Axeman for the Millenium!

Thanks Bro, you discovered a Great one!!!

Well after 20 years of critical listening and scrutiny of many many lead guitarists and great instrumental groups, this is the man I most adore in the music world, Bar None! I will try to put into those words I mentioned in the beginning the best way I know how, what this artist does for me and I hope someday for some of you out there in Internet-Land. Bye the way, were talking about Instrumental Rock n Roll, and whatever you do..."DON'T   LET  HIS  LOOKS  FOOL  YOU".

Steve's Gear

"The famous Steve Morse guitar by Ernie Ball"

In 1978, my brother Mark God bless his soul, brought over a record called "What If" by Dixie Dreggs. The opening cut called "Cruise Control" immediately blew me away! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I felt that vibe, you know when you experience something that fits just perfectly and you don't want to let it go? It was exactly the way Led Zeppelin felt to me some 10 years earlier, and also how I felt when I heard Robin Trower for the first time, but with a MAXIMUM-PUNCH! This was Special! WOW, this guy is AWESOME!      Then came all the Dixie Dreggs albums with his melding of the keyboard, amplified violin and his Ernie Ball Guitar that I've not heard anyone since do this way. Steve was thee most technical and proficient guitarist I had ever heard and I've listened to a ton!

The "What If" album

In 1980, I went with Mark to see Steve play Acoustic guitar with John McClaughlin and Paco de Lucia at the outdoor ampitheatre on the San Diego State University campus. I was overwhelmed with the show but especially how Steve showed himself and his stringed wizardry equal and sometimes better in speed and agility to the two greats. Well by now, I'm completely immersed in Steve Morse's play, that nothing else will do.      The "Steve Morse Band" formed this year and became my main dose of music to the present, and from which I judge all other guitar talent. Bar none, I consider Steve Morse "The best guitarist in the World". I'll tell you why.

But first, I want to acknowledge some others that might be considered on the same playing field and I love them all. Eric Clapton, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Donald Felder, Alex Lifeson, Eddie Van Halen (for the Brown sound), Al Di Meola, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Your probably wondering about Jimi Hendrix, where's he at? I have to put him in a class all by himself, there will never be another Jimi, and for that matter Steve Morse puts him there also. So there you go.      Now this is quite a group you might say or you may not. How can Steve Morse be compared or even elevated above these great frontmen especially if I've never heard of him?      Well here you have it..............go to his web-site, www.stevemorse.com and you'll find out why. Read through the reviews and his e-mail responses to his fans and there will be revealed to you a real special man. And whats really great about him is that he's a dedicated husband and father to his family.

I think Steve's play is so varied and with so much vision that I compare him before his time. He has a patented "double plucking" technique that has never been done before in all the years of my music experience. Also in his arsenal of fretboard annihilation, he does a "power chord chop/mute" that is out of this world. I mean, nobody even tries to do this one much less record it to perfection.      On "Stressfest", Steve is careful to temper his grungier moments with the kind of intelligence, taste and finesse that have been his trademark from the beginning of his celebrated career. His acoustic work on "Delicate Balance", a duet with bassist Dave LaRue, reflects an ongoing love of classical music, specifically the logical moving harmonies and brilliant contortional lines heard in Bach and Handel. Then on the other side of the coin is "Live to Ride", an all-out Rock 'n' Boogie that rivals ZZ Top for sheer raunchy abandon.      In a career spanning three decades, Steve Morse has earned a reputation as a meticulous craftsman, unerring perfectionist in the studio and chopmeister of the highest order. And while he has been thrust into the popular spotlight on occasion, first with Kansas and now with Deep Purple, he is first and foremost regarded in industry circles as "A musicians musician", the premier player of instrumental rock after Jeff Beck.

An unassuming, soft spoken guitar hero, his precision cross-picking over Bach inflected lines confounds those novice guitarists in the audience who hope to glean a few of his secrets by seeing him play live with Deep Purple or The Steve Morse Band. His sheer string-bending intensity and mind-boggling speed on solo's tends to intimidate the best of them. And yet, in spite of all the accolades he has received over his illustrious career, Morse still considers himself a student of the instrument. "Every good guitarist that I know is constantly learning", he says. "The more you know, the better off you are, is how I look at it".      No matter how complex his music may become, full of moving harmonies and dizzying flurries of 64th notes, he is still firmly rooted in the basics. As he's said, "I was a kid when I first started fooling around on the guitar. I first picked it up because I was excited about the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and all that, and I suppose thats always gonna be there for me".

On top of all of this, Steve has become something of a guitar god having been inducted into Guitar Players Gallery of greats in 1986 after five consecutive years of winning the magazines Best Overall Guitarist Poll!

In the end, Steve basically plays for the art of music and that quality of an artist is what most interests me overall, the music.      I'm glad you stuck it out with me and my obvious prejudice of Steve Morse. I'm hoping I made a small impact on your thinking about excellence in electric guitar play and that you go out today and buy some of his music, sit down for an afternoon with a cup of coffee and engulf yourself in some of the most impactful and beautifuly executed tones and notes you will ever hear. IT  WILL  GROW  ON  YOU,  BELIEVE  ME!..........."EJ"

ENJOY

One Cool Cat ready to R&R

and

Turn it up "LOUD"

Please e-mail me with your thoughts, comments, or whatever. I really am interested,  THANKS