The punk-tinged anarchy of The Jesus Lizard’s music may feel a world away from prog rock’s intricate, genre-and-math-bending acrobatics, but Duane Denison holds both dear to his heart. So, the day he found himself standing in Steve Howe’s hotel room trying to sell him an electric guitar lives long in his memory.
Speaking in the new issue of Guitar World, the guitarist says he grew up idolizing the finger-blurring talents of prog’s elite, even if he didn’t quite go down that route with his own musical endeavors.
“When I was a teenager, it was the ’70s, and so prog rock was king. I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it,” he says proudly. “Punk rock hadn’t come along yet. The shredders of my day were Robert Fripp, Jan Akkerman and Steve Howe.”
Denison ended up meeting Howe when he was just 17. It was the mid ‘70s, Yes were at the height of their powers, and so Denison did what every teenage guitarist would do when they had the chance to meet their hero: sell him a guitar.
“We tried to sell him a guitar when Yes came through Detroit,” he remembers. “A friend of mine worked at a guitar shop that carried rare archtop jazz guitars, and there was a Guild George Barnes acoustic-electric.”
Barnes was a renowned swing jazz guitarist, typically found playing the kind of archtops with which Howe would usher in Yes’ wide array of riffs. So, it was a fair match.
Howe has previously explained to GW why he won't play unfamiliar guitars these days but back then it was a different story, and it seems as though he may have had his head slightly turned by the offer.
“This friend was really pushy and talked to a roadie, and they said to come back the next day to meet at Steve Howe’s hotel room in downtown Detroit. He tried it out and played some stuff on it, but he didn’t buy it.”
While the sales pitch didn’t quite work, Howe (at least on paper) represented the ideal customer. After all, his guitar collection includes some weird and wonderful instruments.
His semi-hollow Gibson ES-175D – an unconventional rock guitar he acquired way back in 1964 – may be the guitar he’s most closely associated with, but he’s also owned and played Strats, Les Pauls, a 12-string Steinberger GM headless guitar, and more. Denison wasn’t crazy thinking the Guild Georges Barnes may just take his fancy.
Howe also once took a chisel to a 1955 Fender Telecaster to make it more Gibson. It found its home on Yes’ Relayer before reappearing on 2023’s Mirror to the Sky.
Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy of the new GW, which includes chats with Grace Bowers, Matteo Mancuso, and more, as players weigh in with their favorite music and gear releases in 2024.
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