Treasured Music

Steve Howe - multidimensional guitarist

Steve Howe has been known as the one of the, if not THE, best guitarist in the world by several ratings. I first notice his work when he was the band “Yes”. More specifically a song called, “Roundabout” where guitar harmonics are used in a dramatic opening riff.

In college, my roommate introduced and taught me to play to his song, “Mood For A Day,” a remarkable classical guitar piece. A classical guitar piece written by a rock guitarist? That’s when, perhaps late in life, I realized great musicians are multidimensional, transcendent of genre or labels.

He cites several influences from his parents’ record collection including Les Paul and the group Tennessee Ernie Ford who had Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant playing guitar. In addition, Howe listened to classical guitar and jazz, citing Barney Kessel [1] as a primary influence, “his playing was a remarkable mixture of ’single line’ and ‘chords’, ya know, which inspired me to believe that any guitarist who doesn’t understand chords won’t be able to play much in the single line because they relate so much”. Howe also credited Chet Atkins, who he first heard in 1959, as a major inspiration. Howe said he took from Atkins, “the idea that one guitarist could play any kind of guitar style.” (reference)

I think the videos below (more…)

Tags: guitarist, nood for a day, roundabout, Steve Howe, yes