying to get my guitar to sing, like Jimi did. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

The first that comes to mind is "Killing Floor" live from Monterey Pop. It was Jimi’s chance to win an audience in the USA, and he was in competition with The Who. 

With that much pressure and adrenaline, most players would get thrown off balance. But Jimi launches into his opening number like a rocket. His aim is perfect. He is painting with a big brush, but still achieving detail. 

I can just imagine Pete Townshend watching in the wings, and thinking ‘Holy #$%!’ And Jimi hasn’t even turned on his distortion pedal yet. Look out! 

DAVID GRISSOM

DAVID GRISSOM 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

I was in junior high deep into The Stones and Beatles when I got Hendrix In The West. It was like finding the Holy Grail. I immediately got a wah-wah and obsessed on the live version of "Voodoo Chile" until I got close to copping some of it. 

I dreamed of having a Stratocaster and dug into the studio albums. Just as important to me was being inspired to discover Jimi’s influences. I was lucky to take lessons from a guy who turned me onto the three Kings and helped me connect the dots to Jimi. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

I think he changed electric guitar playing the same way Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker changed jazz. He drew from a very deep well. Not only was his playing mind blowing, he wrote really great innovative songs that covered a huge range of styles, tones, and dynamics. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

How do you pick just one? On the more intense side of things, the studio version of "Spanish Castle Magic" slays me. The moment that nearly brings me to tears every time I hear it is the solo on "May This Be Love." I love that softer, melodic side of Jimi. 

STEVE HACKETT

STEVE HACKETT 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Initially I thought he came across with a rare animal power, but when you look more closely, his lyrics are full of poetry. Sometimes the words are very dark with lots of references to imminent death and allusions to the next world. He played like a reanimated zombie, with a haunting otherworldly aspect. 

His showmanship seemed to come naturally to him. No-one ever moved as gracefully with the guitar in hand, as if he possessed this extra electric limb. I feel it was his fluidity as well as his innovation and risk-taking that impressed and influenced me. His playing was heady stuff for me as an aspiring teenage rocker. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

Hendrix was a bluesman with a very big difference. I knew his guitar tech, Eric Barrett, who said that Jimi played through feedback constantly, like a weapon permanently set on stun. The spacecraft aspect of his playing was hugely inspiring. He was always going to take you on a trip to some uncharted part of the universe. His playing skirts the limits of earthly experience. It’s virtually a shamanic inner journey. 

He also brought many production ideas to the guitar. Somehow you feel at Woodstock that he was trying to register his protest at the falling bombs on Vietnam, managing to say as much with his guitar as other protest songs had done with words. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

I think "Purple Haze" is my favourite Hendrix song. It’s a very cleverly written tune, and is full of unexpected twists. It defines the term psychedelic. Both the angular guitar riff and the opening dissonant chords give you that feeling of Iron Man Cometh. 

But there’s vulnerability too in the lyric, with the idea 
of confusion running through it. Although "Purple Haze" is a short song, he often played it live with extended moments which sometimes literally did "kiss the sky," to quote the lyric. 

His impact on music was huge. A man who didn’t need a light show. For me it was just enough to watch the alchemy of his fingers, his dexterity and the way he danced with his instrument. 

ALLEN HINDS

ALLEN HINDS 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

I remember my older brothers and sisters buying Are You Experienced. First thing was, “holy crap, this is the coolest guy I’ve ever seen”, so the nostalgia factor is high. He could play really well and I fell in love with the songs. Even though I loved the Beatles, he was the first guitarist I wanted to emulate. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He brought a Marshall amp and psychedelic sensibility to the blues and R&B. I suspect even to him the acceleration of volume and feedback with amplification was overwhelming. I think he was just holding on for dear life, in a great way. No one had heard anything like that before! 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

For the playing alone I love Band Of Gypsys the most. Listen to his solo in "Machine Gun." He was so creative. You could extract some of his improvised phrases and make complete song melodies. 

He was like a jazz player in that sense and could create something from nothing. You just waited on the edge of your seat for the next burst of emotion. Still the very best! 

Some confuse his curiosity and adventurism as sloppy at times, but I don’t hear that at all; he was searching and going where no man had gone before. 

Just imagine if he were here now! 

GREG KOCH

GREG KOCH 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi was and is my main inspiration. He was a true innovator as a guitarist, songwriter, performer and purveyor of sonic mayhem. My chordal approach as well as blues playing is heavily influenced by Jimi’s. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

Of course the way he manipulated the whammy bar, or Mr Wiggles as I like to say, along with feedback and his creative use of effects from the Octavia to the Uni-Vibe greatly expanded the emotive range of the electric guitar. 

His greasy blues phrasing and extraordinary rhythm playing really has left an indelible mark on everyone since. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

It’s hard to narrow it down to one. Let’s just say if I had to bring one record to a desert island it would be Axis: Bold As Love. 

MICHAEL LANDAU

MICHAEL LANDAU 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

I first heard the song "Purple Haze" when I was eight years old. We were driving around in my mother’s car and when it came on the radio it scared me to death. But after I heard the song a few times, it started to have a calming affect on me and I couldn’t get enough of it. 

His music and his guitar playing demonstrated all of the different sides of human emotion in such a beautiful way. His influence has always been enormous. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He reinvented it, plain and simple. He showed everyone a completely new and fresh approach to playing techniques and sonic possibilities that had never been done before. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

"Castles Made Of Sand" would be one of my many favourites. Here Jimi was mixing R&B style guitar playing with abbreviated jazz voicings as only he had done, and the tone was just so raw and beautiful. The sentiment of the lyrics on that song are beautiful as well... it’s almost like a nursery rhyme, but for grown-ups. 

I also love the out-take of "Blue Suede Shoes" from the Loose Ends record. You can really hear the joy, the energy, and the fun he was having with Buddy Miles in the studio. Such a great moment. 

RONNI LE TEKRO

RONNI LE TEKRO 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

I started playing the electric guitar in 1976, just a few years after Jimi passed away. At the time 1970 seemed like 100 years ago, being 13 myself. My uncle gave me "The Wind Cries Mary." It was a revelation. 

I loved his voice, playing and image from day one. Later, when I was able to hear more material I instantly understood that Jimi was one of a kind. His ability to push the guitar into new landscapes stunned me and has been a big inspiration. Especially his extensive and abusive use of the vib-bar as well as implementing large doses of feedback. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

Jimi revolutionised the electric guitar. Still I haven’t heard another guitar player with such rhythmical feeling. His solos and playing are so incorporated into his compositions. It’s reaching a higher dimension when you play, sing and compose like that. He was driving the band to magical heights. 

My favourite line-up must be with Mitchell and Redding. Those guys certainly knew how to play freely on the highest level. It sounds like it’s out of control. 

I love that Jimi also gave all guitar players a warning about what could happen to you if you indulge in chemical drugs. Some didn’t take the warning, unfortunately. They sensed that drugs where the driving force in Jimi’s music, but like Jimi they couldn’t handle it. 

His image and live performances inspired and inspires most of us. That being said, I have always been trying to create my own sound and way of playing the guitar. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

My favourite song is "The Wind Cries Mary," simply because it was the first track I ever listened to. It’s something about that song that still gives me the shivers. The production is so full of life and feeling. I think his opening guitar line has probably been copied a million times. 

Of his live performances my favourite is Isle Of Wight festival. You can sense it’s getting closer to the end but little did Jimi know. He is delivering a show out of hell. 

Later I learned to love Frank Marino and the Mahogany Rush. I think he is the guitar player that developed and carried Jimi’s legacy the best. Check out "King Bee" from his Live album. I think Jimi would have been proud.

STEVE LUKATHER

STEVE LUKATHER 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

It was the aftershock of the Beatles changing the world, then an alien came and landed on our planet to give those that understood, the truth. All that before he was 27 years old. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

A total reinvention of the possibilities. He could make a statement with his use of feedback and amazing use of chords and R&B stylings which he made his own. Very loudly! It’s like nothing else. I’m not sure anyone could make an impact like that afterwards. 

EVH did but he was not on a cultural level because Jimi was part of the 60s anti- establishment scene. Black man with a white band accepted by everyone but I never saw colour, just the sound. It was a colossal sound; the anger and intensity of "Machine Gun" through to the softness of "The Wind Cries Mary."

Goodness knows what he could have gone on to have done!

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

Impossible. They are all a huge part of my growing up. Kids today might not ‘get it’ but remember this was 1966! NOTHING like it had happened before or indeed after it. 

HANK MARVIN

HANK MARVIN 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

It was probably early 1967 when I first heard the Jimi Hendrix Experience. They were performing their first single, "Hey Joe," on Top Of The Pops and, as we say in the weather bureau, I was blown away. 

I loved Jimi’s guitar solo, blues but not as we know it and with so much feeling. Jimi opened the door to a whole new world of guitar playing. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

I’m not aware of anyone before Jimi using feedback in the way he did, or using the whammy bar to create effects so extreme that it probably contributed to global warming. 

He also showed the music world that the electric guitar could be played with the teeth, used as a fireplace and in the right hands be a wonderfully expressive instrument. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

The opening riff on "Purple Haze" is hard to beat, but then there’s the live version of "Red House" on Hendrix in the West. I love those deceptive bends. 

JOHN McLAUGHLIN

JOHN McLAUGHLIN 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi changed the electric guitar forever. I was exposed to the acoustic guitar playing of Muddy Waters at the age of 11, and it was revolutionary. Jimi started a revolution 25 years later. Now while I was exposed to Muddy, Bill Broonzy and other great blues players at an early age, I got captured by jazz from 15 years old. But on hearing Jimi for the first time, I heard a guitar being played in a way I’d never heard before. 

At the same time I could hear the profound influence of Muddy Waters not only in the playing but in Jimi’s singing. It was completely new and yet I could hear the history behind his playing. 

I mention my love of jazz but there’s a connection to Jimi here. Jimi revolutionised the sound of the guitar using distortion to bring in harmonics; by the mid 1960s, John Coltrane began to bring in harmonics into his sound and, while the two styles of Coltrane and Jimi are really diverse, there is something very deep that connects them. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

By renewing the influences of the great Mississippi blues players, Jimi brought history up to date with a concept that was not only contemporary, but remains contemporary today. 

There are great musicians who have a powerful impact on other musicians, but to create a new concept of playing is even more significant. I think it’s safe to say that the concept Jimi introduced, changed the way of playing the guitar for all time. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

My favourite piece from Jimi is his interpretation of "The Star Spangled Banner." With a guitar, an amp and a wah-wah pedal, he created not only the most amazing interpretation of the American National Anthem, full of irony, but the most powerful anti-war piece of music I’ve heard to this day. 

STEVE MORSE

STEVE MORSE 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

I loved the way that he created mind-bending, unreal atmospheres with his studio recordings; the backwards solos, the echo effects, Rotovibe, wah-wah, octave box, slide effects, whammy bar, etc. 

I was just a young teenager and I just wanted to play "Purple Haze" and "You Experience" solos upstairs in my room with my amp cranked up to get feedback. That is partly how I developed an approach where I mute all the strings but the one I am playing, in order to limit the feedback only to the string I wanted. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

All the previously mentioned sounds (backwards solos, echo effects, Rotovibe, wah-wah, octave box, slide effects, whammy bar, etc), but also strong phrasing, soulful, powerful bends, and melodic rhythm playing. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

That would be "Are You Experienced." In fact, I wrote a ‘in the style of Hendrix’ piece called "Well, I Have” as a tribute. The ending part has the backwards solo too! 

OZ NOY

OZ NOY

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Hendrix is the most influential and important electric guitarist that ever lived. His tone, touch, energy, musicality and fire to me are what rock-blues electric guitar is. I loved Hendrix’s songwriting, and his sense of rhythm influenced so many guitar players in all different styles of music from rock to funk to R&B to gospel. 

Also, to me he is one of the greatest blues players to ever lived, as every time he played a slow blues it was special. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He opened the doors to electric guitar in such a huge way, that I don’t think anybody has more influence on the instrument than he did. The tone of both his rhythm and lead guitar is still untouchable. His soloing was obviously amazing, the depth of his blues roots mixed with this new-age rock feel using very loud amps that created a lot of sustain. 

I don’t think any of that existed before him, and if it did it wasn’t on such an extreme level. He was also a very special rhythm guitar player. The use of wah-wah, fuzz and Univibe set the bar for those sounds to this day, really. 

Hendrix didn’t only change music, he changed our culture! 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

"Castles Made Of Sand." I also love the intro and the actual song and the guitar tone of "Spanish Castle Magic." I love the rhythm guitar playing; it’s hard to choose one! 

ORIANTHI

ORIANTHI 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

The first time I heard Jimi Hendrix was when my dad put on the Woodstock video. I was 11 years old. I was blown away. The freedom in his playing and the sounds he created inspired me so much. He was such a force. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He opened people’s minds. He was an innovator and was constantly searching. He made the guitar sound like no other. He changed the way people heard it. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

"The Star Spangled Banner" from Woodstock. It’s just an amazing moment. I also love the acoustic performance of "My Train A Coming."

My favourite tune is "Voodoo Chile" though. I cover it a lot. 

ULI JON ROTH

ULI JON ROTH 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi was my most important influence, artistically speaking, when I was younger. I can’t even begin to put into words how much I have learned and soaked up from that man. 

To this day, his music doesn’t get old, but always sounds fresh and incredibly alive. His contribution to the world of guitar playing and rock music is unbelievably important. Of all the people in rock music, Jimi was simply the most unique and most visionary. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He brought a completely new approach, both in terms of playing as well as forging a sound which had never been heard before. His playing was always so much more than ‘just’ guitar playing, though. 

There was always something deeper, something more meaningful, something mysterious behind the notes. He was one of the great inspired artists of all time, and because of that he will be remembered forever. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

There are so many moments that are totally inspired and unique, but if I have to pick one, it would be Axis: Bold As Love. It doesn’t get better than that. 

JOE SATRIANI

JOE SATRIANI 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi’s heart and soul were evident on everything he played. This had the most profound effect on me as a young player. I still get the feeling that he surrendered himself to the music every time he performed. 

For Jimi, every song was a unique opportunity for expression, exploration and exposition. Even though he was a true showman, he still strove for something new, honest and ‘of the moment’. 

His skills as an improvisor were spellbinding, and convinced me as a young musician that that very skill had to be part of my life’s pursuit. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He showed us that the electric guitar could be played with far more expressiveness than previously attempted. 

He innovated with his fingers, hands, and his whole mind and body on every song he played. 

He proved that the sound of the guitar was a vastly larger tool for musical story telling. 

He showed us that you could play like a virtuoso without reminding the audience of anything that sounded like scales and exercises. 

I could go on... 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

Every time someone asks me this question I find a new answer. The problem is, I love all of Jimi’s songs! For sheer groundbreaking electric guitar brilliance it has to be "Machine Gun" from the Band Of Gypsys: Live At the Fillmore. For sheer beauty maybe it’s May This Be Love or 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be). 

But, I can’t ignore the magic captured on film at the Monterey Pop Festival when Jimi talks to the audience and introduces the Bob Dylan song "Like A Rolling Stone," and then proceeds to reinvent it, elevate it, and destroy it, along with his guitar! 

His innocence, boldness, naivety, audacity, musicianship, showmanship, are all gloriously on display in this once-in-a-lifetime and beautifully captured moment. 

KIM SIMMONS

KIM SIMMONS (Savoy Brown) 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi made me focus on who I wanted to be as a guitarist. He was so flamboyant and multi-faceted that I knew I couldn’t compete on that level, so I had to look within and find my own personality and style. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

Jimi’s guitar playing was Arabesque. It was a mixture of rock, blues, gospel and jazz. He brought a sensuality to the instrument that we hadn’t seen before. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

"Foxy Lady" comes immediately to mind. It was on his 1967 debut album and the song brings back happy memories of London in that time period. 

ANDY TIMMONS

ANDY TIMMONS 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi’s life and music are a continuous source of inspiration and encouragement to explore growth and creativity in a most loving and spiritual way. His true beauty of character emanated through his guitar and his songwriting. Jimi also spoke with the same beauty and eloquence with which he played his guitar and wrote his poetic music. 

I encourage you to seek out interviews and documentaries to learn more about the incredible human Jimi was. And is!

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

I think we largely take for granted much of Hendrix’s innovation in technique and tone today. You have to consider what he did, when he did it. Think about the other music that was happening in late 1966 and early 1967! 

His masterful command of chordal embellishment, his incredibly soulful bending, his array of tones, his control of feedback, his use of the vibrato bar, his ferocious and charismatic live performances. 

All of these elements were certainly beginning to be implemented by other performers and players, but nobody had put it all together in such a highly developed fashion like Jimi. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

Though I have many favourites ("Freedom," "Angel," "May This Be Love"), "All Along The Watchtower" has always stood out as a really special Hendrix recording. It’s at once dark yet beautiful, haunting yet uplifting. An incredible reading of his hero Bob Dylan’s beautiful lyric, Bob’s precedent gives Jimi even more confidence vocally. The guitar tones and incredibly melodic soloing take you into the stratosphere! 

All that being said, my favourite moment was easy to pick. His performance of "The Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock is legendary on so many levels: the tone, approach and arrangement, the protest of the war, the sombreness and finally the beautiful love of his country despite its deep flaws. 

The moment? Check out the melody that magically appears at 2:10 in the midst of chaos, anguish, air raids, bombs, missiles and terror. Almost like permutated taps. Sombre yet hopeful. 

WALTER TROUT

WALTER TROUT 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

It’s monumental. He took electric guitar playing to an entirely new place. I was 15 and this friend of mine said, I have this album by this new guy, Jimi Hendrix, come on over. I was into Michael Bloomfield and Scotty Moore and James Burton, and I went over and he put on the first Hendrix album. I said, “It doesn’t even sound like a guitar, this is the worst shit I ever heard!” 

Then I realised he’d taken what the rest of the world knows about the electric guitar further than anyone had ever taken it. And to this day he’s my favourite guitarist. But it was so new that it was shocking to hear it. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar?

He was huge once I came around to what he was doing. I had to listen to "Red House" before I realised he’s playing the blues. Even though he was pushing the limits, everything he was doing was based in blues, and R&B and soul music. 

He’s putting it all together and playing it through an electric guitar like no one had ever done before. I think Jeff Beck is the world’s greatest living guitar player, but Jimi was the ultimate. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why?

My favourite track is "Voodoo Child." But I mean the long slow jam version, not the "Slight Return" that everyone plays ad nauseam, every club band. But with that slow blues version, everyone is in the studio and they’re just having this great blues jam.

 Steve Winwood is on Hammond B3 I think, and they just do this long, slow, 14-minute blues jam. For me, his guitar playing on there is the ultimate of everything that he ever did. 

CARL VERHEYEN

CARL VERHEYEN 

What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player?

Jimi Hendrix is a huge influence on my rhythm guitar playing. His concepts and chord voicings have saved me countless times in the studio when searching for a part. All you have to do is learn these five songs: "The Wind Cries Mary," "Castles Made Of Sand," "Electric Ladyland," "Bold As Love," and of course "Little Wing." 

You’ll see that his rhythm licks in D Major are the same as the ones he uses for the relative Minor which is Bm. Learn the rhythm licks and study this Major-Minor concept and you’ll be a much better rhythm guitar player. 

What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar? 

Jimi was a pivotal musician in the 20th century. Besides his R&B training with Little Richard’s Upsetters, he draws on the Delta blues players’ deeply moving tradition of acoustic blues. That tradition migrates up the river to Chicago where players like Muddy Waters electrify it, and one-chord Delta blues songs become Catfish Blues and Two Trains Running in Muddy’s band. 

When Hendrix arrives on the scene mid-century, he turns them into psychedelic rave-ups like "Voodoo Chile" and "Machine Gun," thus carrying the tradition into mainstream rock. Obviously his use of distortion, effects and recording techniques were huge breakthroughs for the electric guitar, but I believe his contribution to popular music will be remembered equally for its deep roots in American blues. 

What’s your favorite Hendrix moment, and why? 

It’s really hard to pick one because I love "May This Be Love" as much as "Who Knows" from Band Of Gypsies. But the long version of Voodoo Chile stands out for me because Jimi is baring his soul on this record. Tuned down a whole step, his huge Strat sound completely fills the room. 

When I recorded with Jimi’s engineer Eddie Kramer a few years ago, I asked him how he got that sound on this ‘live in the studio’ recording. Eddie said, “That was Jimi’s amp bleeding into all the mics: Steve Winwood’s Leslie cabinet mic, Mitch Mitchell’s drum overheads, Jack Casady’s bass amp mic, and the vocal mic.” I said, “Weren’t you worried about phasing issues?” He replied, “We got lucky!” 

I hold this up as one of the greatest Stratocaster sounds of all time. Very lucky indeed! 

Originally published in Guitar Techniques issue 314. Subscribe to Guitar Techniques in print or digital.

By the mid-1990s, Joe Satriani had things pretty much sewn up career-wise. Four of his six studio albums had gone either Gold or Platinum, and his touring dance card was filled for much of any given year.

But despite his spectacular success, something had started to feel a little...off. He wasn’t having the kind of fun he had imagined years before, when he was a budding guitarist dreaming about rock stardom.

“I thought there would be more camaraderie among other players than what I was experiencing,” he says. “As a teenager, I had this idea of what things would be like if I ever hit it big. There would be parties, and I’d get to hang out with my guitar friends. We’d jam and talk about music all night long – that kind of thing.

“Instead, the opposite was true: I was isolated. I would go on tour and play the same set, and then I’d go back to my hotel room and be on my own. I’d have 100 shows in front of me, and then I’d have to make another record and do it all over again.”

Satriani wanted to shake things up, but he didn’t quite know how. And then it hit him: He would create a new kind of show, one that celebrated the communal spirit of electric guitar playing that he craved.

“Nobody was really doing anything of the kind,” he says. “You had blues and reggae festivals. You’d see disco revivals and things like that. Lollapalooza had just started up. But there was nothing really that spoke to guitarists.”

It’s no coincidence that, at that time, interest in guitar was entering a slump from which it would take years to recover.

Starting in the late 1980s, rap and hip-hop had grown in popularity, and were the dominant forms of popular music as the century careened toward its conclusion. Youngsters had become more interested in the power of two turntables and a microphone than in the trenchant blast of a Les Paul cranked through a Marshall stack.

It was still too early to see the lean years that would come, when guitar heroes’ relevance would dim, but Satch’s desire for a guitarist-led event would prove timely.

“I wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with my friends and peers,” he recalls. “And so I thought, Well, nobody else is doing it, so I’ll do it.”

Satriani met with his management team and laid out his grand vision of a traveling show featuring himself and two other guitarists (hence the “G3” moniker), with each player performing an hour-long set followed by a three-way jam.

Once his managers were sold on the idea, the hard part began: convincing booking agents and concert promoters of the package’s validity. “We were breaking the rules that everybody had been taught over the years,” Satriani explains.

“Promoters around the world, and especially in the U.S., like to keep guitarists’ itineraries separated, for business reasons. They don’t want to dilute the market. But I always thought this format would be energizing, because it went against the trends. I always knew it could work.”

Since its first run in 1996, G3 has become the longest-running guitar-centric tour of its kind. All in all, Satriani has taken the show on 18 treks across the U.S., Europe, South America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Along with Satch himself, the tour has featured guitarists such as John Petrucci, Robert Fripp, Steve Morse, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Steve Lukather, Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Paul Gilbert, Al Di Meola, Adrian Legg, Phil Collen and the Aristocrats.

But none of it would have happened had G3’s maiden voyage not connected with audiences.

Satriani knew his first package had to pack a wallop, and his dream lineup – a triple-headline bill he shared with his close friend and one-time guitar pupil Steve Vai, along with Texas guitar star Eric Johnson – was a no-brainer.

“I really didn’t have to think about it,” he says. “I wanted to do it with them, and that was all there was to it. I knew we could all shine together onstage.” Vai and Johnson required no arm twisting.

“I said yes immediately,” Vai says. “The second Joe told me about what he wanted to do, I was in. And it superseded other plans I may have had, because the concept felt fresh. Plus, it was something that I thought was needed in the guitar community at the time. The idea was just fantastic.”

Says Johnson, “I felt the same way. It sounded like a novel idea at the time. I remember my manager said, ‘I like this. It sounds really different and cool.’”

Some 25 years on, the first G3 tour and its subsequent editions remain a singular achievement in the world of guitar. Coincidentally, all three of the tour’s founding members are currently releasing albums and planning tours. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to ask them to reminisce about their experiences together and to fantasize what another run might look like.

It was important to me to keep the spirit of guitar music alive no matter what new style of music was becoming popular. I wanted more interaction with great players, and I knew the audience wanted the same. So I took the bull by the horns.

By the late ’90s, it was evident that guitar-based music was losing popularity as rap and hip-hop became the dominant genres. Joe, did you have a premonition that the guitar was in danger of losing some of its relevance when you launched G3 in 1996, just a few years before?

JOE SATRIANI I was more focused on what I felt the fans were craving, and what I too was craving: more fun with the guitar. Having been a performing musician since I was 14 years old, I knew that styles would change and society would simply change channels, so I wasn’t phased by what was happening in the mid-to-late ’90s.

It was important to me to keep the spirit of guitar music alive no matter what new style of music was becoming popular. I wanted more interaction with great players, and I knew the audience wanted the same. So I took the bull by the horns.          

Eric, as everybody knows, Joe and Steve share a long history. When you signed up for G3, did you feel like you had to break the ice with two guys who knew each other so well?

ERIC JOHNSON Well, maybe a little bit, but they were always affable and made me feel comfortable right away. Obviously, Joe and Steve grew up together, and I wasn’t a part of that. But I was totally aware of both of them and their music. I respected them and knew what they were about. I was welcomed very warmly, and that made it very easy to be a part of G3.

Joe and Steve, did you feel like you had to bring Eric into the fold, or were you two like, “Oh, he’ll figure it out”?

SATRIANI I knew it would be fine. I never thought that we had to coach each other. We were all of the same mind: “Isn’t this going to be amazing?” Then at the end of the night, when we start playing together, our attitude was, Let’s just wing it and see what happens! And I can’t tell you how excited I was every night to be destroyed by these two guitar players.

STEVE VAI Come on! [laughs]

SATRIANI It’s true. It was so much fun, because it’s one thing when somebody destroys you onstage like that, and you’re right next to them and you can see how they do it. It’s a life-learning experience. I loved that, and it’s something I’ve always loved about every G3. There’s nothing like it. You can’t replicate it in any other way.

VAI To answer the question you asked about having Eric: Yes, Joe and I have a friendship that goes way back, a very rich, wonderful friendship throughout our lives. We’ve been joined at the hip since I was 12. [laughs]

So to do G3, and to know that Eric was going to do it, too, I was immediately thrilled. Bringing Eric into the fold, it never felt like Joe and I were a group and there was an outsider. We were all very present in the moment. We were three accomplished, mutually respectful players really looking to raise the bar for ourselves and for the guitar.

I know for me, every time I get on a stage with really accomplished, inspired players, it’s impossible not to expand my own potential. Like Joe says, when you’re standing next to these guys, they push you and challenge you. You have to raise your bar because they’re doing it. That’s the feeling you get when it’s your turn. It’s very inspiring, and it’s nice.

Some of my favorite onstage moments were when the three of us were playing together and listening to one another. It’s a very intimate space, and nobody is Joe, Steve or Eric. It’s just this environment of listening and responding.

Joe, during those first G3 tours, did you have a sense that you were keeping the spirit of guitar virtuosity alive at a time when it was in short supply? Did that have an impact on the shows, either in your commitment to keep doing them or in who you brought along on tour?

SATRIANI The G3 stage was the one place where you could play any way you wished. There were no boundaries. You could overdo it, or you could underplay it and be subtle. You could stand still, you could sit like Robert Fripp, or you could bring your own rock and roll circus to the stage.

I encouraged my fellow players to try anything and everything every night. We would support, echo and sometimes challenge each others’ improvisational tangents. Virtuosity on the guitar comes in many forms, and there’s no reason they can’t be celebrated right next to each other.

There have been three other tours with this lineup. When you tour, does it feel like “the band is back together”? Like you’re the Three Amigos.

SATRIANI “The Three Amigos” – I like that. [laughs] I think we should launch another tour once the world opens up a bit. It would be interesting to see where we’ve been musically. We can come back and trade our secrets once again.

JOHNSON Yeah, yeah!

VAI I’m down.

JOHNSON We could wear those Mexican outfits like [Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin] did in The Three Amigos. At least for the encore. [laughs]

Joe, when you put together other iterations, did you ever ask Steve or Eric who they wanted to come along as the third guitarist?

SATRIANI Well, it’s a complicated thing putting G3 together, because my responsibility is both creating and selling the package. It starts a year before we want to hit the road. There are a number of scenarios that we have to float to all the different promoters to get a consensus of what they will agree is worthy of the invitation, because you can only play if you’re invited. You don’t just show up.

That means that we come up with Plans A, B, C, D, E, F and G, and then we see what the reaction is. Part of the music business is pretty cruel. It’s numbers and statistics. It’s always been about ticket sales, but back then it was a lot about radio. These days, the social media thing is really a big deal. It’s the first thing promoters do: They see if you’re trending on TikTok or Instagram. They need to determine if they want to take the risk.

That’s how that starts. And, of course, there’s a fine line between sticking to your guns about what you really want to do and listening to the feedback you get from your promoters. There’s no way to know who should be the third guy in Eastern Europe versus Canada, so you’ve got to talk to the promoters to see what they think and what suggestions they might have. Sometimes they’re good ones, and sometimes you’re scratching your head going, “Really?”

It’s difficult. It’s a very long period, and we have to be extremely quiet and discreet about it until we’ve distilled all this advice and feedback. Then we put out the invitations and reach out to the players that have risen to the top of the list, and we have to see what they say. Some players don’t want to play with other guitarists.

I suppose that’s true.

SATRIANI Yeah. I think there are fearless players out there, and then there are people who are still very guarded. I think that’s the defining difference. These gentlemen here are fearless and totally confident, and they just want to make their audience happy. That’s what you want. You don’t want any other baggage coming onstage.

I imagine sometimes choosing the third guitarist feels very easy and natural, but are there instances when you’ve thought, I don’t know how this is going to work?

SATRIANI Well, one of the most interesting characters was Robert Fripp, beyond a doubt. When he joined up, he insisted that he not be listed, and he wanted to play before the show. He said, “Look, don’t turn the lights on. I’m going to sit behind all the amps, and I’m going to play music as people walk into the venue and find their seats. And don’t mention my name.” It’s what he wanted to do.

Sometimes [bassist] Stu Hamm would play with him unannounced. He’d just come out, sit right next to Robert and he’d play along, or some of the other guys would play. It was really quite beautiful. Robert is such a wonderful human being and an incredible musician. We did a couple of other tours together, just me, Steve and Robert playing blues guitar or something. It was hysterical, and he was fearless about that. He was Robert Fripp to the very end.

JOHNSON Well, I was actually thinking of Robert Fripp when Joe mentioned him, because it was like, Wow, that’s different! He was definitely coming from left field, I think. But it was beautiful and cool. People really enjoyed it, too. I thought it sounded great. A lot of people told me, “Hey, have you heard Robert play with the G3 thing?” They thought it was great.

For the encore jams, you three have played “Red House,” “Goin’ Down” and “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama.” How do you guys come up with those songs?

SATRIANI We start emailing each other about what would be a fun song. I think I put it to the guys that we should pick songs that weren’t our own but were somehow connected to us in some way. They would be songs that the audience would recognize and that would celebrate the guitar.

It wasn’t about one of the participants’ new single or something like that. We had to drop all that pretense that we were there to sell our new thing. I think the Zappa song was Steve’s suggestion. He brought that in, and it was great. It turned into one we did over and over again through the years.

VAI Joe would always reach out for suggestions, and there were many, many songs we’d toss out. Some of them would be head-scratchers, but I always relied on Joe to decipher it all, feel through it and pick what the final jam songs would be.

That went for everything – routing, position in the set, where you’re standing onstage. It was always diplomatic, but there’s a practical sensibility that needs to be exercised in all of these things. And that was Joe, because he’s got the tools.

Joe and Steve, you’ve done a number of G3s with John Petrucci as the third guitarist. Eric, I think you played on one tour with John. Is that right?

JOHNSON I did, yeah, in South America. John Petrucci’s amazing. I’m more familiar with him now, and his drummer, Mike Mangini. You know how there are certain groups that you don’t know their whole deal? Even though they’re almost a parallel track as yours, it’s not somebody you really listen to that much, but you still knew they were great.

I wasn’t familiar with John at first, but I was really blown away by him. It was kind of funny, though, because when I first met Mike Mangini, I didn’t know who he was. I asked him, “Are you down here teching for the band?”

VAI I remember that.

JOHNSON Then I heard him play, and I was like, “Oh, my God.” I should say that teching’s no different than playing. I think I embarrassed myself, because I didn’t know who he was. It was a bummer, because I was never able to get to know him; I think I made him feel awkward.

But he was such a fabulous drummer, and John was remarkable. They had a whole different thing going on, with the way they broke up time signatures and stuff. It was just amazing. I got schooled on that during the tour, not unlike the G3s that I did with Joe and Steve. It was like taking lessons every single night.

This is for all of you: How did your G3 experiences impact your feelings about the other two guys here?

SATRIANI Whoa… There have been so many moments when I would stand on the side of the stage watching Steve and Eric play, and then I’d look out at the audience and think, Do they have any idea how amazing this thing is? When are they ever going to see this again?” [Satriani’s cell phone rings] Oh, sorry about that. It’s my agent calling.

JOHNSON He’s saying, “Come on. Book a G3 tour!” [laughs]

SATRIANI And make it snappy! [mutes his phone] Like I said, there were so many moments. For me, in those private moments, standing there and watching them play, it was beyond remarkable. They truly felt the music, and that’s very inspiring. And then to see what they did to the audience, lifting them up, raising their spirits. It just makes you think, We’re doing the right thing.

JOHNSON With Joe, I was really shocked at his precision, virtuosity and sound. Every single night, he would nail everything, unlike somebody else who might be talking. [laughs] Obviously, his records are beautiful, but he plays that stuff live to a T. His touch, his fingering… truly outstanding. He would just nail it all the way.

And then there’s Steve – this organic guitar orchestra. From comedy to sadness, he packs in all these different emotions, and they go way beyond guitar sounds. That blew my mind. It was just such a hemisphere of learning for me.

How about you, Steve?

VAI With Joe and Eric, I already knew of their excellence. You know, I can be a sloppy, visceral performer. I always enjoy what I do, but there’s a little part of me that says, “You can be better. You can be more concise. You can be clearer and cleaner.”

So when I’d get onstage with these guys, that’s what I recognized. Seeing them perform, I saw the presentation of a whole piece of music that was immaculate. No disrespect to any other G3 performer, but if I go back to listen to any G3 record, I go right to Eric’s performance of “Manhattan,” which is flawless.

Every night I would watch him, and beyond being absolutely entertained by a musician at the height of his potential, I would always feel like, Steve, you’ve got to do more of that. He was inspired and performed beautifully from beginning to end.

And, of course, that’s Joe’s middle name. You know how many times I’ve seen him perform? [laughs] Every time he gives you this incredible presentation. What he offers you is beautiful. The song is respected, and it’s mastered completely.

You get as much out of it as the audience.

VAI Oh yeah. When I see these guys do what they do, I could be depressed or I could be inspired. And they always inspired me. I knew how they could perform. But what was interesting for me was putting a microscope on myself.

If anything, I’ve always been a bit of a pretentious rock star. [Joe and Eric laugh] It’s true – you guys know it. And that was exorcized out of me a bit. When you work with guys like this – because they’re humble, and they’re excellent – it’s fun and educational to get your ass kicked.

We were friends before, and we’re friends after. What more could you ask for?

Order Joe Satriani/Eric Johnson/Steve Vai: G3 Live In Concert here.

Visit the Joe Satriani website for more info on G3.

This year sees the 40th anniversary of Toto IV ­– the triple Platinum-selling fourth studio album from stadium rockers Toto that spawned two huge hit singles: the Grammy-winning “Rosanna” and the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping “Africa.”

Back in the ‘80s, Steve Lukather was best known as the guitarist, singer, and co-composer for Toto. But in Los Angeles, a town known for its scores of electric guitar players, he also held the reputation of being one of the first guitarists – perhaps the first – to call when a screaming solo or crunchy rhythm part was needed.

As well as lending his world-renowned guitar playing talents to the band, Lukather – a talented singer – also recorded vocals for some of Toto IV’s key moments. Indeed, the song “I Won't Hold You Back” was both written and sung by Lukather.

In the wake of Toto IV’s release, Guitar Player met up with Lukather to talk songwriting, soloing, success and “talentless clods.”

The following interview extracts appeared in the April 1984 issue of Guitar Player…

After all the success you've had as a studio guitarist, what's the appeal of being in Toto?

It's a place where I can write songs and play. I can experiment with sounds and stuff I can't do on sessions. In sessions, you go and play. You can experiment around a little bit if the artist or producer is somebody you know.

Sometimes they'll say, "Hey, freak out and do whatever you want to do," which happens quite a lot more these days. I guess they trust me. As far as Toto, the band is the ultimate. In fact, I haven't been doing many sessions in the last year or so.

The success of Toto IV must have reaffirmed your faith in what you're doing.

Yeah. We found that we had been getting away from what we had originally intended to do, which is just be ourselves. We started reading and believing bullshit criticisms of us and tried to alter our sound to that. At least that's where my head was at; I can't speak for everybody.

I was getting pissed off at these critics. I'd say 90% of them are talentless clods who don't even know what they're doing. They couldn't tune a guitar or play a C scale on the piano. They couldn't sing anything; they've never written a song. They've never played in front of people or made a record.

They don't know the pressures. How can somebody write that any album is a piece of shit when somebody's put his heart and soul into it, no matter what kind of music it is – from jazz to rock to classical pieces to Moms Mabley?

Whatever the background of the artist, whatever their technique, it's still somebody putting their blood, sweat, and tears – to use a cliché – into what they’re putting out. This is their ass on the line.

It doesn't matter if it stiffs. It doesn't matter if it sells any records at all.

People ask, "What are they trying to say?" We're not trying to say shit! We're trying to make music to make us happy and to make anybody else happy who cares to listen to it. That's all.

When do melodies come to you?

They come at strange times. I can wake up in the middle of the night with one. Then I make the mistake of going, "I know I'm going to remember this in the morning," and fall back asleep and forget everything.

I find writing lyrics hard; I'm a terrible lyricist. I experience blood, sweat, and tears trying not to make them a cliché or corny.

What soloing philosophy do you apply to Toto songs?

I try to do what's right for the song. I could probably play a lot flashier on our records; I tend not to be so flashy. It just doesn't come across most of the time. On something like "Rosanna," I played a solo at the end which was never rehearsed.

This happens with our band a lot. We'll just play a take, and all of a sudden we'll start doing things we've never rehearsed or even talked about. The solo in "99" [from Hydra] was never rehearsed; it was the second take. That's what's so bitchin' about this band. We're all best friends.

People usually assume that people in rock bands don't really like each other because everybody is so egoed out, especially with a band like ours where there are a lot of studio players – people from different backgrounds who do the same thing.

How do you compose songs?

Most of the time it's multiples – several guys in the band will write a song. We'll just come with the tune and start playing. We don't write out charts or anything like that. I mostly write on piano. I don't know so much on piano, so I tend to write simpler things.

Plus, when you're composing on piano, you hear the full range of everything – the low end and the top end – and you can sing over it. I'm not talking about heavy rock and roll tunes – that's all guitar stuff, basically.

Isn't it the song that sells?

Absolutely. People don't buy a guitar solo. They buy a song. If you can add something to that song, then you've done your job well.

Are you happy with the way your career is going?

Very happy. My life is real together, and I'm very honored with what's happened. I take it seriously. I'm not the kind of person who walks down the street and people recognize at all.

What would you like to be doing in ten years?

Same thing. Just playing and grooving with making music. More important, I want to be respected by my peers.

I'd just like to be remembered for being a good player. I have nothing political or intense to say to anybody.

I just love to play music and be with people who love to play music.

That's it.

Buy Toto IV here.

On this day, in 1944, blues guitar phenom Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas. 

Famed the world over for his fiery, virtuosic technique and soulful, strident tone (often courtesy of a Gibson Firebird) he kicked off his decades-long recording career at just 15 years of age.

Honoring his late brother’s musical genius, Edgar Winter will be releasing a tribute album titled Brother Johnny on April 15 via Quarto Valley Records.

Curated by Edgar Winter and producer Ross Hogarth, Brother Johnny retraces the guitarist’s career and evolution as one of the greatest blues artists the world has ever known.

Boasting a stellar line-up of musicians including Joe Bonamassa, Robben Ford, Billy Gibbons, Keb’ Mo’, Steve Lukather, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Derek Trucks, Joe Walsh and Phil X, the album has already attracted much excitement from reviewers. (Word is, it rocks!)

Known for his love of the Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter’s catalog includes covers of “Jumpin' Jack Flash" (from 1971’s Live Johnny Winter And); “Silver Train" and "Let It Bleed" (from 1973’s Still Alive and Well); and “Stray Cat Blues” (from 1974’s Saints & Sinners.)

And in this classic clip from the BBC live music television show The Old Grey Whistle Test, Johnny Winter is on fire as he blazes through a high-octane performance of the Stones’ “Jumpin' Jack Flash" alongside Tin House guitarist Floyd Radford.

Listening to the recording, it’s interesting to be able to clearly hear the differences in sound and compare notes between Johnny Winter’s Gibson Firebird V pickups and the standard/full-size humbuckers of Radford’s Gibson ES-355.

Both are great examples of benchmark blues rock guitar tone.

Pre-order Brother Johnny by Edgar Winter here.

Edgar Winter has unveiled the second single – "Mean Town Blues" – from his forthcoming Brother Johnny album. 

Available via Quarto Valley Records, the new LP is due to be released on April 15 this year and features a stellar line-up of guest musicians.

Among those paying tribute to the late, great bluesman on Brother Johnny are Robben Ford, Billy Gibbons, Keb’ Mo’, Steve Lukather, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Derek Trucks, Joe Walsh and Phil X.

The new single, “Mean Town Blues,” features Joe Bonamassa on slide guitar, Sean Hurley on bass, and Gregg Bissonette on drums.

“To me, this is one of the most important tracks on the album,” said Edgar Winter, “and probably the most difficult to replicate the original feel on.

“I wanted only guitar, bass, and drums, exactly like Johnny’s original blues trio. But I didn’t know of anyone out there who naturally played slide the way Johnny did.

“I thought Joe Bonamassa did such an incredible job with Johnny’s regular guitar style, I wonder if he could do the same thing with the slide? And amazingly, he did it!”

Curated by Edgar Winter and producer Ross Hogarth, Brother Johnny is a sonic celebration of one of the greatest electric blues guitar players in music history.

Retracing Johnny Winter’s evolution as a guitarist, this epic 17-track romp through the years is a touching homage from one brother to another.

Commenting on the song “Mean Town Blues” Edgar Winter said: “If there’s one song that best epitomizes and brings all those elements together to represent the many aspects of who Johnny was in the early days, that song would have to be “Mean Town Blues.”

“Every time I hear it, I think, now that’s Real Johnny Winter. It just captures the essence of everything he was.”

Stream the “Mean Town Blues” single here.

Pre-order Brother Johnny by Edgar Winter here.

Jackson Browne is wandering the backstage caverns of San Francisco's Cow Palace looking a bit worried. "Where's Lindley?" he asks his road manager. "We're onstage in 15 minutes!"

A door at the end of the hallway is seeming blasted open by a torrent of beefy sustained lap steel licks. Inside, Lindley is squatting precariously, his Hawaiian guitar balanced on his knees. Crunching chords and crystal-clear single notes are pouring out of a crude-looking amplifier about a foot in front of his face.

"I want this one, Howard," David says to a large man who is smiling like a proud father. "Not this model, not one like this, but this one, OK?"

"It's just a prototype." Howard Dumble points out.

"Fine," nods Lindley. "I'll take it."

David Lindley, of course is notorious for using a vast array of exotic guitars from an instrument collection that number well over 100. But on the road, he uses only one brand of amplifier, a fact that makes Howard Dumble understandably proud.

As Lindley told Guitar Player in a July '77 interview, "I've got a lot of little amps, but on the road, I always use Dumble amps because they never break down. We went about getting the sound in those amps by taking an old Fender Deluxe to Howard Dumble and saying, 'We want this, but bigger and louder.' And Howard got the closest of anybody I've heard."

Howard Dumble grew up in Bakersfield, California, and began building transistor radios from scratch at age 12. He took up guitar at 16 (he later did his fair share of studio dates in Hollywood, which included working with songwriter Jim Webb), and in 1965 built a series of amplifiers for Mosrite that were used by the Ventures.

An extensive tour backing Buffy Sainte-Marie financed Dumble's first "out of the backyard and into a building" amp shop in 1968, in Santa Cruz, California. The following year, Dumble came out with his Explosion model amplifier (his original prototype still works), which later evolved into the Overdrive Special.

As well as the Big Tex reverb unit his line of amplifiers currently includes seven basic models: the Overdrive, the Steel-String Singer, the Winterland and the Dumbleland for bass and electric guitar, the rack-mount Phoenix, a no-frills 50-watt Dumbleman, and the Dumblelator.

From the beginning, he has remained a one-man operation, personally building every one of his amplifiers by hand.

In spite of their steep price tags – a standard 100-watt Overdrive head sells for $1,925; the Steel-String Singer and Dumbleland each go for $5,000 before options ­– Dumbles are always in demand, and Howard has his hands full keeping up with orders.

Besides Lindley and Browne, the impressive roster of Dumble users includes Larry Carlton, Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jay Graydon, Ry Cooder, Tom Verlaine, Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Robben Ford, Dean Parks, Carlos Rios, The Beach Boys, Christopher Cross, Tiran Porter, Jimmy Haslip, Jerry Miller, Thom Rhotella, Randy California, Terry Haggerty, Rick Vito, Kenny Loggins, and many others.

In discussing what's so special about his amplifiers, Dumble uses aesthetic more than technical terms. "That's the bottom line," he stresses. "It's the emotional influence that's really important; technology is secondary – it's just a vehicle. The idea is to have lots of fun."

Improvisational specialist Henry Kaiser elaborates on what sets the Dumble apart from the rest of the amp crowd: "Number one, you could drop the thing out of a four-story building, replace any tubes that break, and it'll work fine. It does appear to be the most durably built amp possible.

“Number two, it seems to me that Howard, through a long intuitive working process, tunes the amps and designs by ear so that they're very sophisticated machines for producing a wide variety of tones and distortion colorations. Because of my specific avant-garde bent, I'm really interested in tone and timbre, and I need to have a really wide palette of tonal color available to me, and I've got about four times as many colors available on the Dumble. Any other amp sounds awful to me. I feel terrible if I play anything else – except for a Fender Champ."

In an August '77 Guitar Player feature, the late Lowell George of Little Feat was more succinct. "It's like a Fender made right," he said of his Dumble. "It's the best amp I've ever played through."

Your amps have a reputation for almost never breaking down. How do you build them with such durability?

Those are absolute guarded secrets. In fact, if you take the amplifier apart, you can't detect how I do it. I definitely have secrets that make the amp perform and last the way it does. With most companies, it's just a misapplication of technology. You don't have to destroy the product – you don't have to get a Variac and turn it up to 170 volts – to get good results. An extreme amount of attention is paid to every connection. Plus, I found which parts last and which ones don't.

What made you gravitate towards electronics in the first place?

I loved music, for one thing. Music's always been a passion. I used to listen to Les Paul and Mary Ford as a kid. Also, I come from an engineering family; my father developed one of the first automatic transmissions.

It wasn't hard to absorb the technology; it was just there to do. I also saw that I could make some bucks at it. I started making small pocket radios from scratch for the kids in school for $5 a pop. I was doing real well until one day everybody had one, and there were enough radios in the class that you could hear the local rock station at a small din through all the earpieces. So, the teacher finally busted me.

What inspired you to first build an amp?

I was a junior in high school, and this guy named Jack Smith came over and wanted me to build a piece of equipment for the junior baseball association. He said that he had access to a "mountain of parts" – I said okay!

We went down to this big warehouse, and there were heaps of parts, so we gleaned as many as we could – all free. We built this huge 200-watt power amplifier so they could announce to nine baseball diamonds.

As I understand it, it still works today. Then, Jack and I made some Dual showman-type amps, although we couldn't get Fender transformers – they were very tight about what they'd send you – so we used David Hafler transformers, which made the amp sound quite extraordinary.

Prior to building your own amps, had you taken apart other amps such as Fenders and Gibsons?

I can draw some of the those schematics from memory [laughs]. Of course, I had to absorb other approaches. In fact, my old Fender mods I did in the late '60s were exactly the same as the schematics a lot of the later high-gain amplifiers used.

How did you come to make amps for the Ventures?

I was an 18-year-old kid in school in Bakersfield, and I went to see Semie Moseley, who was the only person I had access to there. I walked in and just bold-faced said, "I've got something that sounds like nothing else. You better hear it." And it flipped him out; he said, "This is the best thing I've ever heard."

He offered to go in with me to build 10 amplifiers. He bought the parts and paid me $90 a week – for about four weeks, and then I had to work for free. But I still got to build 10 amplifiers on a production basis when I was only a kid. They were called Mosrite amps, but they were my design. Actually, I built 11, so I still have the original one I built.

The Ventures played through them and were really interested, but it was a little too much rock for them. They wanted me to go into business with them, but I decided against it, and went back to playing in studios and in rock bands.

Did your early amps have certain qualities lacking in commercially available amps of that period?

Yes, I definitely made sure they had more frequency bandwidth. One thing I noticed about the early guitar amps was that they were real limited, especially in the lower end. But you have to be careful to make sure you still keep the proper midrange and treble response. I found that out early on.

You can't build a hi-fi circuit and expect it to be a good guitar amp – it just doesn't work out. You need a whole different response curve. But I did notice that if I put a little more low end into the preamp circuitry, it was much more tasteful and fun to play.

Once you got started, did a Dumble philosophy evolve?

I try to be flexible. I've always been aware that whatever I make has to be crafted with the best intentions. Never have anything shoddy. Always make sure that it works and looks perfect. The actual techniques I use to get the sound that I go after have evolved extensively. It's a growing process. That's the toughest thing about staying with one thing. You're always thinking of new ways to do it. Basically, I've kept the Overdrive the same but the other models are open to flexibility.

What changes did the Explosion undergo before it became the Overdrive Special?

The active circuitry changed quite a bit, and the tone circuitry did also. But the concept of processing the signal post preamp stayed the same. Most other high-gain amplifiers use a pre-preamp gain boost, but I broke away from that quite early in the late '60s. I found that trying to build the signal up before the preamp had a tendency to really overload the preamp, and you got nonharmonic tones and a very unmusical end result.

Plus, you ran into a lot of vacuum-tube problems with harmonics. So, what I wanted to do was get all that wonderful oomph and beautiful sustain and harmonic richness without the electronic troubles.

Were you making what was to become the Overdrive before you made the Steel-String Singer?

The Steel-String Singer came later, but I actually started making a series of amplifiers called the Dumbleland in about '66, and I still make them. That was the forerunner of the Steel-String Singer. I didn't change a whole lot about that; it was a design way ahead of its time. It was too much power and too silky clean for people. It's perfect for Stevie Ray, though. He has a hard time playing an Overdrive.

Why is the Overdrive so sensitive?

It's a different kind of signal handling. In the Overdrive, I approach gain levels that are extremely intense; within the linear region, I have a signal gain capability of one million. So if you stuck 10 microvolts in, you'd get 10 volts back. And I do it with stability, and it's still very musical.

The best way to approach an Overdrive is real slow. Walk up to it, look at the knobs, have it turned down real low, and then get a feeling for it. Learn what to do with your fingers to make it respond well. If you walk right up to it, it has a tendency to absolutely frighten some people.

The secret control on the Overdrive's panel section is the ratio control, which controls how much overdrive is fed back into the circuit. If you turn that up, it's Rock City.

How different is the Overdrive Special you customized for David Lindley from a standard model?

I might have changed the value of a capacitor to some extent, so that it has a different treble response, but the circuitry is basically the same.

Lindley says that for certain sounds he's looking for, you sometimes borrow his guitar and Dumble for the weekend to match the amp to the guitar?

That's true. The amplifier responds so differently to each guitar that to get some effects, I need to use the player's guitars, instead of my own. That's one of the great things about the amplifier; it doesn't modify any guitar into any one sound or homogenize it. It expands whatever you start with.

The amplifier is a real important part of the sound regeneration system, but it needs to be very responsive to whatever the guitar is delivering. The philosophy I try to keep in the amplifier is that whatever you can hear in your head, this will help you get it.

Stevie Ray Vaughan calls his Steel-String Singer the "King Tone Consoul."

There are some different things about Stevie's. His is set up more like a bass amp, modified to accommodate the guitar range. It's not the usual lead guitar "Singer" approach. One thing he liked was that he could turn the volume control all the way up and it didn't distort – it just got louder.

He does make it distort sometimes because he has about 50 megatons of pressure when he attacks the strings [laughs]. He gets an incredible amount of signal out of his guitar, and most amplifiers can't take it. He did his first album with a bass amp I'd made for Jackson Browne.

Some players describe Dumbles as different, more powerful, more durable more efficient versions of a Fender Deluxe

That's a good way to describe it – in a limited fashion. There are some great qualities to a small Deluxe. You get a great harmonic structure at a small acoustic volume. It's real pleasing, especially when you're playing by yourself. But that sound is not convertible into a group ambience – it's gone.

So, in the respect that I try to get something comfortable and very musical, only in a bigger fashion, that's a good analogy. But the circuitry is not even close. I use vacuum tubes, and transformers and knobs, but the similarity stops there. To get the result I want, I have to use unique circuitry. It's my tone circuits and coupling circuits and the way I process phase-inversion.

Can you "Dumble-ize" a Fender amp to the point that it shares the Dumble philosophy and sound, or would it be a compromise?

It's a compromise. The actual physical construction of the Fender limits what can be done. In fact, after the last Steel-String Singer mod I did to David Lindley's amps, he no longer uses the Fender Bassman I Dumbleized for him. He wanted this luscious transparency and response – like floating in white clouds – and I came up with special circuitry.

I can use a Fender chassis, but you have to rip everything off of it, fill in all the holes, and re-drill it. They're just a little bit too squashed. A distance of half a centimeter makes a big difference in the way something sounds. It's a science involved with what's called circuit constants.

Instead of a single bright/deep switch, most of your amps have separate bright and deep switches. Can you use both at the same time?

Oh, you bet. It gets luscious low notes that you could float on and beautiful, crystalline highs that are silky as glass.

How many watts are the various models?

The overdrives are 100 watts, but they're switchable down to 50, and I do make a special 150-watt Overdrive, which is a lot of fun. The range in power goes from a 25-watt recording amp called the Hotel Hog up to the 450-watt Winterland, named after the concert hall in San Francisco.

Could there be an ultimate amp for you, or are the Overdrive and Steel-String Singer too distinctive to be combined?

Well, the Phoenix series is where I've done that – so you can combine things – because it's a rack-mounted affair. You can buy all the separate preamps, with or without overdrive, and a choice of 50-, 100-, or 150-watt power amplifiers, and hook them together. The overdrive section is expanded – instead of two overdrive controls, you have four.

After experimenting with various speakers, what do you favor?

I've gone with everything. There are a lot of things I still like. The most versatile is the EV. But all manufacturers, including Altec and JBL, make wonderful speakers that do specific jobs other speakers can't do. I divide speakers into two classifications: the efficient and the low-efficient. Both are very useable.

Low efficiency speakers are things like Celestion and Jenson and PAS. Usually because of the physical construction, they don't get the same acoustic level per watt as the Altecs, JBLs, and EVs do. There's an advantage to that, because you can make the amplifier work harder to get the same acoustic level, and a whole different kind of harmonic structure results.

I love the sound of JBLs, especially for chords, but I had a lot of trouble with 4" voice coil not traveling in a linear fashion. The actual coil would short out against the magnet structure. The Altecs didn't do that, so I was using them up until '79, when EV started coming out the the EVM series.

How does your philosophy on speaker enclosures contrast with other companies?

I think mine's different. I just don't believe in a baffle board with a couple of sides. Everything is designed to respond tonally. Even my open-back enclosures use air to the optimum. It's an ongoing process; I'm still finding out things that are useful.

There's a definite technique to developing enclosures. Instead of increasing the output all from the front by feeding more watts in, I designed a special series of open-back enclosures so that there's actually an air pole inversion process – I make the air respond in an in-phase relationship, both in front and in the rear of the enclosure. So, from the same amount of speakers, it's almost a doubling of sound.

Does that change the tonal quality?

Yes. The low end is absolutely luscious. You feel like you're floating on a football field filled with marshmallows. And it gives a singe to the midrange that puts solos right out there. It works great for chords and solos, but especially well for slide. It's the kind of enclosure that Lindley and Lowell George used.

Is there a single emotional aim you're shooting for, or many?

It's a whole panorama. I don't believe in being confined. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands or millions, of valid guitar tones. When the air becomes electric, that's the right sound, no matter what the one is. It's that sound exciting the senses.

From his first session for the Mamas & the Papas when he was just 16, Lee Ritenour forged a career working in L.A.’s pressure-cooker session scene and became a first-call guy for every major act from Michael Jackson to Pink Floyd. “I’ve done every style of music except country,” he tells Guitar Player.

After becoming one of the most recorded guitarists in history, Ritenour decided in 1976 to make the switch from session superstar to solo artist with his debut album, First Course. “For modern-day readers, that session era probably seems like a thousand years ago,” Ritenour says. “The mid-to-late ’70s was an interesting period because, having already been established as a studio musician playing just about everything, I needed to create my own sound. My first album was a little lighter in feel to Captain Fingers [1977], which did well for me. Fusion guitar was really starting to come through with Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth and the rest.”

Although Ritenour’s career has proceeded without a hitch, he has suffered terrible personal misfortune. In the space of a few months in 2018, his house burned to the ground, taking with it priceless personal possessions, guitars and music. Soon afterward, he had major heart surgery.

Ritenour rebounded from those setbacks to record Dreamcatcher, which was released in 2020. “It was interesting that I got the chance to do that album, after the fire and the surgery,” he says. “It was a good way of getting myself back on track. It definitely functioned as part of the healing process.”

As a guitarist who worked hard to find his own voice on the instrument, Ritenour has strong thoughts about what musicians must do today to forge a unique identity in a world where countless teenage prodigies steal views on social media and the like.

“You have to be very wary about the fact that everybody has amazing technique,” he says. “A lot of kids can copy incredible things, but the depth that goes into creating your own style and your own voice is much harder to achieve. I always stress the need to compose. You have to be a B.B. King, a Wes or a Jeff Beck, with such a strong individual identity to be able to do someone else’s song and make it your own. 

Look at Sinatra: Every song he sang became a Sinatra song. I think it’s particularly important for anyone interested in making a career in music to always be learning about the music business itself. Understand promotion and social media, and find ways to get yourself heard.”

He likewise has strong feelings about rhythm guitar. “You need to listen to the history of accompaniment guitar, not only in this country with things like rhythm and blues but also in areas like folk music in England, or old blues,” he offers.

“Even in medieval times, the lute was used to accompany singers. The role of accompaniment is such an important thing to understand. Segovia used to say that the guitar was a mini orchestra. A lot of times when I was on sessions, I was listening to what the drummer and bass player were playing and trying to fit into the cracks. Most importantly, uppermost in my mind, was what the song called for, which most often was what the singer needed.

Like many artists, Ritenour has lost an enormous amount of live work due to the pandemic and is eager to get back on the road. “Besides thinking about getting back out there, I’ve got a couple more studio projects brewing for me,” he reveals.

True to form, his love of fusion and sense of the guitar as the perfect means of expression remain central to his art. “While I know the energy level in straight jazz can be very intense, there is so much intensity in fusion,” he offers. “The guitar is the perfect vehicle if you love exploratory music. We’re dealing with 12 notes in the Western musical tradition, and maybe a few bent ones as well, but the guitar has the ability to exceed those inherent limitations.

“I think in some ways modern instrumental metal is the new version of fusion. Once upon a time there was the ‘jazz committee’ who would decide what jazz should be or what would be rock, but that all got blurred by fusion. Today’s world is a perfect example of the genre. The whole world is interconnected. The pandemic proved that.”

1. “Captain Fingers” from “Captain Fingers’ (1977)

“This track had a combo of chops and technique, which were a big part of fusion, but it also had a great groove, and not too many people had that. When this album came out, I think it captured a lot of my personality and showed that I did have a distinctive voice as a guitarist.

It’s still not an easy tune to play, even to this day; it wasn’t just fast for the sake of it. It would have been recorded with my ES-335 into a Fender amp, a Deluxe Reverb maybe, but Paul Rivera was doing a lot of mods to amps back then, so he probably worked on that one. Actually, I had a very early version of the Mesa/Boogie at that time, so that may have been part of the sound.

That era was the first time that rock guitar and jazz guitar started to be lumped into fusion. It was a boom time for the fusion guitar movement. The first time I heard Mahavishnu with John McLaughlin, I was like ‘Damn!’ [laughs] I was also impressed by guys like Bill Connors, and of course no one could figure out what Allan Holdsworth was doing. I guess if Hendrix had a career that had endured, he could well have been doing great stuff in fusion.”

2. “Morning Glory” from ‘The Captain’s Journey’ (1978)

“This was the first tune I wrote that really got a lot of attention, not only from other guitar players but also from fans and other artists, some of whom wanted to write lyrics to it. I recorded this version in 1978, and I actually revisited it on Dreamcatcher.

Harmonically, rhythmically and melodically, it really defined who I was as an artist because I’d been so versatile as a studio player that I had to find my own identity, as every guitarist does. I always say the key to finding who you are is to compose, and ‘Morning Glory’ is a good example of that. I think it really helped me home in on what my ‘thing’ was.

“I wrote this tune, and Eric Gale, an artist I really admired at the time, covered it [on his 1977 album Multiplication]. Then Bill Champlin put the vocal on. I remember playing at the Roxy in L.A. with my band, and as soon as I started to play ‘Morning Glory,’ it got a strong reaction from the crowd. You don’t have to be some kind of scientist to work out that if something is really connecting with a crowd, as ‘Morning Glory’ did, you’re onto something valuable.”

3. “Night Rhythms” from ‘Festival’ (1988) and “Harlequin” from ‘Harlequin’ (1985) by Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour

“I wanted to pick two tracks to kind of stand as one, because they reflect my deep love of Brazilian music, There is a lot of Brazilian influence on Festival. At the time that I recorded it, I’d started hanging out with my soon-to-be wife, who is Brazilian, and she was doing a big project in New York at the same time. She had a lot of amazing Brazilian artists coming to it. That lit a fire under me, and it started me working on music that reflected that Brazilian influence. This song became a signature sound for me, and I still hear it all the time on digital radio.

“The Harlequin album was also very Brazilian influenced. Dave Grusin has been a longtime collaborator for me. I met him when I was 18, and he was such a prolific composer for TV and film. I heard about him from his scores; he’d have Howard Roberts blowing over these really long chase scenes. I met him through Sérgio Mendes, and soon after that he started hiring me for some of the shows. The rest is history. We’ve been friends for about 50 years now.”

4. “Stolen Moments” from ‘Stolen Moments’ (1990)

“This was a very traditional jazz album for me. I pulled out my ’49 Gibson L-5 that I’d had since I was a teenager. A lot of people didn’t know I had that traditional jazz background – the whole Blue Note thing – as the sessions and solo albums that I’d done previously weren’t in that style, of course. People knew I had the fusion and Brazilian things going on, but at the heart of everything I do is my love for jazz.

“We did this album direct to two-track. It only took two days to record it at Sunset Sound studios in L.A., which is my favorite studio. It was recorded for JVC in Japan originally. There were so many excellent musicians that played on that record with me. I always loved this Oliver Nelson tune, and I feel that the album holds up really well when I listen back to it. The studio has such a beautiful vibe. I plugged the L-5 into a Fender Deluxe, but again one that had been modified by Paul Rivera.”

5. “Lay It Down” from ‘6 String Theory’ (2010)

“There is a lot more blues guitar in a lot of my playing on this album, and this track was a wonderful duet with John Scofield. The two guitars really complement each other. I think something about his playing influenced me into a more bluesy direction. The whole album was a dream project, working with so many great guitar players. I’d never done anything like it before.

“When I first put the project together, I knew it was going to be an expensive album, so I thought I’d go to a few guys that I trusted the most, and if they said that they wanted to do it, then I knew it would be viable. Those guys were Steve Lukather, who I’ve known since he was a teenager, and he immediately said yeah.

B.B. King was the other one that I called. I had a long relationship with B.B. I used to play rhythm on his records, and there was a double album that was sponsored by Guitar Player way back that I appeared on with him. I met him when I was 19, and we were friends ever since.

The third guy I went to was George Benson. After he agreed, I started to branch out into a whole bunch of newer guys, like Andy McKee and Joe Bonamassa. We all wanted to make a great record. Nobody wanted to show off.”

Buy Lee Ritenour’s latest album Dreamcatcher here.

Available on CD, vinyl and digitally across all platforms from April 15, Edgar Winter’s talent-packed new album, Brother Johnny, pays tribute to his Firebird-toting blues brother – the late, great Johnny Winter (1944-2014) – with a collection of songs featuring some of the biggest names in the guitar world.

A legend among legends, Johnny Winter’s continued reverence has prompted a sizeable host of well-known guitar players to contribute to the recording. Several years in the making this 17-track collection (which includes two original numbers penned by Edgar Winter) was curated with producer Ross Hogarth in order to demonstrate Johnny Winter’s storied evolution as an artist.

“Many people immediately started trying to convince me to do a Johnny Winter tribute album,” said Edgar, reflecting on the days following his brother’s passing back in 2014. “But I was totally devastated, and the timing just didn't feel right to me. It wasn’t until after I completed the Rock ‘N’ Blues Fest, a tour we were meant to do together with our respective bands, that the idea of a tribute record started to take form.

“There was such an overwhelming outpouring of love and respect for Johnny, I began to realise it was not just business people sensing an opportunity here; it was Johnny's true, loyal, and devoted fans and our fellow musicians, many of whom are on this record, who wanted to see this happen as well.”

Among those featured on Brother Johnny include electric guitar luminaries Joe Bonamassa, Robben Ford, Billy Gibbons, Warren Haynes, Steve Lukather, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Derek Trucks, Joe Walsh, and Phil X.

Kicking off the album’s release Quarto Valley Records has unveiled the “Johnny B. Goode” single – a song that remained in Johnny Winter’s setlist up until the end. Vocals are provided by Winter and Joe Walsh while fellow Texan, John Mellencamp guitarist David Grissom, delivers a dynamite performance of Chuck Berry's timeless rock ‘n’ roll masterpiece.

Earl Slick can remember the last gig he played – right off the top of his head. “It was March 7th, 2020, with [former Sex Pistols bassist] Glen Matlock, in London,” he says. “Ever since then, I’ve been mostly on my own, like everybody. And let me tell you, you tend to go a little batty with so much free time on your hands.”

The veteran guitarist hasn’t exactly done nothing during the past year, and he says the period of relative isolation has been a blessing. It’s given him time to work on a memoir, which he says he’s close to finishing (“You keep thinking you’re close to being done, and then you go, Oh, wait, there’s that other thing!”), and it afforded him a clear chunk of time to record Fist Full of Devils, his first solo album in nearly 20 years.

Mostly, though, the extended lockdown has provided Slick with the opportunity to do something he rarely does. “I just sat around and thought a lot,” he says. “I’m always so busy doing this or that, and if I’m not doing something, my mind is on whatever I’ve got to do next. For the past year and a half, things kind of stopped, and I’ve had a lot of time to just think about who I am and what I’ve done.”

He pauses. “Funny things come into your head, like, ‘Did I just fake my way through it all?’” He laughs. “But then I go, ‘No, come on. That’s crazy.’ Some of the stuff I did, you just can’t fake it.”

Fakers don’t get to play with rock royalty like David Bowie and John Lennon, two of the more celebrated names on Slick’s star-studded resume.

Slick was just 22 years old in 1974 when he began what would become a 30-year, on-and-off association with Bowie. After hearing the “unschooled, street player” jam along to unmixed and unreleased recordings of songs such as “Rebel Rebel,” Bowie hired Slick to replace Mick Ronson in his band for the Diamond Dogs tour.

“I don’t know how many people were up for the gig, but I got it,” Slick says. “After that, I was off and running.”

Years earlier, like millions of other teens, the guitarist sat mesmerized in front of his TV set as the Beatles were introduced to America on The Ed Sullivan Show. The next day, he pestered his father to buy him an electric guitar – a $30 secondhand Danelectro.

“Did I ever think that one day I’d get good enough to play with John Lennon?” he asks rhetorically. “Of course not. The idea still blows my mind. Lennon was this huge guy; he was a hero. A little kid from Brooklyn doesn’t get to be in a room with him.”

Slick took all of three guitar lessons before embarking on what he calls “a dedicated period of musical self-education.” Instead of playing rudimentary exercises, he hunkered down with the radio and records.

At first, he picked along to the pop songs of the British Invasion bands, but soon he gravitated to the Rolling Stones and the Animals, and from them he learned about their roots – Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Chuck Berry.

“I got really into the blues and became sort of the outlier at school,” he says. “My friends were still learning to play pop songs, and I’m playing the blues.”

Moving to New York City in the early 1970s, Slick tried to make a go of it in bands. There was an outfit called Mack Truck, and for a short time he played in a duo called Slick Diamond (with Scottish singer-songwriter Jim Diamond).

Acing the Bowie audition changed everything for Slick, and together they changed music.

Their daring experimentation on the title track to 1976’s Station to Station, fueled by Slick’s ragged, at times atonal leads, combined funk, soul and art rock for an overall effect that became revolutionary.

Between tours and sessions with Bowie, Slick collaborated with artists such as Ian Hunter, John Waite, Tim Curry and David Coverdale, among others. After playing on John Lennon’s Double Fantasy (as well as tracks for a follow-up record, which was released in 1984 as Milk and Honey), he worked with Yoko Ono on her 1981 album, Season of Glass.

Along the way, he formed the band Phantom, Rocker & Slick with the Stray Cats rhythm section of Slim Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker, as well as the short-lived band Dirty White Boy.           

“I did a lot,” he says with a laugh. “That’s one of those things that has run through my mind during this whole pandemic. I don’t spend a lot of time on social media, but I recently hired a guy to work my web page and all that, and before I knew it, fans started popping up, and it reminds you of all the things you’ve done. It’s sort of mind boggling.”

Slick’s fans will find a lot to like about Fist Full of Devils, a diverse set of instrumentals that spans smart-alecky blues, poignant torch songs, white-knuckled rockers and a host of tracks that toss genres into a blender.

At age 68, the guitarist still has plenty of spunk in the trunk. He doesn’t so much strum an acoustic as dance with it, and his electric solos sing, swoon, sputter and roar.

“The funny thing is, playing solos is my least favorite thing to do,” he says. “I could play rhythm all day and be perfectly happy. When I was cutting these songs, I didn’t construct every note of the solos – I never do that. But I hear things in the chord changes and that guides me through a melody.”

He makes it clear that anybody expecting a record of guitar-clinic shred can look elsewhere. “The world doesn’t need another wanking guitar album,” he says. “Besides, I’m not proficient enough to pull that off. My whole thing is feel. Personality. It’s what’s carried me this far, so I’m sticking with it.”

What was it like in New York City for a young guitarist in the early ’70s? Was it a hotbed of players all competing for the same gigs?

At the beginning it was competitive, but not between players – it was competitive in terms of bands. This went on for a while, and then things started to change. As we started to play out more, that’s when people were being offered gigs as guitarists. At that point, it started to become competitive.

Did you have the mind-set of, “Well, if my band doesn’t make it, I could be a session guy”?

No, not at all. The only thought I ever had about anything – other than having my own band – was that, if the Rolling Stones ever needed a guitar player, I was their guy. I don’t even think the word sideman was coined yet. My idea was to stick with my band, get a record contract and have a hit record. I didn’t consider any other kind of career.

Which guitars and amps were you using at the time?

I had one guitar and one amp: my ’65 SG Junior and a 100-watt Marshall stack. And the cool thing was we had buddies who used to hang around, and the idea of being a roadie appealed to them. I was a smart little fucker, and I learned that I didn’t have to haul my own stuff around when I could get other people to do it.

You were only 22 and hadn’t been around much when you auditioned for Bowie. How did you not get rattled by his fame?

The funny thing was, I wasn’t too nervous. I mean, I knew David was a major star, but I only owned one David Bowie record – Aladdin Sane – and the reason why I bought that was because of Mick Ronson. I mean, “Jean Genie” is “Mannish Boy.” “Panic in Detroit” is Bo Diddley.

Mick’s guitar playing was a twist from the way it would normally be played, and I loved it. So I wasn’t nervous about the audition, but I didn’t tell anybody about it, in case I didn’t get it.

When Bowie hired you, did he ever verbalize what he liked about your playing?

In his own roundabout “David” sort of way. Once I got the gig, I got a little rattled because I didn’t know if I had to play and sound like Mick Ronson. Did I have to play the stuff note for note from the records? Quite frankly, I was terrified, so I asked David if that’s what he wanted. Thankfully, he said, “No. I hired you because I like the way you play. I want you to do what you do.” That was a big relief.

How did your experience with Bowie expand your playing beyond the blues rock that you grew up on?

It opened me up, but not so much at the beginning. At the very start, I was just doing what I always did. You can hear that on David Live. I was just playing how I played at the time. When we hit Station to Station, that’s when things changed.

You’re dovetailing into our next question.

Yeah, Station to Station – everything changed because he changed. In his own way, he would push me into new areas to get me uncomfortable. Even though he still wanted me to do what I did, there were certain things he wanted me to rethink. It opened me up, for sure. What was nice was that these ideas he had felt very natural to me.

So even the title track to Station to Station – which now sounds so trendsetting and prescient – it didn’t seem avant-garde to you?

I don’t think you can tell what’s trendsetting at the time you’re making something. Whatever we recorded, my attitude was, This is what we’re doing. I didn’t really think about the impact it would have.

The thing about that song – and the whole record, really – was that David didn’t bring in finished pieces. Take the title track: That was three pieces of music that he brought in. I thought they were going to be three separate songs. Somehow it glued itself together to become the epic that it is.

And that felt natural to you?

It just was what it was. The way we communicated was, “Here’s what we’re doing.” It didn’t seem weird. When you were around David, the process of recording wasn’t weird compared to the rest of the stuff going on.

Did he play you music he was listening to, bands like Kraftwerk, just so you could get an idea of where he was at?

No. No, he didn’t play me that stuff. He would try to feel me out in certain ways, though. Before Station to Station, he took me out to see Lou Reed and Roxy Music. He really liked what they were doing, and I think he was trying to feel me out and get my reactions.

What kinds of guitars were you playing on Station to Station?

I had an early ’70s Les Paul, a Strat from ’64 or ’65, and my SG. Oh, and my Gibson J-45.

John Lennon tapped you to play on Double Fantasy. The two of you had already worked together on David’s Young Americans album.

Yeah, it was at John’s request that I was on Double Fantasy, and it was based on us both doing “Fame” together. The funny thing is that I had no recollection of it – none – which was a running joke the whole time.

During our conversations, John would tell me the story of recording the track, and he knew that I was involved, but I couldn’t remember it at all. I was a little high back then, as we all were. But John remembered. I didn’t.

That’s so funny. Most guitarists would remember recording with John Lennon.

Yeah, well, they were strange times.

So you get a call to play on Lennon’s record, his return from retirement. That must have been pretty head-spinning.

It was way more head-spinning than Bowie because I was a real John Lennon fan. It was because of the Beatles that I was exposed to rock and roll and decided I wanted to get involved with it. And John was the guy that I gravitated toward. So yeah, it was a trip.

When John was in the studio with you, did he have firm ideas of what he wanted from you guitar-wise? Or did he just let you play to see where you were going?

He pretty much did the latter. What he would do with all of us as a group, he would go, “I want this kind of a feel.” He would guide you, but he didn’t dictate parts. I was the only one on the sessions that didn’t read charts, and apparently John remembered that from Young Americans.

He wanted one guy in the room who was more of a street player. The other people were the best session guys on the planet.

Did you ever play that crazy Sardonyx guitar that Lennon was using during those sessions?

Yeah. I even bought one. I wish I still had the freaking thing. I sold it to somebody, and I know who he is. Because it’s very important to the guy, I never offered to buy it back from him.

What did it sound like? Is there a track on Double Fantasy you can point to as an example?

I can’t mention a particular track. John used it a lot. It was a stick body with two wings on it, and it had a pair of humbuckers. I don’t really remember what it sounded like. I don’t even know why he bought it, because he still liked to play his Casinos.

A few years later, you stepped back into Bowie world after Stevie Ray Vaughan pulled out of David’s Serious Moonlight tour. How much time did you have to prepare before you hit the road?

I didn’t have any time at all. I mean, from the time they called me, I think I had maybe three or four rehearsals with the band. I had to learn the whole show.

Now granted, I’d either played or recorded half the show anyway, but there was new stuff I wasn’t familiar with, and I had to learn it. I sat with a cassette deck in my hotel room in Brussels and did the best I could to digest all the stuff.

Regarding the tunes he had recorded with Stevie, did David give you the same direction as he had when you first started working together – to just be yourself?

All he told me was, “We’ve got a big festival coming up really soon. Do you think you’ll be ready?” And little arrogant me said, “What, are you kidding me? I’ll be ready from the first gig.”

What was your relationship like with Carlos Alomar? You guys ended up as bandmates on that tour.

It was good. We had a good working relationship because our roles as guitar players were very defined. We didn’t play alike at all. He covered his bases, and I covered mine. There was no competition. Maybe if we played the same way it could have gotten strange, but that was never the case.

What’s the story with Mick Ronson showing up at a gig and trashing one of your guitars?

Oh, that’s a funny one. He sat in with us at an outdoor gig in Canada. I don’t know what song we were playing, but he borrowed one of my guitars – it was a custom-made DiMarzio – and he started swinging the thing around over his head and put some dents in it. I wasn’t even pissed off or anything, but I was a little terrified. [laughs] Now people pay a lot of money to get beat-up guitars.

You worked with Bowie on a series of his latter-day albums. Would you speak during those long times apart? Did you have to renew your relationship?

Funny thing about that was, it was seamless. When we started working together again back in the late ’90s or early 2000s, we hadn’t seen each other or had any contact in a long time. I was on the West Coast at the time, so I flew to New York to play with the band he had, and the first thing David had me play was “Stay.”

David wasn’t even onstage with us – he was sitting on a lounge chair or something – but the second he heard me playing, this big-ass smile came across his face. It was like a minute hadn’t even gone by between us.

Now, what’s interesting is, it became more of an open relationship. We really became friends. Back in the day, we weren’t really friends, maybe because we were both so out of it. We weren’t enemies; we just weren’t buddies.

But during the time we were apart, we both changed a lot, and our relationship grew tighter once we took up again. We talked a lot more about personal things, which we never did before. So that was nice.

Your new album is notable among guitar instrumental records in that there’s a distinct lack of noodling. It’s virtuosity without showboating.

Yeah, well, I don’t do the noodle thing – that was never my thing. Some of the songs are really based in the piano as far as the writing. Al Morris, who played piano on the record, he would come up with really cool, unusual stuff, and that pushed me into all sorts of atmospheres – not so much melodies.

Some of the tracks, like “Vanishing Point” and “Black,” sound like they could be film scores.

Yeah, yeah. “Vanishing Point” is something I started writing in the ’90s. Al helped me get it in shape. “Black” is pretty cool. It sort of came from the frame of mind I was in at the time – a little tortured – but the inspiration for the overall sound comes from Angelo Badalamenti, David Lynch’s guy. I’m a major David Lynch fan, and I love what Angelo does with him. In the movie Fire Walk With Me, there’s this really ominous bar scene. It’s shot with red backgrounds, and there’s all kinds of weird shit going on. I purposely tried to write something with that same feel.

What’s cool is, although it sounds like a score, parts of it also feel like a jam.

That was the idea. There was just enough structure in it, and then out of the blue, Al started to play this sort of ’50s piano thing, in a happy, major key. We jumped on that. It goes from this dreary, dark, echo-y thing into this really happy bridge. It was a great trick.

What are your main guitars these days?

I’ve gravitated right back to where I started – to the Teles. There’s a lot of Telecaster on the record. I used my famous signature model on it. Some of the little Hendrix-y rhythm things that you hear, these little double-stops that remind me of “Little Wing” – that’s not a Strat, although it sounds like one. That’s my signature model, with P-90s in it.

I also used my SG and an Eastwood Airline Tuxedo. The acoustics were mainly the two Gibsons and a Tacoma 12-string. That’s one of the best 12-strings I own.

Last question, and it sort of goes back to what we started talking about. Do you ever stop and ask yourself, “Why me? Of all the guitar players in the world, how did I manage to play with all these people?”

Oh, God, all the time. I mean, I look at a guy like Steve Lukather, who is just amazing. In my mind, he’s like a modern-day Tommy Tedesco or Steve Cropper. Steve Lukather is the only session guitar player I’ve ever heard who can convincingly play any style. If he’s doing a blues thing, he sounds like a blues player. If he’s doing jazz, he sounds like a jazz player. He doesn’t sound like a session guy faking it.

So this goes back to “Why me?” I mean, I’ve sat in with Steve, and I’m afraid to play around him. It’s like, holy shit. He’s embarrassing me. I can’t do what he does. Nobody can. I just do what I do, and people seem to like it. It’s always worked for me, so I can’t complain.

Grab your copy of Fist Full of Devils here.

Happy birthday to Steve Lukather!

Toto founding member Lukather is one of the most prolific session players alive, clocking up a staggering number of album credits to his name (over 1,500!) The multiple Grammy-winning guitarist has contributed to a vast number of works spanning genres and styles from pop to hard rock, and for several years has toured with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr in the All-Starr Band supergroup.

As well as being one of the most in-demand guitar players around, Lukather is a successful artist in his own right having recorded 8 solo albums to date, including this year’s I Found the Sun Again (featuring Ringo Starr on drums.)

Lukather was awestruck by the Beatles at an early age when teaching himself to play on a Kay acoustic guitar. Recalling his first encounter with the Meet the Beatles! album the guitarist said, "The sound of it overcame my whole soul, if you want to call it that. I knew that's what I wanted to do. I remember George Harrison played a solo in “I Saw Her Standing There” and just the sound of the guitar bending and the reverb struck a nerve inside of me."

Lukather later paid homage to George Harrison, recording “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for Toto’s 2002 covers album Through the Looking Glass. And in this clip, the guitarist lets rip with an impassioned electric guitar solo as he performs the number live with Toto – the close-up shot allowing us to view his incredible technique at close quarters.

Check out the awesome Steve Lukather Collection at Ernie Ball Music Man here.

At 81 years old, Ringo Starr shows no signs of slowing down, citing his vegetarian diet and “staying active” as part of his recipe for longevity. “Staying active” indeed, Starr’s lengthy and continued solo career is now in its sixth decade – a musical voyage which began in 1970 with his aptly named debut album, Sentimental Journey.

Quickly following up this year’s Zoom In EP, Starr has announced his latest EP titled Change the World is now available to order (see link below). Much like Zoom In, Starr’s new extended play record – due out on September 24 – was tracked at his Roccabella West studio and features an assortment of guest artists.

Among the throng of guest musicians appearing on Change the World is Toto founder and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band member Steve Lukather who co-penned the EP’s lead single "Let's Change The World" with Joseph Williams (son of film composer John Williams). Both Lukather and Williams also play on the track.

Adding further electric guitar hero status to the recording is Eagles and fellow Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band guitarist Joe Walsh who appears on the EP’s closing number, “Rock Around the Clock.” A record-breaking hit in the mid-‘50s for rock ‘n’ roll pioneers Bill Haley & His Comets, "Rock Around the Clock” was a highly influential song for The Beatles, with John Lennon telling Playboy in the early ‘80s, "I had no idea about doing music as a way of life until rock 'n' roll hit me… It was "Rock Around the Clock"." 

Interestingly, Starr also played drums alongside The Who’s Keith Moon on the Lennon-produced Harry Nilsson version of "Rock Around the Clock” from Nilsson's 1974 album Pussy Cats.

"I've been saying I only want to release EPs at this point and this is the next one,” says Starr. “What a blessing it's been during this year to have a studio here at home and be able to collaborate with so many great musicians, some I've worked with before and some new friends." 

Pre-order Ringo Starr’s Change the World here.

In his autobiography, The Gospel According to Luke (Post Hill Press, co-written by Paul Rees), Steve Lukather cracks up readers with his hilarious misadventures, such as the time he accidentally hit Sir George Martin in the face with an inflatable sex doll.

But he also brings tears to your eyes with tragic tales, like having to endure the deaths of beloved Toto bandmates Jeff and Mike Porcaro, and inspires you with triumphs spanning everything from playing on Michael Jackson’s Thriller to joining Ringo Starr’s band and selling 40 million records with Toto.

For guitarists, however, Lukather’s life story reveals something bigger. It shows that if you want to become a pro, you need to master a few techniques, not all of which have anything to do with the electric guitar. Here are five skills Luke says are essential to making it.

1. Dream Big

“What are the odds,” Lukather asks, “of a kid watching his heroes on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, pointing at George Harrison and going, ‘I wanna be that guy,’ and finding myself in the present day, where I’ve played with three of the four Beatles? I’m a very grateful, fortunate and lucky guy, because there are a lot of cats much better than me. Yet I am proof that if you keep your dream alive, good things can happen.”

2. Solo

“A big solo is a great moment to show people what you’ve got, and a great solo can earn you a lot of callbacks,” Luke continues. “Just remember that soloing is much less important than being able to...”

3. Groove

“My rhythm playing has gotten me way more gigs than my lead playing. People don’t realize how crucial it is to be able to come up with great parts that lock with the other instruments. You have to come up with something that makes the song feel good.”

4. Connect with People

“It certainly helps if you are easy to work with. Are you funny? Do you know when to shut up? Can you be trusted if you hear something that no one else should? Can you adapt to personnel changes? If someone has a weird personality tic, can you adjust to it?” Lukather explains: “Making it in this business is not just about getting along with people. You have to be a psychologist, too.”

5. Bounce Back

“My greatest skill may simply be my ability to not take ‘no’ for an answer. You can’t give up the first few times you don’t get what you want. You have to be like, ‘Thank you for punching me. May I have another? Punch me again, motherfuckers, I ain’t gonna die.’”

Buy The Gospel According to Luke here.

It's no exaggeration to say that Eddie Van Halen single-handedly altered the trajectory of rock guitar playing, blending incredible rhythm work with impeccable melodicism and, of course, a healthy dose of showmanship and jaw-dropping technical skill.

In his wake, guitarists would – of course – try to raise the bar with even greater speed and technicality. According to Steve Lukather though, Van Halen wasn't always a fan of what Lukather called the resulting trend of “intense uber-shredding” during the 1980s, which Lukather says “misinterpreted what his [Van Halen's] musical intent was." 

“These were the times when guitar players were trying to show what they had," Lukather told Guitar Magazine in an interview. "Each guy had something and they wanted to show it off!

“It was healthy, no one was trying to one-up anybody else. That came a little later in the ‘80s with all the intense uber-shredding that started and Ed was sitting there going, ‘I created a monster, fuck!’”

“They misinterpreted what his musical intent was and turned the guitar into more of a sport," Lukather said. "I know that always bothered him.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lukather returned to the subject of younger speed-focused guitarists, saying “I see a lot of people spending a lot of time perfecting their linear technique, speed, and scales, and emulating their heroes.

"We all did that when we were kids – it's a lot easier now that you can see the guy on YouTube!

“There’s nothing wrong with learning the technique," he continued. "However, it’s become like a magic trick, but when everyone knows how to do it, it’s not magic anymore. It’s amazing, flawlessly executed – but where are the tunes?

“That is what is sorely lacking to me – songs! These people have got all these chops and they’ve got no songs. Who is going to whistle that?”

Reverb.com has announced an official Jason Becker gear shop – featuring six- and seven-string guitars autographed by an all-star lineup of guitar greats – in an effort to raise funds for The Jason Becker Special Needs Trust.

Headlining the shop is a 'Triumphant Friends 2' Kiesel JB24 signed by every member of Metallica, Sammy Hagar, Steve Vai, Tosin Abasi, Herman Li, Steve Lukather, Alex Lee, Albert Lee, Neal Schon, Elliot Easton, Stevie Salas, Warren DeMartini, and Chris Broderick.

Additionally, the shop is offering a Joe Satriani-signed and -stage played 2004 G3 "Flame" guitar, a stage-played Nili Brosh-signed Ibanez seven-string, a PRS SE signed by Mark Tremonti, an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro signed by all of the members of Trivium, a Jackson Pro signed by Jeff Loomis, and a BC Rich sporting the autograph of Zoltan Bathory.

Reverb.com says that this batch of signed guitars will soon be joined by more signed gear, including a Paul Stanley-signed Ibanez signature. 

All proceeds from the sale of the instruments will go to assisting Becker – who has battled ALS for 30 years, and recently experienced a health scare that sent him to the hospital – with his medical costs.

For more info on the guitars, stop by reverb.com.

Throughout the history of recorded music, many guitarists have created magic from the dimly lit booths of the studio, from legends like Tommy Tedesco, Jimmy Page, Larry Carlton, and Michael Landau to session master Steve Lukather, whose slick licks and smooth riffs have graced many recordings over the past several decades.

Luke has hundreds of sessions and recording credits on his résumé, which also includes being a founding member of the Grammy award-winning rock supergroup Toto. He has also released numerous inspired solo albums, each met with mass acclaim and celebration from his loyal fans all over the world.

There are many things you can learn from a player as talented and creative as Steve Lukather, and this lesson will focus on an area of his playing that has become a popular topic of discussion among guitarists for decades – his use of chromatic phrasing in his licks and solos, meaning notes that are a half step, or a semitone (one fret), apart and fall “in the cracks” between the notes of identifiable scales or arpeggios.

The majority of Luke’s ideas are blues-and rock-based, but he often reaches for jazzy sounds and uses chromatic ideas to help achieve them in creative and appealing ways. 

To begin, play through Examples 1a and 1b, which will help you get a feel for a chromatic legato lick that Lukather likes to use. This phrase creates an interesting slur of chromatic notes on a single string. 

Perform the pull-offs using a single, fluid motion, emulating the smooth, legato phrasing of a saxophone or violin, and be sure to pull the string in toward your palm as you release it (as opposed to simply lifting the fretting finger up off the string) in order to keep the string vibrating and maintain an even volume level note to note.

Our next example will give you a chance to hear this lick in action, featuring the same type of slippery chromatic phrases heard during Lukather's “Never Walk Alone” solo, from the guitarist’s acclaimed solo album Candyman. 

Ex.2 is a slight variation on this lick and showcases the chromatic idea from Ex.1b in the second bar. The numerous passing tones in this phrase blur the key center and give it a jazzy, “outside” flavor.

Ex.3 is similar to a standout lick from the Toto classic “Rosanna,” which perked up more than a few ears when it hit the FM airwaves and topped the charts in the early 1980’s. 

This idea features some slick moves, including a few well-timed chromatic slides and plenty of jazz-flavored melodic-harmonic extensions, including strategically targeting the 9th and 11th, as it shifts and slides along and across the fretboard in tenth position.

The next idea, Ex.4, reveals a Lukather-approved “fill-in-the-blanks” chromatic lick in E7, including a number of grace-note slides and busy twists until you reach the climactic whole-step bend and vibrato at the end. 

This example is similar to a number of licks Lukather has played in his solos. Chromatic runs like these create a flurry of fast-paced movement, helping to give a solo an exciting and unpredictable sound.

Ex.5 is another fill-in-the-blanks chromatic lick that’s performed in the same key but in a different position and should help you see how to move these kinds of ideas around the neck. The phrase also features a sustained bluesy finger slide at the end, typical of what you’ll hear in Lukather’s improvising style.

Our next example, Ex.6, insightfully reveals an interesting area of Luke’s mastery of chord-scale relationships. 

The phrase features an anticipation of the D9 chord in bar 2 by foreshadowing it a half step higher before the chord change occurs. The harmonic tension is then resolved in bar 2 via a return to the “correct” key and an ending phrase that elegantly describes a D9 sound.

Finally, Ex.7 is similar to a slippery lick found in the Boz Scaggs classic “Breakdown Dead Ahead,” where Lukather takes a great solo and sprinkles plenty of choice licks over the catchy shuffle groove. 

If it has been a while, refresh your ears by giving this track a listen, and then give the lick a test drive. Be sure to maintain the same index-ring fingering as you chromatically walk down the top strings in bar 1, and also for all of the long slides in bar 2.

Play through these licks and absorb as many ideas from them as you can. Use them as inspiration as you strive to create your own original chromatic licks and phrases.

If you’re interested in learning more about this approach to lead playing, continue studying and borrowing licks from Luke, and find additional input from other chromatic-minded players, such as Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, Steve Morse, and John Petrucci. 

Open your mind and fingers to new sounds, movements, and ideas, and you’ll open your playing and fretboard to a new world of possibilities. Good luck! (All musical examples copyright 2016 BrewhaMusicInc.)

Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones had a pretty good backing band when they called Mr. EVH into the studio to play on “Beat It.” On the track that in many ways defined 1982, Steve Lukather played rhythm guitar and bass. 

That was not Luke’s first encounter with Ed. They were friends. They were brothers. This is one of the more poignant Eddie Van Halen stories. 

“The first time I heard him,” Lukather says, “I was doing the debut Toto record, and David Paich walked in and set up a turntable. He said, ‘You need to hear this.’ He played ‘Eruption’ over the big speakers in Studio 55. I stopped. I said, ‘What the fuck was that? How do you do that? Who is this?’ I was 19 years old. 

“We met a little while after that and became friends. I borrowed one of his amps for an Elton John session in 1979. Ed was working in the front, Elton was cutting something in the back, and my gear was on its way to Japan. So I said, ‘Hey, can I borrow one of Ed’s amps for a session?’ He came down and we all hung out. It was fun.“ 

“Let me give you the perfect example of how this guy never thought inside the box. I was honored enough to have him play on my first solo record back in 1989. He played bass on it and he wrote a tune for me.

“He told me, ‘Hey Luke, I tuned the entire guitar up a whole step, but I used a bass A string for the lowest string and tuned that to a B.’ Who would think to do that? And he showed me how he played it, with all the false harmonics and everything. I got to learn how to play like Eddie Van Halen for a day.

“He was bigger than he even realized. It used to be that once every 10 years somebody would come along and change the face of it, make you rethink the instrument. Nobody’s come along in a while. 

“Thousands of people have asked me, ‘How do you get that sound?’ Well, you have to be born with it. That’s my answer. You could play the same guitar through the same rig and you would sound like you. He was the magic. The guitar just gave him a means to perform that magic.

“Everyone is going to tell you that he’s the greatest guitarist ever. That’s a given. I’ve gotten to work with some of the best musicians on the planet. I’ve been around greatness. And when you’re around it enough, you kind of hope it’ll rub off on you. But in the end, the greatest thing for me was the friendship. I knew him on a different level. He was a trusted friend. I cherish that. And I miss my friend.”

As one of the most recorded guitarists in history, Steve Lukather knows a thing or two about picking up and learning a guitar part quickly. 

Now, in a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, Lukather has weighed in on the often-simmering tab vs. sheet music vs. playing/learning by ear debate, saying tablature “doesn't even make sense” to him. 

"Why would you learn that if you can learn how to read music?” Lukather said in the interview. “I look at tablature and reading music the same way you look at playing real guitar and playing Guitar Hero.

"If you're taking all that time to learn the game, why don't you go on to learn how to play the guitar at the end of it? It's the same thing to me, like, why would you do that?

"But hey, a lot of people live by it, even in Nashville, with the number charts. Sure, it's easier to change keys but it's a drag when you have altered chords."

Asked about the oft-repeated refrain that learning music theory “takes the soul out of a song,” Lukather said "Bullshit!” 

“If anything, it has really helped my playing, especially back in the day when I had to come up with parts on the spot," Lukather continued. "They'd just give you a chord symbol and count off the tune and you're supposed to come up with something brilliant on the spot.

"Just knowing your common tones, your relative majors and minors, the simple dumb shit you learn right away, I don't care if you're a shredder or a classical player, it's important to know the language.

"If you're planning a trip to France, it might be a smart idea to learn French – to learn the language of where you're going. It's easier to just be able to read something than to spend hours having somebody show you how to play it.”

“I could give you a thousand reasons why knowing harmony and theory has helped the writing process, the options, the improvisation," the Toto guitarist continued. "The biggest lie out there is that knowing how to read music or knowing anything about music theory takes your soul away... Bullshit!"

Lukather did take a moment to point out, however, that he believes every guitarist learns differently.

"On the other hand, would I give, God bless his soul, my brother, Edward Van Halen, guitar lessons? Would I give Jeff Beck guitar lessons? No,” he said.

“My own son plays guitar weird because he didn't want to take lessons. But he started to come upon something that I would have never thought of, so I just stopped myself. And I was like, 'Carry on. Keep doing what you're doing. Just don't become a shredder. There's already too many of them. Write good songs, be a great rhythm guitar player, play melodically, and you'll always have work.' ”

"So, he listened to me, fortunately, and now it's working. But saying that music theory takes the soul out of a song is just a lazy man's way of saying they don't have the time to put in."

Lukather's new solo album, I Found the Sun Again, is set for release on February 26. You can read GP's recent interview with him about the record, the reformation of Toto and going viral at age 63 right here.

It was only a little more than a year ago that Steve Lukather announced that Toto, or, at least, the then-current version of Toto, was calling it quits. And yet, ever since then, the session ace and solo artist – worldwide pandemic lockdown be damned – has been on a ridiculously hot creative and professional streak.

“My life has turned around for the better during this year off, as unfortunate as it is for so many reasons,” he tells Guitar Player. “It was a self-realization for me – stay home, sleep in my own bed, be with my family and be present.”

Luke laughs. “It turned out to be weirder than I thought, but it has opened my eyes a lot. And I'm glad to have made the most of it.”

And make the most of it Luke has. For starters, there’s his new, rather excellent solo album, I Found the Sun Again, which finds him laying down slick, sinewy and this time out, somewhat shreddy, solos over five rock-pop-jazz originals and three covers – Traffic’s "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys," Joe Walsh’s "Welcome to the Club" and Robin Trower’s monster blues-rock guitar workout "Bridge of Sighs." 

He also shot a video for the record’s first single, the Beatlesque “Run to Me,” which – despite being a socially-distanced, at-home affair – still managed to include a visual cameo from guest drummer Ringo Starr.

What’s more, Luke pitched in on Denizen Tenant, the new album from Toto vocalist Joseph Williams (Williams in turn contributed to I Found the Sun Again), and the two have also announced a new version of Toto, which will make its debut on November 21 with a one-night-only global livestream before gearing up for the 2021 Dogz of Oz world tour. You can get tickets here.

But that’s not all: This past summer Lukather collaborated with Ernie Ball Music Man on the Luke III, the newest iteration of his popular signature model (wanna hear it in action? Cue up I Found the Sun Again), and became, at the ripe age of 63, a viral video star after he posted a clip that showed him taking revenge on a neighbor’s noisy leaf blower by blasting him into oblivion with some high-wattage licks.

“I’m more famous for that than anything I’ve done in the last 43 years," Luke says with a laugh. "Go figure.”

One of the first things that struck me about I Found the Sun Again is how immediate and live-sounding the record is.

Well, I did the album in eight days, soup to nuts. We would do a song a day – no rehearsal, no click. We’d run the song once to make sure everything was cool, and then take two was usually it. 

I come from an era that was accused of being overproduced, so I wanted to see if I could do it. So this record is the best of what I’ve got at 63 years old. And we made it quickly, made it live. It’s like it was in 1972, but with 2020 fidelity. That’s really what I was looking for. And I think we got it.

There’s some great lead playing on the record, and a lot of it – maybe more than we’ve heard from you in a while. How did you approach the solos?

I cut all the solos live. It makes you play different when you play that way. And I wasn’t trying to impress anybody. I was like, “Let me just play what comes out as opposed to what's going to amaze my guitar player friends.” Because these days there’s, you know, a seven-year-old kid in Japan that plays so fast you can’t even see his hands move. I can’t do that.

What do you think of people that can do that?

I mean, it's a sport. It's great if you can do it. But you know what’s really hard to do? Play eighth notes in time with a click track. It sounds so stupid, right? Watch. A lot of these guys never sat down and learned that stuff. Because they learned all the tricks first. 

I'm just glad I'm old and I don't have to compete in that world. It'd be scary. I'd be considered a shitty guitar player by today’s standards. But it's astounding what people are doing with the instrument. Look at Andy McKee, Jon Gomm and those guys. And Steve Vai and Joe Satriani and all the heir apparents. It’s insane!

Speaking of guitars, what was your main setup on I Found the Sun Again?

I used my new Luke III, the green guy, through a Bogner 4x12 with just a couple little gadgets on the pedalboard. Nothing really slick – I tried to keep it as pure as possible. If you hear a little delay on something that’s because that was the way it was recorded.

What do you like about the Luke III?

The versatility of tone, man. You start messing with the tone controls and the pickup switches and you get some very interesting sounds. And on this record I was really looking for, like, a sax-y kind of tone. 

Everybody seems to be going for the same tone these days and so I was just trying to do something a little different to stand out – because all those other guys are better than me! So I thought I’d better do something interesting because it's hard to have a voice in all of this. So I just try to do my best.

You tackle a few cover songs on the record, but the one that really stands out to me is "Bridge of Sighs." What led you to that one?

I did it because, one, Robin [Trower] doesn't get enough love. And two, it's a really great song to play. And not a lot of people have done it as far as I know. So it was just something fun to play on, really. I mean, this whole record is a vanity record in the sense that, you know, I'm not out there trying to write a hit single with Cardi B.

I don’t think you need to.

I was 19 when I made the first Toto record. So it’s amazing to me, the passage of time. And I still go back to those classic records that I liked when I was young, and they still give me goosebumps. But they say that the music of your childhood becomes the music of your life. 

So you know, there’ll be somebody at their 80th birthday party going, “Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!” This is a reality, man. The Beatles are like our Frank Sinatra now, you know what I mean? You go to Vegas and it's nothing but bands from my era. We are the Frank and Sammy of our generation! The funniest fucking shit I've ever seen in my life.

Well, you’re keeping your legacy going with this new version of Toto. Whereas just last year you made it sound as if the band was done.

Well, I didn't lie. What I said was that incarnation of Toto was done. I never said I wasn't going play to play Toto music with anybody else again.

What led to the end of the previous incarnation of Toto?

It was bad business, bad... You know, our original managers didn't deal with the name of the band properly. I was blamed for shit I didn't do. There were people fighting backstage. People wouldn't talk to certain people and sometimes it would almost come to blows. And I'd get in the middle of it. 

Other people hated me, and some people hated the road so much that everything was miserable. There was a lot of offstage shit going on that didn’t get brought onstage because everyone's a pro. Strap on the guitars, act like nothing's wrong. But it was really hard.

But I don't wish anybody ill. It’s just, I'm at the age now where, how many great summers do I have left? I'm not trying to be the biggest, best at anything anymore. I just want to have a good time and have a few laughs. If I can make a few dollars doing it, great.

The upcoming Toto livestream will be our first glimpse of the new lineup headed by you and Joseph Williams. What can you tell us about the performance?

Well, what we’re doing is kind of a slick thing. A livestream is usually, you know, “Set up some cameras and play.” Most people do it from their living rooms. We’re doing it a little differently. But I put together a new band so I had to spend some weeks in the studio rehearsing them to get them ready. 

It’s like, “Oh, yeah, I can't wait to play ‘Hold the Line’ again!” [laughs] We have to do some of those songs because I want to show people how this new band can sound playing them. 

So that's going to be part of our repertoire, and then the other part will be new solo material, old solo material, some other cool stuff. We have a lot of records to cull from and the ability to not do the same setlist we've been doing for the last eight, ten years. We can stretch it out a little bit.

When it comes to performing, you hit it out of the park this summer with your private backyard show for your leaf-blowing neighbor.

Leave it to that to make me famous! This guy was fucking with me for a long time. He cut down 40 years of brush that was on my side of the property while I was out on the road. Sawed down limbs that are my side of an oak tree and did it without telling me. Which you need a permit for. And there was some other shit that he started with my kid, who was six at the time. 

So then this guy starts up with leaf blowers, three of them, at 7:00 AM. That's a lot of noise – 120dBs! And I live in the Hollywood Hills, where the houses are close together. Old hippy town. So 7 AM, man? You don't do that. And I went crazy. I put my amp out on the trampoline and just cranked it. 

I’m out there barefoot, on wet grass, and I’m playing this guitar like shit, you know? Just trying to make noise to piss him off. [laughs] And then it went viral. Now I'm more known for that than anything. I went Number five on Reddit. Funniest shit I’ve seen in my life.

It’s hard to believe Steve Lukather has been consistently playing his namesake Music Man guitars since 1993. Although it was initially equipped with two single-coil pickups and one humbucker (HSS), in 2012 a twin-humbucking model designated the HH was added and has been available ever since. 

Lukather calls this signature model “a hybrid of an old Les Paul and great Strat,” which is on the mark for a guitar that feels so lively and vibrational, and is loaded with tone and playability-enhancing elements at every turn.  

Let’s start with the roasted, figured-maple neck with a soft V-shape that wears nothing but a thin finish of gunstock oil. This great-feeling stick is topped with a 12-inch-radius rosewood ’board carrying 22 polished, wide low-profile frets. 

Music Man has always sought to maintain a linear string path on its instruments, and the .009–.042 wires on our review guitar run ruler-straight over a superbly worked synthetic nut to the 4+2 arrangement of Schaller locking tuners.

At the south end, they load through the chunky brass inertia block of the Music Man custom vintage tremolo bridge, which is equipped with a push-in bar and resonance enhancing bent-steel saddles that are adjustable for height, tilt and intonation.

The LIII arrived with an expertly dialed-in setup that provided low, buzz-free action and kept things sounding musically in tune throughout the reaches of the fretboard. Also new are the humbucking pickups, which feature dissimilar magnets under the chrome covers – alnico poles in the bridge and ceramic in the neck positions.

The controls are volume and tone and a five-way blade switch that selects the following pickup configurations: Position 1 (closest to neck): Neck pickup, coils in series. Position 2: Both pickups, inside coils in parallel. Position 3: Neck and bridge pickups in parallel. Position 4: Both pickups, outside coils in parallel. Position 5: Bridge pickup, coils in series.

There is also a preamp in this guitar that provides a 12dB boost when the push-push volume knob is in its “up” position (power is supplied by a nine-volt battery housed in a compartment on the back). This handy feature lets you instantly lift a solo above the mix, and it adds to the already stout assortment of sounds that are on tap here.

Tested through a new Mesa/Boogie Mark 5:25 1x10 combo and Fender Deluxe Reverb, the LIII proved very capable of dishing out whatever is needed for the situation.

The tones are stellar on the neck pickup, offering nice sustain and a balanced response that sounded excellent in cleaner modes or when pushing into the Boogie set for a singing, Mark I-style solo tone.

Then there are the split-coil sounds from positions two and four, which are so rich and chiming that I couldn’t help going back to them again and again for funky rhythms and bluesy solos with a mild amount of distortion, à la Robert Cray.

The bridge humbucker, with its fat/bright response – which I assume has to do with the alnico poles – was just dynamite for everything from country twanging to heavily overdriven rock tones elicited by the Mesa’s Mark IIC+, IV and Extreme modes.

It was just as easy getting killer overdrive tones from the Deluxe turned up to four or so, and boosted with the Mesa Cleo pedal or by using the LIII’s onboard boost, which adds a little brightness to the sound and worked awesomely well with the sweet and slightly hollower timbres delivered in the LIII’s middle position with both humbuckers running. 

Our Fuchsia Sparkle LIII (also available in Bodhi Blue, Olive Pearl and Ocean Sparkle) is a tremendous guitar all around, with superb playability and ergonomics, a trem that feels butter smooth and keeps the tuning stable under hard workouts, and a range of tones that beg you to deploy it on practically any gig. 

It’s the result of a design that works for all the different applications that Steve Lukather encounters in his professional life as one of the hardest-working guitarists around. The LIII is simply fantastic and earns an Editors’ Pick Award.

Specifications

• PRICE: $2,549 street
• NUT WIDTH: 1.69”
• NECK: Figured roasted maple, five-bolt sculpted joint
• FRETBOARD: Rosewood, 25.5” scale with 12” radIus
• FRETS: 22 low-profile wide
• TUNERS: Schaller M6-IND locking
• BODY: Alder
• BRIDGE: Music Man floating vintage tremolo. Chrome plated, hardened steel with bent-steel saddles and push-in arm
• PICKUPS: Custom Music Man humbuckers with chrome covers (bridge alnico-magnet, neck ceramic-magnet). HSS version has same bridge humbucker and two Cutlass single-coil pickups
• CONTROLS: Volume (push-push for gain boost), tone (500 kΩ with .022uF capacitor)
• FACTORY STRINGS: Slinky .009–.042
• WEIGHT: 8.10 lbs (as tested)
• BUILT: USA
• CONTACT: Ernie Ball Music Man

We've told you about Steve Lukather’s most surprising studio sessions – dates where he showed up and nailed the part on his first take, or found himself taking on a bigger role than he’d anticipated. 

Here, Steve tells us about his most terrifying session – the one that actually made him break out in a sweat. 

All of these stories are taken from our interview with Steve in the August 2015 issue of Guitar Player.

When we last spoke, you told the story of a terrifying session where Lee Ritenour swapped charts with you, giving you the easier one as he read down the complicated one. What’s another session that scared you?

Let me just say this: Kids, don’t smoke weed on a television film date. I did this session decades ago with Jeff Porcaro, and it was all done live to two-track with 70 people in the room – full strings, horns, singers. It was bumpers for a whole season of TV in one day. Most of the stuff we did in the first half of the day was really easy, so on the lunch break, the horn players and Jeff were like, “Come out and burn one with us.”

I said, “I don’t know – this is like a legit date.” But then I thought, The parts are easy, it’s lunch break – what the hell! I’ll take a toke.

So I take a toke, and it’s Jeff Porcaro’s nuclear weed. I’m freaking out.

Lunch break is over. The conductor calls the next cue we have to record, and I look at the chart, and it’s written like a piano part in Db. It was 16 bars, and not a chord symbol to be found anywhere. On a date like this, you get two takes and you’re on to the next cue. The first take is to get the balance and to make sure the parts are right, and the second take is the keeper.

I’m looking at this thing, and I’m high and the paranoia is causing me to get higher. They count off, “1, 2, 3, 4, downbeat,” and I just froze. Seventy pairs of eyes are staring me down like, “What the hell was that?”

Thinking on my feet, I pulled out my guitar cable and went, “Oh man, I’ve got a bad cable here. I’m sorry.” Jeff Porcaro and the horn players are laughing at me. I’m going, Oh god, please help me. I’ll never get high again. Please, god.

Now I see the chart isn’t that hard – it’s just in a weird key, with no chord symbols. So as I’m pretending to deal with my cable, I’m writing triads and chords on the chart. I gave them the thumbs up, they hit the downbeat again, and I managed to play the part.

I never, ever smoked weed on a session again, and I never took another one of those fucking TV film dates. It was a very humbling experience.

Steve Lukather has announced a new single, Run to Me, which features Ringo Starr on drums, as well as appearances from Huey Lewis & the News’ John Pierce and Joseph Williams.

Co-written by David Paich, Williams and Lukather, the track is accompanied by a lockdown-filmed music video, and features a tasteful lead from Luke.

“I wanted to release this now because it fits the moment. A time where we all need a happy song for an unhappy time,” says Lukather.

“When I got together with Joseph Williams and David Paich to collaborate on the songwriting, there was pure collective inspiration amongst the three of us to articulate this message of hope directed towards our daughters.

“Musically, the song is absolutely influenced by my growing up in the Sixties, inspired by some of my favorite elements of the repertoire that defined that indelible era. And, Ringo, what can I say. It is an honor to have his contribution captured on a song of mine, much less his gracious presence in the video.”

A new solo album is on the way from Lukather in early 2021, with details to follow soon.

Luke made headlines across the internet last week, when he unleashed a 7am guitar solo to compete with his neighbors’ leaf-blowers.

Apparently, Toto guitarist and session king Steve Lukather's neighbors have made a habit of having their gardeners and their leaf-blowers come by in the very early hours of the morning. 

Now, just about anyone would probably be annoyed by this after awhile, and might lodge a complaint. Lukather however, decided to take a different route when the gardeners showed up once again. 

Still in his pajamas, Ernie Ball Music Man signature model in hand, Lukather placed an amp on a trampoline in his backyard, turned it in the direction of his neighbors' house, cranked it all the way (and we mean all the way) up, and unleashed a tsunami of shred that probably would've been audible miles away.

“What happens when the dickhead neighbors’ gardener starts up 10 blowers at 7am! #goodmorningsunshine #fuckyou,” Lukather wrote in the caption to the video. You can check it out below.

Zakk Wylde, Bumblefoot, Joe Bonamassa, Phil X, Doug Aldrich and other famous axe-wielding pals all voiced their approval in the video's comment section, with Phil X writing "We've all thought of doing this but you did."

I think it's safe to say his neighbors were probably not as appreciative of the impromptu performance.