Metallica shredder and obsessive guitar hoarder Kirk Hammett once bought one of his guitar hero’s axes for so cheap that he was riddled with guilt.

It might not be a heart-on-sleeve influence, given Metallica’s sound, but Hammett adores Journey guitarist Neal Schon. Understandably, then, he didn’t blink when the chance to buy Schon’s black 1957 Les Paul presented itself to him. But he couldn’t believe how small a price it cost him.

Granted, $87,500 isn’t exactly a bargain basement price to the everyman – and I dread to think how many Spotify streams it would take to generate that sort of moolah – but considering its pedigree, Hammett was gobsmacked.

“This guitar used to belong to one of my all-time star heroes, a huge source of inspiration, Neal Schon,” Hammett explained at the Dublin in-person event to promote his The Collection book (and spotted by MusicRadar).

“I got this in an auction, and I don’t know what was up, but I got this for, like, half the price that it was worth!”

Admittedly, the guitar doesn’t have ties to a magic Journey moment, which harmed its appeal during a 2021 auction where Schon said goodbye to 112 of his guitars. His Don’t Stop Believin’ Les Paul, conversely, sold for $250,000 – and again for $254,000 in March – with six guitars fetching six-figure sums.

Meanwhile, this late ’50s, P-90 pickups equipped six-string went under the radar. Hammett struck lucky.

“I felt kind of bad about it because I should have paid a fair price,” he confesses. “But I paid a price that was lower than it should have been.”

In fact, Hammett felt so bad about the price he paid that he phoned his hero to ask if he wanted it back.

“I actually called Neal,” Hammett says. “I said, ‘Neal, do you want the guitar back?’ And he said, ‘No, man, you keep it. You buy it; you keep it.’”

Many guitars went for unexpectedly low sums when the gavel crashed down on that fateful day in 2021, a time in which COVID was still ever-present. The auction has now been described as “brutal.”

Writing for Guitarist, vintage guitar expert David Davidson, who owns New York’s Well Strung Guitars, said: “It turned out to be the worst time to do an auction because his guitars really undersold.”

Davidson also confided that Joe Bonamassa believed Schon would have been better off waiting for a more opportune moment.

In early 1984, MTV bubbled with cheery pop acts like Culture Club and the Human League. It was a Crayola-colored world where girls just wanted to have fun, Huey Lewis wanted a new drug and spontaneous group dancing in public was as common as sneezing.

Enter the four-headed glam-metal beast known as Mötley Crüe. Looking and sounding like supervillains from the underworld, the Crüe marauded mass consciousness by way of a pseudo-Satanic, post-apocalyptic-themed video for Looks That Kill, the first single from their breakout sophomore album, late 1983’s Shout at the Devil.

The song’s brash, sawtoothed guitar riff had a Pavlovian effect on millions, pulling America’s alienated teens toward their TV screens with tractor-beam efficiency.

The Looks That Kill riff is a four-second summation of everything that was awesome about ’80s metal. It’s one of those instantly iconic guitar figures that sound like they fell from the sky, fully formed and howling for blood. In truth, however, this riff took many incarnations on its way to becoming a sonic weapon in the Crüe’s hands.

Its origin story takes us into the heart of Neon Decade-era Hollywood, where Mötley and their fellow Sunset Strip rockers were blazing a musical trail that reeked of booze and Aquanet.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Stop reading now and listen to the song Young Girls by the pop-metal band Dokken. No, really – do it.

Yep, the opening riff is damned near identical to the one from Looks That Kill – a rhythmic pattern built from twin palm-muted tonic pedal tones interspersed with descending chords played an octave higher. Structurally speaking, a single half-step is the only thing setting these two chord progressions apart. Like the Looks That Kill riff – and, for that matter, all the others we’ll be exploring – Dokken’s riff kicks off the song without accompaniment.

On first impression, despite Dokken guitarist George Lynch’s undeniable guitar prowess, the Young Girls riff comes off as a no-calorie Looks That Kill knockoff, lacking the rude, dirty tone that gives the latter its sledgehammer wallop.

However, closer inspection reveals that Looks That Kill might be the imitator here; the European release of Breaking the Chains, the Dokken album that contained Young Girls, came out almost exactly two years before Shout at the Devil.

Precluding any premature assumptions that Young Girls was written before Looks That Kill, Mötley Crüe premiered the latter song live at Pasadena’s Perkins Palace on April 19, 1982, according to setlist.fm.

Since Mötley formed in January 1981, it’s possible, if unlikely, that Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx had already written the song by the time the European version of Dokken’s Breaking the Chains came out in September of that year.

However, Looks That Kill doesn’t appear on live Crüe bootlegs from ’81, so the odds are far greater that Lynch and vocalist Don Dokken penned Young Girls before Looks That Kill was a glimmer in Nikki Sixx’s twisted imagination. Could a gig that Mötley Crüe played with Dokken at the Roxy in November 1981 have sown the seeds of inspiration inside Sixx’s skull?

Breaking the Chains also featured a tune called Stick to Your Guns, which, like Mötley Crüe’s debut single of the same name, used the line “You gotta fight!” to drive home a message of perseverance in the face of hardship.

The Crüe’s single came out in May 1981 – four months before the European release of Breaking the Chains – so once again, no definitive conclusion on which song was written first can be made until one of the songwriters lets that information out of the cellar.

Out on the Streets, That’s Where We’ll Meet

The chord progression from Young Girls wasn’t the first – nor the last – to bear a strong resemblance to the one from Looks That Kill. For example, the rhythm guitar performance that opens a song called Tell the World by Mötley Crüe’s glam-metal brethren in Ratt belongs to the same family of riffs.

Tell the World first appeared on the compilation album Metal Massacre, which was released June 14, 1982, about two months after Mötley’s onstage premiere of Looks That Kill. A new version of Tell the World surfaced on Ratt’s self-titled debut EP, which came out roughly one month before the September 1983 release of Shout at the Devil.

Notwithstanding the musicians’ well-known passion for intoxicants, there’s little chance that the similarity between the Looks That Kill and Tell the World riffs escaped both bands’ notice.

However, considering the close timing of the two songs’ releases, it’s possible that, rather than this being a case of one riff directly inspiring the other, these guitar lines emerged side by side during group rehearsals or songwriting sessions between Nikki Sixx and the late Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby.

In his book Sex, Drugs, Ratt & Roll, Ratt vocalist Stephen Pearcy recalled that certain members of Ratt and Mötley were thick as thieves, at one time forming a street gang called the Gladiators. “Robbin Crosby and I were closest with [Crüe drummer] Tommy [Lee] and Nikki, and we started tripping around with them frequently,” Pearcy wrote.

Sixx and Crosby, the latter of whom co-wrote Tell the World with Pearcy, were especially tight, eventually sharing a living space. As told in Sixx’s book The Heroin Diaries, the bassist moved in with Crosby after Mötley wrapped up their Shout at the Devil tour.

Naturally, the friendship between Sixx and Crosby sparked some musical collaboration. Sixx confirmed this in a Facebook post from July 2025. After writing that Robbin “had a heart of gold,” he noted, “[I] look forward to finishing some of these songs we started down the road.”

During a conversation with SiriusXM radio personality Tommy London in 2022, Pearcy revealed that he and Crosby rehearsed with Sixx and Lee “a couple of times” in the early ’80s. “I don’t know if we wanted to start a band or if we were just jamming, but something was getting intense in there,” he said.

The singer added that while Sixx ultimately decided to go his own way, “if that would have been a band, it would have been a great band, actually. I don’t know what songs we played, but we were very supportive of each other back in the day.”

Did the alliance between these musicians give rise to the Looks That Kill and Tell the World riffs… or might Ratt, Dokken and Mötley Crüe all have drawn inspiration from an unexpected source that predates glam metal?

The Journey Begins…?

Various rhythm guitar performances from songs that came before Young Girls, Tell the World and Looks That Kill vaguely foreshadow these later songs’ signature riffs, perhaps even helping inspire them. One example is the guitar line that drives You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise from Judas Priest’s 1980 album British Steel.

The link between this tune and Looks That Kill is especially evident at the song’s end, with the group’s shout-along “You! Don’t!” chant prefiguring the gang vocal in the chorus of the latter song.

That said, Where Were You by Journey might be the song that started it all. It appeared on Departure, released in early 1980 and co-produced by future Shout at the Devil engineer Geoff Workman.

Listening to Where Were You and Looks That Kill back to back is a study in the contrasting directions a musical idea can take in the hands of two different bands.

Rather than flying headlong into over-the-top metal aggression, Journey used their riff as the starting point for a high-energy pop-rock tune whose vibrance outweighs its bitter lyrics. The song’s buoyant feel stems in part from guitarist Neal Schon’s relatively moderate use of overdrive.

He likely got his gritty tone on this song by playing a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall or a “jumped-up Hiwatt head,” the latter of which was one of his go-tos in the early ’80s. Regardless of this song’s possible status as a forerunner to Looks That Kill, Schon’s searing lead playing on Where Were You is worth checking out.

Thus, the journey of the Looks That Kill riff appears to have begun at the dawn of the Decade of Decadence, when Schon cooked up a rhythm guitar part that might make him the unlikely godfather of ’80s glam metal.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Not all guitar auctions yield record sales. Blockbuster auctions like the Jim Irsay Collection that broke all the records – 23 of them, including for most expensive guitar sold as David Gilmour’s Black Strat fetched $14.5m – are exceptional.

They speak to the cultural significance of the instruments, and Irsay’s Collection was like no other. This was an auction that saw someone pay $6,907,000 for Kurt Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit Mustang, $11,560,000 for Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger” guitar and both would have been world records.

But these auctions also speak to the enduring strength of the market for vintage guitars, and dealers and collectors will tell you that the trend might have been ticking upward in the past two decades, yet some years the market struggles. The pandemic era was one of them.

Fender declared it a boom time for players picking up the instrument, as thousands of people with all this mandated stay-at-home time decided that it was time to learn guitar. Collectors remember it differently. Vintage guitar expert Dave Davidson, in his latest column in Guitarist magazine, said it was a tough time for auctions, and cited Neal Schon’s experiences in 2021 as evidence.

Schon had decided to part with a lot of 112 guitars, selling some of the most famous guitars in his collection through Heritage Auctions. He sold his Don’t Stop Believin’ 1977 Les Paul Pro Deluxe for $250,000, which ironically just sold again in March 2026 as part of the Jim Irsay Collection for only $4,000 more.

He sold 10 guitars that fetched six figures, most notably the Grainger Burst 1959 Les Paul Standard for $300,000 and another ‘Burst that went for $350,000.

But many didn’t sell, such as the exquisite 2005 double-neck PRS Dragon, valued at $37,500. And what about Schon’s 1960 Gibson Les Paul Custom in so-called wine red, an all-mahogany single-cut finished in Cherry for the export market? Davidson says only six of these were ever made. “Very few people know that these exist and this one may be the only surviving version that is fully intact,” he says.

It sold for $112,500 in 2021 and Davidson says this was indicative of a “brutal” auction in which Schon took a bath on a number of guitars.

“Neal sold it in the Heritage Auction in the pandemic,” says Davidson. “It turned out to be the worst time to do an auction because his guitars really undersold.”

Davidson says he wasn’t alone in thinking that it was going to be tough. Blues guitar superstar and collector extraordinaire Joe Bonamassa was of the opinion that Schon should have held fire.

“I remember having a conversation with Bonamassa afterwards and he felt Neal should have waited,” says Davidson. “I was amazed he didn’t just get a storage place and put it off for a year or two, but nobody knew where the market was going to go at the time.”

But then if the market was always so predictable then investing and collecting would be easy. What is it that Bonamassa is always saying about market value: an electric guitar (or anything) is only worth how much someone is willing to pay for it.

If watching Schon’s guitars go under the auction brought Davidson and his fellow vintage traders out in a cold sweat, the fortunes of the market would swing around again.

“It was a brutal auction to watch because we were worrying that it would hurt the vintage guitar market,” says Davidson. “But it had no effect either way. Things just started popping like crazy a couple of months after the auction happened.”

It was too late for Schon. He had put a lot of work into the auction, too, presenting these guitars on camera, telling the stories behind them – and stories, as we know, can make them more valuable. So, the 1960 Les Paul Custom, a stunning instrument, in great condition (Davidson believes a “cowboy chord player” previously owned it because the only fret wear is on the first three frets), was a bargain.

“Neal just missed the boat, which is a shame,” he says.

You can read the full story about this remarkable Les Paul in the latest issue of Guitarist – get it, or better still, subscribe and save, at Magazines Direct.

Journey’s Neal Schon has responded to claims made by Arnel Pineda that he and the rest of the band pressured the singer into performing on the band’s Final Frontier farewell tour.

Pineda recently told Rolling Stone that his aging body and voice, along with a difficult divorce and very public allegations of domestic abuse – which made headlines in his native Philippines – led him to conclude that it would be best to withdraw from touring, at least for the time being.

“Back in 2024, I said to them, ‘If you’re planning to do a farewell tour, you better tell me, because my issues and my personal problems are getting more intense, and I don’t know if I want to go with you,’” Pineda said.

“I said, ‘I want you to discuss the schedule with me.’ It is what it is now…. But then, I was really not happy with how they scheduled this tour. My body has changed. I can’t take the cold weather anymore.”

Pineda alleged that the band and their team went ahead with booking a 60-date U.S. tour for this year, and at least another 40 shows for 2027. He went on to to claim that although he emailed them and expressed how unhappy he was with the situation, he was met with silence.

Frustrated with the situation, Pineda claimed that he had told them on two occasions that he wanted to leave the band. Now, both the singer and Schon have alleged that the contract with the live entertainment behemoth AEG states the tour cannot proceed without Pineda.

Schon is also setting the record straight on social media. “Over the years, Journey has always been about the music and the fans first,” he writes.

“There’s been some recent press and speculation that doesn’t reflect the full picture. Touring at this level involves many moving parts, and decisions are made collectively with our team, including management, agents, and promoters.

“Like any long-running band, there are moments where people feel the pressure differently. I respect that, and I have nothing but appreciation for what everyone brings to the stage.”

He continues, “For clarity, no one was ever prevented by me from making their own personal decisions. At the same time, we were all advised by our representatives that there are contractual obligations tied to touring that need to be honored.

“My focus has always been – and remains – delivering the best possible experience for our fans and keeping the music alive.”

In a separate interview with Fox News, Schon admits that this tour has been a bumpy ride, amid Pineda's claim and being at odds with rhythm guitarist Jonathan Cain.

“I feel like I get one [lawsuit] served every week from his camp,” Schon said.

“It’s like, ‘Jesus Christ!’ And learned to defend myself, really… I remember every aspect of everything that’s gone down.

“I’ve been sober for 18 years completely, and my memory is sharp. I know everything about every Journey contract, every LLC, every corporation. So I feel very confident about being able to stand up to anything that I need to,” he concludes.

The band has since postponed at least two stops of the tour, citing “illness within the Journey band camp.”

In more recent news, the guitar used to record arguably Journey’s best-known song, Don’t Stop Believin’, has been sold for over a quarter of a million dollars.

The 1977 Gibson Les Paul Pro Deluxe that Journey’s Neal Schon famously used to record Don't Stop Believin’ went under the hammer for $254,000 on March 12 at the historic Jim Irsay Collection auction. The guitar had previously sold for $250,000 at auction in 2021.

Aside from being used on one of the most enduring rock anthems of all time, Schon believes it to be the first-ever Les Paul fitted with a double-locking Floyd Rose vibrato system.

Other specs include a mahogany body with a maple top in a black finish, a maple neck with a bound ebony fingerboard and faux-pearl inlays, and two double-coil pickups, including Fernandes Sustainer circuitry.

The guitar also features Schon-specific trimmings like a Ferrari sticker on the back, a signed autograph on the reverse of the headstock, and a white flight case with JOURNEY / NIGHTMARE INC. / SAN FRANCISCO U.S.A. stenciled in black. And, as a bonus, the new owner also bagged a tremolo bar and strap, plus a copy of the July 1982 edition of Guitar Player, the cover of which features both Schon and the guitar.

Speaking about the song now synonymous with Journey, Schon told Guitar World in a 2022 interview, “For the first time, you’re hearing a chorus on the outro, which was completely against all rules of nature in that time period – and now – if you’re going to try to get a song on the radio. The saying was, ‘Don’t bore me. Get to the chorus.’

He continued, “In this case, the chorus didn’t happen until the end of the song. Actually, I had a short guitar solo before the chorus; so the obvious thing for me to do was to play the melody of Don’t Stop Believin’ – the melody people are going to hear right after I play it.

“Steve [Perry, Journey's vocalist] turned to me and said, ‘What? You’re going to play the melody that I’m going to sing?’ I go, ‘Why not? It’s a good one.’ When the song was done and the mix was almost finalized, I turned to everybody in the room and said, ‘I think this song is going to be massive.’”

The Jim Irsay auction has indeed smashed all pre-auction estimates – with David Gilmour's iconic Black Strat topping the list after going under the hammer for a whopping $14,550,000.

Journey's Neal Schon may be best known for timeless classics such as Don't Stop Believin’, Stone in Love, and Still They Ride.

However, the genre-hopping guitarist cut his teeth playing the blues, trading licks with Carlos Santana in Santana’s classic lineup, and becoming a keen student of B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Michael Bloomfield.

“My roots were R&B and blues, and it's so crazy that I've never been in a band that did that!” Schon says in a recent interview with Rick Beato.

One of the blues greats he regularly jammed with was Albert King, the Flying V-slinging player and one of the Three Kings of Blues.

“I played with B.B. quite a lot,” Schon reveals. “I played with Albert even more so. He was a funny human being. Had his little wine bottle at the back of the amp.

“I played with him so many times. [One time] we were downtown in San Rafael, close to where I live in Marin County, and he was in town. He was playing Uncle Charlie's – a cool little blues club – and so I went down to see him for the soundcheck and said, ‘Hey, man, I would love to come by and jam tonight.’

“He said, ‘Sure, man. Bring your guitar and I'll bring you up in the second set.’” However, the jam didn't quite go as planned...

Schon continues, “So I go up, and I'm talking to him, and he goes off to the bar to get a drink, and I pick up his V. And he screams across from the bar, ‘What you doing, boy!’ I jump out of my shoes. He goes, ‘Put that guitar down. Nobody knows my tuning!’”

As for what he noticed about King's guitar from that very fleeting encounter, Schon remembers, “[His strings] were light but tuned [way] down, and in a weird tuning.”

It was clearly a careful setup that lent itself well to the bluesman's penchant for dramatic bends.

Earlier this year, the Journey guitar hero took his jaw-dropping, 9-string Ibanez Custom Shop model out for a spin across a series of Instagram videos.

“I’m a legend that nobody knows,” says guitarist Les Dudek. “Through my career, it’s like I’ve always been right on the edge of being known and unknown.”

Dudek’s frank assessment is pretty spot-on. During much of the ’70s, the Florida-raised guitarist always seemed this close to stardom. There were tours and record dates with Boz Scaggs and Steve Miller, among others, and at one point Dudek found himself in the studio with the Allman Brothers Band.

He played co-lead guitar on the smash single Ramblin’ Man, and with Dickey Betts he helped co-write Jessica (a song he played acoustic guitar on). In the 1980s, Dudek performed with his then-girlfriend Cher in a rock/new wave band called Black Rose, and for a brief time he backed Stevie Nicks on tour. He’s put out seven solo albums, but none of them charted, and he was almost a founding member of Journey.

“I guess I could throw a hissy fit about it, but who cares?” Dudek, now 71, says with a good-natured laugh. “There’s plenty of players who are far better than me, and they’re even less well known. I’m recognized enough for my efforts. At a certain point, it is what it is.” He pauses, then says, “I’ve had a strange life, and I’m still living it.”

Dudek caught the guitar bug as a kid. With his first guitar, a Silvertone 604 acoustic, he played along to Elvis and Beatles songs, but it wasn’t till he heard the Ventures’ version of Slaughter on Tenth Avenue that he got serious.

“Nokie Edwards knocked me out,” he said. “He could play anything, and he was getting tones nobody even imagined yet.” After acquiring a Silvertone electric guitar, Dudek dug into “the three Kings” – Albert, B.B. and Freddie – and started playing in a succession of local bands. As a teenager, he played frat parties, but eventually the gigs got better and he performed with more semi-pro outfits like United Sounds, Blue Truth and Power.

“It was a great time to be a guitar player,” he says. “For all the cats like me, it was like, ‘Let’s have some music!’ There were big concerts going on everywhere, and all the parks in Florida had these jams. They’d have some big-name groups come in, and the next day they’d jam with the local bands. It was pretty cool.”

Dudek brings up a story he loves to tell of an unscheduled jam he took part in some time later. “I was at a Mike Bloomfield concert, and during one blues song Mike started playing keyboards,” he says. “Mike’s ’59 Les Paul was sitting on a stand, and I thought, ‘What are the chances of this happening again?’ I went up and got the guitar and started playing rhythm behind him.

“Mike had his eyes closed, so when it came time for a solo, I went for it. After the song, Mike turned around and goes, ‘What are you doing?’ I introduced myself and said, ‘I just had to play the blues with you.’ He goes, ‘Well, just don’t do it again.’ It was kind of funny – he had no idea I was playing, but he must’ve been digging it.”

How did you come to meet the Allman Brothers and start playing with them?

“I didn’t know Duane, though we hung around the same spots, like Lipham Music in Gainesville. I bought a Marshall amp there because Duane did. My keyboard player in Power – Peter Sches – he knew Dickey Betts, so I met Dickey through him. When Duane died, Peter found out that Dickey was looking for players, because he didn’t know if the Allman Brothers were going to stay together.

“We were invited to go hang out on the farm with Dickey for a weekend. Me and Peter went up to Macon and hung out and jammed on the back porch with Dickey. That went pretty well, but you know, things were kind of solemn… Duane had died not too long before then, so it knocked the wind out of everybody’s balloon.”

You and Dickey almost formed a band, but that didn’t happen.

“Yeah. I came back to Florida, and a few weeks later I got a call to come back. So I went and started playing in Dickey’s band. That was his dream, to have his own band. He was going to call it Great Southern. It sounded good, and that went on for a while. But then they decided to do another Allman Brothers Band album.”

Tell me about recording Ramblin’ Man with the band.

“We were hanging out and jamming. There were weddings and barbecues and lots of jamming. I got invited to the studio one night when they were cutting Ramblin’ Man. I was hanging out in the control room, and Dickey got the idea of putting some guitar parts at the end; he was thinking about harmony guitars, like what he did with Duane.

“We ended up cutting Ramblin’ Man. I had my goldtop Les Paul Standard. Berry Oakley played bass on it. I think it was the last song he cut before he died. I helped Dickey with all the guitar harmonies and the arrangements on the end of it. I pretty much played half of the lead guitars, but people don’t realize it.”

You played live in the studio with Dickey throughout the song?

“Oh yeah. From the very beginning till the end. We stacked the guitars at the end – the low and high octaves. We had a blast doing that. It was a lot of fun.”

Did it take a while to work out those parts?

“It was pretty quick, actually, a lot faster than Jessica – I played an acoustic throughout that one. Before we even went into the studio, I helped Dickey come up with a bridge section for that song because he didn’t have a bridge.

“That’s one of the rubs I had with him. I was promised writer’s credits and royalties, which I never got. They swept me under the rug. I remember Dickey calling me: ‘Hey, Les, come by for a steak, and bring your guitar.’ We’d already cut Ramblin’ Man. So we’re having steak and playing guitars. He already had the verse of Jessica, but he needed a bridge. He was very frustrated.

“Anyway, he went to the kitchen – and that’s when I came up with the bridge. The song needed a release, and it needed a part when it comes back to the original section. Dickey was pretty pleased about it. The royalty thing is painful to talk about. Dickey walked me in to see [Capricorn Records president] Phil Walden and said, ‘Phil, I want to tell you that Les wrote on Jessica. I don’t know how to split the royalties or anything, but he deserves some credit.’

“Phil said OK, but nothing was ever signed like copyrights. At the time, I was already signed to Phil for management; he locked up the publishing and record deals. He loaned me $1,500 for food and rent while I was hanging out. The next year, I hooked up with Boz Scaggs and we did a tour with Steve Miller. I told Steve my story and he said, ‘Here’s the name of my lawyer. Let’s get you out of that contract.’”

This started a busy time for you, playing with Boz – and then with Steve Miller.

“It’s like I lived 40 years in five. I went on tour with Boz for a few years – it was before my solo album and Silk Degrees. Boz never invited me to be on his records, but I got a call from [producer] Joe Wissert: 'Hey, Les, come down and play slide on Jump Street.' They were working on the song, and I guess [keyboardist] David Paich said, “You’ve been working with one of the greatest slide players for five years. Call up Les!”

How did you start recording with Steve Miller?

“We would do dates with Steve. He came over and said he was going to Seattle to record. He asked if I wanted to go, so I said yes. Steve had a guy named James “Curley” Cooke playing guitar; he had a cool little riff, so I ended up writing a song with him.

“It was called What a Sacrifice on my first album, and it ended up on Steve’s Book of Dreams record, but it was called Sacrifice. Steve would cut a lot of things and sort through ’em, figure out which album to put them on. He was cutting things for Fly Like an Eagle and songs that went on Book of Dreams.”

Now, how did you almost wind up in Journey?

“I was in Journey for about two hours. I had already moved to the West Coast and was trying to put something together with members from Steve and Boz’s bands. That’s when I got a call from [manager] Herbie Herbert, who said, ‘Les, I’m putting a super band together, and I want you to be one of the guitar players.’ I asked him who the other guitarist was, and he said, ‘Neal Schon from Santana. Great player.’

“I went to rehearsal the next day – it was me, Neal, Ross Valory on bass, Gregg Rolie on keyboards and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. We jammed for a couple of hours doing some cool fusion shit. It was great stuff. I looked at my watch because I knew I had a meeting across the street with somebody from Columbia. I went to the meeting, and the president and vice-president of Columbia were there waiting for me. They offered me a solo deal right on the spot.

“It’s like the best Cinderella story ever told in the music business. I went from not knowing how I was going to pay my rent to having to decide: Do I go with Journey or a solo deal with Columbia? I chose Columbia.”

You put out a number of strong solo albums. Say No More is particularly solid; Lady, You’re Nasty could have been a hit single. Did the label know what to do with you?

“Not really. I had a manager on my first album, but he didn’t really deal with record companies. I was without a manager for a while. Columbia had an artist-development program, so I had some guys helping me out, and I had an in-house producer, Bruce Botnick. He did all the Doors’ stuff.”

What’s the story with starting up Black Rose with Cher?

“Well, before that, I started DFK with [singer-guitarist] Mike Finnegan and [keyboardist-singer] Dave Krueger. That was some weird promotion there. One night I was hanging out and somebody said, ‘They’re holding auditions at Columbia Studios – Cher’s putting a band together.’ I went down, and Cher’s got all these players.

“Finnegan was there with Stephen Stills, so we get up and it turns into this big jam. Cher stopped it after a while, and then she took us all out to dinner. That’s when she came up to me and asked if I was serious about wanting to be in her band. One thing led to another; I ended up doing the band with her, and slowly we became an item.”

Was that strange?

“I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did. The band made an album, and we did Merv Griffin and Tom Snyder. We hosted The Midnight Special.”

I saw the band on TV. It seemed as if Cher didn’t want to promote the fact that she was the singer.

“It was that kind of thing, but come on, people knew in one second who it was. Her management fought her on it, but that was her dream. Then the guy who was really promoting us, Neil Bogart of Casablanca Records, he died of a heart attack, so the whole thing took a nosedive. Cher was like, ‘What am I going to do now?’ I said, ‘What about movies?’”

That kind of worked out.

“Yeah. We split up and went our separate ways. I got a bit part as a guy riding a motorcycle in the movie Mask.”

A few years later, you played with Stevie Nicks for a while.

“Yeah, sometimes she used Waddy Wachtel; sometimes she used other players. She and I wrote a song called Sister Honey for her Rock a Little album. I played on it and went on tour with her. We were out for three months, but before the tour ended I had a motorcycle mishap – broke my arm and wrist. I went back on tour with my arm in a cast. Kenny Rogers came up to me when we were doing dress rehearsals. He was amazed I could play like that.”

You’ve had such a weird and winding career – lots of stops and starts, odd situations that looked good but didn’t work out.

“There’s been so many, like the Allman Brothers. Berry Oakley liked the way I played. We were going to jam the night he died. It might have become a thing were he alive. I might have been in the Allman Brothers, because they needed that other guitar. Dickey and I really played well together. That was one thing that slipped away.”

“Then when I was doing my second album, I got a phone call from the band Chicago. The guitarist [Terry Kath] had died, and I got offered the job. Bruce Botnick turned it down for me. Then when Lowell George died, I got invited to do Little Feat – I forget what happened there.

“Before I left Georgia, the Marshall Tucker Band came to town and we jammed. [Singer-guitarist] Toy Caldwell said to me, ‘Les, if you join our band, I'll fire the flute player.’ And I said, ‘Don’t do it, man. It’ll break his heart. Thanks for the offer, though.’

“There was the Journey thing. I did go out with Steppenwolf for a moment. That was kind of a joke. I went out with Big Brother and the Holding Company for a brief moment. That was a joke, too – those guys couldn’t play. I would do stuff just to kill some time and see what was happening.

You’re still out there playing with your own band.

“Yeah, when it makes sense. My last tour was really smooth, really fluid. We sold out places and everybody had a good time. It was actually one of the friendlier tours I’ve done in a while. I don’t like to be out of state when we’re having hurricanes, so I’d rather be near my house. But I tour when things make sense. As long as the people come, I’ll be there.”

Back in the day when you were getting calls to play with big artists, what did they say they liked about your playing?

“I don’t know; you’d have to ask them. I’m a feel player. There’s lots of cats who are more technical than me. I could spend my time learning the scales, but that would get in the way of what I do. I don’t care about trends and stuff. I like the blues.

“Blues is at the root of good playing. Take Eddie Van Halen; I told him one day, ‘I didn’t know you were a blues player.’ He told me he grew up on Clapton and people like that. He just took it to another place. But I’m comfortable with my lane. I tell stories when I play.”

Guitarist Les Dudek has lived quite a life. He appeared on two of the Allman Brothers Band's best known tracks, Ramblin' Man and Jessica, toured and recorded with Cher, recorded with Steve Miller, and soloed onstage with Mike Bloomfield (without him knowing).

In another fascinating bit of trivia, Dudek was also a member of Journey for, as he puts it, “about two hours”.

Fresh off his studio work with Miller, and live dates with Boz Scaggs, Dudek got a call from Journey's manager, Herbie Herbert.

“[Herbert] said, ‘Les, I’m putting a super band together, and I want you to be one of the guitar players,’” Dudek told Guitar World in a recent interview. “I asked him who the other guitarist was, and he said, ‘Neal Schon from Santana. Great player.’

“I went to rehearsal the next day – it was me, Neal, Ross Valory on bass, Gregg Rolie on keyboards, and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. We jammed for a couple of hours doing some cool fusion shit. It was great stuff.

“I looked at my watch because I knew I had a meeting across the street with somebody from Columbia,” Dudek continued. “I went to the meeting, and the president and vice-president of Columbia were there waiting for me. They offered me a solo deal right on the spot.

“It’s like the best Cinderella story ever told in the music business. I went from not knowing how I was going to pay my rent to having to decide: Do I go with Journey or a solo deal with Columbia? I chose Columbia.”

Eventually, Journey's second guitar slot went to the late George Tickner, who played on the band's self-titled debut album, and co-wrote tracks on the band's second and third LPs, 1976's Look Into The Future and 1977's Next, respectively.

Similarly to Dudek, however, Tickner left the band when other opportunities presented themselves, in the latter's case a full scholarship to study medicine at Stanford.

After working together in the mid-2000s to produce a Floyd Rose-stocked Les Paul, Gibson and Journey guitarist Neal Schon have now seemingly reunited for a new run of Supreme signature guitars, with full details expected to be announced this week.  

The Les Paul Supreme made its much-anticipated return in late ‘23, two decades after it first appeared, and now the Journey man has revealed he’s been working with Gibson once more to produce a tailored take on the returning template.  

Diving into Schon’s tantalizing Instagram post (below), there looks to be at least three new models that will be detailed in the upcoming announcement. Over the past few days, Schon has posted photos of a triple humbucker model with a grey burst finish, and two double 'bucker versions with either gold and uncovered pickups.  

Chief among the key changes to the standard Supreme models is, of course, the appointment of that Floyd Rose bridge – a vital tool in Schon's' anthemic rock guitar style, and a core feature that set Schon's early signature Les Paul apart from the rest of Gibson's collection.

Aside from the Floyd Rose, they all boast the Supreme’s standout pearl Super Split Block inlays and dashes of gold hardware. 

Schon has been teasing his rekindled relationship with Gibson for a while now, having previously posted a clip of him taking the standard Les Paul Supreme for a spin.

“Just putting some more miles on this beautiful Supreme,” he observed. “This thing is a tone machine.”

In another Instagram post that saw him playing slick leads on the ebony-finished model, he added that there's “very interesting wiring on this bad boy. Rolling [the] tone off on [the] neck pickup it goes into parallel and it’s great.” 

For many guitar fans, the reunion may come as a surprise after Schon and Gibson’s initially fruitful relationship soured somewhat over the development of his heavily tweaked Les Paul.

Talking to radio station 90.3 WMSC in 2021 (via Ultimate Guitar), Schon explained, “It's unfortunate that I had a falling out with Gibson way back then. After I did all the work, they wanted to take my name off the guitar...

“Now to pour more salt in the wound, they took my guitar and put somebody else's name on it [seemingly in reference to the Alex Lifeson Axcess Les Paul],” he went on. “They changed a couple of little things on the guitar, but not a lot, so it's 'OK.' But you move on, and find other the companies that make equally good guitars, if not better.”

Schon has proven something of an innovator when it comes to guitar builds. He worked on a PRS creation last year, for example, resulting in a very Schon-esque redesign of John Mayer's signature Silver Sky guitar.

However, it seems as though Schon has patched up his Gibson-shaped wounds, with the guitarist going on to praise the direction the brand has taken under the guidance of CEO Cesar Gueikian. 

“You'll be seeing a lot of these in the near future as I'm now working with them and it's actually really amazing – the team they have together under the direction of Cesar,” he said in an Instagram post. 

“They are back at it on what made Gibson a household name many years ago and producing so many excellent re-issues as well going in some new places electronically.”

According to Schon, we don't have long to wait until full details concerning the Floyd Rose-equipped Supremes arrive: “Coming this week. Gibson Supremes w/ Floyd’s,” he posted last night (March 17).

Whether these will take the form of Schon signature models or super-charged versions of the standard Supreme remains to be seen. Of course, when the news lands, Guitar World will be quick to share all the no-doubt juicy details. Stay tuned. 

“If you opened for us, it was a sure sign you were going to make it,” Dave Meniketti says. As guitarist, singer and all-around main man for the Bay Area hard rock stalwarts Y&T, he saw a lot of up-and-comers breeze by during the late Seventies and into the Eighties. 

“Van Halen opened for us, and so did Metallica. Poison opened shows for us. As a matter of fact, back in 1981, Mötley Crüe played their first gig ever when they opened for us at the Starwood in LA. It’s in their book.”

He laughs and adds, “We used to have a saying: ‘We know how we’re going to make it big. We have to open for ourselves!’ It seemed like there was a time when every band that went on before us wound up going platinum.”

For a while, it appeared that Y&T were on the fast track for success. Formed in 1972, the band, then called Yesterday & Today (after the 1966 U.S. Beatles album), went through a few members before solidifying the lineup of Meniketti, bassist Phil Kennemore, rhythm guitarist Joey Alves, and drummer Leonard Haze. 

They gigged around, playing shows with Journey and other local acts, and in 1976, after opening for Queen during the band’s A Night at the Opera tour, they scored a deal with London Records. The group’s first two albums, 1976’s self-titled disc and 1978’s Struck Down, received solid notices but failed to sell.

Shortening their name to Y&T, the quartet signed to A&M Records in 1981 and began a stretch of albums that included high-energy gems like 1982’s Black Tiger, 1983’s Mean Streak, and 1984’s In Rock We Trust. With each release, the band inched closer to mainstream stardom – tracks like Midnight in Tokyo and Sentimental Fool garnered significant FM play – but breaking into Top 30 proved to be a code they couldn’t crack. 

Then, in 1985, Y&T released a live album, Open Fire, that included a brand-new studio cut, Summertime Girls. An irresistible nugget of pop metal ear candy, the track was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek video, full of sand and bikini-clad volleyballers, that clicked on MTV. “It was a real double-edged sword for us,” Meniketti says. “After a song like that, you’re expected to repeat it over and over, and that just wasn’t us.”

The group’s next album, Down for the Count, stalled on the charts, and it would be their last release featuring Haze. With new drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, Y&T signed to Geffen Records and attempted to navigate their way through a music scene now ruled by hair metal. 

“It was a frustrating time,” Meniketti says. “The label could have done better things for us, but c’est la vie – stuff happens.” After two more albums, (1987’s Contagious and 1990’s Ten) and another lineup change – guitarist Stef Burns replaced Alves – the band called it quits in 1991.

Meniketti took an extended time out from the music industry (he even turned down an opportunity to form a supergroup with Peter Frampton), but by 1995 he was ready to give Y&T another go. 

Over the next 16 years, the band toured the world with lineups that would, at various points, include both Kennemore and Haze. Sadly, one by one, members of the classic group began passing away: Kennemore succumbed to lung cancer in 2011, Haze died in 2016 after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and a year later, Alves died from ulcerative colitis and inflammatory bowel disease.

“It’s been devastating,” Meniketti says. “I lost my best friend, Phil, and a few years later Leonard and Joey passed. It took the wind out of my sails for a while. But I remember something Phil told me. He was on his deathbed, and he said, ‘Don’t stop. We’ve accomplished a lot over the years, and you’ve got to keep it going.’ It was nice that he felt that way. I would have said the same to him if the situation were reversed.”

Meniketti himself has faced the prospect of his own mortality. Last year, he revealed he was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer. For a time, he put all touring plans on hold while he underwent radiation treatment. He happily reports that he’s been given the all-clear from doctors, and he’s resumed gigging, playing limited sets of shows with a new lineup of Y&T that includes guitarist John Nymann, drummer Mike Vanderhule, and bassist Aaron Leigh.

“If there’s one good thing about being the surviving member, it’s that I’m the lead singer, the lead guitar player, and the principal songwriter,” Meniketti says. “You’re still getting the same sound of the voice and the guitar from the guy who wrote the songs. You’re getting a lot of what Y&T has always been about.”

Y&T always seemed like the perennial underdogs. Do you feel as if the band has been under-appreciated? And how about you as a guitarist? Do you feel somewhat unnoticed?

“I don’t actually care. Honestly, it’s not a contest to me. People say to me, ‘Y&T should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,’ and I tell them, ‘If you want to be an advocate for that, fine. But it doesn’t really matter to me.’ Winning awards has never been a motivator for me.

“As for my guitar playing, I get all the praise I need. Other artists say nice things about me, which is terrific. Sometimes it’s an artist I don’t even know, so I’m especially blown away when they praise my playing. I know I’m not a household name like Slash, and I can live with that. I get all the recognition I deserve.”

You have quite a bluesy flavor in your playing. Who would you say are your major influences in regards to soloing and tone?

“When you’re first starting out, that’s when your biggest influences hit you. That’s certainly true in my case. From the bluesier side of things, I listened to a lot of players. I was a big fan of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. 

“The same goes for Leslie West; I was way into Leslie. There’s a guy who never got the recognition he deserved, in my opinion. There are so many people I listened to and loved – Jeff Beck, of course. That was a sad day when he passed.”

What was the Bay Area music scene like in the early Seventies? Were there a lot of great players?

“We’ve always had a very diverse thing happening here. If you went to Southern California, there were a ton of groups following whatever was popular at the time. Here in the Bay Area, we were kind of isolated from that bandwagon thing. It was such a different scene back then. 

“When we first started in the early Seventies, we had kind of our own thing as the hard rock band of the Bay Area. In our genre, maybe the two musicians closest to us were Sammy Hagar and Ronnie Montrose. There weren’t a lot of heavy rockers yet, but we had tons of great players.”

Was it a competitive scene? It wasn’t New York or L.A. It wasn’t Nashville. Those were the three big cities for music.

“It was competitive, yes. Our first legitimate manager also managed Journey, so Neal Schon and I spent a lot of time together. We played a ton of shows together, too. There was a bit of competition between the bands, sort of brought on by our management. They would tell me, ‘You should play more like Neal.’ Funnily enough, they told Neal, 'You should play more like Dave.' [Laughs] Our styles were so different back then. I was more of a melodic shredder, and he was much more into a melodic thing.”

You were already a gigging pro by the time Eddie Van Halen made his mark in the late Seventies. Did he have an impact on your playing at all?

“I won’t say he had an influence on me from a stylistic standpoint – I had kind of cemented my style at that time. Van Halen opened up for us at the Starwood in LA – I think they got signed soon after. That was the first time we saw them – they played four shows with us. 

“We sat there and watched Eddie, and of course, his playing was completely different from what anybody else was doing on the guitar. I thought it was really interesting and cool. When their first record came out, I was so proud of them – it was awesome. But did he affect my playing style? No.

“In fact, at one point I remember some of the guys in the band asked me, ‘Why don’t you start doing some of those tapping things?’ I said, ‘Fuck no, man. I’m going to do my own thing, and Eddie can do his thing. I’m not going to copy him.’ I enjoyed what he did and I appreciated it, but I couldn’t see trying to incorporate it. I was much more of a straight-ahead kind of guy.”

Y&T went through three different major labels. Did record companies know what to do with the band?

“No, not really. The first two record companies that we signed with – actually, the first three, which is London Records, A&M Records, and Geffen Records – they all had the best of intentions. But we would get on the roster and most of the A&R staff were like, ‘We don’t know what to do with these guys.’ It was kind of one of those things. A lot of bands have those issues, but our situation never got better.”

Summertime Girls was a home run for the band. With a title like that, it’s hard to miss.

“I suppose so. It’s one of those songs people either love or hate. That was just a moment in time. I went to the rehearsal studio, started messing around with some chords, and the song sort of wrote itself in an hour. It’s a cool tune, but it’s the kind of thing you wrestle with – ‘Is this too commercial for us?’ 

“We weren’t actually trying to come up with a single, but it became one. To some degree, it was great – we got major airplay, our video was in heavy rotation, and we were on a big tour with Mötley Crüe. The song wasn’t really representative of our style, though.”

Predictably, the label wanted a sound-alike follow-up single.

“Of course. They wanted a song that had the same vibe. They even got some writers to submit a song called All-American Boy. I was like, ‘Oh, boy, here we go…’ It was difficult doing our next album. The label was saying, 'You should do this, you should do that…' There was a lot of fighting going on among the band and with the label. That was sort of the catalyst for us getting another deal.”

Back in the day, your guitar and gear were pretty consistent – a ’68 Les Paul and a ’74 Marshall amp.

“That’s right, an MK II Marshall. The combination just worked. It did exactly what I wanted far as the tone and sustain. Years later, I switched to amplifiers that had much more gain, such as Mesa/Boogie Rectifiers or what I use now, the Diezel VH4, and I noticed that I ended up playing with a lighter touch. 

“I then went back to my Marshall, and I quickly found that I pulled more tone and character from my hands, because it wasn’t so over-amped. I was like, ‘Wow, I really play differently with a Marshall.’”

What’s the story with you turning down Peter Frampton’s invitation to form a supergroup?

“We did two albums for Geffen and got dropped. At that point, the band was so disgusted and disappointed by the industry, so we decided to go our separate ways. Our A&R person at Geffen, John Kalodner, was a big fan of mine and wanted me to have success. 

“One of his fortes was putting together supergroups, and he told me Peter Frampton was looking for another lead singer and guitar player, somebody who was a little different from him and someone he could write with. Peter called and we talked for a few minutes. 

“I told him, ‘Peter, I just got off from 17 years with one band and beating my head against the wall with the industry. I don’t know what to do right now, and it doesn’t feel right to just move right into something else. I need some time to give me head space.’ He totally understood, though he wished I would’ve at least come down and rehearsed with him.”

I’m surprised you didn’t try jamming with him, just to be sure.

“I probably should have, but I didn’t. I was dead broke at the time. Six months later, his manager called me and said, 'Look, we’ve been through 60 different guys, and you’re the guy. They’re going to give us a deal if you join. Just do it.' And I still said no. 

“He got really pissed at me – the manager. I saw Peter eight or nine years ago. He came down to play a show. I just wanted to say hi in person and tell him, ‘I’m sorry about way back when – and now I kind of wish I would’ve done it.’ He was gracious, of course. He’s a sweetheart.”

Instead of forming a band with Frampton, you eventually reunited Y&T.

“Yeah, it was the band that had broken up. We did a couple of independent records. It was a tough time because our style of music wasn’t popular; the grunge thing was happening. We signed with a Japanese company to do two records, and we toured Japan. 

“We didn’t play a whole lot more than that. We did some local shows here and there. After that, I did two solo records. It was kind of back-and-forth. I did shows with my own band, then some Y&T shows.

“Then in 2003, the Sweden Rock festival had us come and play, and that kind of kicked us back into gear. We found we had a huge following in Europe, which was kind of strange. From that point on, we played as much as we could and toured quite a bit more for a while.

The band hasn’t recorded an album in 13 years. Will there ever be another one?

“It’s been a plan for the last eight years. I’ve been lagging on that for a couple of different reasons, mostly just getting the impetus to crank up the songwriting again. I’m not one of these guys who’s constantly writing. I have to make time for it. Once I get in the groove, things start happening, but I just haven’t done it. I don’t know how to describe it or what my reasons are. I will say I have every intention of making it happen.”  

Journey were formed in 1973 in San Francisco, California, by ex-Santana guitarist Neal Schon, now the only original member left in the lineup. The band’s most successful period was in the 1980s, where Schon featured alongside singer Steve Perry, bassist Ross Valory, keyboard player Jonathan Cain, and drummer Steve Smith. 

This era saw the release of legendary songs such as Don’t Stop Believin’, Any Way You Want It, and Open Arms.

Journey in many ways epitomize the sound of rock from the 1980s, and this era saw them blend guitar riffs with what was then modern synth sounds, big choruses, and shredding solos. During this time they toured as a headline act with support coming from artists such as Bryan Adams, and headlined festivals with special guests Van Halen and other massive acts.

Schon also found time to work with keyboard legend Jan Hammer, and Paul Rodgers, as well as forming the side project band Bad English, which featured John Waite on lead vocals. 

There have been numerous legal battles between band members over the years, which include some in very recent times, but they did manage to release a new album in 2022 called Freedom, with Arnel Pineda on vocals and Randy Jackson playing bass. 

Neal Schon joined Carlos Santana’s band as a 17-year-old, apparently turning down Eric Clapton’s offer of joining Derek and the Dominos. His guitar playing style inevitably draws influence from Santana, as well as many of the blues greats, such as B.B. King and Clapton. 

Schon also played as a session musician in the 1980s for artists like Michael Bolton, and his blues- and jazz-influenced playing spearheaded much of the rock style heard on records of that era, when fantastic guitar players like Schon himself, Dann Huff, Steve Lukather, and Michael Landau were regularly heard playing on the pop radio hits of the artists of the day.

The track this month is very much focused on the sound of Journey from the 1980s and has a chord-based riff in the key of G Major (G-A-B-C-D-E-F#). It doesn’t at any point stray outside of this key and the main parts are built on a I-V-VI-IV chord progression of G Major, D Major, E Minor 7, and C Major. 

The second section of the rhythm track has a C Major chord and a D Major chord, each played over a C bass note. This gives us the sound of the C Lydian mode (C-D-E-F#-G-A-B) when the D Major chord (D-F#-A) appears over the C bass note – the F# in the chord is the #4th interval, which gives us the sound of the Lydian mode.

The solo is mostly melodic, but with some fast flurries of notes that might catch you out if you’re not prepared. It’s one of the main features of Schon’s lead playing style.  

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 8, Bass 6, Middle 7, Treble 7, Reverb 4

It’s classic 1980s rock to aim for this month, so any Marshall amp style sound with a good amount of preamp gain will work well. Add some chorus, delay and reverb to taste. Schon tends to favor humbucking guitars such as Gibson Les Pauls, PRS models or Super Strat-style guitars by the likes of Tom Anderson. Select the bridge pickup and you’re good to go.

Example 1. Rhythm

There are a lot of chords accented loudly in the track. The main G, D, Em7 and C chords are played strong and loud, with the eighth-note chords in bars 9-16 accenting the changes. 

There are also lightly palm-muted notes in between the chord changes. The low C note in bars 17-24 is also palm muted, which again allows for the other notes to be accented loudly. While this may sound rather complex, it should prove intuitive once you start playing the example.

Example 2. Lead

This solo has a good blend of melody and technique, with the fast phrase in bars 37-38 accenting the first note of each sextuplet. There is a mix of alternate picking and legato in this phrase: try out the picking suggestions below the tab, otherwise swap them around to start with a down pick.

Since snagging his first gigs with fusion masters Billy Cobham and Jean Luc Ponty in the ‘70s, Randy Jackson has become one of the most successful session bassists in history, and one of the very few who has transitioned to the upper echelons of the music business. 

Besides working on over a thousand gold and multi-platinum albums for artists like Journey, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Elton John, Jackson spent much of the ‘90s as a label executive at Columbia Records and at MCA, where he was instrumental in the careers of stars like Gladys Knight and Mariah Carey.

His bass guitar instructional video, 1992’s Mastering the Groove, focussed on fundamentals Jackson felt were lost in an era of gratuitous technique; and his 2004 book, What’s Up Dawg: How to Become a Superstar in the Music Business, may be the ultimate guide to making it. Famously nicknamed “The Emperor,” Jackson would still be an industry legend even if his career had ended upon the advent of the phenomenally successful American Idol.

“There’s a lot of people who have been doing this job for a long time,” Jackson told BP back in 2007. “As soon as you walk through the door, we’re judging if this is going to work before you’ve even plugged that bass in. So, you have a choice. You can make this some fantasy playtime thing that you do on weekends, or it can become your career. Playing bass is like being a carpenter or a painter or working for NASA or McDonald’s – it’s a job. Wouldn’t you want to know everything there is to know about your job?”

Jackson’s first inkling of the studio life was a 1973 visit to L.A. to watch the legendary Chuck Rainey in action, so it was only fitting that we started our conversation with one if his favourite topics – mentors.

Who were your earliest mentors?

“I got started by taking lessons with this guy Sammy Thornton in my hometown of Baton Rouge. He played a Fender Precision – and everything he played, he made it feel good. Later I learned a lot from records – I loved Ron Carter, Miroslav Vitous, Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Scott LaFaro.”

What was it like to meet and hang with Chuck Rainey?

“To see Chuck Rainey in action while he was working on Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd album – I was 17 – to see him doing sessions, and to get to hang out with him – it was great. He was just the coolest guy; he created a part of who I am today.”

What did you do after those early gigs with Billy Cobham and Jean Luc Ponty?

“I played in Jeff Lorber’s band, made some records with Kenny G, and I made a record with Herbie Hancock. I hooked up with Narada Michael Walden in the Bay Area, and we made a lot of records with Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey. These were very pure, great times. Just living through the music.”

You joined Journey in 1983 and played on Raised on Radio

“Playing with them was one of the greatest experiences ever. Steve Perry is one of the greatest vocalists, period, and Neil Schon is an unbelievable guitar player.  Jonathan Cain is a brilliant songwriter, and Steve Smith? One of the best drummers ever.”

In your book, you say that you hit a wall with the session player thing?

“I made a couple of albums with Bruce Springsteen that I love. Bob Dylan, too. I’ve been blessed to be around some great people. I was working with Dylan, Springsteen, Celine Dion, Elton John, Lionel Richie, Billy Joel, Mariah – all these greats. I had to pinch myself, but I needed to figure out where I was going to go next, because it couldn’t get any better. It was already a dream come true.”

So you got into A&R at Columbia Records

“I always knew a lot about the business and it has always helped me. I encourage musicians to learn as much as they can about the business; you’re selling your wares, selling your music, and you need to know all that you can.”

Do today’s  bass players need different skills than they did in the past?

“We’re living in a time now where you need to know as much as you can about music. You need to become as great as you can. That’s why you need to narrow down your field and decide what category is the one for you. As soon as you do that, you can decide what it’s gonna take for you to become great in that area.”

What if someone doesn’t have lofty ambitions?

“There’s nothing wrong with that. You know what I tell most young bass players? Just be who you are. Live in the moment – go with it. Don’t try to force that moment to be something else.”

What else do you look for in a bass player?

“I like people who actually listen to the music, who try to get into the soul of what the song is about. Don’t pick up your bass and act like you’re in Guitar Center and play 18 notes a second. This is not about shredder time. It’s about listening and reacting to the music.”

Is it important to play many different styles?

“Times are different now. That kind of player, the ‘bassist for all seasons’ – people like myself, Freddie Washington, Will Lee, Nathan East, Neil Stubenhaus – I don’t think that particular kind of player is being created anymore. Victor Wooten doesn’t do that. Oteil Burbridge doesn’t do that. They’re unbelievable players, but they don’t do that.”

“A kid that comes out now sees Jay-Z over here, Justin Timberlake over there, the Killers, the Fray over here, Metallica over here, Jill Scott, the Roots…he has to decide where he’s gonna go. As a producer, if I’m doing a rock record, guess who I’m gonna call? A rock and roller. I want authenticity on my  records.”

You talk about the roadmaps to success in your book.

“If you’re a bass player who wants to be successful, go back and soak up all those old grooves. Really get involved, get into it – learn what all that’s about before you go charging into the future.”

What do you think when you look back on your career?

“My whole thing was always about keeping it real and living in reality. I was just a kid growing up in Louisiana that loved music, and music is still the centre of everything I do in my life – American Idol, my solo record, the artists I manage, everything. So I’m in the middle of living out my music dreams.”

Former Journey rhythm guitarist George Tickner has passed away at the age of 76, according to a Facebook post from the band's long-tenured guitarist, Neal Schon.

“Journey Junkies, I have some very sad news,” wrote Schon. “George Tickner, Journey's original rhythm guitarist and songwriting contributor on their first three albums, has passed away. He was 76 years old. Godspeed, George… thank you for the music. 

“We will be paying tribute to you on this page indefinitely. Our condolences to his family and friends, and to all past and present band members. So heartbreaking… I think we need to do a group hug, JJ's!”

Journey formed in San Francisco in 1973 following an amalgamation of members from two acts: namely, lead guitarist Schon and keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie, who had both played in Santana; and rhythm guitarist Tickner and bassist Ross Valory of the psych-rock band, Frumious Bandersnatch. 

The band’s combined experience and contacts – not least, the patronage of Santana manager Herbie Herbert – saw them quickly perform to large crowds at early shows. 

Indeed, their first gig was to an audience of 10,000 at San Francisco’s famed Winterland Ballroom. That was quickly follow by a Hawaii festival performance to a 100,000-strong crowd.

Tickner played with the group from the outset and, following their signing with Columbia, helped to write and record the band’s 1975 self-titled debut album. Among his writing credits on that album are the songs Topaz, Mystery Mountain and the album’s expansive opening statement, Of A Lifetime.

Following the album’s release, the prospect of a heavy touring schedule and the opportunity to study medicine at Stanford on a full scholarship led Tickner to leave the group. 

Schon took over as the sole guitarist at that point, but Tickner remained involved in music in various forms. He contributed to the writing of Journey’s next two albums, 1976's Look Into The Future and 1977's Next, and later opened a studio, The Hive, which he co-founded with Valory. 

Various members of Journey recorded at the facility, and Tickner once again reunited with his former bandmates when they were awarded with a star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame in 2005 (pictured above).

Schon has also shared a six-string tribute to the departed Tickner on Twitter, writing simply: “Some late nite Strat blues. Prayers for George.”

Journey guitar hero Neal Schon has shared a new clip showcasing a mammoth shred workout, which he (somewhat modestly) describes as “a little tribute” to Eddie Van Halen.

The 3:35 video shows Schon, armed with an EVH Striped Series electric guitar, unleashing a virtuosic display of shred talent, including some viciously fast and consistent picking, two-handed tapping and a killer vibrato. 

Van Halen’s arrival in the late-’70s caused a collective WTF moment among guitar players that would last well into the next decade. As an early tour mate, Journey guitarist Neal Schon was one of the first big-name players to witness it. 

The Journey man had a stage side view of some of the guitarist’s first major performances and is therefore better placed than many to observe the nuances of Van Halen’s innovative guitar style. 

“A little tribute to Ed,” writes Schon, in the accompanying text. “It was so amazing to be on Van Halen’s first tour with him. I watched him annihilate every single night and was grateful I didn’t have to follow him.”

Schon has spoken about the 1978 tour previously, telling Eddie Trunk in 2020 that even before they met he had been equally wowed and baffled by Van Halen’s playing.

“Three months prior to the tour starting, I had received a little promotional EP,” recalled Schon. “And I'm sitting there listening to Eruption and I'm going, 'What the fuck is this guy doing?’ For real. I could not figure it out… It drove me nuts. 

“And we finally got out there, and I got to know Ed, and watched him night to night just kill it… [But] in the beginning, he would turn his back, a lot of times, to the audience, or hold the guitar in a certain way where you couldn't see exactly what he was doing. 

“So about halfway through, I remember being in his dressing room, or he came in my dressing room, and I said, ‘Show me what it is, man.’ And he did it. And I did it pretty immediately, but I was just, like, ‘Son of a bitch. That's so crazy.’ I never would have thought of that. And I had heard it before – the sound of it – but not doing the triplets and what Ed was doing.”

We wonder if Schon ever played through EVH’s rig – Nuno Bettencourt once did and described it as “a horrible nightmare”.

AOR legends Journey invited original vocalist/keyboardist Gregg Rolie and Toto electric guitar player Steve Lukather onstage for an electrifying performance of Santana’s Black Magic Woman last Wednesday (February 22). 

Journey are currently celebrating their 50th anniversary, and marked the occasion by reuniting with Rolie, a founding member of the band, at their Austin, Texas date for a six-song cameo performance.

Rolie and Journey’s lynchpin guitarist, Neal Schon, both performed in Santana prior to forming Journey in the ’70s, with Rolie serving as the original vocalist on many of Santana’s most iconic early hits, including Black Magic Woman (itself a cover of one of Fleetwood Mac's early smashes), Oye Cómo Va and Evil Ways.

An Austin local, Rolie dropped in on Journey’s show at the city’s Moody Center to perform an extensive run of tracks that included Just The Same Way (from 1979's Evolution), Of a Lifetime (from 1975's Journey), Feeling That Way and Anytime (from 1978’s Infinity), in addition to Black Magic Woman. 

For the latter performance, the band also invited Toto guitarist and tour mate Steve Lukather onstage and, fortunately for us, fan footage ably captured the moment. The 37-minute encore was concluded when Journey’s current vocalist, Arnel Pineda, returned to the stage to close the show with Anyway You Want It. 

Schon initially teased Rolie’s appearance at the start of the show, telling fans, “We have an extra special show tonight.” Later, he personally introduced Rolie for the encore. 

“We have a brother here,” said Schon. “Someone I started the band with 50 years ago. He first took me under his wing when I was 15 years old. He came and picked me up from school, [which was good] because I wasn’t going to school anyway…”

Journey’s 2023 50th Anniversary Freedom tour is set to continue throughout March and April. 

Head to Journey’s official site for tickets and information.

Journey guitarist Neal Schon has filed a cease and desist order against his bandmate, keyboardist and occasional guitarist Jonathan Cain.

It comes after Cain last month performed Don’t Stop Believin’ at Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort, with Trump adherents Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kimberly Guilfoyle and Kari Lake.

In a letter to Cain [seen by The Guardian], Schon’s lawyer has written, on behalf of Schon: “Although Mr. Cain is free to express his personal beliefs and associations, when he does that on behalf of Journey or for the band, such conduct is extremely deleterious to the Journey brand as it polarises the band’s fans and outreach. Journey is not, and should not be, political.”

“Mr. Cain’s unauthorised affiliation of Journey with the politics of Donald Trump has the band’s fans up in arms,” the letter continues, pointing to a set of attached emails and Twitter comments.

“This has caused, and continues to cause, irreparable harm to the Journey brand, its fan base and earning potential, especially in light of the forthcoming tour.”

“Mr. Cain has no right to use Journey for politics…” the letter added. “He should not be capitalising on Journey’s brand to promote his personal political or religious agenda to the detriment of the band.”

Cain’s wife, televangelist Paula White-Cain, is a member of Trump’s inner circle, as the former US president’s spiritual advisor.

In response, a spokesperson for Cain has said: “Schon is just frustrated that he keeps losing in court and is now falsely claiming the song has been used at political rallies.”

Schon’s letter also states that his legal action does not intend to “further add to the animosity that is currently plaguing the band and the relationship between Mr Schon and Mr Cain”.

This is in reference to the fact that Schon sued Cain last month over allegations he was refused access to the band’s joint American Express credit card, with Cain responding with claims that Schon had racked up over $1 million in “improper personal expenses” on the card.

Schon has not yet responded to Cain’s counterclaim, but has said that he will “be following my attorney’s advice and not speak until we are in court where I’ll not have a problem at all. It is what it is.”

Both Schon and former Journey frontman Steve Perry have expressed their disapproval at Don't Stop Believin' being played at previous Trump campaign rallies, joining a host of musicians to do the same, including Neil Young, Queen, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith.

Last week, Journey performed the last 2022 dates of their Freedom world tour, and took a two-night stop in Hawaii to perform consecutive dates at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu on Wednesday and Thursday (October 5 and 6).

During the latter show, Neal Schon and co invited Metallica’s Kirk Hammett on stage to perform Journey’s 1978 number Wheel in the Sky, which seamlessly segued into a full-band jam of Metallica’s own Enter Sandman.

The dual electric guitar act of Schon and Hammett proved to be a particularly potent sonic force, with the pair standing side-by-side for the seven-plus minute procession to trade licks, double up riffs and go toe-to-toe with blazing guitar solos.

With Schon strapped to his custom IHush guitar – crafted by Japanese luthier Naoki Ihashi – and Hammett opting for his beloved “Greeny” Les Paul, the pair spent the first three minutes making their way through Wheel in the Sky before breaking unannounced into the Enter Sandman hook.

A characteristically wah-drenched solo from Hammett preceded a full-throttle throwdown, which then saw the band effortlessly shift back into Wheel in the Sky to close out Hammett’s cameo.

“Had a great time with Kirk Hammett of Metallica last night at [the second] sold out Journey show in Hawaii,” Schon wrote on social media after the gig. “I put together a jam today for Wheel with Enter Sandman.”

On his own Instagram account, Hammett posted, “Had a wonderful couple days hanging out with Neal and the guys from Journey. Thanks so much guys for having me jam.”

Though only fan footage from the event is currently available online, Schon revealed on Twitter a “15 mins long” pro-shot version will be arriving soon, presumably to Journey’s YouTube account.

Their Hawaiian double-header was Journey’s last live appearance of 2022. The band will next be in action for their Freedom tour in March next year, when they will perform a string of dates that had been postponed earlier this year due to positive Covid tests.

The first of five shows will take place on March 1 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, and will be followed by performances in Connecticut, Canada and California.

For a full list of 2023 dates, head over to Journey’s website.

Randy Jackson, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1956, doesn’t have the usual bass-player biography. A fusion bassist from his twenties, having got his start with the French jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, he found fame with the AOR giants Journey in 1986. 

This kickstarted a long and prolific session career, whether playing pop hits with artists such as Whitney Houston or complex jazz with Billy Cobham, and he soon expanded his role to production, artist management, and then A&R, where he was a stalwart for many years at Columbia and MCA.

That’s a successful music-industry career by anyone’s standards, but Jackson’s appearances as a judge and artist mentor on American Idol on Fox from 2002 until 2014 made him nothing less than a household name. 

Now that TV talent shows of this nature have receded from view a little, it’s easy to forget just how massive they were a decade ago: At its peak, say from 2004 to 2010, American Idol was ranked at the top of the annual US television ratings. 

It created dozens of new musical stars, the best-known among them being Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Queen’s Adam Lambert, mentored by Jackson and his fellow judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and others.

Many a musician despises the American Idol format, though – and to his credit, when Jackson talks to us today about Journey’s new album Freedom, he paints a balanced picture of the show. And if you’re looking for bass stories that will blow your mind, look no further: This man has seen and done it all.   

I really enjoyed Freedom, Randy. There’s tons of cool bass all over it.

“Thanks, man. It was fun. It was a little bit challenging to make during the pandemic, but we did it. I worked at NRG Studios in North Hollywood for part of it, and at my own studio here. It was wild at times, not being in the same room. Jonathan [Cain, keyboards] was in Florida and Arnel [Pineda, vocals] was in Manila, but we did it.” 

It doesn’t sound any different to a traditional, studio-recorded album to me.

“That’s because we know each other so well, and we’ve played together a lot over the years. At a certain age and after a certain amount of development and experience, you all know what it is and where it’s going. Also, we all chimed in on writing and co-writing, so we all knew what the intention was, you know what I mean?”

I do, but didn’t you miss that moment when you look at the drummer and they look at you, and you know you’re both going to play something at the end of the bar?

“Oh, I know. I do this anyway, but on this album I played the songs a ton of times over and over in seven different ways, because I was trying to imagine being in a room and getting that feeling.” 

If the technology existed so that you could work remotely and the timing would be perfect, with no delay, it would be fine. 

“There’s companies coming out with that stuff. One of them is called Sessionwire, and they’re doing some cool stuff that I’m involved with. It sounds cool, and it’s almost close enough to be really workable.”

The company that cracks that is going to make a fortune.

“I know! Let’s dive in with Bass Player. We should be on board with the new Elon Musk.”

What was the gear that you used on the album?

“A four-string Bongo by Music Man, a custom shop Fender Jazz, and a Sadowsky on a couple of songs. I used Ampeg SVTs for a lot of it, a Kemper for most of it, a SansAmp for all of it. Some pick, some fingers, Ernie Ball strings. I was trying to create that sort of Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, John Paul Jones feel, almost like the Acoustic 360 amp that had the fuzz and the tuner in it.”

Does your custom Jazz have different spec?

“Yeah. I still own quite a few older Fenders, but I’m that guy who doesn’t like passive. I love active, so I’m the newfangled guy who wants to be able to dial in what I want to dial in, and dial in how much of it I want. 

“I want to be able to oversaturate and overdrive and do what I want to do and have various basses give me three or four or five different tones. You can’t do that with passive, but if you’ve got a Kemper, you’ve got everything you need right there.”

On the recent single, You Got The Best Of Me, you do a load of upper-register stuff at the back end of the song that I really liked.

“Yeah, that’s where the Kemper came in handy, but I think you gotta always start with a great tone. As Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown – the old bluesman I used to play with when I was a kid – used to tell me, the tone is in your hands.” 

How old were you when you got started as a bass player?

“I was 14. My brother had a band in my mom’s garage in lovely Louisiana. He was a drummer. In the neighborhood where I grew up, we had what were known as block parties, with a local band in the neighborhood practicing on the front porch of one of the bandmembers’ homes. People would gather around, and the ice-cream truck would come. 

“I just fell in love with the bass, and I had a great first teacher, this guy Sammy Thornton. God rest his soul. He was a brilliant guy from Baton Rouge, and he was very old-school – very James Jamerson and Chuck Rainey. I got good beginnings, at a great time, from a master.”

What was your first bass?

“It was a Kingston, and I loved that bass, man – it was great. Then I had a Sears bass. I used to play upright a lot when I was in high school, too. There were so many great bass players around at the time – Jamerson, John Paul Jones, McCartney, and Chuck Rainey of course, but also Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, Anthony Jackson, Marcus Miller, Nate Watts, all those guys that came up at the time. 

“Also, Leon Sylvers – my God, that guy was so dope. He played a Rickenbacker 4001 with Shalamar, he was brilliant. Bootsy Collins, oh my God. Him and Larry Graham, they just leave you speechless. But you know, there’s some incredible bass players today. Victor Wooten is amazing. I love Mohini Dey, I love Mononeon. My friend Hadrien Feraud is brilliant, too, and so is Pino Palladino. So many great, great players.”

These days, do you define yourself primarily as a bass player, as a record company executive, as a TV personality, or something else?

“Well, that’s funny. I started just as a musician, and later on, I went into the label side doing A&R, and then I went into TV. So I would call myself a creative professional – or a business-minded creative would be a better way to put it, I guess, or a creative entrepreneur. 

“In the early days I was just trying to master my craft, which would give me the licence to play with any of the amazing, unbelievable talents that I played with, like Jean-Luc Ponty, like John McLaughlin, like Narada Michael Walden – these giant players. 

“I mean, John McLaughlin is like a god. One of my main mentors was John Coltrane, so I always imagined being able to circular-breathe on the bass, like he did on the saxophone. Well, that’s kind of what John McLaughlin did on the guitar. It’s really hard to play like that, which is why they’re still teaching Giant Steps in school. They’ll be teaching it until the cows come home.”

What would circular breathing-influenced bass playing feel like?

“It’s very hard. It’s being able to play at your highest level, melodically and rhythmically, without stopping. It’s still a work in progress.”

What is your philosophy when it comes to good bass playing?

“Once you have your sound, do you listen? And do you use your facility wisely? Because if you don’t, and all you’re doing is showing off, you’re not listening. You’re only listening to yourself, which makes you a terrible ensemble player. 

“I’ve spent a lot of time putting bands together for tours, and I would always notice which musicians were actually listening. If you’re just playing and trying to show off, that’s not going to do anybody any good.”

Did you go through that phase yourself? 

“Of course. I think all young players do. I tried to play a billion notes a second, and then somebody said to me, ‘Are you feeling any of those notes that you’re playing?’ I was like, ‘Damn, dude, I just got hit hard.’ I had to sit there thinking about it in front of a bunch of people. It took me aback, but I was like, ‘You know what? He’s right. It’s good advice.’ 

“I grew up loving songs, and for me, in order to love songs, you have to listen to them and hear them – like absorb them, and really digest them, and ask, ‘What is the meaning of the lyric? What is the intention of that bassline?’”

Which performers have impressed you most?

“James Brown, who I met a couple of times. This guy was a complete performance showman. That’s where a lot of Prince and Michael Jackson’s approach came from, which still makes them two of the greatest, but James made it look effortless. 

“He thought about every single detail. ‘When I move left, or my hair moves or my hips move, how do I look? How do I stand if I’m gonna hold the mic? How am I gonna hold it? I’m gonna scream to the right and then to the left.’ I mean, just unbelievable.”

We have a photo of you playing with members of the Grateful Dead in 1989. 

“That was an amazing, crazy, wild band, with Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Carlos Santana, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, and Chester Thompson. That was a wild band that was pretty unbelievably amazing. I didn’t quite realize it at the time. But, you know, maybe some of those inebriants helped me not realize that at the time, haha!”

What was your stimulant of choice?

“Whatever the day felt like. What do we feel like today, what color, what size, where should we go today? Wow.”

If someone who wasn’t familiar with your work asked you to recommend one of your recordings, what would you suggest? 

“You know, I’ve worked on so many types of records, from Whitney Houston and Madonna to fusion stuff. I loved doing Jumpin’ Jack Flash with Ronnie and Keith and Steve Jordan in 1986 [for the Whoopi Goldberg movie of the same name]. That was fun, because I love the Rolling Stones. And I love the blues, like Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram and Marcus King and my boy Eric Gales. 

“I love the feels, and I love people that can give you the feels, along with the tone and the sound and the playability. Just playing the notes is not enough for me. 

“Anybody can learn to play the notes, and anybody can learn to play fast – but can you play a line with feeling and real intention, so that it reaches out and touches somebody’s soul? I want to make love to the soul, not the mind, like Jaco did.”

Did you ever cross paths with him?

“I crossed paths with him a bunch. I saw him with Wayne Cochran’s CC Riders way back when – the blue-eyed soul band from the south. And then I had one of the greatest times of my life when I was playing with Billy Cobham at the Roxy in LA in 1976 to ’77. 

“We played a show attended by my dear friend Chuck Rainey, who I got lessons from at one point in my life. Chuck brought along James Jamerson, Jaco Pastorius, Lenny White, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, all the Toto boys. And they all came up and sat in! 

“It was incredible, man, and then we all played touch football in the street. The day after, I went up to GIT, which had just started, with Jamerson, because he was doing a thing up there. I was just like ‘Wow!’ These guys were all my heroes.”

Fusion was a serious commercial force back then. Why was that?

“It had a much bigger audience than it does today, thanks to guys like Miles Davis and John McLaughlin, who played with Miles. Miles was the firestarter. He made jazz more commercial. He made it sexy. He wore cool clothing, and he was a rock star with electric records like On The Corner, which had two drummers and three bass players that were really pushing the envelope. That’s what started making jazz cool. 

“When you think about Alphonso Johnson and how he dressed, and Herbie Hancock at the time with Headhunters and Weather Report, it was very cool. Return To Forever was cool too. I’ll also give massive credit to one of the greatest promoters ever, Billy Graham. 

“As a kid in Louisiana, I went to see the Doobie Brothers at the Lakefront Marina in New Orleans, and the band opening for them was the Mahavishnu Orchestra. So to put this in perspective. I’m listening to Black Water by the Doobie Brothers, and these guys come on before that playing Birds Of Fire, my God. My head was blown wide open. Think about that. You don’t have that today. It would be like Snarky Puppy opening for Lil Wayne!”

Would you say you’re playing bass at your best now?

“If you mean, ‘Am I playing with my best wisdom?’ then yes, I would say that part is true. I listen a lot more now than I ever have. It’s probably why I was a pretty good session player, because I think about what the song needs. I think, ‘Does it need me to do this now? What do I want to play? What’s the tone, what’s the sound, what’s the part?’”

What’s your approach to soloing?

“Listen to the melody. Think about what the music is, and think about what the idiom is. If you’re in a funk band, a jazz solo might not work. You can use the whole-tone scale, but it may or may not work. You can use the Mixolydian minor, but that may not work either, so think accordingly. To really play the music, you’ve got to listen. 

“I could teach a whole class on listening, with no instruments. I would tell the students, ‘Just listen, and tell me what you’ve heard,’ because I find most people do not listen, or if they do, they only listen to themselves. They think, ‘Okay, I’m learning to play the modes, and I can use this scale here, and I’ll start with a harmonic minor’ and I’ll go, ‘No, you’re not listening – you’re thinking.’”

What’s next for you?

“I’ve been working on a solo record for the last three months. A lot of my favorite players and singers are on it. I’m excited about it – I think you’ll like it. There’ll be some bass and guitar players that you’ll know.”

Did you play bass on it too?

“One of the things I’ve adopted later on in life is that when I’m producing, a lot of the times I’ll get somebody else to play bass, depending on what the music is, because I find it’s hard to perform both roles at the same. It’s kind of fun, you know, seeing how someone else would interpret a bass part, because their approach is always different.”

As a producer, do you prioritize the bass parts because you’re a bass player yourself?

“No, I’m listening to the whole band. See, as a producer, you have to listen to everything, because you’re trying to get a message out to someone. It can’t just be about the bass. That’s why I don’t play bass when I’m producing. If I don’t like what has been recorded, I’ll go back later and replace it or add to it or whatever, but I’m trying to get the right perspective. 

“What’s the intention? What’s the song supposed to say? And more importantly, what are you supposed to feel while you listen to it? Am I trying to make you dance? Am I trying to make you sad? Am I trying to make you hopeful? What am I trying to give you?

“Listen to Santana – how does that make you feel? Listen to Bartok or Beethoven or Bach or Prokofiev. What are they trying to give you? What am I supposed to get from Bootsy’s Rubber Band? What’s he trying to give me?”

Your career in A&R presumably gave you added perception when you became a producer.

“Yeah, because it forced me to understand more about what it means to become a successful songwriter and a successful producer. It actually forces you to have to  view it from 30,000 feet and become truly objective. It’s not about you. It’s all about the song.”

Is A&R a tough business?

“It’s really hard, because everybody’s got an opinion, but is it the right opinion? Are you being honest with yourself? Are you being honest with the artist? Are you signing and developing the right artists? Is their music good, and what does good actually mean? Is it gonna sell? Is it going to make the company money? 

“There’s a lot that goes into it, because anybody can make music. That’s actually part of the problem today. One of the downsides of social media and YouTube is that there’s no arbiter of tastes, so you have to weed through a lot of garbage to find the good shit.”

Well, that leads me to American Idol. A lot of people don’t trust music from TV talent shows. Are they wrong to feel that way?

“Yeah. They just don’t realize what American Idol was about. See, Simon Cowell and I were both A&R guys at the time of being judges on Idol. We weren’t stars, we were just A&R guys. Our day job was about finding and developing talent and making it happen, and what was American Idol about? It was a show about finding and developing talent and making it happen. 

“Basically, it was a glorified A&R show. It gave us marketing, it gave us research, and we would take somebody that you didn’t know, and they would leave the show with 10 million people as their audience. When we put their record out, we could go to 10 or 15 percent of that audience to market and sell to, so now a nobody has a million and a half people that actually give a shit. 

“Look at Kelly Clarkson, who’s talented and sold seven-million copies: 40 million people voted for her. Now, if 40 million people knew about Mohini Dey and voted for her, that would be a different conversation. So American Idol was really a marketing tool, although the public will never see that.”

That makes sense.

“Yeah. We saw that it was becoming hard at that time to break new artists. I was at MCA Records, and you could put Blink-182, Mary J. Blige or whoever on any TV show – Letterman, Carson, Leno – and you’d spend a bunch of money doing it, just to sell another 10,000 records. We saw all that dwindling at the time, so our question was, how do you bring a new artist out?”

In 2022, has the talent-show format been replaced by YouTube or TikTok or one of those platforms?

“TikTok has definitely helped a bit, but as I said, the real issue is that there’s no arbiter of taste. So on TikTok, you gotta listen to 20,000 horrible singers to hear one good one. 

“At least on TV talent shows, you may only have to hear 500 bad ones to get to the good ones. It’s the same thing with YouTube. Nobody’s saying ‘Don’t put that song out’. You and I could be in a pub right now, and everybody in the pub could release 10 songs. Forget the talent level. That’s the problem.”

Having been known as a musician beforehand, how did it feel to make the transition to being a household name when American Idol got popular?

“It was a little weird. I’d be queued up at a store, and people would walk up and start talking to me like I was their best friend. I’d think, ‘I don’t even know you,’ but they’d talk for hours, asking me ‘What do you think about so and so?’ But we were in people’s homes twice a week, so I understood it.”

You don’t miss the show?

“Well, now I’m on Name That Tune, which is like an old-school game show. I don’t miss judging artists, because I did it for so long. But we’re developing another show along those lines, and I think it’s the next new wrinkle. It’s a music show, but it’s a little bit different – I think people will dig it.” 

• Freedom is out now via BMG.

Neal Schon has written a few hits in his time. He knows how to write a song that connects, across generational divides, across continents. With Journey’s new album, Freedom, lighting up the airwaves with the San Francisco rock legends’ irresistible melodies, Guitar World sat down with Schon to talk about some of the greatest tracks in the catalog.

Here, he shares some of the stories – and the electric guitars – behind classic hits Wheel in the Sky and Don’t Stop Believin’, but also those behind four of the tracks from Freedom – an album that reminds us that Schon’s ear for a hook remains undiminished after all these years. It is just something that’s in him. 

As a wise man once said, “Either you go it or you ain’t.” Neal Schon has got it. He has always had it.

The Way We Used to Be – Freedom (2022)

“This was the first song I wrote during the pandemic. I wrote it on keyboards then sent my keyboard loop to [Journey keyboardist] Jonathan [Cain]. I didn’t think it sounded like your typical Journey song, but it was something to do for myself; I had to get things rolling in some kind of way to get my brain going.”  

“When I listened back, I thought, “I don’t know if this is a Journey track, but it sounds funky, bluesy and kind of edgy.” I thought it sounded like a modern Stones kind of vibe – or the Faces. I was really surprised when Jonathan sent me back his demo. He had written all the melodies and the lyrics, and I went, “That sounds really good.” That was the beginning of the writing for this new album. 

“Guitar-wise, I kind of left this one sparse; I love hearing the air and the holes in it. Great-sounding Strat, though! It was a relic black Strat from the Fender Custom Shop that has some type of noiseless pickups, [but] not the newer ones they’re making now. I used it on quite a bit of songs on the record.”

Don’t Give Up on Us – Freedom (2022)

“When Narada [Michael-Walden] and I started laying down tracks, it was mainly him and me in the studio because we live close together in Marin County [California]. While the lockdown was happening, I’d go to his studio and at least work with drums and guitar. Then I’d put some bass and scratch vocals on it. He’d sing a bit, I’d sing a bit – but that’s how that song came about. 

“I just started chunking away on the guitar with what I thought sounded like some Motown chords, then I sang some melodies on it. I sent Jonathan the song after it was arranged and after we had overdubbed on it, so it sounded pretty complete. 

“He came up with the melodies; after he sent it back, we continued to do vocal demos on it and background vocals. It’s wild how this was definitely a lockdown album where everybody was in different locations – except for Narada and me.”

You Got the Best of Me – Freedom (2022)

“I was looking for more up-tempo songs for our set. Even though the shows are going great and nobody’s complaining, I’m always leaning toward having a little more adrenaline. I knocked that one out, arrangement-wise, before I came into the studio with Narada. 

“We laid it down, and then the chorus just kind of flew out of my mouth like Any Way You Want It and Wheel in the Sky where I kind of came up with the hook and the chorus, lyrically and melody- wise. 

“Then I had the melodies; I sang my melody ideas and sent it to Jonathan, who finished the song lyrically. Then we just continued to tighten up the pieces; I sent it to [bassist] Randy [Jackson], to [vocalist] Arnel [Pineda]...”

Let It Rain – Freedom (2022)

“This was a cool idea that was bouncing around in my head for years. I always loved the Chaka Khan song [Clouds], and I love that Hendrix-y type, Prince funk vibe. It reminded me of a lot of the early stuff before I started Journey – things I was working on with Greg Orrico and Larry Graham. 

“It brought me to that time and space where I was remembering that slow, sexy groove that was in my head and always had it on kind of a Whammy pedal. So I brought one into the studio and I started jamming with Narada – and it ended up being the song that it is now, without changing anything.

“We have about five generations of fans coming to our shows now, which is pretty amazing. I felt like this is definitely for some of our younger fans who never got to see the late-Sixties, early Seventies vibe of everything that was coming out of England – a Hendrix, Zeppelin kind of a mixture of Jimmy Page, Prince and all the influences I grew up with.”

Wheel in the Sky – Infinity (1978)

“We had completed our first three records. We hadn’t changed our lineup at that point, and we were all traveling in two station wagons – all crammed in. We had eight, nine guys in one car. 

“There were long road trips with [former Journey drummer] Aynsley Dunbar at the steering wheel with his fuzz buster. Everybody had to take a break and pull over to the roadside to take a leak. 

“Our road manager happened to be driving that day, Pat Morrow, and he was just fatigued. Our old manager, Herbie Herbert, who is resting in heaven, was yelling at him over the phone, ‘Pat, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do that.’ Pat said, ‘I’ve got to pull over. I need a break. I need a candy bar.’

So we pulled over at this gas station. I pulled out an acoustic and sat on the hood of the car and started banging out the chords. I came up with all the verse and B sections, then the chorus came out within minutes. 

At that point, our then-bass player, Ross Valory, and his then-wife, Diane... she had handed me some poetry she had written; I remembered a line that said, ‘Wheels are turning on my mind.’ I don’t know where it came from, but I was banging out D minor chords in the chorus and I said, ‘Wheel in the sky keeps on turning. Don’t know where I’ll be tomorrow.’

CBS at that time came to us and said, ‘You need a front man, otherwise we’re going to drop you.’ So I started writing with Robert Fleischman – and that was the first song we wrote together.”

Don’t Stop Believin’ – Escape (1981)

“For the first time, you’re hearing a chorus on the outro, which was completely against all rules of nature in that time period – and now – if you’re going to try to get a song on the radio. The saying was, ‘Don’t bore me. Get to the chorus.’

“In this case, the chorus didn’t happen until the end of the song. Actually, I had a short guitar solo before the chorus; so the obvious thing for me to do was to play the melody of Don’t Stop Believin’ – the melody people are going to hear right after I play it. Steve turned to me and said, ‘What? You’re going to play the melody that I’m going to sing?’ I go, ‘Why not? It’s a good one.’

“When the song was done and the mix was almost finalized, I turned to everybody in the room and said, ‘I think this song is going to be massive.’ They released it as a single, and it wasn’t so massive – but then it ended up being massive. It just took a long time for everybody to catch up! 

“Jonathan wrote the lyrics, ‘don’t stop believin’’ with Steve, but it was a phrase his father had given him when he was trying to make it in the music industry and not having much luck, I guess. His dad said, ‘Don’t give up, son.’ It just kind of came out of that.”

Any Way You Want It – Departure (1980)

“That one came about during sound check; I believe we were on tour or just had toured with Thin Lizzy. I was a big fan, so it was a classic case of being inspired by some of the cool-sounding riffs they had. 

“I came up with the simple riff that goes all the way through the song – another song where there’s three chords to it and that’s it. It came together in a very short period of time – I’d say an hour. It continues to be our second most-downloaded song. Crazy.”

Patiently – Infinity (1978)

“The first song I wrote with Steve [Perry]. I believe we were on tour with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I had an acoustic in my room, and I had these chords, the verse chords, and our manager at the time, Herbie Herbert, wanted Steve and me to get together to see if there was any chemistry before he joined the band. 

“I recall sitting in the room; I was playing him the core changes, and he just started singing to it. I guess he had some lyrics that... just kind of fit the song. I think we knocked it out in about half an hour. I was like, ‘I guess we have writing chemistry!’”

• Freedom is out now via BMG.

Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly roundup of the musical highlights from the, erm, world of guitar. Every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Bring Me the Horizon – sTraNgeRs

What is it? Bring Me the Horizon have ridden one of the most diverse creative arcs since their debut album Count Your Blessings in 2006. It would have been hard to imagine the same Sheffield five-piece serving the pummeling breakdowns of Pray For Plagues would be here in 2022, penning heartfelt powerchord-driven rock anthems, after years dabbling in everything from electronic rock to pop. But here we are, and like any genre Oli Sykes and co lay their hands on, they smash it.

Standout guitar moment: Lee Malia’s guitar work assumes more of a layering role in sTraNgeRs, but there are some tasteful lead lines buried in the mix in the prechoruses that add to the melodic intrigue.

For fans of: Machine Gun Kelly, Architects, While She Sleeps

– Sam Roche

Alvvays – Pharmacist

What is it? It’s been a long five years since Alvvays, one of Canada’s best indie bands, graced us with Antisocialites, their last collection of irresistible tunes. Pharmacist, the lead single from their forthcoming third album, Blue Rev, is a great reminder of this quintet’s skills as songsmiths, and (in the best way possible) just how weird they are.

Standout guitar moment: Alvvays have made their name with bubblegum-y pop songs of the first order, and Pharmacist certainly isn’t immune to dishing out some very effective hooks. What’s surprising – and electrifying – here though, is when Alec O'Hanley gives up trying to parry the song’s melody and briefly embarks on a noisy, discordant, Ira Kaplan-esque side quest in his solo.

For fans of: Phoenix, Yo La Tengo, Best Coast

– Jackson Maxwell

Dropkick Murphys – Two 6’s Upside Down 

What is it? The latest single from US punk veterans Dropkick Murphys, who have previewed their forthcoming record This Machine Still Kills Fascists with a swampy, acoustic guitar-driven track that is said to be a “forlorn gambler’s lament”. By the band’s own admission, there are no electric guitars to be heard, though that doesn’t diminish the overall edge this track has in the slightest – see-sawing strums and a smattering of layered vocal turnarounds are enough to guitar our six-string senses tingling in this one.

Standout guitar moment: It’s not really a “moment”, but the relentless acoustic guitar drone, which underpins the entire track by way of some hypnotic strums, easily takes the cake here.

For fans of: Flogging Molly, Street Dogs, Clutch

– Matt Owen

ERRA – Pull from the Ghost

What is it? A crushing standalone single from Alabama metalcore heavyweights, ERRA. Pull from the Ghost is quintessentially ERRA, with a barrage of drop-tuned guitar riffs courtesy of Jesse Cash, and a healthy balance of melody and brutality.

As Cash explains, the song deals thematically with the implications of insecurity in relationships. “The song is told from the perspective of a kidnapper hoping his captive will choose to stay willingly,” he explains, “but ultimately deciding to free them when that doesn’t happen.”

Standout guitar moment: The riff that follows the intro’s synth stabs is both savage and intricate, with its low-register notes peppered with natural harmonics.

For fans of: Northlane, Structures, Fit For A King

– Sam Roche

Julien Baker – Guthrie

What is it? Guthrie, the lead single from Julien Baker’s forthcoming B-Sides EP, is a return to the indie singer/songwriter’s spare, quietly devastating roots. With only her voice and an acoustic guitar, Baker cuts – as she always does – like a knife, putting all her cards on the table in breathtaking fashion. 

Standout guitar moment: Baker’s fingerpicking here is simply sublime – she gets a remarkable amount of melodic milage out of the stunning progression between the verses, while the bass notes throughout drone ominously with the regret and resignation of the song’s lyrics.

For fans of: Phoebe Bridgers, Elliott Smith, Julie Byrne

– Jackson Maxwell

Parkway Drive – The Greatest Fear

What is it? The second single from the Aussie metalcore veterans’ just-announced seventh album, Darker Still. Dealing with the joyful topic of death, The Greatest Fear sees Winston McCall and co serving a similar sound to their last two albums, Reverence and Ire, with punishing breakdowns, arena-filling guitar riffs and some stellar leads from guitarist Jeff Ling. 

Standout guitar moment: Ling offers not one but two short solos, crafted with slick bluesy bends and dextrous hammer-ons and pull-offs.

For fans of: The Ghost Inside, While She Sleeps, Bleed From Within

– Sam Roche

Florist – Feathers

What is it? The gorgeous new single from Florist’s forthcoming, self-titled album, their first full-band effort since 2017. 

Standout guitar moment: In the credits for the album on Bandcamp, there’s nothing about any pedal steel work anywhere, making the vivid, country-tinged soundscapes Jonnie Baker paints with his textural lead guitar work all the more impressive.

For fans of: Lucinda Williams, Big Thief, Wilco

– Jackson Maxwell

Amon Amarth – The Great Heathen Army

What is it? The Great Heathen Army is title-track from the kingpins of Viking-themed melodic death metal's forthcoming album, but it could just as easily work as short-hand for the band themselves, or indeed those who attend their concerts. 

Anyone familiar with the Amon Amarth oeuvre will know what to expect, what to steel themselves for. Pitched in mid-tempo, this is ground-and-pound metal, a platform for the towering Johan Hegg to chew through Shure SM58s like they were Cheetos. You sure would rather feed him a week than a fortnight.

Standout guitar moment: We still live in hope that one day Olavi Mikkone will go full-bore Viking Derek Trucks on our asses and use a drinking horn as a slide. In lieu of this crossover event, the guitar moment that has us reaching for the downtuned electric guitar in our lives and a feral high-gain patch on the amp modeller is that verse riff. It gurns, it churns, it grooves.

For fans of: Unleashed, Hypocrisy, At the Gates

– Jonathan Horsley

Ryan Davey – Solitary 

What is it? A track from UK-based instrumentalist Ryan Davey, who dons a PRS CE24 and Ibanez AZ2204 for five minutes of masterful melodic noodling and tasty fretboard explorations. In what is a demonstration of Davey’s robust grip on vocal-like lead line composition – as well as a tour de tasty tones – Solitary traverses everything from snappy, reverb-tinged clean rhythms and carefully compressed solo sections, which are pieced together to form an impressive mosaic of awesome guitar music.

Standout guitar moment: It’s all gold, but the entire passage that starts with the Snarky Puppy-style breakdown riff at the 3:15 mark and ends with a rip-roaring reprise of the catchy main line is a particular highlight.

For fans of: Nick Johnston, Andy Timmons

– Matt Owen

Journey – United We Stand

What is it? Journey released United We Stand right on cue on July 4th but Neal Schon and co had more than just the urgent business of soundtracking the nation’s barbecue cookouts. 

The theme of the track is self-evident, a call for a little unity in hyper-partisan times, and the medium is typical Journey, big hooks cleaved from that big old wheel in the sky, pinned to a guitar melody and chord changes that are all the more satisfying because you know they’re coming – the FM rock equivalent of Hitchcockian suspense.

Standout guitar moment: It’s a Journey son, and that always makes for a case study in how to build a rock song and make it work. The way the guitar establishes melody is genius. But this is Guitar World, so let’s just say the solo does not disappoint, its fireworks tucked a little back in the mix, but lighting up the sky nonetheless. Hey, it’s a July 4th track after all. 

For fans of: Toto, Foreigner, Bon Jovi

– Jonathan Horsley

AOR icons Journey are gearing up for the release of new album Freedom this summer, and now you can check out the third single to be taken from the record, Let It Rain. The song follows on the heels of The Way We Used To Be and You Got The Best Of Me.

“We didn't immediately work on the song,” comments guitarist Neal Schon. “It just sat there as a jam for a long time, and then every once in a while, I'd come in to work on something, and Narada [Michael Walden] would play it for me, and I’d go, ‘Wow, we should really fucking work this thing up, there's something there.’”

You certainly get the sense of a jam session writ-large with Let It Rain. It shares the same confident, widescreen melodic rock landscape as its predecessors, but distinguishes itself in its slugging pace and the constant, menacing guitar interplay that bubbles under the blues-y central riff.

Freedom will be the band’s first new album in 11 years and sees the current lineup completed by longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain, vocalist Arnel Pineda, drummer Deen Castronovo and bassist Randy Jackson. 

They’ve already completed the first leg of the Freedom tour and will quickly follow the July 8 release date with a four-night residency at the Resort Worlds Theatre in Las Vegas, NV, beginning July 15.

Head to the band's website to preorder Freedom.

Journey have released You Got the Best of Me, the latest single from upcoming album, Freedom.

Accompanying the legendary rock outfit’s latest track is the news that Freedom – Journey’s first studio LP in over a decade – will arrive July 8. When it drops, it will be the group’s 16th studio record in total, and follows 2011’s Eclipse.

Like the previous single – The Way We Used to Be, which arrived almost a year ago – You Got the Best of Me is classically Journey, dripping in luscious synth soundscapes, quirky keyboard motifs and anthemic electric guitars.

Resident guitar titan Neal Schon delivers the six-string goodness in spades, serving up hard-panned arpeggios, open-string-heavy chord voicings and unrelenting palm-muted chugs that keep the track ticking along towards its speaker-smashing finale.

It’s quintessential Journey to its core, with the oversized vocal harmonies and call-and-answer lyrics preceding a Journey-appropriate guitar solo that sees Schon delve into his bag of tricks for some scintillating fretboard action.

Freedom has been a long time coming, and has been heavily teased by Schon over the past 12 months or so. When the band dropped the effort’s first single, the guitarist revealed the rest of the album was sounding “phenomenal” and that it explored a musical direction that “we have not gone before”.

“There's nothing we really can't play,” he continued. “We aren't afraid to go to new places. It's easy to stay safe and write where we have always been. We have a bit of that so we don't lose everyone, but at the same token, this is a new chapter of Journey. I want to go where we have not gone before.”

In a later update, Schon amped up the hype and appealed directly to fellow guitar lovers, saying players would especially like it “because I’m just unleashing on it”. “It’s ballistic, man,” he said. “And there’s no lack of guitar on this record.”

“I think any guitar player out there is gonna love this record,” Schon continued. “I'm listening to it [Freedom] now, and many others that have known our music for a long time have said, 'Look, this is the modern-day-and-age Escape. I think this could be the next Escape for you guys.' 

“And I think that's a bold statement, but honest to God, I feel like it's that good.”

In February, Schon took to social media to reveal the album’s tracklist, which can be found below.

1. Together We Run 
2. Don't Give Up On Us 
3. Still Believe In Love
4. You Got The Best Of Me 
5. Live To Love Again 
6. The Way We Used To Be 
7. Come Away With Me 
8. After Glow
9. Let It Rain 
10. Holdin On 
11. All Day All Night 
12. Don't Go 
13. United We Stand 
14. Life Rolls On 
15. Beautiful As You Are 

Journey are currently in the midst of their Freedom tour of North America, which is currently slated to conclude on May 17 at the Videotron Center in Quebec City. Their next show is on Thursday (April 28) at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

For more information, head over to Journey’s website.

It’s a fact: electric guitar players and the US national anthem go hand in hand, and recent months have proven this notion to be true.

Not only have we seen Nita Strauss perform it at WWE’s NXT TakeOver, we’ve also had the pleasure of witnessing Metallica blaze through the anthem at a recent NBA game.

Now, Journey’s Neal Schon has joined the long list of guitarists who have performed the anthem at major sporting events, having featured at last weekend’s NFL kick-off to serve up a wailing, sustain-laden rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.

Making an appearance prior to the Las Vegas Raiders vs Chicago Bears at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, Schon took to the field armed with his supremely suave IHush Lady M Strat 2 – a custom build from Japanese luthier Naoki Ihashi – for the dazzling performance.

The IHush used for the occasion, which sports an HSS configuration, single f-hole and a Floyd Rose tremolo that sees plenty of action, is the second iteration of Schon’s Lady M Strat – the first of which was revealed back in 2017.

Flanked by a pair of Marshall stacks and joined by his pedalboard, the Journey founder launched into a faithful run-through of the anthem’s iconic opening motif, before decorating its later passages with some classically Schon-style scale licks and rapid-fire flourishes.

Owing to the stadium’s acoustics, Schon’s sound is decked out with a monumental natural reverb, and is further enhanced by some customary plunges on the whammy bar and super-tight vibratos.

Speaking after the event, Schon posted to social media, “Wow! What an absolutely amazing honor and rush!"

“What an amazing time we had today,” a separate post read. “(Want) to thank everyone involved today. You were all amazing. Thank you friends for allowing me this honor.”

In other Schon news, the Journey guitarist recently parted ways with a number of axes from his personal collection, including his Don’t Stop Believin’ guitar, which sold for $250,000, and a 1959 Gibson Les Paul that sold for $350,000.

Schon has also been busy putting together the next Journey album, which he recently speculated could be the modern-day Escape because it’s “so good”.

“It's ballistic, man,” Schon said. “And there's no lack of guitar on this record. So I'm excited about it getting out there.”

It truly is one of the guitar world's most hotly debated enigmas: who put a Floyd Rose on a Gibson Les Paul first?

The most likely candidate is Journey man Neal Schon – synonymous with the pioneering gear pairing thanks to his 1977 Don't Stop Believin' Gibson Les Paul Deluxe – who claims to have had his innovative idea of equipping his LP with the tremolo system cruelly taken away from him.

Schon has previously alleged that Gibson were quick to take his ideas and give them to Alex Lifeson – the Rush guitarist who is equally known for rocking an LP/Floyd Rose duo due to his Gibson Axcess Standard – and that he is the rightful heir to the title.

But, as it turns out, a third contender has just thrown their hat in the ring for the mantle of “first guitarist to fit a Floyd Rose onto a Les Paul” – none other than Night Ranger’s Brad Gillis.

Gillis, who is no stranger to a Floyd Rose-equipped Fernandes electric guitar, made the revelation while in conversation with Jeremy White, who brought up Neal Schon’s insistence that he came up with the idea of fitting an LP with the tremolo system first.

“I was the first,” Gillis rebutted. “Floyd just came out with them and I wanted to put one on my Les Paul, and no-one had ever done it before. When I took it to Stars Guitars, they said, 'Hey Brad, we’ve never seen or done this before.’”

The Night Ranger guitarist – who obtained the third Floyd ever produced (the first and second went to Eddie Van Halen and Schon respectively) – then went on to recall a lengthy design process that occurred when the original tremolo system came out, circa 1976.

“I had to get hold of Floyd and he had to send me the right size nut. Floyd had to send me a newly finished schematic for installing in a Les Paul. I got it back and it was great, and then everybody else did it.”

The guitar Gillis claims to be the first-ever Floyd Rose-fitted Les Paul – an early ‘70s Les Paul Custom that he used while touring with Ozzy Osbourne – can be seen in action in the videos above and below.

Of course, Schon may well argue the contrary. On multiple occasions, the Journey guitarist has voiced his disapproval of Gibson supposedly giving his ideas to Lifeson and the Axcess line.

Speaking to MusicRadar in 2011, Schon said, “[Gibson] rubbed me wrong, man. I worked very hard with them on my signature model that we did several years ago, and we got Les's blessing and everything. 

"We changed the heel on the guitar, changed the angle of the neck, showed them how you put a Floyd Rose in a Les Paul without the thing sticking five miles out," he continued. "We did a lot. And they ended up telling me that my guitars wouldn't sell because they were too expensive.

"So they took my ideas and stuck them on the Axcess model, which is a cheaper edition of what was my guitar.”

More recently, a number of tweets maintain his standpoint: One, a video of him playing his ‘77 LP, reads, “It’s the first Les Paul to ever have a Floyd Rose installed on!”, while a follow up clip carries the caption, “More from the first original Floyd Rose Les Paul Pro.”

Such claims have been supported by Floyd Rose himself who, in 2010, told MusicRadar that Schon showed interest in the tremolo around the time Eddie Van Halen started championing it in 1977.

“Neal saw it and wanted one put on his Les Paul, and he gave me one that he said he'd never liked the sound of," he said. "I brought it back to him and it became one of his favorites as I'd taken so much wood out of it the sound had changed.”

As such, the debate rages on, though it will be intriguing to see how things continue to unfold now there’s a new player in town making waves. It seems as though it’s a toss-up between Gillis and Schon, though, right now, we’re unable to say for certain who was the first.

Perhaps the pair should sit down and discuss it between themselves. Heck, they could even have a guitar-off between each of their Floyd Rose-equipped LPs. That would make for one interesting discussion…

Neal Schon has offered an update on Journey’s upcoming studio record, teasing there will be plenty of tasty electric guitar parts for us to sink our teeth into when the “ballistic” effort is finally released.

Speaking to both WMSC and WNUW, Schon also revealed that he and his bandmates have written over 30 new songs for the album, saying that the studio sessions have given him the opportunity to “unleash” his powers on the six-string.

Schon has also boldly claimed the album will match up with the band’s seminal 1981 album, Escape – the record that first gave the world tracks such as Don’t Stop Believin’, Who’s Crying Now and Open Arms.

"It's ballistic, man,” he began (via Blabbermouth). “And there's no lack of guitar on this record. So I'm excited about it getting out there. 

“I think any guitar player out there is gonna love this record, because I'm just kind of unleashing on this record – like I do a lot live, but sometimes hold back in the studio.

“I usually have a pretty good gut instinct about it, and I feel like the late '60s, the time and era of early Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart and [Led] Zeppelin, when they first came out, Jimi Hendrix, the Cream with [Eric] Clapton and Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, that whole era, there's a lot of younger kids out there, younger generation, that never got to experience that era. 

“So I'm feeling like that is the era that I grew up in and that's the type of music I love playing, so I'm going more there and I'm writing for that, to be able to do that on stage. 

“And I think it's really gonna trip some people out, when we finally do get this album out there and can combine it with all the hits that we do have.”

Though no official release date has been confirmed, Schon went on to say that if it doesn’t drop later this year, fans can expect a slew of singles to keep the anticipation high for a 2022 release date.

“But the whole album,” Schon continued to tease, “there's not a filler on the record; that's what I can tell you. I'm listening to it now, and many others that have known our music for a long time have said, 'Look, this is the modern-day-and-age Escape. I think this could be the next Escape for you guys.' And I think that's a bold statement, but honest to God, I feel like it's that good.”

Journey have already teased their guitar-heavy new effort in the form of The Way We Used To Be – the band’s first single in over a decade, which, unsurprisingly, features an abundance of killer high-gain lead lines.

Though Schon and co may have Escape 2.0 in store for us, it won’t be performed using the album’s most iconic guitar – the 1977 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, made famous for its role in recording and performing Don’t Stop Believin’.

That guitar, along with a whole host of others from Schon’s personal collection, recently hit the auction block, and sold for $250,000.

Neal Schon’s monstrous 112-strong guitar auction came to a close last Saturday (July 30) and, as expected, the event saw the sale of some seriously expensive electric guitars, including a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard that sold for $350,000.

The ‘59 Burst was one of 10 six-strings to make six-figures, with the Journey guitarist’s coveted 1977 Les Paul Deluxe, made famous by the band’s smash hit Don’t Stop Believin', selling for a cool $250,000.

Also making its way onto the block was Schon’s prized 1974 Guild F-50R acoustic guitar, which the guitar icon used to write Wheel in the Sky and Patiently in a Denver hotel room with the band's first lead vocalist Steve Perry. That guitar sold for $37,500. 

Schon’s extensive catalog also included a second ‘59 Burst, which fetched $300,000, as well as a pair of 1957-dated LPs, selling for $131,250 and $121,875. Two final six-figure Les Pauls, a 1958 Goldtop and 1960 triple-humbucker-equipped Custom, completed the LP lineup, selling for $125,000 and $112,500, respectively. 

Completing the six-figure family were two ES-335s – a $137,500-priced 1959 model and $100,000-valued 1960 model –  and a 1951 Butterscotch Blonde Fender Telecaster, which fetched $112,500.

Other highlights from the assortment of six-strings include four '50s-era Teles – the most expensive of which picked up a $93,750 price tag – and a handful of Stratocasters, including a 1955 Sunburst model and 1964 Candy Apple Red version, which sold for $45,000 and $30,000, respectively.

Aside from the usual Fender- and Gibson-branded suspects, the auction also included a collection of Paul Reed Smith and Schon models. While the Red 1986 Schon NS6 sold for $6,250, the most expensive PRS model – a Tobacco burst solidbody from 2000 – went for $12,500.

Despite the eye-watering magnitude of models that were sold during the auction, a number of Schon’s six-strings still failed to find new owners, and are thus currently sitting in post-auction limbo. 

Out of the 20 guitars yet to find a new home, highlights include a 2005 double-neck PRS Dragon axe valued at $37,500, a 1967 Coral Vincent model priced at $6,250 and a 1987 Schon Prototype Pearl White guitar, which is expected to sell for $25,000.

To browse the entire collection of Neal Schon’s guitars, including the ones that are still up for grabs, head over to Heritage Auctions. 

Neal Schon has announced that 112 electric guitars and acoustic guitars from his extensive collection are about to hit the block in a mammoth online auction, which is set to see the sale of his prized six-string possessions.

Of the event, which is being held by Heritage Auctions, Schon said, “These are guitars I’ve been collecting for a very long time and it’s time to let go of some of my collection to make room for new arrivals.”

Chief among the dizzying array of instruments on offer is the guitar used by the Journey guitarist on the band's 1981 album Escape, and the one that became synonymous with the group's mega-hit, Don’t Stop Believin' – a black 1977 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe.

The iconic axe can also be heard on a number of other famous Journey tracks, including Stone In Love and Who’s Crying Now?, and was wielded during the band’s The Escape Tour in the early ‘80s. 

“This has got quite a story,” said Schon of the LP. “It’s got some snap to it, and with the Floyd Rose, this guitar just sings like crazy.”

Lining up alongside the Don't Stop Believin' Les Paul is an instrument of equal sentimental value – Schon’s 1974 Guild F-50R, which he used to write Wheel in the Sky and Patiently in a Denver hotel room with the band's first lead vocalist Steve Perry.

Used extensively throughout the 1978 album Infinity, Schon described the Guild as his “room warm-up guitar”, and recalled, “It holds history, and it’s on a lot of famous songs.”

As would be expected with an auction of this size, the list of highlights is pretty exhaustive. As well as the Schon-specific models revered for their musical significance are a series of six-strings sought-after for their historical importance.

Two holy grail Sunburst 1959 Gibson Les Paul models are on the roster, as is a white 1961 Gibson SG Custom with Sideways Vibrola tailpiece. In the Fender department, the auction will include a 1951 Telecaster, as well as a host of ‘60s-era Strats in a range of colorways.

There are a number of eye-catching show-stoppers in the collection as well, with Schon’s 2005 PRS Dragon double-neck guitar certainly a standout model. Another double-neck, a 1960 Gibson EDS-1275, is also included in the catalog.

A smattering of unique guitars are also set to be auctioned off, including a 1987 Schon Pearl White Prototype, 1986 Schon NS6 and 1967 Coral Vincent Bell.

“I don’t think there’s any one guitar that defines me – I define myself,” offered Schon when asked about the auction. “It comes from your fingers. It’s in between your fingers and whatever amp you’re plugging into and how you have that guitar set and your own picking style.

“57 years now. That’s how long I’ve been playing,” he continued. “It’s crazy, man. I mean, I should be so much better! All these guitars have a story, a history.”

Bidding is set to begin next Monday (July 12). To browse the mammoth collection, head over to Heritage Auctions.

Rejoice, dear readers, for it is finally that time of the week again. No, it’s not the weekend just yet, but what we do have for you is basically the next best thing – yes, that’s right, it is time for Guitar World’s weekly essential guitar tracks round-up.

What’s on offer today, we hear you ask? Well, allow us to get you up to speed before we guide you on through this week’s carefully curated collection.

The last seven or so days have seen the arrival of Journey’s first single in over a decade, filled-to-the-brim with killer leads, a technically fierce fretboard exploration from The Neal Morse Band, the long-awaited guitar-heavy return of Australian indie-rock outfit Gang of Youths, a brutally brilliant riff-fest from extreme-metal icons Carcass and an oh-so virtuosic acoustic cover of a pop hit from Mike Dawes and Tommy Emmanuel.

Sound good? Yeah, we thought so too. Let’s dive right in then, shall we?

Bullet For My Valentine – Knives

Bullet For My Valentine are notoriously difficult to pigeonhole. Their debut album, 2005’s The Poison, has a sound deeply rooted in metalcore – albeit with emo-tinged lyrical stylings. Their sophomore offering Scream Aim Fire explored thrashier territory, while on the other end of the metal spectrum, their most recent album Gravity featured notably poppier-style arrangements.

But with their forthcoming seventh album, the Bridgend quartet are leaving little room for interpretation.

“This is the beginning of Bullet 2.0,” enthuses frontman and founding member Matt Tuck. “It signifies where we are right now. The music is fresh, it’s aggressive, it’s more visceral and passionate than it’s ever been.” And aggressive, visceral and passionate it is.

The album’s debut single Knives dropped last week – we expect a chorus of praise from BFMV purists – and boy, does it deliver on the heavy. Tuck and co-guitarist Michael “Padge” Paget set the tone for the album with a furious open string-centric main riff – upon which the entire track’s arrangement is built – occasionally changing course with some monstrous chug work and squealing pinch harmonics.

“I think it’s the most ferocious side of Bullet For My Valentine that I’ve ever known,” says Paget. “It’s time for us to put out a really angry, heavy, aggressive record.” (SR)

Mike Dawes & Tommy Emmanuel – Somebody That I Used to Know

Nearly a month to the day that he dropped his blockbuster team effort with Jack Gardiner and Plini, UK fingerstyle wizard Mike Dawes has unveiled another A-list collaboration, this time with acoustic legend Tommy Emmanuel, for a fresh take on Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know.

Revamping the cover that we used to know, Emmanuel sprinkles some bluesy spice onto Dawes’ hypnotic arrangement, which is now bolstered by some extra lead lines, octaver and neat harmonic tuning-peg turns. Check out the 2:50 mark for some serious percussive swag and jazz-inflected chord changes.

It’s been nine years since Dawes’ original cover went viral, but this new incarnation makes it feel fresh once again. (MAB)

Gang of Youths – the angel of 8th ave. 

Australian indie-rock group Gang of Youths have released their first song since 2017, titled the angle of 8th ave., and they've marked their long-anticipated return with a bang.

It’s one of the more memorable studies into how the electric and acoustic guitar can work together to paint a stunning sonic picture, with the instantly-catchy-yet-innocently simple gain-y guitar riff conversing with some of the cleanest stripped-back strums to ever have left a studio.

Vocalist David Le’aupepe is on hand to show that his songwriting form has not slipped an inch in the five years that have passed, with his ever-poetic, story-like lyrics and booming cavernous vocals undoubtedly one of the track’s show-stopping centerpieces. In fact, so hypnotic is the command of his voice that you’ll be forgiven for letting the delicate layering slip under your radar on first listen.

Play it again and you’ll pick up on all the delicious nuances Gang of Youths have crammed in. Those synths, for example, which sit just right in the mix, or those bite-y guitar riffs that build momentum with the drums as the track gallops towards its harmony-laden finale. An impromptu arpeggio here, a one-off lead lick there, and it’s all carefully pieced together like some glorious sonic tapestry.

Aside from the gorgeous instrumental layering, exquisite production value and stunning vocal work, there is so much more to unpick. At the end of the day, it’s probably best to keep the summary (relatively) simple: it’s a really, really good song. (MO)

Carcass – Kelly’s Meat Emporium

Metal guitar has few more distinctive voices than Bill Steer, whose unique ear has guided British legends Carcass to god-like status in death-metal circles.

With Kelly’s Meat Emporium – the first single to be released from Torn Arteries, the band’s first album in eight years – Steer’s well of hammering riffs and exotic scale-infused lead lines shows no sign of depleting.

KME is a masterclass in rhythmic intensity and lead intrigue – it’s old-school songwriting nous fortified by contemporary production, and the resulting aural punishment is quite, quite exquisite. (MAB)

The Neal Morse Band – Do It All Again 

Taken from upcoming album Innocence & Danger, The Neal Morse Band’s latest single Do It All Again is bound to strike a chord with fans of technically impressive soloing, high-gain riffage and tasty songwriting. In essence, there’s something in there for everyone.

It’s almost nine minutes long, meaning there’s more than enough tasty guitar parts to go around to quench all your guitar-based thirsts. From the opening passage, which begins tame then suddenly explodes into a fiery barrage of high-end licks, to the deliciously melodic, bend-infused extended solo effort, Do It All Again is a non-stop exploration of the fretboard.

As you can imagine, given its lengthy run-time, there’s more to this track than just its excellent lead-based six-string escapades. There are some neat chordal constructions tucked underneath as well, with the stripped-back sections serving up some cool interplay between Randy George’s bass guitar and Mike Portnoy’s drums.

Keep your eyes and ears peeled for Innocence & Danger, which is set to serve up both a half-hour and 20-minute long epic when its released on August 27. (MO)

Journey – The Way We Used To Be

Returning with their first single in over a decade, Journey have shared The Way We Used To Be. A quintessential classic rocker, the track sees guitarist Neal Schon’s gain-heavy leads weave in and out of Arnel Pineda’s vocals throughout, once again reminding us of the group’s musical and compositional maturity. 

And there’s soon to be more where that came from, too. In an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year, Schon explained that the band’s 15th studio album is “coming along”, and “really shaping up”.

He also hinted at embarking on a new musical journey with, um, Journey: “We aren’t afraid to go to new places. It’s easy to stay safe and write where we have always been. We have a bit of that so we don’t lose everyone, but at the same token, this is a new chapter of Journey. I want to go where we have not gone before.”

Whatever happens, we’re looking forward to what’s to come. (SR)

Quicksand – Missile Command

NYC post-hardcore vets Quicksand this week announced new album, Distant Populations, and this raucous first single.

The release marks the group’s first recording as a three-piece following the departure of guitarist Tom Capone, but judging from Missile Command, they’ve lost none of the serrated edge that left its mark on a generation of bands that followed their '90s heyday.

Built around a droning groove from Sergio Vega – who now performs double-duty with Deftones – and bolstered by a monster production from Will Yip, Missile Command dives and soars dynamically, but really lets loose when Walter Schreifels emits guitar wails so utterly primal, we can only assume they were a direct inspiration for the pterodactyl-like creatures that appear in the track’s video. (MAB)

Conor Albert – Moonlight feat. Mac Ayres

It seems that, with every day that passes, a new wave of “next big things” emerge on social media raring to take their respective genre by storm. Conor Albert has been knocking on the door for quite some time now, but with his new track, Moonlight, the South London-based multi-instrumentalist and producer has officially booted said door clean off its hinges.

Fans of Albert will be no stranger to his sonic direction, which blends jazz, fusion, hip-hop, electronic music and almost everything in between. Moonlight is no exception to this, with Albert executing an instantly catchy, super-infectious guitar hook that works alongside Ayres’ groove-inducing vocals over some tasty extended chords. 

Oh, and those neat melodic bass parts that are filled with chromatic runs and clever harmonies? They’re played by Albert, too. And the drums? Yep, you guessed it. Heck, he even produced the track, which, if you listen to – and we implore that you do – sounds like it's been engineered by a seasoned studio dweller who knows all the tricks of the trade.

When his guitar-playing, bass-slaying, drum-beating and production prowess are all taken into consideration, there’s only one question left that needs to be asked: Is there anything Albert can’t do? (MO)

American classic-rock band Journey have released The Way We Used To Be, their first single in over a decade.

The track – which is the first to feature Journey's current lineup of Neal Schon, Arnel Pineda, Jonathan Cain, Narada Michael Walden, Randy Jackson and Jason Derlatka – features a plethora of soaring, gain-heavy lead guitar lines from Schon interwoven with Pineda's quintessentially Journey-style vocals.

Watch the accompanying animated music video below.

And it appears there's more where that came from. In an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year, Schon confirmed the band were “deep in” the recording process for their next album.

“It's coming along, man,” he said. “It's really shaping up. Narada and I have been working nonstop. Jonathan is also working from his houses in Florida and Nashville. Arnel is working from Manila. Randy Jackson is working mostly from LA. 

“It's one of those Zoom sessions and it sounds phenomenal. It sounds like we're all playing in the room at the same time. I actually can't wait until we do get together and start putting the show together.”

With regard to whether the new album will see a change in musical direction for Journey, Schon explained: “You have to hear it for yourself... It's coming together. It's got a new strut to it.”

“There's nothing we really can't play,” he continued. “We aren't afraid to go to new places. It's easy to stay safe and write where we have always been. We have a bit of that so we don't lose everyone, but at the same token, this is a new chapter of Journey. I want to go where we have not gone before.”

In a separate interview with Cleveland.com – also in January – Schon revealed that the band had 21 songs prepped for the new album.

“It's bombastic. It's rocking. It's majestic, and it's soulful,” he explained. “We have 21 songs in the works right now and there's still more coming in. we'll end up picking the cream of the crop and put out a killer album.”

The forthcoming album is set to be Journey's 15th full-length effort, after 2011's Eclipse.

Journey recently parted with bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith, firing the two longtime members following a “coup”  in which founding electric guitar player Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain alleged the two had attempted to wrest control of the band’s trademark.

Now, Schon has revealed Valory and Smith’s replacements – and it’s a killer rhythm section, to be sure.

Stepping into the drum slot is Narada Michael Walden, the former Mahavishnu Orchestra member who has also played with ace guitarists like Jeff Beck, Allan Holdsworth and Robert Fripp.

On bass, meanwhile, is the Big Dawg himself, American Idol judge Randy Jackson.

Jackson, for his part, is returning for his second run with Journey, having replaced Valory once before to perform on the band’s 1986 album, Raised On Radio, as well as the subsequent tour.

In an Instagram post to announce Jackson’s return, guitarist Neal Schon wrote: “Ok Friends word is out! Randy Jackson RJ the Big Dawg is our new Bass player again.”

In a separate post Schon welcomed Walden to the band, writing, “The J Boyz will have a new Strut.”

The new lineup made their debut with a socially distanced performance of the classic Don’t Stop Believin’ as part of the UNICEF Won’t Stop fundraiser concert.

You can check it out above.

In the previous two lessons, we looked at celebrated examples of musically effective ways in which songwriters, when composing in a major key, have borrowed chords, specifically triads, that are generated from its parallel natural minor or harmonic minor key and scale. As you recall, we checked out uses of the sad-sounding and hauntingly beautiful iv (four minor) chord and the somewhat brighter but equally poignant bVI (flat-six major), which are typically, but not always, preceded by the IV (four major) chord.

Forging ahead with this fascinating topic, I’d now like to cite a few equally famous ways in which musicians have expanded upon this chord borrowing concept and used what would be considered the bVII dominant-7 chord, or bVII(dom7), which, due to its dissonance and more complex structure than that of a major or minor triad, creates a more sophisticated-sounding chord change and a dramatically bittersweet effect as it approaches the I (one) chord and resolves to it.

A classic example of this move, in the easy-to-think-in key of C major, can be heard in the extended outro to Layla by Derek and the Dominos, where, at 3:13, pianist Jim Gordon plays the chord sequence C - C/E - F - F two times, then goes to Bb7, as simply outlined in FIGURE 1.

This surprise move creates a stirring effect, especially when Gordon plays his signature melodic line over the changes, which, over Bb7, climbs up to a high E note, the #11 of that chord (Bb7#11) with the notes Ab, C, D and E, then descends melodically to D, C and Ab. The Ab note then resolves satisfyingly to G, the fifth of the following C chord.

Interestingly, while the four notes of Bb7 - Bb, D, F and Ab - all reside within C major’s parallel C natural minor scale (C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb), Bb7#11, and its associated chord extension Bb9#11 (Bb, D, F, Ab, C, E), can only be found in F melodic minor (F, G, Ab, Bb, C, E, D), which you could think of as the melodic minor scale based on the borrowed iv chord, Fm, for which C is the V and Bb7 is the IV.

The chorus to Journey's power ballad “Open Arms” features a similar move, here in the key of D, where the chord changes go D - F#m - G5 - C9, or I - iii - IV - bVII(dom9), as in FIGURE 2.

That C9 chord, which may be thought of as a harmonic outgrowth of Gm, the borrowed iv chord from the parallel key of D minor, with an alternate or substituted bass note, creates a unique and elegantly melancholy sound, especially when heard against singer Steve Perry’s descending melody on the words “believe what I say.” As with the Layla piano melody detailed earlier, this one also draws from the borrowed iv chord's melodic minor scale, which in this case would be G melodic minor (G, A, Bb, C, D, E, F#).

During The Beatles’ golden mid-'60s period, Paul McCartney employed this same kind of harmonically tart move in two masterfully written piano-driven songs. The first was at the beginning of For No One, which is in the key of B major, where the changes go B - D#m/A# - G#m - B/F# - E - A - B.

The bVII chord here is A, and while, in the accompaniment, it’s just a stacked triad (A, C#, E), and not a dominant 7 chord, McCartney provides the dominant 7 tone, G, in his vocal melody, at 0:08, on the lyrics “when she,” resolving it beautifully to F#, the 5th of the B chord that follows.

The brilliant songwriter reached what could arguably be considered an even greater creative height in the chorus to Hello, Goodbye, which is in C, where, at 0:24, the progression goes C - C/B - Am7 - C/G - F - Fm/Ab, then repeats with an alternate ending chord, Fm/Bb, which may be also analyzed as Bb9(no3), the bVII(dom9), which falls on the lyric “good-bye.” FIGURES 3 and 4 sketch out these two inventive and highly hooky progressions, arranged for straight barre chords.

Senior Music Editor “Downtown” Jimmy Brown is an experienced, working musician, performer and private teacher in the greater NYC area whose personal and professional mission is to entertain, enlighten and inspire people with his guitar playing.

Whether it’s with Santana, Journey or his own solo material, Neal Schon has spent over 50 years delivering some of the most melodic guitar playing on planet Earth - and it’s fair to say he’s amassed a fair few famous friends along the way, many of whom have lined up to wish the guitarist a very happy birthday.

But you’ve never seen a birthday message quite like this one. To celebrate his 66th (which takes place on February 27), some of the very biggest names in guitar - and music in general - have banded together to send their best wishes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, including the likes of Slash, Rick Nielsen, Steve Vai, and even Dolly Parton.

• Video credit: Dean ONeal

Particular six-string highlights include a funky performance from John McLaughlin; KISS’s Paul Stanley revealing what he loves about Schon’s playing; Joe Satriani playing a very Joe Satriani take on happy birthday; and Chris Jericho, who generously donates a song he believes will be bigger than Don’t Stop Believin’ (good luck with that).

The full list of birthday well-wishers includes:

• Michaele Schon
• Mario Andretti
• John McLaughlin
• Steve Miller
• Paul Stanley
• Slash
• Chris Jericho
• Rick Nielsen
• Steve Vai
• Joe Satriani
• Tony Stewart
• Narada Michael Walden
• Dolly Parton

Genuinely heart-warming. As Michaele Schon puts it, “My husband Neal is my heart, and all his friends who love him so much respond with genuine joy and love of Neal!”

Journey axeman Neal Schon stars in the latest episode of String Theory, and you can watch it above.

A web series created by Ernie Ball, the show explores sonic origins of influential and innovative musicians. In the episode, Schon discusses his history with guitar, playing with Santana and Journey, and much more. 

Below, you can find five facts revealed in the episode.

1. Schon's cousin taught him his first few songs (0:24)

"One of my cousins played guitar in a Paul Revere and the Raiders cover band. I used to go to this roller rink with my cousins, and he was playing guitar. And so he taught me the first few songs that I learned; Louie Louie, Gloria, and then I just took off from there. 

2. He used to hide in basements of clubs while gigging underage (0:54)

"I was playing around a lot in the Bay Area. Broadway - when it was all blues and jazz clubs - I would just walk around up and down with a guitar. Any club owner that would let me play, because I was underage, would keep me in the basement. They'd say, 'You can come up and play, but then you gotta go back down to the basement. Don't drink any water - don't drink anything!'" 

3. His parents laughed at him when he told them he thought he'd join Santana (1:58)

"I remember sitting down at the dinner table with my folks, and I said, 'You know, I think I'm going to get in this band, Santana. I think they're going to ask me.' And they both start hysterically laughing...The next day the Santana guys asked me to join."

4. Eric Clapton asked Schon to join his band while he was in high school (3:19)

"I picked up an acoustic guitar, and I played him - pretty much note for note -  Crossroads, Spoonfull, stuff that was off the live Wheels of Fire record. He gave me a great compliment, and then he proceeded to ask me to move to England to join the band. So I said, 'I'd love to play with you, but I don't know if I'm ready to go to England. I'm actually still, legally, in high school. I have to get my parents' permission to be able to go do anything - even if it's with Santana!'"

5. He believes the idea of bigger strings for better tone is a myth (6:14)

"Some days, if I'm practicing straight for 6 hours, 5 hours, I'll play with 8s on a Strat or a Tele. And it feels great, and I love it. I'll play 9s mostly, but then other times I'll play 10s. They all sound good to me. I think it's more between your fingers, and the amplifier and the guitar. I'm gonna play what's comfortable to me."

Of course, these are just five facts pulled from the clip. You can watch the entire episode above. 

Watch more Ernie Ball String Theory. 

Journey have shared a live clip of their 1983 hit, "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)." The performance is taken from Journey – Live In Japan 2017: Escape + Frontiers, due for release March 29 on DVD+2CD and Blu-ray+2CD.

The new package captures the band onstage at Tokyo’s Budokan on February 7, 2017, where Journey plays cuts from 1981's Escape and 1983's Frontiers. The lineup for the shows featured Neal Schon (founder / guitar), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Ross Valory (bass), Steve Smith (drums) and Arnel Pineda (lead vocals).

You can check out the cover art and full track list for  Journey – Live In Japan 2017: Escape + Frontiers below.  

DVD:
1. Don't Stop Believin' Intro
2. Don't Stop Believin'
3. Stone In Love
4. Who's Crying Now
5. Keep On Runnin'
6. Still They Ride
7. Escape
8. Lay It Down
9. Dead Or Alive
10. Neal Schon Guitar Solo
11. Mother, Father
12. Jonathan Cain Piano Solo
13. Open Arms
14. Separate Ways Intro
15. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
16. Send Her My Love
17. Chain Reaction
18. After The Fall
19. Faithfully
20. Edge Of The Blade
21. Steve Smith Drum Solo
22. Back Talk
23. Frontiers
24.  Rubicon
25. La Raza del Sol
26. Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'

2CD:
CD1: Escape
1. Don’t Stop Believin’ Intro
2. Don’t Stop Believin’
3. Stone In Love
4. Who’s Crying Now
5. Keep On Runnin’
6. Still They Ride
7. Escape
8. Lay It Down
9. Dead Or Alive
10. Neal Schon Guitar Solo
11. Mother, Father
12. Jonathan Cain Piano Solo
13. Open Arms

CD2: Frontiers
14. Separate Ways Intro
15. Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)
16. Send Her My Love
17. Chain Reaction
18. After The Fall
19. Faithfully
20. Edge Of The Blade
21. Steve Smith Drum Solo
22. Back Talk
23. Frontiers
24. Rubicon
25. La Raza del Sol
26. Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’

Journey and Def Leppard have been on a co-headlining trek all summer, and the second leg of the outing, which spanned from July 1 to July 28 and reported 17 shows, has now topped Billboard’s Hot Tours list.

According to Billboard, in the reported period the tour grossed $30,384,259, with the two bands playing in venues ranging from 8,500-seat arenas to 45,000-capacity baseball parks. The largest show was a sold-out date at Denver’s Coors Field on July 21.

Earlier this year Journey guitarist Neal Schon spoke to Guitar World about his formative days playing guitar, and how he got into the blues. Neal recalled:

“My dad bought me my first record, which was The Beatles' Rubber Soul, and I was already listening to them on the radio, amongst everything else that was on the radio. There wasn't a lot that I was really digging. My mom was always playing and singing too, they were always playing jazz around the house. It was either Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Miles [Davis], all those old greats. I started listening to Wes Montgomery, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin. All of the sudden, I was playing blues and really understood it and got deep in it.

“I loved Michael Bloomfield from the Bay Area here, as well as B.B. [King], who I met with Elvin Bishop. That was my first big show, at the Fillmore West. I had been playing with Elvis Bishop for about a year at the old Keystone Korner in San Francisco. One night he goes, "You know, I'm going to take you for a treat tonight and we're going to go to Fillmore West. We're going to jam with B.B., I'm going to introduce you to B.B." Bill Graham was there, I met Bill Graham that night.

“All of the sudden, I'm up on-stage, looking out, and B.B.'s on the right, and it comes time when he goes, 'Let's see what this little sucker has.' (laughs) I had studied him, you know? His vibrato, his choice of notes, and he'd play a riff instead of [something else). A lot of guitarists try to upstage, and it really comes off as kind of stupid. I said, 'I'm going to pay due respect to him. When he plays me a riff, I'm gonna play it back and add a little something.' He had a big smile on his face and it went back and forth for about five minutes. We remained friends after that, and the same with Albert King after that. I played with Buddy Guy in Chicago at his old club, with Junior Wells, and a host of other blues artists.”

The Journey/Def Leppard tour continues tonight in San Antonio, Texas, and wraps in L.A. on October 6. For the full remaining itinerary, see below.

8/31 – San Antonio, TX, AT&T Center
9/1 – Houston, TX, Toyota Center
9/5 – Albuquerque, NM, Isleta Amphitheater
9/7 – Phoenix, AZ, Talking Stick Resort Arena
9/8 – Las Vegas, NV, T-Mobile Arena
9/21 – San Francisco, CA, AT&T Park
9/23 – San Diego, CA, Petco Park
9/25 – Salt Lake City, UT, Vivint Smart Home Arena
9/26 – Nampa, ID, Ford Idaho Center Arena
9/28 – Portland, OR, Moda Center
9/29 – Seattle, WA, Gorge Amphitheatre
10/1 – Vancouver, BC, Rogers Arena
10/4 – Sacramento, CA, Golden 1 Center
10/6 – Los Angeles, CA, The Forum

If you're a classic rock fan, when you hear the name Neal Schon, you most likely think of Journey. Schon founded the band in 1973 and is the only member to have participated on all of its albums and tours. The group has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, and is still playing arenas in 2018; its 58-city co-headlining tour with Def Leppard kicks off in May.

But Journey has been only one part of Schon’s career and legacy. Before Journey, Schon played in Santana, having joined the group at the age of 15. When Journey was on break, Schon was part of Bad English, which had a number one hit with "When I See You Smile." After Bad English's breakup, he was the lead guitarist and producer behind Hardline, which charted with "Takin' Me Down." Schon's discography also includes two albums with Miami Vice composer Jan Hammer, a full-length effort with Soul SirkUS, and assorted collaborations with Sammy Hagar, Joe Cocker, The Allman Brothers Band and Michael Bolton.

Beyond the aforementioned tour alongside Def Leppard, 2018 also brings Neal Schon's Journey Through Time. Taking place on February 9, 2018 in San Francisco, Schon will be regrouping with original Journey and Santana member Gregg Rolie—as well as Marco Mendoza and former Journey member Deen Castronovo—for an intimate performance to benefit North Bay Fire Relief. This will be the first time that Schon and Rolie have performed together in the last few years, and promises to feature rarely-performed songs from the Journey catalog.

Guitar World recently sat down with Schon to discuss the benefit show, how he got his start in the business and how he ended up with working with Yngwie Malmsteen.

One of the things I find most interesting about you is that you first became prominent as a guitarist in your teenage years. Since then you have worked consistently and in a variety of bands. Did you ever have a day job?

I had one day job and one summer job. I worked in Hollister, CA where I grew up after my folks first moved out from the East Coast. I decided that I was going to box garlic in Gilroy one summer because I wanted a mini-bike, and that's what I had to do to get $100. I crated garlic with my cousins down there.

Then when I was 12, I had a job that I got that I think paid $1.25 or $1.50 an hour—because I was underage—at a bicycle shop, ripping apart bicycles and putting them back together. The guy was really particular on what parts he wanted me to do first. I felt like I had it down, and I realized that I didn't like taking orders at that point. I was going to have to figure out something where I can make my own rules and be my own boss, so I said, "I'm going to be a musician. That's what I feel like I want to do." That way I can run my own life and someone doesn't run it for me.

Were you playing instruments before guitar?

I was. I was playing woodwind instruments. My dad was a composer and his main instrument was tenor sax, and he was a leader of a big band and did big band arrangements. I started playing piano when I was six, and I actually liked the piano, but there were so many things going on when I was six. Now I'm playing more and more piano and composing with it for guitar.

Then I started playing in elementary school band. There's no guitar in those bands, so I started playing tuba, which sucked (laughs). I gave it up and I played clarinet for a second and I didn't like it. I started playing oboe in high school. I got first seat, where I got to play a couple of solos, but it really wasn't my thing. It's a very difficult instrument to play, and I think it's one of the reasons I have a big neck, you have to blow and the muscles are contracted and nothing gets through that little reed. A beautiful instrument, but it just wasn't something I wanted to pursue.

My dad bought me my first record, which was The Beatles' Rubber Soul, and I was already listening to them on the radio, amongst everything else that was on the radio. There wasn't a lot that I was really digging. My mom was always playing and singing too, they were always playing jazz around the house. It was either Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Miles [Davis], all those old greats. I started listening to Wes Montgomery, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin. All of the sudden, I was playing blues and really understood it and got deep in it.

I loved Michael Bloomfield from the Bay Area here, as well as B.B. [King], who I met with Elvin Bishop. That was my first big show, at the Fillmore West. I had been playing with Elvis Bishop for about a year at the old Keystone Korner in San Francisco. One night he goes, "You know, I'm going to take you for a treat tonight and we're going to go to Fillmore West. We're going to jam with B.B., I'm going to introduce you to B.B." Bill Graham was there, I met Bill Graham that night.

All of the sudden, I'm up on-stage, looking out, and B.B.'s on the right, and it comes time when he goes, 'Let's see what this little sucker has.' (laughs) I had studied him, you know? His vibrato, his choice of notes, and he'd play a riff instead of [something else). A lot of guitarists try to upstage, and it really comes off as kind of stupid. I said, 'I'm going to pay due respect to him. When he plays me a riff, I'm gonna play it back and add a little something.' He had a big smile on his face and it went back and forth for about five minutes. We remained friends after that, and the same with Albert King after that. I played with Buddy Guy in Chicago at his old club, with Junior Wells, and a host of other blues artists.

But then I was listening to all the original records, like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters and everything else I could find. I loved it, you know? Then that British electrified blues movement came, where they were taking that old American blues and electrifying it. I heard [Jimi] Hendrix on the radio and I was like, "What the f**k is that?" (laughs) It's like, 'That's what I want to do.' I was already listening to Clapton when he was with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. I loved his playing, so Cream was a no-brainer for me, I loved that stuff.

At that point, after studying older blues, I had all the records, I went from Are You Experienced? to Wheels Of Fire and Disraeli Gears. The first three Hendrix records, as they came, but I kind of flip-flopped from night to night. I pulled the arm up on the record player so I was listening to either Cream or Hendrix, even when I went to sleep. I found that I was learning in my sleep, because when the arm's up it just keep repeating and repeating. Even though you don't know where the fingers go, you're familiar with it by listening.

It sounds like you were mentored by some guitar greats, but are there any players today who you look at as being modern guitar greats?

Oh, man, there are so many great guitarists today. I just played with one of my good friends, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and Phil Collen from Def Leppard the other night when they played over in Oakland at the theater. I went and jammed with them and had a great time. But I love Satch, I love [Steve] Vai, I love Eric Johnson and John Petrucci. There's so many great players, it's just like, 'What's your taste? What do you want to hear?'

Over the years you've been known to play Fenders and Gibsons, but I believe you're exclusive with Paul Reed Smith these days. How did that happen?

Paul and I have been friends forever, from when he first started making guitars, and I believe Carlos [Santana] had bought one of his first guitars that was handmade. I believe I bought the second or third, which I believe he had gotten back from me because he wanted to put them in a museum. But I got the first-ever double-neck he made and bought a couple of double-cuts. There were sort of SG-type double-cuts, not the double-cuts he's making now.

Over the years he came up with some revolutionary ideas incorporating semi-hollow guitars with all kinds of crazy shit. Most people looked at him when he first came out like, 'That doesn't make any sense.' But actually it makes guitars sound better. It became any kind of thing you wanted to make it.

Paul and I have done some amazing stuff together, but I don't have an exclusive contract right now. I'm playing everything. I'm looking at eight Les Pauls that I brought to the house here that are Les Paul Ultima "Tree Of Life" guitars. There are a couple of them that I picked up that sound amazing because I felt like I'm going to do this gig on the 9th in San Francisco, and I was playing nothing but Les Pauls back then. Even though those guitars sound good, I'll probably mix it up. I played a Tele the night I played with Satch at the guys. So I'm playing Fenders, PRS and Gibsons, all sorts of guitars.

One of my favorite projects that you worked on was Hear 'N Aid and I'm wondering if you had positive memories of working on the "Stars" single.

I absolutely did. I didn't think I was going to make that session because I had forgotten about it. In the older days I was hanging out and partying all night with friends here (laughs). So I remember calling up Ronnie [James Dio] in the morning and saying, 'Ronnie, I haven't been to bed yet and I doubt I'm going to make it.' He said, 'Oh, no, you have to come. You're one of my main guitar players I really want on this record.' He really pleaded with me until I said, 'Okay, I will.' I said, 'But you've got to get me in and out. I can't wait in a long line to play. I'll just come in quick and I'll do two takes, from beginning to end, pick whatever one you like and I'm out of there, and I'm going to go back home and go to sleep.' He said okay.

So I got down to L.A., from San Francisco, and I brought my guitar—I think a '63 Strat—and a little Boss pedal for distortion. They had some Marshalls there. They had me right down next to Yngwie [Malmsteen]. Brad Gillis was in the studio cutting the song before myself, and he was doing a lot of punching. It sounded really good but I was impatient. I wanted to get in and out of there and get to sleep because I was tired (laughs).

I told Yngwie, 'I'm going to go in there and play two takes from beginning to end and then I'm out.' So that's what I did, but Ronnie loved what I did. I was in and out, it was a really easy session. I loved playing on something at that time period that, I was getting looks when I walked in the room. I do remember I was getting a lot of attitude from all of the guitarists, except Yngwie. He was very cool to me. I'm thinking, 'This is weird,' because everyone is saying really obnoxious things about this guy and I'm meeting him and I actually like him a lot.

George Lynch I appreciated as a guitar player back then, and he asked me if he could use the pedal I had back then and I said sure. He was in there, I hung out until George was done. He was struggling to get a sound, so he gets the pedal and says, 'That helps a lot.' That was it, but Ronnie was a great guy. It was a fun session and I loved getting to show all the other guitars that I can play any of that stuff as well.

Journey and Def Leppard have confirmed the news they have been teasing for quite a while now: they're going on tour together. And, by the looks of it, it's gonna be epic.

The two bands will split headlining duties evenly across the 58-city tour, which will run from May 21—when it opens with a show at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut—to October 6, when the tour will close with a show at the Forum in Los Angeles.

The full itinerary, which you can see for yourself below, includes shows at New York's Madison Square Garden and Boston's Fenway Park and touches just about every corner of the U.S., with a couple of stops in Canada.

For tickets and more information, stop by journeymusic.com.

Journey / Def Leppard 2018 Tour Dates
5/21 – Hartford, CT, XL Center
5/23 – Albany, NY, Times Union Center
5/25 – Hershey, PA, Hersheypark Stadium
5/26 – Buffalo, NY, KeyBank Center
5/28 – Cleveland, OH, Quicken Loans Arena
5/30 – Cincinnati, OH, U.S. Bank Arena
6/1 – Toronto, ON, Rogers Centre
6/2 – Pittsburgh, PA, PPG Paints Arena
6/5 – Raleigh, NC, PNC Arena
6/6 – Knoxville, TN, Thompson-Boling Arena
6/8 – Bristow, VA, Jiffy Lube Live
6/9 – Charlotte, NC, Spectrum Center
6/11 – Philadelphia, PA, Wells Fargo Center
6/13 – New York, NY, Madison Square Garden
6/15 – Newark, NJ, Prudential Center
6/16 – Baltimore, MD, Royal Farms Arena
7/1 – Atlanta, GA, SunTrust Park
7/3 – Noblesville, IN, Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
7/4 – Milwaukee, WI, Summerfest
7/6 – Memphis, TN, FedExForum
7/7 – North Little Rock, AR, Verizon Arena
7/9 – Tulsa, OK, BOK Center
7/11 – Louisville, KY, KFC Yum! Center
7/13 – Detroit, MI, Comerica Park
7/14 – Chicago, IL, Wrigley Field
7/16 – Wichita, KS, INTRUST Bank Arena
7/18 – Sioux Falls, SD, Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
7/19 – Lincoln, NE, Pinnacle Bank Arena
7/21 – Denver, CO, Coors Field
7/23 – Des Moines, IA, Wells Fargo Arena
7/25 – Kansas City, MO, Sprint Center
7/27 – Minneapolis, MN, Target Field
7/28 – Fargo, ND, Fargodome
8/11 – Boston, MA, Fenway Park
8/13 – Virginia Beach, VA, Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
8/15 – Columbia, SC, Colonial Life Arena
8/17 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL, BB&T Center
8/18 – Tampa, FL, Amalie Arena
8/20 – Birmingham, AL, Legacy Arena @ The BJCC
8/22 – Columbus, OH, Schottenstein Center
8/24 – St. Louis, MO, Busch Stadium
8/25 – Nashville, TN, Bridgestone Arena
8/27 – New Orleans, LA, Smoothie King Center
8/29 – Dallas, TX, American Airlines Center
8/31 – San Antonio, TX, AT&T Center
9/1 – Houston, TX, Toyota Center
9/5 – Albuquerque, NM, Isleta Amphitheater
9/7 – Phoenix, AZ, Talking Stick Resort Arena
9/8 – Las Vegas, NV, T-Mobile Arena
9/21 – San Francisco, CA, AT&T Park
9/23 – San Diego, CA, Petco Park
9/25 – Salt Lake City, UT, Vivint Smart Home Arena
9/26 – Nampa, ID, Ford Idaho Center Arena
9/28 – Portland, OR, Moda Center
9/29 – Seattle, WA, Gorge Amphitheatre
10/1 – Vancouver, BC, Rogers Arena
10/4 – Sacramento, CA, Golden 1 Center
10/6 – Los Angeles, CA, The Forum

Awhile ago, I saw some of Naoki Ihashi's guitars on Instagram. The intriguing designs prompted me to reach out and ask him if he would be so kind as to send a guitar for me to check out.

To my suprise, after I reached out, he sent three of his very own guitars within three days.

To say the least, I was completely blown away by all of his instruments. Then and there I made a deal that if he made me some, I would both play them live and promote them in the process. I'm now happy to say that the first Custom is nearing completion!

For the instrument, I gave him a concept of a guitar dedicated to my wife Michaele Schon with an Angel ingraved on the top to symbolize my "LadyM."

I'm absolutely blown away with his all hand built guitars and look forward to working with him more in the future.

Naoki is a true artist and master at his craft with impeccable desire to bring the very best from himself.

I can't wait to get my hands on it! For the time being though, you can gaze at a couple photos of the axe below.

For more on iHush Guitars, follow along on Facebook.

For the past few months, rumors have been circulating about a new secret project including former Dream Theater members Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian. With the announcement of the debut album from Sons of Apollo, a brand-new supergroup featuring Portnoy, Sherinian and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force), these rumors have been confirmed as true.

The quintet's debut album, Psychotic Symphony, will be released October 20 on InsideOutMusic/Sony Music.

The star-studded band came together organically. Portnoy explains, “Derek and I reunited shortly after I left Dream Theater in 2010 and we put together an all-instrumental touring band with he and I, Billy Sheehan, and Tony MacAlpine. That was my first time working with Derek since the ‘90s when he was in Dream Theater and it was just great to be working with him again."

"Ever since that tour, which was really just a one-off live thing, he has been nudging me to start a real, original, full-time band," he continued. "The timing just had never been right, because I had too many other things on my plate. Long story short, the time was finally right to take the bait and put together a band.”

“Mike and I work at a relentless pace in the studio,” Sherinian added. “The music is modern, but we have an old school soul. What is unique about Sons of Apollo is that we have true rock n’ roll swagger along with the virtuosity; a lethal combination!”

Sons of Apollo will hit the road in 2018 for their first worldwide tour. In the meantime though, you can watch a teaser for Psychotic Symphony below.

For more on Sons of Apollo, follow along on Facebook.

On April 7, Journey were among the honorees at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 32nd annual induction ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The event brought Journey—including longtime guitarist Neal Schon—together with their former singer, Steve Perry, who hasn't been a Journey man since 1998.

"There were so many emotions, and I was first to speak, so It was actually a bit surreal for me," Schon told Guitar Playerabout his induction speech.

"I choked up seeing everyone. I had seen Steve backstage, and I got a great feeling from him that our friendship, respect and love was still there. So when we walked up to be inducted, he came up to me and we exchanged a hug. Then I was trying to get my composure back, and I decided I couldn't read my speech—even though I did like what I had written."

As you can see in the bottom video, the guitarist found himself overwhelmed by emotion and wasn't able to deliver his speech. If you're interested in what he wrote, you can see the full text here.

Anyway, a few of Schon's famous guitar-playing friends—Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi, collectively known as Generation Axe—recently got together during their ongoing Asian tour to shoot a quick video. Their goal? To congratulate Schon and the rest of Journey on their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

You can watch their brief video message below (top video).

For more about Schon, visit schonmusic.com. For more about Generation Axe (and to see where they'll turn up next), visit generationaxe.com.

Neal Schon has a lot to be thankful for.

Last year, the longtime Journey guitarist—and the band’s only remaining founding member—celebrated another season of touring and was reunited with his longtime friend and mentor, Carlos Santana, for the Santana IV album and tour.

The new year is already off to a memorable start for Schon. In addition to the assortment of solo-related projects he's working on, it was recently announced that Journey–whose current lineup includes Jonathan Cain (keyboards, vocals), Ross Valory (bass, vocals), Steve Smith (drums) and Arnel Pineda (lead vocals)—will be inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April alongside Yes, ELO, Pearl Jam, Joan Baez, Nile Rodgers and Tupac Shakur.

I recently spoke with Schon about Journey’s induction, his upcoming projects and more.

Did you ever think the day would come when Journey would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
I didn’t really think about it. We were up about 17 years ago, and when we weren’t nominated, I kind of forgot about it. One of the main things that got us in was our fans voting so hard. The fans and the music are the main things for me. They spoke and the Hall listened. It’s an honor to be in there and get the nod for some of the staples and cement we’ve made.

Do you see Journey’s induction as a stepping stone for other “classic rock” bands to eventually get a nod?
I really can't say because I have no clue what the voting process is. Personally, I’d love to see it be more fan-based. A hall of fame is about different artists and bands and the legacies they've left. Even if the people deciding don’t care for a certain type of music, the artists that have the credentials and sell millions of records deserve to be there.

What was [vocalist] Arnel [Pineda]’s reaction to the news?
He's really excited for us. I think it would have been great if he had been inducted too, because he’s been with us for nine years. But I’m hoping something cool comes down with him in a jam. I’m also excited for him to meet Steve [Perry] because Arnel is one of Steve's biggest fans.

Speaking of Steve, the band’s induction has already fueled talk of a “classic” Journey reunion. Do you expect Steve to join the band for a performance at the ceremony?
You know, I really don’t expect anything. Steve’s said in past interviews that he's not interested in coming back to Journey, and I respect that. It ended a long time ago. But I would love to see him at least play a song with us. After seeing him performing with the Eels [watch it below], I’m sure a lot of fans are also going to expect him to sing a little.

What are your plans for 2017?
I’m already setting up a schedule, both for myself and for the band. Journey will be touring from mid-February through mid-July. We’ll be starting in Japan, where we’ll be playing everything from the Escape and Frontiers albums from top to bottom. We’ve never done that before, and I’m really looking forward to it. The greatest hits are great, but I think it’s time to open it up and get into some of these deep tracks because Journey offers so much more than hits. We bring a lot of different things to the table, and it’s one of the reasons I felt the band deserved to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

If you listen to an album like Escape, we cover a lot of ground on that record. It can be confusing for someone who’s never heard the band before when they hear songs like “Dead or Alive,” “Mother, Father” and “Still They Ride” and then hear “Open Arms."

What other new projects are you working on?
The latest thing I’ve been working on is with Narada Michael Walden. I remember all of the stuff he wrote for Jeff Beck on Wired and asked him to write me a record. I suggested we do something really soulful and orchestral where the guitar is the voice. We’ve got a great start on it, and I’m looking forward to commencing on it in the new year. I’ve also got a real avant gard project I’m working on that’s more techno with keyboards and guitar. It’s a bunch of loops with me jamming some really over-the-top, outside-of-the-box stuff.

I tried to see how far out I could go and then come back. And if that wasn’t enough, Kevin Shirley called me and said he’d love to do a really stripped-down blues record with me. He did an amazing job with Joe Bonamassa and wants to do something with great tone into a Fender amp with a Telecaster. I’m a Tele junkie and have them all over my house. They’re beautiful, stout guitars that are so articulate. There’s a lot you can do with that guitar with no frills. Blues is where my roots are, so at the end of the tour, I’m going to set aside some time to head into the studio and knock it out.

Do you have more plans to tour with Carlos Santana?
That's the other thing we're trying to work out. By that third gig together, we were firing on all cylinders. I’d love to see what would happen if we had a few weeks under our belts. Carlos is a huge inspiration to me and has become one of my best friends as well as a mentor and someone I look up to.

What are you most proud of about Journey? Is it the albums, the overall success, the rebuilding of the band?
For me, it all started with Herbie Herbert approaching me about a band (the Golden Gate Rhythm Section) where we’d be a studio session band for hire for different artists. That band turned into Journey. We’ve taken some breaks through the years that turned into extended hiatuses. So I had to get busy and did solo projects and played with Paul Rodgers and Bad English with John Waite, Jon Cain, Deen Castronovo and Ricky Phillips.

I’m kind of like “Father Journey” in that I’ll always fight for us to get something we deserve. And we're not done. I’m not done. We have such a large audience that just keeps growing.

After 43 years with the band, I see no reason to throw in the towel. Even if I want to do different stuff, there's still time to do it and no reason not to. I’m more excited than I’ve ever been about my career and am so grateful for the one I’ve had. The best is yet to come.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

It’s been another top-notch year for guitarist Neal Schon.

Besides the fact that Journey—which includes Schon, Ross Valory (bass), Jonathan Cain (keyboards), Steve Smith (drums) and Arnel Pineda (vocals)—celebrated another season of non-stop touring, Schon also reunited with Carlos Santana to record Santana IV. The album marked the first time Santana's classic lineup has worked together in more than 40 years.

We recently spoke to Schon about touring with Journey, reuniting with Santana, the 35th anniversary of Journey's Escape, gear and some incredible career highlights.

What’s it like to still be performing at this high level with Journey after so many years?

It’s been an amazing ride, and I think it’s all due to a lot of hard work. When we decided to rebuild almost two decades ago, it was a long ride up the hill. Those first eight years were a lot of work, and in many ways it was like paying our dues all over again. We’re grateful to everyone who put in so much time rebuilding, and we still have much more to experiment with musically.

What does the band have planned for next year?

We’ve been playing the greatest hits for a while and know we have to play those songs in order to make fans happy. But our die-hard fans want to hear different material, and we have tons of it. So that’s what’s about to come next year. We’ll be playing our first shows in the Orient where we’ve been asked to play Escape and Frontiers in their entirety. I think it will be fun for everyone to get reconnected with those records. Some of those songs, like “Frontiers,” we’ve never played live. We actually went through it at a sound check recently and it sounded amazing. I’m excited about doing it.

What was it like getting back together with Carlos and the gang for Santana IV?

For me, it was a lifelong dream. Everyone had their own hangups at the time we disbanded, and a lot of us didn’t leave on the right note. I remember when we first got together to test out the idea, we had about eight days of rehearsal and jamming and it was just amazing. Gregg [Rolie], Carlos and I brought in songs, and we went at it in a very organic way and laid it all down. I feel so proud of this record and it's very gratifying to have helped pull all of these guys back together.

This year also marked the 35th anniversary of Journey’s Escape, an album that saw the departure of Gregg Rolie and the arrival of Jonathan Cain. What was the chemistry like in the band at that point?

Honestly, it was great. Even before we did Escape, we were already at a height, when we put out the Captured. By that point, Gregg had enough of being on tour and wanted to start a family. At the time, the Babys were opening for us. They were a solid unit and I loved [John] Waite’s vocals. I was checking out Jonathan [Cain] and felt that he was such a great player, and I also liked the fact that he strapped on a rhythm guitar and played once in a while. So when Gregg was going to leave I asked him what he thought about Jonathan taking his place. Gregg thought it was a great choice and everyone else in the band agreed. We continued to evolve and even went into some new areas I had never been in before.

What can you tell me about the origin of “Don’t Stop Believin’”?

Jon, Steve [Perry] and I had been tossing around the ball in my old studio in Oakland when Jon brought in the chords. He had “Don’t Stop Believin’,” the bass line and the chorus it starts with. As we were looking for different sections, I came up with the B section and the locomotive guitar riff. There was some hesitation about it, and I even remember record execs coming up and saying we should edit it out. But the cool thing about our contract that Herb Herbert [manager] had in place was that we had complete artistic control of everything. So we didn’t allow the A&R guys to come in and chop and edit. We left it in, and it became a very famous part of the song.

What’s your live gear setup like these days?

It’s evolving and really depends on the gig. If it’s a straightforward blues gig, I’d probably have a little Fender Deluxe and hit it in front with a wah and overdrive pedal, like I did in the early days of Journey. For the big shows, I’m using a Fractal and an original 100-watt Blackstar head I got years ago when they first came out. I use one 4x12 with the head with three channels [clean, crunch and overdrive] programmed into the Fractal board. That’s pretty much it.

We all know you’re a big PRS Guitars supporter, but a lot of fans still remember the Schon guitar.

It’s funny you mention that because I recently spoke with Paul [Reed Smith]. We’ve been friends for years and I love working with him, and he also lets me design. I love the 15-inch semi-acoustic guitar that I play all the time, but I thought it could use some updates on the top side. So Paul sent me over some plans to draw on and I took a bit of the “15” body out of the top side, made the lines a little bit straighter and then put in a bit of the Schon guitar body resemblance. I also made the holes a bit smaller in width to make it a little more streamlined. It’s got a really distinctive look to it. So we’re working on that. I also have a “13” solid body that’s coming out very soon as well as a “14” semi-hollow that has only one f-hole.

There have been a lot of rumors circulating lately, so I have to ask: Do you have any plans to work with Steve Perry in the future?

There are no plans and there haven’t been any since we’ve moved on. It’s all just rumors. What I do know is that we made some timeless music together and I’m very grateful for that. He’s tremendously talented and a great songwriter. I miss writing with him but I can’t imagine him ever jumping in with us.

What are you working on at the moment?

There’s always new music with me. My last record was the double record, Vortex, that I did with Steve Smith, Igor Len and Jan Hammer. I’m really proud of that record. I have some new tracks recorded and the plan is to add more to Vortex and then re-issue it. I also have other things that are already pre-recorded, including some really outside-the-box guitar stuff I’m working on. It’s all improvised and very experimental.

Are there any career highlights that stick out to you as most memorable?

There are many more than one. I remember when Eric Clapton asked me to come join him at Berkley Community Theater with Derek and the Dominos. What an honor that was for me. Eric was the guy whose band [Cream] really taught me how to open up and improvise with the Wheels of Fire record. Afterwards, he tried to talk me into moving to England, but I decided to go with Santana. Then after I joined Santana and we did the Santana III record, I played my first show in London at the Hammersmith Odeon. The show was sold out, and Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were all in the audience. I remember every chance I had to solo I was ripping with great pride from everything I had learned from those guys, knowing they were watching. That was a surreal moment. I also have so many great Journey moments as well as working on other projects. I’ve been blessed to play with so many great people.

Last question: Is it true that your wife, Michaele, has been with you at every Journey show?

Yes. She’s toured with me constantly for six years and hasn’t missed one show. She’s been tremendous support and is one of the reasons I feel I’m doing so well. I’m completely blessed that she’s in my life. I feel so much younger than I am—and there’s a still a lot left in me.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

Neal Schon of Journey is joining the PRS family of artists with two distinct signature models: the NS-14 and NS-15.

Schon was intimately involved in the design of nearly every aspect of these instruments, from the stylized f-holes to the hardware details.

The NS-14 is a completely new PRS design incorporating a 14-inch semi-hollow singlecut body with a new neck joint designed to allow greater access to the higher frets.

[[ Keep up with Guitar World's NAMM 2013 coverage right here! ]]

The NS-15 is a thinline hollowbody based on the Neal Schon limited edition Private Stock guitar offered in early 2012. A portion of Neal’s signature tone comes from his long-standing use of Floyd Rose tremolo systems. The NS-14 and NS-15 add a Floyd Rose to the PRS Core line for the first time.

“The new NS-14 and NS-15 PRS guitars are on the cutting edge of now," Schon said. "I love everything about them. I had the pleasure in helping in the creation of these beauties and I love the weight, sound and ultimate playability. These are among the best guitars I've ever played. Check ‘em out.”

Find out more about the NS-14 here and the NS-15 here.

Here's a video of bassist, American Idol judge and former Bass Guitar columnist Randy Jackson playing and discussing Ernie Ball's new Cobalt bass strings.

Ernie Ball recently announced the new line of electric bass and guitar strings, which is made out of cobalt, the most magnetically active material. Ernie Ball's patent pending advancement in technology stems from a nine-year pursuit in researching materials that give guitarists and bassists a new-and-improved voice.

Find out how you can win a Music Man John Petrucci JPXI guitar, a box of Cobalt Slinky Strings and an Ernie Ball Marshall Gig Bag Amp! For all the info about the contest, and to enter, visit the official contest page right here.

Find out more about Cobalt Slinkys at GuitarWorld.com or at at Ernie Ball's official website.

Journey have just released a live music video for their track "Resonate" as what they're calling a special Valentine's Day gift for their fans. You can watch the video below.

The clip features footage from the band's recent Eclipse tour, more specifically the stops in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Eclipse was released in the spring of 2011 and sold exclusively through Wal-Mart.