Yes have announced that they'll be postponing their upcoming UK Fragile tour due to Steve Howe requiring “an essential surgery.”

The tour, which was scheduled to kick off on April 22 and last until May 4, is currently being rescheduled, with the new dates set to be announced soon.

“The upcoming YES ‘Fragile’ UK and EU Tour, due to commence on 22nd April, has had to be postponed as guitarist Steve Howe requires an essential operation that requires recovery time,” reads the official statement.

“This decision has been made to ensure that Steve can return to the stage in full health and deliver the performances that fans deserve. We are working hard to reschedule the UK and EU shows to a later date, with full details to be announced after Easter. Please retain your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled dates.

“Tour dates currently being arranged for later in 2026 will proceed as planned. Steve Howe and YES would like to thank their UK fans and hope for their continued support at this time.”

As the name suggests, the Fragile tour celebrates Yes’ landmark 1971 album of the same name – and their commercial breakthrough – with the band playing the record in its entirety.

In fact, the band’s setlist from the U.S. leg of the tour last year featured a couple of tracks that were played for the first time in years, including Onward, Madrigal, and Soon.

In a recent Guitar World interview with Howe, the Yes, Asia, and GTR legend revealed how he managed to overcome stage fright through an intense pre-show ritual.

What has Steve Howe left to prove? A legend of progressive guitar, he has put his name to some of its most expansive compositions, pushed the limits, hunted down new sounds.

But as he tells Guitar World, it was never just a question of raw musical technicality – the key was letting his imagination run wild.

What was your first guitar?

I wanted a guitar when I was 10, but it took until I was 12 before my parents gave in. We went to a shop in King’s Cross in North London, and they had guitars hanging up, including a few electrics, but I was interested in an archtop with F-holes.

For about £12, I got this foreign-made-six string archtop with F-holes that looked like a Framus but wasn’t. I struggled on that guitar for a couple of years.

What was the first song you learned to play?

Tea for Two, a simple tune with three notes. But I pretty much immediately progressed from that, because at the time it was all about instrumental bands like the Shadows with twangy guitars, which was just before the Beatles came out.

What was your first gig?

It was at school, when I was about 14. There was this kid who was a drummer, and one day he said, “Let’s put a band together and do a show!” I don’t think we rehearsed or tuned up; we just showed up and played the gig by calling out Shadows tunes like The Frightened City and Apache. Honestly, it was awful and we sounded terrible.

Ever had an embarrassing moment on stage?

I got my Gibson ES-175 in 1964. I cherished that guitar – it was totally gorgeous. One day, I had a beer and was playing the 175 and I suddenly dropped the guitar, which landed on the jack plug and broke the socket. I was horrified and heartbroken.

I took the guitar to be repaired. The one thing that came out of that experience was that I never got drunk again. Playing guitar and drinking – those things are stupidly incompatible. I had found out that playing guitar under the influence of alcohol was a complete and utter no-no.

What’s your favorite piece of gear?

The Line 6 Helix. While it’s not perfect, it is incredible. It’s as good as I found it gets, as there’s a couple of tricks it can’t do. It doesn’t do a lot of great wahs or Leslie cabinets, but – other than that – it’s the most compatible piece of equipment for me.

The building is burning down; what one guitar from your collection would you save?

The Gibson ES-175. That’s the key guitar. I’d like to save my [Martin] 00-18s as well, but if it was just one guitar, it would have to be the ES-175.

What was the last time you practiced and what did you play?

Yesterday, and I played my solo pieces. The way I keep my guitar playing fluid is that I play my solo pieces like Clap and Mood for a Day and the 30 others I have. I can choose any of those and just tell myself to play it perfectly straight off, even if I haven’t played it for two years.

Basically, that’s a pretty tall order. I’m telling myself, “Let’s see if I can play that right.” And while I have to still practice some of the fiddly bits of lead guitar, my stability really comes from playing those solo-performance pieces.

What aspect of the guitar would you like to be better at?

I’ve been playing guitar for 64 years or so, and there’s going to be things I’m never going to be able to do. I’ve resigned myself at this happy age [78] where I say to myself, “I do this stuff, and I like doing this stuff and it ain’t too tricky and it doesn’t drive me crazy,” but there’s a lot of things I just can’t do.

I’ve got the greatest respect for classical and jazz musicians in the way that their musicality is far greater than mine. But my imagination and inventiveness, most probably, is far greater than 90 percent of those classical and jazz musicians, because that’s what I’ve developed as a guitarist.

What advice would you give your younger self about the guitar if you could?

“Don’t drink and drop your best guitar” would be first! Besides that, it’s to learn to be organized. I was quite lucky in that I got over the stage fears and worrying about that in a couple of different ways. Initially, I found a way of touring for years and years, where my personal preparation was completely secret and completely my own.

In 2001 that changed, where to get ready for a show now became a ritual. It takes about 45 minutes or an hour, minimum, for me to get prepared. During that time, basically, you need to get out of my face. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to see anybody; I just want to get myself ready.

I think the performance is not only about the moment, as you’ve got to be in the moment, but also about the preparation for that moment. I use techniques now that are very different from those that I used pre-2001. I enjoy that sense of organization.

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

We’ve all had gigs that we’d be better off if they’d never happened – and Yes, Asia, and GTR legend Steve Howe has proven he’s just like the rest of us by revealing his most embarrassing moment on stage

“I got my Gibson ES-175 in 1964. I cherished that guitar – it was totally gorgeous,” he reminisces in the new issue of Guitar World. “One day, I had a beer and was playing the 175, and I suddenly dropped the guitar, which landed on the jack plug and broke the socket.

Safe to say Howe was “horrified and heartbroken.”

He continues, “I took the guitar to be repaired. The one thing that came out of that experience was that I never got drunk again. Playing guitar and drinking – those things are stupidly incompatible. I had found out that playing guitar under the influence of alcohol was a complete and utter no-no.”

So it's natural that, if he had to give his two cents to his younger self, he would tell him, “Don’t drink and drop your best guitar!”

“Besides that, it’s to learn to be organized,” Howe adds of the advice he'd give. “I was quite lucky in that I got over the stage fears and worrying about that in a couple of different ways. Initially, I found a way of touring for years and years, where my personal preparation was completely secret and completely my own.”

He continues, “In 2001 that changed, where to get readyfor a show now became a ritual. It takes about 45 minutes or an hour, minimum, for me to get prepared.

“During that time, basically, you need to get out of my face,” he says matter-of-factly. “I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to see anybody; I just want to get myself ready.”

For more Howe, plus new interviews with Jake E. Lee and Steve Vai, pick up issue 601 of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.

Aside from their famous collaboration with David Bowie, Queen were a pretty closed shop when it came to recording with guest stars, especially guitarists. Yet prog rock hero Steve Howe bucked that trend in the early 1990s, contributing to a collaboration that has gone under the radar in the band’s folklore.

Howe, of Yes and Asia fame, has had a storied career outside of his band work. He was a guitarist for hire in the '60s, playing on a multitude of EMI recordings, and he and bandmate Rick Wakeman later played on Lou Reed's self-titled record in 1972.

But, discussing his guest spots with Prog, it's his spontaneous contributions to Queen's Innuendo that stand out.

“I was in a restaurant in Montreux and bumped into one of Queen’s techs,” he explains. “He said, ‘Steve, come down to the studio – the lads would love to see you.’”

The band rolled the red carpet out for Howe, and it sounds like they had a guest spot in mind before he arrived at the band-owned Mountain Studios. It wasn't Howe's first trip to the studios, either. He'd recorded Going for the One with Yes there in the late 70s. David Bowie, AC/DC, and Iggy Pop have also recorded there.

“When I got down there, they’d set up the studio for me,” he reveals. “They played me the whole album, and it was stunning, and they said, ‘How about playing on Innuendo? Play like [Spanish flamenco guitarist] Paco De Lucía; just run around and go nuts.’ So I did!”

The song, another slice of proto-prog pomp from the British rock giants, was born out of a jam session involving Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon in 1989. Mercury was said to be upstairs at the time, and latched onto the song's Kashmir-like groove to turn it into a song. Howe's playing provided the finishing touch, and the song later topped the UK charts.

Speaking to the Official International Queen Fan Club magazine in 2021, Howe shed more light on the session and the surprise instrument he used to record.

“Brian had three Gibson Chet Atkins guitars. [They're] brilliant inventions as they sound so much like classical guitar,” he says. “I played all three of Brian’s and liked one a bit more than the other two, so that’s what I played on the record.”

He also reveals that the solo was completely improvised, ultimately spliced together from three separate takes.

“Spontaneity and improvisation can very much be the spirit of music itself,” he says. “I had no time with Innuendo to be concerned about what to do, and that can sometimes be easier than being premeditated. Wonderful things can happen that way, and that’s how it turned out on Innuendo.”

Meanwhile, Brian May has revealed how influential Rory Gallagher was in helping him find his sound, and discussed the time Jimi Hendrix schooled him in how to use a Marshall amp.

The punk-tinged anarchy of The Jesus Lizard’s music may feel a world away from prog rock’s intricate, genre-and-math-bending acrobatics, but Duane Denison holds both dear to his heart. So, the day he found himself standing in Steve Howe’s hotel room trying to sell him an electric guitar lives long in his memory.

Speaking in the new issue of Guitar World, the guitarist says he grew up idolizing the finger-blurring talents of prog’s elite, even if he didn’t quite go down that route with his own musical endeavors.

“When I was a teenager, it was the ’70s, and so prog rock was king. I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it,” he says proudly. “Punk rock hadn’t come along yet. The shredders of my day were Robert Fripp, Jan Akkerman and Steve Howe.”

Denison ended up meeting Howe when he was just 17. It was the mid ‘70s, Yes were at the height of their powers, and so Denison did what every teenage guitarist would do when they had the chance to meet their hero: sell him a guitar.

“We tried to sell him a guitar when Yes came through Detroit,” he remembers. “A friend of mine worked at a guitar shop that carried rare archtop jazz guitars, and there was a Guild George Barnes acoustic-electric.”

Barnes was a renowned swing jazz guitarist, typically found playing the kind of archtops with which Howe would usher in Yes’ wide array of riffs. So, it was a fair match.

Howe has previously explained to GW why he won't play unfamiliar guitars these days but back then it was a different story, and it seems as though he may have had his head slightly turned by the offer.

“This friend was really pushy and talked to a roadie, and they said to come back the next day to meet at Steve Howe’s hotel room in downtown Detroit. He tried it out and played some stuff on it, but he didn’t buy it.”

While the sales pitch didn’t quite work, Howe (at least on paper) represented the ideal customer. After all, his guitar collection includes some weird and wonderful instruments.

His semi-hollow Gibson ES-175D – an unconventional rock guitar he acquired way back in 1964 – may be the guitar he’s most closely associated with, but he’s also owned and played Strats, Les Pauls, a 12-string Steinberger GM headless guitar, and more. Denison wasn’t crazy thinking the Guild Georges Barnes may just take his fancy.

Howe also once took a chisel to a 1955 Fender Telecaster to make it more Gibson. It found its home on Yes’ Relayer before reappearing on 2023’s Mirror to the Sky.

Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy of the new GW, which includes chats with Grace Bowers, Matteo Mancuso, and more, as players weigh in with their favorite music and gear releases in 2024.

We have Steve Howe to thank for extending progressive rock’s boundaries beyond the horizon. The Yes guitarist’s jazz sensibility and musical curiosity shaped a sound that continues to evolve. His conceptual new solo album Guitarscape comprises a diverse array of chordal-driven guitar instrumentals, recorded with his son Dylan on drums.

What guitar did you learn on?

“I think it cost £14. I bought it in King’s Cross, London. It was just a brownish archtop kind of guitar, two f-holes and a bridge. Nothing fancy. It wasn’t a Framus but it was like that kind of guitar, and that was the first instrument that I owned. I was very grateful my Dad bought it for me. That was in 1959, and I really started in 1960.”

How much did you practice in the early days, and how much do you practice now?

“The answer is simple. I don’t practice, because I don’t think that practicing in itself is necessary unless I haven’t played for a long time and I want to do some warming up, then yeah, I might do some scales, and I have got an interesting kind of run-up thing that starts quite steady and then gets faster where you go through every note on the guitar.

“I love doing those but I don’t do them very often, and usually because I am in touch with my guitar. My hands have been playing for 60 years, so basically they do know where the frets are.

“Sometimes I like to play something I wrote to make sure I can still play it. I hadn’t played Clap [his instrumental track from 1971’s The Yes Album] for about two months, and I sat down and picked up a Martin and went, ‘Play Clap,’ and I played the whole thing! That is my confirmation, periodically, if I need it, because I don’t play it a lot.”

Who was your biggest influence or what was your biggest motivation as a player?

“When I heard Chet Atkins, everything changed. I became more personalised in my ambitions, not just to become a guitarist but a particular kind of guitarist, free to do lots of things, not just Apache! Chet could manage nice things on just about anything, and also he had this marvellous back story of being associated with other great people.

“I didn’t know that at the time, and it took me a bit of time to realise that I had just read about him on the Everly Brothers records, in the liner notes [Atkins produced the Everly Brothers]. There was more to the man than you see. But playing was the central thing. He was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”

“Initially, I didn’t realise how much two guitarists influenced me before I had even picked up the guitar, because I loved the sound they got. That was a guy called Jimmy Bryant, who played on the records my parents had, sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford, and of course Les Paul!

“My parents had Les Paul records with Mary Ford, so I played those and I thought, ‘That’s pretty wonderful!’ They may have encouraged me towards the guitar. There was this interest in music in the house generally and I got into pop when it came out, Hank Marvin… guitar instrumentals.”

What are your non-negotiables when it comes to guitar?

“What is crucial now is that I’m playing guitars that I’m very familiar with. I won’t accept being unfamiliar with a guitar, and how it feels has become much more important. It has to feel absolutely right.

“I perform on performance-level guitars because I need that so much, and I won’t have a hindrance from the guitar. The guitars have to be very well maintained and well-strung, and Simon Thorn is doing that for me now. Simon’s doing great. The setup of the guitar is important.”

In terms of technique, what was the last new trick you learned?

“Most of what I think up has something new about it to me, although it maybe in the chords or something that I hear. I don’t know that I think about new tricks. There is a lot that you can do on a guitar that sounds really wonderful but is actually quite easy, so in a way, the guitar is a very tempting instrument to explore. Most players probably don’t stop finding nice things.”

In your early days, what guitar was the game-changer for you?

“My heart was set on a Gibson ES-175, in 1964, which my dad helped me buy. That is the most important guitar in the world to me, and that’s why it is heavily protected! I bought that only four years after starting the guitar, so it was very ambitious of me, but in that time, I’d had two other electric guitars; a Guyatone LG-40, sometimes called an Antoria LG-40, and also a Burns jazz guitar which had two pickups.”

What new instruments have you acquired recently?

“I got a new pedal steel by Williams and that is brilliant. That’s quite inspiring, too. Last year, I bought a Gibson Tennessean, which is once again a big wave to Chet Atkins because he designed this guitar, and he always sounded wonderful playing them. I mean, I had to get one, inevitably, and I find it wonderful, too. It is the featured guitar on a new track, Secret Mission.”

As a player, do you have any bad habits that you worry about?

“Well, the lightness of touch that Chet plays electric with – I’m getting there a little bit on the Tennessean, but I could play lighter. I would almost confess that when I hear the original Mood For A Day [his instrumental from another Yes album from 1971, Fragile], I think I am thrashing that guitar to pieces, and I don’t play like that at all anymore.

“So some of the things that I’ve done before I don’t do the same now, because I get more out of playing it beautifully and respectfully - and that goes for all of that area of performing it and making it right for the moment.”

Which is the song or performance that is you’re most proud of?

“It’s transient. It’s not the same. In one period, there will be something that grabbed you, but there can’t be an overriding song that I enjoy in that way. I would probably say Clap to be honest!

“Because that is only me and if I get it right then I am pretty happy. It’s good to have that pressure. I take it for granted that I can perform anything that I have recorded, but some things are easier than others.”

What do you play when you are relaxing and just playing for the fun of it?

“Basically, I don’t like to feel like there is any reason why I should play anything in particular. I do like to pull out a solo piece and play that, if it is the appropriate guitar to do that on. There might be something musically that I am thinking about, something I played last week. I’ve got my little voice recorder and I might check back.

“But I don’t need inspiration from outside. I just sit and play, but what I play… it might be improvised. I might just improvise. That’s what I replaced practising with. Just improvise.

“It doesn’t matter if you are playing chords or a single line, and you can hear the sort of music that you would hear background, imagining it was there, and jam if you like on a 12 bar. I think that’s the freedom I like – just to have fun.”

Is there a piece of music that you wish you could play but can’t?

“Loads of things! Thousands of things! I couldn’t even start there, but that’s what I do. I admire music. I admire other people’s music. When I hear Tal Farlow playing Chuckles or something, this is just sheer heavenly delightful jazz guitar – why would I even think I could do that? But there again, I have been influenced by jazz and it has a way of showing me that doesn’t require me going to the extent of specialising in it.”

And after all these years, is it still a challenge to play live?

“A performer can really beat themselves up if they did something wrong that’s rather apparent or that is dreadful. You can spend days trying to forget it – just that one moment. That happens often. It’s not never. That happens periodically with something you do; you come off and feel hurt.

“But you have to remember that this is live performance and you don’t know what’s going to happen when the show starts. All sorts of things can distract you. What we want to do is play the most electrifying shows that we can, but then again, we are not robots. We won’t be the same as the other show. I think that’s why most people come to shows – to see what happens.”

• Guitarscape is out now via Howesound.

On December 27, 1969, just a few days before the dawn of the new decade, the music world witnessed an extraordinary changing of the guard as Led Zeppelin II reached Number 1 on the Billboard charts, dethroning the Beatles’ final full-on studio effort, Abbey Road.

After hearing Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant proclaim “I’m gonna give you every inch of my love” on their hit, Whole Lotta Love, the Beatles probably realized their days of singing sweet harmonies in an octopus’s garden were numbered.

And if the cover of Abbey Road is any evidence, the Fab Four apparently saw no other choice but to immediately vacate their recording studio and march, single file, into the streets of London, never to be heard from again.

Zeppelin would go on to dominate the sound and psyche of the ’70s. Their first four albums created templates for almost everything that was to follow in the next decade, including riff rock (Whole Lotta Love), heavy metal (Immigrant Song), prog (Dazed and Confused), power balladry (Stairway to Heaven), arena blooze (The Lemon Song), glam (Black Dog) and country rock (Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp).

They even paved the way for late-’70s punk and the first Van Halen album. Guitarist Johnny Ramone once confessed that he honed his pioneering punk-rock skills by playing Zeppelin’s Communication Breakdown repeatedly. And Edward Van Halen told Guitar World in 2008 that, “I think I got the idea of tapping [while] watching Jimmy Page do his Heartbreaker solo back in 1971.”

But perhaps Led Zeppelin’s most important contribution to the ’70s was their fierce, uncompromising attitude. The band revolutionized the music industry when they negotiated their game-changing record deal with Atlantic Records that allowed guitarist Jimmy Page to produce their albums without any label interference. Additionally, the group retained control of all jacket artwork, press ads, publicity pictures and anything else related to their image.

As Page explained, “I wanted artistic control in a vise grip, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”

And what Zeppelin wanted to do was… everything and anything! They had this crazy notion that musicians should have the artistic freedom to play what they want — and that their fans might enjoy it. As it turned out, people did indeed love their wild experimentalism, and so did the record companies, who discovered they could make a ton of cash by allowing the band to have their own way.

Zeppelin’s example opened the floodgates to an intensely creative era that ushered in dozens of astonishing new genres of music, all played on adventurous FM radio stations.

Just a tiny sampling of the albums released in ’70s is enough to make any guitar nerd choke on their Ernie Balls – The Dark Side of the Moon, Sticky Fingers, Hotel California, Marquee Moon, Night at the Opera, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Van Halen, Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols, Machine Head – the mind boggles.

Given the vast scope of music made during the ’70s, trying to sum up guitar playing in the era is like attempting to solve a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded while riding a roller coaster in sequined bell-bottoms. It’s damn difficult! But let’s give it a shot…

The rise of heavy metal

You could argue that heavy metal was forged in the Sixties by bands like Cream, Jimi Hendrix, the Jeff Beck Group and, of course, Led Zeppelin. But you’d be wrong.

Sure, those bands started the ball rolling by chugging power chords through big-ass 100-watt Marshalls, but most of what they were playing was just amplified blues mixed with a bit o’ weird hippie psychedelia.

To make real heavy metal – 100 percent certified heavy metal – they were missing two ingredients: the devil… and Tony Iommi.

Hailing from the sooty factory town of Birmingham, England, Black Sabbath, featuring guitarist Iommi, along with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward, set the world ablaze in 1970 with two groundbreaking albums, Black Sabbath and Paranoid. Their ominous riffs and occult-inspired lyrics on anthems like Iron Man, The Wizard and Electric Funeral would inspire thousands of bands, including Judas Priest, Van Halen, Slayer, Metallica and Ghost.

Given their preoccupation with the supernatural, it’s no surprise that their backstory reads like something out of Grimm’s Fairy Tales… but a whole lot grimmer. On the day Iommi was quitting his sheet metal factory job to become a full-time musician, catastrophe struck – he lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his right hand in a gruesome industrial accident.

A machine press came down and caught his fingers, and when he recoiled, the ends were ripped right off! (If there was ever a sentence that deserved an exclamation mark, it’s that one.)

However, Iommi wasn’t going to let a little thing like a couple of severed fingers stop him from playing guitar. Resourcefully, he used his machine-shop skills to custom-make special fingertip pads out of plastic and leather. Then, to make his guitar easier to play, he set his instrument’s action as low as it could go and detuned his strings to lessen the tension even further.

To Iommi’s surprise, when he plugged in his guitar into his Laney amp and cranked up his Dallas Rangemaster overdrive pedal, those elements coalesced into a deep, gut-rattling sound unlike anyone had heard before.

As Iommi later observed, “Some people believe the accident invented heavy metal, and it probably did. It helped me invent a new kind of music – a new sound and different style of playing.” He probably should’ve added, “But kids, don’t try this at home…”

Southern Harmony

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so while Black Sabbath were busy serving up doom and gloom in U.K. in 1970, the Allman Brothers Band were spreading good vibes and magic ’shrooms throughout the southern United States.

Formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969, the Allman Brothers Band migrated to Macon, Georgia, where they began building a reputation for their incredible live shows that combined elements of rock, blues, jazz and country music into memorable songs and explosive improvisations.

Their exciting smorgasbord of influences was unlike anything audiences had ever heard, but what really made the six-piece band unique were the soaring, harmonized twin lead guitars of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts.

Traditionally, when you had two guitarists in a rock band, one played rhythm and the other played lead. Betts and Allman threw that playbook out the window, trading leads and orchestrating tight harmony parts similar to the way jazz horn sections worked together.

The concept wasn’t completely new. Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck briefly experimented with the idea when they were both in the Yardbirds in 1966, but Allman and Betts elevated their two-guitar attack into a brilliant artform – one that would influence and shape dozens of Southern bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, the Outlaws, 38 Special and the Marshall Tucker Band throughout the ’70s.

It helped that both Allman and Betts were terrific musicians with distinct sounds and approaches to their instruments. Allman brought a new level of virtuosity and aggression to the electric slide guitar that remains influential today, while Betts added a sophisticated sense of composition and melody to the duo.

Their landmark live album, At Fillmore East, released in July 1971, sent shockwaves through the guitar community. It not only changed the way blues and metal guitarists thought about two-guitar bands and improvisation, but it also influenced the sound of country music in ways that can be felt today.

The Allmans were primarily a U.S. phenomenon, but British blues rock legend Eric Clapton took notice. After seeing the Allmans play in Miami, Clapton was so blown away by Duane’s slide technique, he invited him to play an equal role on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, one of the greatest albums of the ’70s and one of the most exciting blues rock albums of all time.

“The Allman Brothers were unbelievable,” Clapton told journalist Sam Hare. “Duane and Dickey Betts were in such harmony. Their playing was very strong and well thought out. When Duane came to the studio [to play on Layla], I was so taken with him that I started ignoring my own band.

“I just tried to keep thinking of songs we’d both know so we could duet. We’d play blues standards like Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out and Key to the Highway. All these things were just really vehicles so we could play – just excuses to jam with one another.”

Tragically, on October 29, 1971, Duane Allman, then 24, was killed in a motorcycle accident. But despite the loss, the band miraculously carried on, recording their most commercially successful album, Brothers and Sisters.

Without Duane, guitarist Betts flourished, his sunburst Les Paul planting the seeds for modern country artists like Chris Stapleton, Eric Church, Lucinda Williams and the Zac Brown Band, all of whom have covered Allman songs in more recent years.

Just say Yes to prog rock

They say the best comedy is based on the truth, and that certainly goes for the one guitar joke that everybody knows:

Q: How many guitarists does it take to screw in a light bulb?

A: One to screw it in and another dozen to say, “I could do that.”

Guitarists have always been competitive, and that was certainly true in the ’70s. It was no longer enough to write great songs and look good – you also had to have serious chops.

Musicians playing under the banner of “progressive rock” or simply “prog” turned technique into a religion, and the result was some of the strangest and most ambitious music to ever grace the Billboard Top 20 charts. The most interesting prog bands were King Crimson, ELP, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Rush, Kansas, U.K. and Gentle Giant, but it was Yes who were the most commercially successful exponents.

Each member of Yes was an exceptional musician. Singer Jon Anderson – with his sweet tenor – had one of the most distinctive voices in rock; and virtuoso keyboardist Rick Wakeman – who wore sequined capes on stage – was flashy both visually and technically.

But the real star of the group was guitarist Steve Howe. Howe thrilled audiences by playing in a formidable assortment of styles on an astonishing array of electric, acoustic and steel guitars… often during the same song. Some critics accused him of being excessive, but for the most part, he was tasteful and generous, allowing his Yes compatriots to shine and take turns in the spotlight as evidenced by the band’s biggest hit, Roundabout.

During the band’s heyday, which lasted throughout the ’70s, his work on The Yes Album (1971), Fragile (1971), Close to the Edge (1972), Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973) and Relayer (1974) opened huge doors for guitar players looking to expand the techniques and colors they could use within a rock context.

Howe experimented with flamenco, Chet Atkins-style fingerpicking, classical harmonies and exotic chord voicings while shredding some of the speediest, harmonically advanced soloing ever heard on a rock album.

He was an amazing technician, but his lead playing also had an appealingly jagged edge that always kept the music rooted in rock ’n’ roll, no matter how complex it got.

Howe pushed the boundaries of popular music about as hard as any musician in the Seventies, and he did much of this on electric f-hole guitars like the Gibson ES-175, which was more associated with jazz players.

“The decision to buy the ES-175 set me on a course,” Howe said. “I didn’t consider myself to be someone who played solid bodied guitars at the time. It’s helped me to forge an identity as a guitarist with a full sound that isn’t reliant on distortion or tremolo or other gadgets.”

He was so dominant in the ’70s that he won “Best Overall Guitarist” in Guitar Player magazine an unprecedented five years in a row, influencing players as diverse as Alex Lifeson (Rush), John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers). But unlike Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen, few people attempted to sound like him, probably because it was so difficult to do.

His lasting impact has been more about his grand concept than his style. He is the guy you can thank for introducing the idea of owning dozens of guitars for different colors and sounds. So, the next time anybody gives you shit for buying yet another Les Paul Junior or Epiphone Casino, just blame it on Steve.

Lighting the fusion

Guitarists like Howe, Frank Zappa, Tommy Bolin and Jeff Beck shaped the sound and style of Seventies rock by incorporating elements of jazz into their arsenal of licks. But just as significant were a new crop of young jazz players who started experimenting with the volume and aggression heard in rock music.

Guitarist Larry Coryell, sometimes called the “godfather of jazz-rock fusion” summed it up when he said, “We loved [jazz trumpeter] Miles Davis – but we also loved the Rolling Stones.”

Starting in the early ’70s, a gang of extraordinarily gifted young jazz shredders like Coryell, Pat Metheny, Al Di Meola and John Scofield scared the bejeezus out of rock’s greatest players with their command of the electric guitar. But the jazz shredder who made the most impact was the fast and furious John McLaughlin, who played a double-neck Gibson EDS-1275 through a 100-watt Marshall amp “in meltdown mode.”

Starting his career as a session musician in England, McLaughlin moved to the U.S. in the late ’60s, where he played with jazz drummer Tony Williams’ group Lifetime.

He then performed with the legendary Miles Davis on several pioneering electric jazz fusion albums, most notably In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and Jack Johnson. But it was his work in the ferocious Mahavishnu Orchestra that made him a superstar in the rock world.

The five-piece Mahavishnu Orchestra combined elements of metal, jazz, funk and Indian classical music into their compositions, which they performed at lightning tempos. As Guitar World once put it, the band left you feeling as if they “were always on the very edge of exploding into a thousand pieces, so far did they push and extend themselves and each other.”

Guitar legend Jeff Beck was particularly floored. “Things took a funny turn for me in the early ’70s,” Beck recalled. “But it all turned out well after hearing John McLaughlin play on Miles Davis’ Jack Johnson album and with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Every musician I knew was raving about him, and I thought, ‘I’ll have some of that.’ The mastery of his playing was unequaled.”

Soon after hearing McLaughlin, Beck turned down a spot in the Rolling Stones and began experimenting with his own jazz-rock band. He was warned that playing fusion was commercial suicide, but ironically, it resulted in his most commercially successful album, Blow by Blow, released in 1975.

In the early ’70s, the radical Mahavishnu Orchestra recorded two brilliant studio albums, The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire, and performed more than 500 shows, playing unlikely bills with straight-up rockers like Aerosmith, Blue Öyster Cult and the Eagles.

While many rock audiences were confused by their weird, explosive music, others were intrigued, catapulting 1973’s Birds of Fire to Number 15 in the Billboard charts. However, just as it looked as though they were about to achieve the impossible by bringing avant-garde, freak-out jazz to the masses, they imploded.

“It was fantastic that we had popularity, but I think we had too much success too quickly,” McLaughlin said. “The band ended very acrimoniously, and that upsets me to this day. I have great relationships with all the musicians I worked with. Except that bloody band.”

Despite their brief lifespan, Mahavishnu left a lasting mark. Not only did they influence classic rockers like Beck and Carlos Santana, but their albums have also inspired current avant-garde heroes like Guthrie Govan, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (the Mars Volta) and Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan), proving that musical boundaries are meant to be shattered.

Glam bam, thank you, ma'am

While it was exciting that bands like the Allman Brothers and Yes were stretching the boundaries of popular music with their technical skills, many musicians were less than enthusiastic about prog. It was too damn complicated, and besides, who was going to piss off parents, disrupt social norms and have fun while looking cool? It didn’t take long to find out.

The answer came slinking out of Phoenix, Arizona, in 1971 when the Alice Cooper Band rose to fame with the hit single I’m Eighteen. Featuring a male singer with a woman’s name, the five-piece group were notorious for their theatrical stage shows, androgynous outfits and playing loud, obnoxious rock.

Boring old farts called them “degenerates,” but the press referred to them as “glam rock,” and it wasn’t long before the glitter craze took off, especially in England where David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars, T. Rex, Slade and Queen became mega-stars.

Glam was primarily about “the look,” but the bands also shared a common approach to their music. Unlike the progressive movement, glam rockers kept their songs tight, danceable and catchy. Instrumentally, their tunes were often powered by chunky heavy metal guitars and short, memorable guitar solos.

Mick Ronson, the iconic blond guitarist for David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars band, made no bones about being more interested in composing great riffs than diddling around with weird scales or playing 30 different guitars. Ronson believed if you wanted to play like John Coltrane or Mozart, go fuckin’ do it – but leave rock ’n’ roll out of it.

He had a point. It didn’t mean Ronno was a primitive musician. In fact, he was quite sophisticated. In addition to providing killer guitar parts to memorable rockers like Bowie’s Suffragette City, Panic in Detroit and Jean Genie, he was also a deft arranger, composing the dramatic orchestral parts on Bowie’s 1972 glam rock classic, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

One sterling example of his artistry can be heard on the album’s classic, Moonage Daydream. He begins the song with a couple thunderous power chords, then slowly layers parts on his blonde 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom through a half-cocked wah-wah pedal, until the song reaches a soaring, spiraling conclusion of ascending strings and tape-delay guitar.

While his parts aren’t particularly difficult to play, they are beautifully constructed, executed, and perfect for the song. In other words, totally rock and roll.

Ronson’s smart, economical playing (and glittering stage outfits!) helped create the template, not only for glam rock in the Seventies, but also Eighties hair metal. Ozzy Osbourne guitarists Randy Rhoads worshipped Ronson, meticulously imitating his look and use of a blonde Les Paul.

“Randy was a big fan,” said his brother, Kelle Rhoads. “That’s where his obsession with polka dots came from. He saw Mick Ronson with polka dot knee pads and Randy took it to another level.”

However, it would be wrong to imply that Ronson was the only influential glam guitarist in the ’70s. There were plenty of others including Johnny Thunders of the New York Dolls, Marc Bolan of T. Rex and Glen Buxton of the Alice Cooper Band. But perhaps the most famous and fairest of them all was Queen’s tall and elegant Brian May.

Queen have become so ubiquitous in our modern music culture that it’s easy to forget that in the ’70s they were originally a huge part of the same glam movement that spawned Bowie and the likes of Roxy Music and Sweet. But it might also be because Queen didn’t really sound like anybody else, and that was primarily due to May’s unique approach to playing and recording.

Far more ambitious than his fashionable contemporaries, his multi-layered guitar orchestrations on songs like Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody ventured perilously close to being “prog.”

But May also knew how to boogie and always balanced his excesses with some good old-fashioned hard rock, as on We Will Rock You, Stone Cold Crazy and Keep Yourself Alive. Yes, Brian May could go over the top, but with Queen, he also knew when to kick royal ass – even while wearing flowing silk blouses and crushed velvet trousers.

Never mind the bollocks here's punk

Given how disheveled the typical punk rock musicians appeared with their ripped-up jeans and spiky hair, it was almost comical how much in they had in common with their glam rock counterparts. The Clash, Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols also believed that rock music should sound gritty, dangerous and close to the streets.

Punk guitarists didn’t just dislike progressive rock – they actively hated it. They were repulsed by what they perceived as the bourgeoisie snobbery of bands like Yes and Genesis. As for the Mahavishnu Orchestra… they couldn’t even pronounce it.

Punk musicians wanted to return rock and roll to its “everyman” fundamentals, so that anyone wanting to master three chords could take the stage and become a star. No one represented this attitude more singularly than the Ramones, a raucous four-piece juggernaut from New York City.

All members of the Ramones looked the same (shaggy hair with bangs), wore the same clothes (jeans, leather jackets and Converse All-Stars) and even shared the same surname.

Their songs all sorta sounded similar and their lyrics were hilariously moronic with titles like I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend and Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. From a guitar perspective, it was the same story: every song consisted of an interchangeable series of power chords played with the same jack-hammer downstrokes by Johnny Ramone on his cheap Mosrite guitar.

On paper the Ramones sounded stupid and one-dimensional – and they were – but it’s also what made them great. They say the hardest thing about making great art is deciding on a direction and sticking with it. If that’s true, then the Ramones were the Picassos of punk.

They did one thing, and they did it incredibly well, and in concert, the band was as direct and as powerful as a locomotive. (I was tossed around so much during an out-of-control Ramones show that I lost one of my shoes after the third song and never saw it again.)

When the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, it was said that their first album, Ramones (1976), saved rock from becoming “bloated and narcissistic.” While that’s not completely true – there was certainly plenty of bloat and narcissism to go around – they did provide a compelling alternative.

AOR in the USA

Punk wasn’t for everyone. But neither was metal, Southern rock, glam or any of the junk we’ve been talking about. That was the great thing about the ’70s. A lot of the music was kinda weird or extreme in some way. Even the biggest bands were odd when you really examined them closely.

The Wall by Pink Floyd was psychotic. Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin was fantastic, but totally wacky. And let’s not even get started on progressive bands like King Crimson and Jethro Tull.

Was there anything that was normal in the ’70s? Well, yes, there was plenty of meat and potatoes to be had. About halfway through the decade, many of the FM stations that were adventurous during the early part of the ’70s discovered they could grab more listeners and sell more advertising if the music they played was a little shorter and a bit more conventional. The stations shifted gears, and so did many rock bands who discovered they could sell more records if they did the same.

Suddenly, bands that appealed to more mainstream tastes started popping up like toadstools in Pennsylvania. Some called it “pop metal,” but most referred to it as Album Oriented Rock or AOR.

Platinum-selling bands like Foreigner, Journey, Boston, Styx, Eagles, REO Speedwagon, Steve Miller Band, Kiss, Toto, Pat Benatar, Kansas, Heart, Triumph, Bad Company and Fleetwood Mac were not particular innovative, but they wrote catchy songs that sounded great in the car.

While that might sound like an insult, it isn’t. Much of the music was very good and featured incredibly skilled guitarists like Neal Schon, Joe Walsh, Rick Nielsen, Ace Frehley, Steve Lukather and Gary Richrath, among others.

Now mix a bit of AOR with some Led Zeppelin, a bit of Pink Floyd and the more accessible “hits” of some of the more adventurous bands we’ve mentioned, and there you have the ’70s in a nutshell.

But wait… wait, wait, wait. What about Van fuckin’ Halen? Weren’t they part of the ’70s?

Well, the truth is – and this is highly classified information – that even though Van Halen’s first two albums came out in 1978 and 1979, they did not belong to the ’70s – they belonged to the ’80s. It was all a big mistake.

Eddie Van Halen insisted on arriving two years early, so he could gently guide guitarists to the next decade, where he would rule like a king for the next 10 years.

But you gotta promise not to tell anyone! If you do, I’ll deny everything. You know, conspiracy theorists, they’re all 5150…

Yes guitarist and prog rock legend, Steve Howe will release a new solo album, Guitarscape, on September 27. 

He’s described the record, which features 14 new original songs, as a “guitar masterclass” and it seems to be something of a love letter to the guitar. 

“What I’m doing,” Howe says, “is focusing on what I do well and what I love to do.” 

The record will see the versatile musician weaving through the host of styles he's made his own throughout his career, with Howe playing electric guitar, acoustic, pedal steel, bass, and keyboards. His son, Dylan, features on drums. 

“I’ve utilized most of the colors, as I like to I think of my styles, and I’m always pleased when I hear them running through and it moves from a steel, maybe, to a Spanish guitar. 

“I’m not using terribly conventional chord sequences but things that give me a fresh feeling and opportunities to improvise and stretch out as well as be melodic and make this a nice tuneful experience.” 

Partnering with his son once more – much like Tom and Roman Morello have done with their new single – has proved fruitful, says Howe. He and Dylan “get on great and he seems to know what to play around my guitar, it’s almost instinctive. Dylan and I fit together really beautifully. We’ve had the chance to do this together, so it’s wonderful.”  

Dylan first featured on his father's 1993 solo album, The Grand Scheme of Things, and has since played on 10 other albums with his dad, including 2020's Love Is. 

While Howe is a revered guitar player – a commitment further underlined by the record’s love-it-or-hate-it title – he’s also keen to highlight how playing keyboards gave him a new outlook on composition.

“This album has given me the opportunity to do something different,” he explains. “I bought a Novatron Summit keyboard and found that it had a wealth of inspiring sounds. It gave me a golden opportunity to create chordal movements and structures that I thought were a bit different. 

“I think differently on a keyboard, I don’t see the chords looking the same but then I had fun playing around with the guitar to see where that goes.

“I like doing things that are super fresh,” he concludes, “and this album says what I am today.”

Howe spoke to Guitar World last year and the veteran prog guitarist outlined what it takes to mastermind a prog institution. 

“I’ve often said I’d rather be a Chet Atkins back-room guy, he said,” but added “I’m an opportunist, too. So, if the spotlight keeps falling on me, I’ll have to rise to the occasion.”

Steve Howe Guitarscape track list

1. 1. Hail Storm (2.22)
2. Spring Board (2.45)
3. Distillations (1.48)
4. Up Stream (3.17)
5. Secret Mission (3.26)
6. Passing Thoughts (2.36)
7. Touch The Surface (3.21)
8. Spring Rhyme (2.02)
9. Equinox (3.04)
10. Seesaw (2.12)
11. Gone West (3.03)
12. Suma (1.34)
13. Spring Tide (2.41)
14. Steel Breeze (2.57)

Guitarscape is available to pre-order (CD, vinyl, and Dolby Atmos) and pre-save via streaming services. To do so, head to Steve Howe’s Linkfire page.  

The enigmatic Lord Phobos is not only the lead guitarist of Canadian quartet TWRP – the backing band behind American comedic duo, Ninja Sex Party – but also a bona fide cover song aficionado.

With TWRP and Ninja Sex Party, the anonymous electric guitar star has released a series of cover albums entitled Under The Covers, which, as the name suggests, comprises reimagined versions of tracks from artists ranging from Pink Floyd to the Bee Gees. 

With a hefty repertoire under his belt, Lord Phobos knows a thing or two about piecing together covers – and now he's revealed the song that was the hardest to tackle.

“Owner Of A Lonely Heart by Yes was quite a tough one because of all the weird changes,” he admits. “The switch into the bridge section is very unpredictable. That’s what I love about Yes, even when they make the most accessible pop, it’s still really complicated in strange and subtle ways.

“That song also has a pretty epic solo [played by Trevor Rabin]. I remember scratching my head a bit trying to figure out the harmonizer effects he was using.

“I debated playing the solo twice in different positions, but that was too hard. In the end, we just used an Eventide rackmount thing, set to a doubling effect with the wet sound pitched up to make it sound like two guitars. Some of the licks didn’t work too well with the effect on, so I had to change how I played certain lines!”

Despite having such a vast repertoire, Lord Phobos surprisingly doesn't use a ton of different pedals, as he has “never been a big pedal guy”.

“My favorite pedal is actually a Boss SD-1. It’s such a great mid boost, even if it takes out some of the bass and low mids. And I’d actually say that flaw has become its main feature!

“My other favorite is the Boss CE-2W. I love it so much in front of a clean amp. I can’t use it in front of too much gain, because it all gets a bit too washy. But for my clean sounds, that’s one pedal I couldn’t live without. 

“I love Boss pedals… in fact, I’d love a ’board full of all their pedals. They’re affordable, they sound great, and look cool. No wonder everyone from Yngwie to Nuno swear by their stuff.”

For countless bassists, there’s nothing better than the late Chris Squire’s hard-driving, sixteenths-heavy bassline on the 1972 Yes classic, Roundabout. It’s a showcase bass riff that flies by so fast, many are content to just listen in awe. For the rest of us, it’s time to get warmed up with one of progressive rock’s most challenging bass guitar riffs. 

From the start, Squire sets himself apart from the masses with the searing sounds he coaxed from a combination of Rickenbacker bass, Rotosound strings and his fluent and expressive plectrum technique. 

“I always preferred a clean sound as opposed to the boomy, dull tone finger players were getting at the time,” Squire told Bass Player in December ’93. “I use heavy Herco picks and hold them so the pointed side is facing away from my bass and the rounded side extends slightly past my thumb. When I play a downstroke, I hit the string with the side of my thumb. As a result, you hear the initial pick attack and immediately afterwards, a rounder, smoother tone.”

Listening to the isolated bass track, it’s remarkable how much ‘clank’ is in Squire’s tone.

Squire had also re-wired his Rickenbacker 1999 (a rare budget version of the 4001) with stereo outputs, one per pickup. The bridge pickup went to a guitar amp – hence the clear top-end. “Everyone thinks that Rickenbacker’s are very trebly, but in fact, they’ve a lot of low-end, actually. The problem is, the pickups are totally unbalanced, and so it was my idea to start them stereo, so then at least you could pump up the treble end to make it the same level as the bass pickup. There was no other way of doing it." 

In addition, Squire over-dubbed his bass track using one of guitarist Steve Howe’s old Gibson ES-150 hollow body guitars. “We mic’d it acoustically and mixed it in with the bass. That’s also what gave it such a bright sound.”

In getting the bassline up-to-speed, the main riff has a swing and bounce that’s critical. The trick lies in your picking technique. To keep the pattern steady and even, make sure the open A on the ‘and’ of beat 3 arrives on an upstroke. At the end of each verse, the band steers through a series of meter shifts. Note how Squire holds fast to a G pedal against the F chord before pulling back onto the main riff. Squire then sets up the chorus with a simple cadence. 

Squire’s feel shifts from fluid to mechanical in the chorus, where after establishing his presence with a series of emphatic downbeats, he begins a syncopated study of his Rickenbacker’s lowest offerings. With quarter-note triplets, the bridge riff takes the tune even further afield before returning to guitarist Steve Howe’s tranquil acoustic intro.

As Squire told BP, his long association with Rickenbacker was born out of his admiration for another bass giant, John Entwistle. “I basically copied John Entwistle after seeing the Who at the Marquee. He had a Rickenbacker and I thought he sounded great, so I went and bought one. I think John's was one of the first few that came into the country. Pete Quaife, The Kink’s bass player, had one as well, and I was a shop assistant at Boosey and Hawkes music shop at the time, so I got it at dealer cost – the third one in the country I believe.”

Squire’s Rickenbacker underwent several cosmetic changes over the years. “It was originally Fireglo, but I put this flowery contact stuff all over it when I was playing in a '60s group called The Syn. When that all finished I went to see Sam Lee, a famous guitar repairer, and he peeled that off and rubbed the wood down to get it nice again, but the Fireglo had gone, so he painted it cream. Then I stuck silver paper all over it – went through that period – then took it to Sam again. 

“By now, the guitar was only three-quarters of the weight it was, but that was prior to me using it on Roundabout, so maybe that’s why it sounded so different from every other Rickenbacker bass I'd heard, because it had been planed down and re-varnished so many times. The thing about that particular Rickenbacker is that I can put it under my arm and it plays itself, I know it so well.”

Squire’s innovative style and sound have influenced rock’s most imaginative bassists, most notably Geddy Lee of Rush, who performed Roundabout with Yes when they were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2017, and Brian Ritchie of the Violent Femmes. “The first band I really got into was Yes,” Ritchie told BP in May ’06. “After I got Fragile, there was no turning back for me – that was the most free end of the bass spectrum, because Chris Squire was an equal in a group of serious musicians.”

Since 2011, veteran prog-rockers Yes have been on an incredible run. To some, Fly from Here (2011), Heaven & Earth (2014) and The Quest (2021) rival much of what the London-born band managed to accomplish during its ’70s heyday. 

Regardless of whether you agree with that bold assertion, it goes without saying that after years of lineup shuffling and early to mid-2000s inactivity, Yes is a band invigorated. Moreover, that late-career renaissance continues in the form of the group’s latest long-player, Mirror to the Sky.

When asked about Yes’ refusal to settle in as a legacy act, guitarist Steve Howe says, “We’ve been on a great run with these last few albums, and that’s been a blessing. Of course, there are classic songs that we want to play and that we should play. But a throughline from the old material to the new carries us along. We’ve never been keen on leaning on what we’ve done; we’re always tweaking things. We’re always searching for any indicators of excitement or interest. So if we have an opportunity not to repeat ourselves on stage, we will take it.”

Some 53 years since he first graced the stage with Yes, Howe is as vibrant as ever. Still following an ever-evolving creative muse, the unassuming virtuoso dialed in with Guitar World to discuss Mirror the Sky and more.

Is making a new Yes record at this stage formulaic for you?

“Surprisingly, no. Mirror the Sky went a bit backward. We were almost done with the record, and our label was ready to release it. But then, I mentioned that we had further tracks at about 10 minutes each. 

“The label didn’t even know we had them, but they were all for them once we played them for them. One of those songs was Luminosity, which guided us stylistically. Working from that position sent us in a direction that dictated the entire album, which we feel in many ways is something that branched over from the last album, The Quest.”

What’s the secret to keeping from being repetitive?

“It seems simple, but it’s about picking the right songs. We write tons, so going with songs that have lyrics that will inspire us is imperative. It’s about crafting each piece with unique colors and defining texture. And truthfully, that’s what Yes has always done. 

“We see our music as if it’s all connected but still able to stand alone as individual pieces, you know? And I think that by avoiding any prog-rock cliches, we’ve been able to separate ourselves from the masses of King Crimson soundalikes.”

How do you view your role within Yes?

“Of course, the guitar is something I do quite regularly. [Laughs] So I’m a guitar player, but beyond that, I’m a songwriter. And the way that develops is that I’ll put together some riffs, add some attitude to them and then try to decide if and where they might fit. 

“I guess I view my role as someone who brings excitement to the music. Of course, there’s my role as a producer, too. And that’s tricky because I’ve got to ensure that my general overseeing doesn’t interfere with my work as a guitarist. But it’s a funny position because when I’m wearing the producer’s hat, I might go hours or days without talking about guitar.”

There’s some excellent steel guitar work on Mirror to the Sky. How do you approach that?

“I had a lot of fun with that, especially during All Connected. The way that started was [vocalist] Jon Davidson had some ideas he was working on, and I found that within those, there was a ton of space for something interesting. From there, I decided the steel guitar would do nicely and began building a framework. 

“With that, compared to some of the other songs, there was a bit of extra development regarding the arrangement. Instead of ending as normally, we looped back to the intro and then played the song out. And then, I improvised on the steel, so those structures were recorded separately.” 

Tales from Topographic Oceans will turn 50 this year. What’s changed most for Yes in that time?

“Interesting question. It would be an understatement to say that our recording methods have changed. [Laughs] Back then, we’d record things on the road to cassettes and quarter-inch tape. And when we’d bring it to the studio later, we’d say, ‘God… this sounds awful. What are we going to do with this?’

“From there, we’d say, ;How do we play and improve it?; So the entire demoing process was very rough. But that process also bred albums like Fragile, Close to the Edge and Tales from Topographic Oceans. I think that had we not done that, perhaps we might not have distinguished ourselves from the Pink Floyds of the world.”

Do you still view the guitar as your ultimate means of expression?

“I think so. But part of the challenge is balancing that with creating music for a world with a shorter attention span than ever before. Then again, things are different now. Back in the ’70s, we toured like mad and didn’t always have success. And then, with Asia, I was part of a massive record that sold four-million copies. 

“I couldn’t believe that it could be so seemingly effortless. So, I’ve seen both sides, and now, I’m more driven by what music means to me than anything else. I’ve often said I’d rather be a Chet Atkins back-room guy. I’d be quite happy with that. But certainly I’m an opportunist, too. So, if the spotlight keeps falling on me, I’ll have to rise to the occasion.”

• Mirror to the Sky is out now via Inside Out.

Steve Howe has been showing off some of the choice instruments used on Yes’s forthcoming album Mirror to the Sky. 

The most attention-grabbing among them is a unique 1955 Fender Telecaster, which was the subject of some heavy mods in the 1970s – including a Gibson-style neck humbucker and a toggle switch on the upper horn.

“In the 1970s we were about to record the Relayer album,” explains Howe. “I’d decided that after several albums featuring Gibson guitars that I’d bravely go into the area I hadn’t used before, which is the fantastic sound of Fender guitars.” 

Howe seems to have loved the sound of the guitar but felt the need to bring it more in line with the Gibsons he had relied on in his early career, perhaps inspired by the Tele Deluxes that launched in 1972. 

Howe does not explain extent of the mods in the new clip. However, the Tele is discussed in Tony Bacon’s (now out-of-print) book, The Steve Howe Guitar Collection.

Additional mods included routing for the aforementioned humbucker and toggleswitch, a replacement pickguard, an additional pickguard on the upper horn (bringing it more in line with the aesthetics of the Tele Deluxe) and new Schaller tuners. 

The guitarist does not detail the function of the switch, though popular speculation among Howe geeks is that it’s a phase switch or coil-split for the humbucker. 

“At the time I had no second thoughts about... all this irreversible work,” says Howe in the book. 

“I wasn’t really thinking that I'd done anything particularly corrupt, because my style had always been to do what the guitar is telling you to do. But today, I can’t say I’m entirely without guilt.”

Howe apparently paid $500 for the Tele in 1974. Even adjusting for inflation that would be equivalent to around $3,080 in today’s money – and still represent a good deal. 

For comparison, a Fender Custom Shop recreation of a 1955 Telecaster will set you back the best part of $4,000-$5,000, depending on finish, and an original ’55 Blond Tele is currently listed on Reverb for over $35,000.

Regardless of whether Howe regrets his Tele’s modifications or not, it’s fair to say that the instrument has done the job required of it since the ’70s. As such, it has seen continued rotation in Howe’s recordings and performances – even if it doesn’t have the profile of his beloved Gibson ES-175. See it at work in the opening section of the montage below.

If you enjoy musings on past gear from the Yes man’s immense guitar collection, you might want to check out Steve Howe on his greatest guitar hits and misses.

Yes have announced a fall 2022 American tour that will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their landmark 1972 album, Close To The Edge.

Set to begin on October 7 at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and conclude with a November 19 gig at the NYCB Theatre in Westbury, New York, the tour will feature Steve Howe on electric and acoustic guitar and backing vocals, lead vocalist Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Geoff Downes on keyboards.

Jay Schellen, meanwhile, will take the place of longtime Yes drummer Alan White, who passed away in May. The tour – which is dedicated to White – will be prefaced by a tribute concert celebrating his life and music that will be held on October 2 at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington.

Featuring Siberian Khatru, And You and I, and the knockout 18-minute title-track, Close To The Edge is often cited as Yes's greatest album, and one of the finest records the prog-rock genre as a whole has ever produced. 

“Our spirits were very high,” Howe told Guitar Player in a recent interview about the album's creation. “We were young, enthusiastic and adventurous, and we had this incredible breakthrough success with [their 1971 album] Fragile. We saw our next album as a real opportunity to prove our worth as a band. The door had been opened and we weren’t going to go backward. We wanted to sharpen our skills as far as writing and arranging. 

"Concerts come and go, but a record is forever. I think we all had a sense that whatever we did next, it had to feel like some sort of definitive statement. A record like this was destined to be made, and we wanted to be the ones making it.” 

You can see the full itinerary for the American leg of the 50th anniversary Close To The Edge tour below.

For tickets and more info on the trek, visit Yes's website.

Yes – Close to the Edge 50th Anniversary US Tour:

10/7 – Keswick Theatre - Glenside, PA
10/8 – Keswick Theatre – Glenside, PA
10/9 – State Theatre – New Brunswick, NJ
10/11 – Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN
10/13 – Florida Theatre – Jacksonville, FL
10/14 – The Parker Playhouse – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
10/16 – King Center – Melbourne, FL
10/17 – Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater, FL
10/19 – Saenger Theatre – New Orleans, LA
10/20 – Arena Theatre – Houston, TX
10/21 – The Aztec Theatre – San Antonio, TX
10/23 – Rialto Theatre – Tucson, AZ
10/24 – The Magnolia – El Cajon, CA
10/25 – Fox Performing Arts Center – Riverside, CA
10/27 – Hard Rock Live – Wheatland, CA
10/29 – Paramount Theatre – Seattle, WA
11/4 – The Factory – Chesterfield, MO
11/5 – Brown County Music Center – Nashville, IN
11/6 – Taft Theatre – Cincinnati, OH
11/9 – Orpheum Theater – Madison, WI
11/10 – Wabash Theater – Wabash, IN
11/11 – Hard Rock Casino – Gary, IN
11/13 – Warner Theater – Washington, DC
11/14 – The Palace – Stamford, CT
11/15 – Warner Theatre – Torrington, CT
11/17 – Bergen Performing Arts Center – Englewood, NJ
11/18 – Wind Creek Events Center – Bethlehem, PA
11/19 – NYCB Theatre – Westbury, NY

Bass players with dazzling technique and a tone that leaps from the stage – or, as is more likely, from your laptop speakers – are commonplace these days, fortunately for us. 

We love a thuddy Motown bass guitar part as much as the next James Jamerson fan, but it has to be to everybody’s benefit that the bass is no longer hidden in the mix in most genres of popular music.

We have an audible voice these days, and one of the bass pioneers who enabled this fortunate transition was Chris Squire of Yes, whose tones were completely new and disruptive in the late Sixties to a degree that we can barely comprehend today. It’s important to grasp this, though – so important, in fact, that Squire deserves the cover of this magazine many times over.

As many of the musicians who have spoken to us for this month’s feature and for many previous Squire celebrations will tell you, no-one sounded like him when he first entered the limelight around 1970 – apart from one other bassist: Squire’s own hero John Entwistle of The Who. 

Even The Ox, who predeceased Squire by 13 years, relied more on overdrive and volume than his lifelong admirer, whose tones were born from a different necessity, as we’ll see.

The bare bones of the Squire saga are reasonably well known. Born in Kingsbury, London in 1948, he discovered his musical muse in the Kingsbury church choir, where he was fortunate enough to be trained by the choirmaster Barry Rose – “the shining star of British church music at that time” as he later described him.

Interviewed by his fellow bassist Nick Beggs, Squire added: “My mum wanted me to be in the cub scouts and I fucking hated it, but my best mate said, ‘Tell your mum if you join the choir you can make two shillings and sixpence [about £2 or $3 today] for a wedding on Saturdays’... 

“When Barry Rose came to our parish, he threw out all the male voices and kept just six. And I was one of the six he kept. I was a soprano. Within two years we became the most important choir in England. Choir practice was supposed to be Wednesday and Friday nights for an hour, but he inspired us to be there every night of the week for five hours.”

“Rose taught us a lot about the relationship between vocal lines and bass-lines in a choir setting,” Squire told BP’s Brian Fox, “and I think I adapted a lot of that knowledge into playing bass and singing. I’ve always been very aware of the relationship between the bass and the top melody line.”

The church choir experience was more than just musical rehearsal for Squire: as he explained, it taught him the value of practice, the structure of classical music and how to work within a group. 

This understanding paid off in spades when the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who landed squarely on the British music scene: by 1965 Squire was working in a music store, where he acquired a Rickenbacker bass. 

“Playing bass came about when I was about 15 or 16 and was at public school. My mate was quite a good classical guitar player and we formed a little band. He said to me, ‘You’re tall with big hands – you should play bass’... so that’s how I became a bass player.”

Of the new wave of bass players, Squire was most impressed with Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Bill Wyman and John Entwistle, and soon began to play with a series of small-but-promising bands: first the Selfs, then the Syn – where he formed a strong bond with drummer Martyn Adelman – and later Mabel Greer’s Toyshop, influenced by the first stirrings of psychedelic rock. 

The last of these introduced him to singer Jon Anderson, with whom he agreed to form a new project, and so Yes was born. 

Connecting Anderson’s understanding of symphonic music with Squire’s choral background and both musicians’ love of rock’n’roll, the duo added guitarist Peter Banks, drummer Bill Bruford and keyboardist Tony Kaye. 

Banks was replaced by Steve Howe after the Yes (1969) and Time And A Word (1970) albums, and the new line-up had their first major hit with The Yes Album, a US Number One hit in ’71. Kaye was replaced by Rick Wakeman, who recalls his first meeting with Squire.

“The first time I saw Yes play, I thought it was the most unusual line-up I’ve ever seen,” he says. “In the early to mid-Seventies, rock bands usually had a guitarist who would use a Marshall stack and a Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster, and the bass player would have a Fender bass and a Marshall stack. 

“In Yes, though, Steve Howe was using a little Fender Twin amp and a Gretsch guitar, and Chris had Sunn amps and a Rickenbacker bass. I thought ‘What’s that all about?’, because in those days, you couldn’t give Rickenbacker basses away. I used to go to a guitar store in South Ealing and they had loads of them on the wall for sale, second hand. They couldn’t shift them!”

Despite his unorthodox setup, Squire impressed Wakeman greatly. “I’d never heard a bass player play with such clarity. He always had it, right from day one,” he remembers. “When I spoke to him about it, he told me that the midrange controls on his amp had stopped working, so he wound the treble and the bass up, which gave his sound all the power but all the clarity too. 

“That sound really played a big part in how he played the bass, especially when he played lead lines: he could do so much more than most bass players, along with John Entwistle. It was fascinating, because he kept those Sunn amps for years: even when the money came rolling in and he could afford to have them mended, he never did.”

Two things come to mind here. First, so much of Seventies bass lore might just be attributable to a broken mids control on an amp. Second, if Squire’s bass tone was so unusual, did any of Yes ever suggest to Squire that he amend it?

“Um, no!” chuckles Wakeman. “In Yes, if anyone had told anyone else how to play, it would have ended up like an episode of CSI. We all gave each other ideas of what to play on pieces, which was always fine – but telling somebody what their sound should be like would be tantamount to death.

“Also, we really liked how Chris played: it contributed so greatly to the overall Yes sound. You could hear everything that he did, and not just because he played so deafeningly loud. I used to play near him on stage, and I had to get him to angle his cabs away from me. 

“He was very aware of his frequency space, and he also know when not to play, which is not something that many musicians have. If only one bass note was needed, that’s what Chris would play.”

Wakeman has remained with Yes – with several extended breaks here and there – for the rest of the band’s existence, while Squire remained throughout as the final founding member. In that time, the two men became close friends, on stage and off. 

“He was completely unique,” muses the keyboard veteran, “and one of the things that’s hard for bass players is having a unique sound. It enabled us to include bass solos in pieces such as Heart Of The Sunrise. 

“He used to do an amazing solo with [drummer] Alan White: I used to go off to the side of the stage, where I had a little picnic table. I’d have a cup of tea and three digestive biscuits, and I could time it exactly: by the time I’d had those, it was time for me to go back on stage for the finale.”

Asked what sort of person Squire was off stage, Wakeman explains: “Chris had so many personalities some of which were just wonderful and some of which were infuriating! One of the latter, as is very well known, was his timekeeping – not musically, but turning up when he was meant to. He was always late, and it used to drive everybody mad. 

“We’d be waiting in the hotel foyer for him to come down, and we missed numerous flights, and we’d often arrive at concerts just in time for soundcheck. But he’d just amble in and go, ‘Hello!’ That was Chris. He never apologised.

“I remember once, around 2000, we played London and then we had to play Nottingham the next day. But Chris went off to lunch in London on the day of the Nottingham show with a business colleague, and he turned up in Nottingham so late that we were 90 minutes late going on stage. He told us ‘I didn’t think there’d be quite so much traffic!’ That was the one occasion where I did feel that one of us might do some bodily harm to him...”

“In the end, though, that’s who he was, and we had to live with it. It was well worth it for all of his other great attributes. He had a good sense of humour and was a great conversationalist. He never ran out of things to talk about, and he was a great singer, a great writer. I was pretty close to Chris: we had a very good bond, and we always had a hug at the end of every show, whether we were saying to each other ‘You were great tonight’ or ‘What went wrong?’”

By 1980, Yes had scored no fewer than seven consecutive gold or platinum albums, varying in style from all-out progressive rock to lightweight AOR, the latter sound peaking with their huge 1983 hit Owner Of A Lonely Heart from the 90125 album. 

Each was powered by Squire’s speedy, trebly lines: through the Eighties and into the Nineties he became a profound influence on a whole set of bassists, from Geddy Lee to Les Claypool of Primus and Dug Pinnick of Kings X.

Along the way, Squire released a line of solo projects, from the Fish Out of Water album in 1975, via a project with his eventual successor Billy Sherwood called Conspiracy and a short-lived trio with White and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page called XYZ, to a sequence of recordings under the name Squackett with Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. 

This magazine supported him through many of these sideline projects, as long-time readers will recall, and unlike many virtuoso musicians, he never tired of talking about bass – whether that meant tones, gear or techniques, as we explore here.

Yes continued to release albums into the 2000s, with Squire indulging a long-held ambition in 2007 by releasing a solo record called Chris Squire’s Swiss Choir. Married three times with five children, he lived a full life that was only cut short by a battle with leukemia: he died at the age of 67 on June 27, 2015, no doubt with at least a decade of music still in him.        

Musicians such as this leave a serious legacy, of course, and although Chris Squire’s bass playing is just one of his many talents, we meet bass players on a virtually daily basis who ask about his tone, his technique and his all-round approach to life. We raise a glass to him in this feature: but go and listen to his music in his honour. That’s what we’ll be doing – for decades to come.

• Yes will be playing dates on the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Close to the Edge Album Series Tour through 2022 and ’23. Head to Yes for dates.            

In and of itself, Yes’s new album, The Quest, is significant as it ends one of the longest gaps between studio recordings for the progressive-rock legends (the last time they released a studio effort was in 2014, with Heaven & Earth). 

Guitarist Steve Howe acknowledges the fact that the band’s fans have been clamoring for new music, but he also defends the decision to hold off and not hurry.

“I’m not the guy who will say, ‘Let’s rush and make another record,’ because I’ve had my fingers rapped too many times with the outcome of that,” he says. “I’ve been disappointed with some of the recent albums Yes recorded, starting with [1997’s] Open Your Eyes. 

“I mean, they all had their merits, but I think to make a really good album, you need the proper circumstances and atmosphere. Everybody has to feel really ready. So as far as the long gap, all I can say is, some things are worth waiting for, and I think this album is worth the wait.” 

The Quest is notable in other ways. Not only is it the first Yes album on which founding bassist Chris Squire doesn’t appear (he passed away in 2015), but it’s also the first record to feature a lineup devoid of any original band members. Howe and drummer Alan White are now the two elder statesmen [Editor’s note: Howe replaced Peter Banks in 1970; White replaced Bill Bruford in 1972] in a group that consists of singer Jon Davison, bassist Billy Sherwood and keyboardist Geoff Downes. 

“It’s certainly a different dynamic in the band these days,” Howe says. “In terms of Chris Squire, we obviously felt the loss, and we know the scale of what losing him means. But what we’re trying to do is not wallow in regret. When we tour, we pay tribute to Chris by playing his song Onward and showing pictures of him. The legacy of what he left us is immense.”

The guitarist is effusive in singing the praises of Sherwood, who began an on-and-off association with Yes back in 1989 and continued through various incarnations of the group (including spin-off projects), sometimes serving as additional guitarist and keyboardist before assuming full-time bass duties following Squire’s passing. 

“Billy’s really done an amazing job,” Howe says. “As most people know, he was one of the biggest Chris Squire fans in the world. The two of them worked together in Yes and in other things for a long time, so if anybody was equipped to step into this role, it’s definitely Billy. Losing Chris left us in a difficult position, but Billy stepped up to the game. I can’t say enough about him.” 

Clocking in at just over 60 minutes, The Quest is a sprawling work that recalls the sound of classic Yes – there’s heaping doses of Hammond organ and spiraling vocals – done up in a starkly modern and sometimes edgy way. It’s grand without seeming pompous, reverential without being dreary. 

Even when the band employs a full orchestra on the sumptuous ballad Minus the Man or the progressive-rock thriller Dare to Know, there’s not a whiff of pretension – it’s theatrical, not showy. 

Throughout the album, but especially on the widescreen epic The Ice Bridge and the surprisingly soulful Leave Well Alone, Howe is a dominant presence, spinning webs of cleanly articulated riffs and solos that touch on jazz, blues, rockabilly and even twang. 

On one of the record’s delightful highlights, Mystery Tour, an unabashed tribute to the Fab Four, he manages to capture George Harrison’s distinctive soloing style – there’s a sweet warble to the sound – with his own fleet-fingered approach.

In yet another first, Howe took on the role as sole producer, which he says isn’t really a big deal (“I’ve always been part of the production team”), only this album presented him with an unexpected challenge as it was recorded during the time of COVID. Because of travel and safety restrictions, various band members were sometimes together in studios in America and the U.K., but other times recording was done remotely. 

None of which fazed Howe at all. “As a producer, my biggest role, beyond certain decisions that I had to make, was in setting a proper atmosphere, and that only comes through one’s communication skills,” he says. “If I can steer people’s performances in a good way and answer their questions, that’s half the job right there. 

“As for file-sharing, that’s been around for over 10 years, so there was no strangeness to that aspect at all. It’s been perfected to a degree that there’s no loss of audio. If you can communicate to somebody what you’re looking for, you can work with them wherever they are, and in a way they can have even more freedom. It’s not a bad way to work.”

In previous interviews, you’ve talked about your influences as a guitarist, but you have to know that you’ve had an impact on so many players over the years. Do you ever hear from some of them?

“Oh, absolutely. It’s delightful to hear from people who are inspired by me, because really, they’re inspired by what I picked up from my heroes. It’s like we’re carrying on messages. I always appreciate the compliments and recognition. 

“I can tell you that Chris Squire was very unhappy that we didn’t get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during his lifetime. He’d be pleased that we got it, but obviously he’d be sad that he didn’t get it, because he didn’t feel that Yes got the proper kind of acknowledgement from the business. He thought the industry turned its back on us a bit.” 

The band’s performance at the Rock Hall induction was one of those things where past and present members took part. What was that like for you?

“It was strange, to say the least. It was like there were two sets of dialogue – one being that it would be nice if we all could have gone on and made music together. But the other thing was, there were issues, and some people had bigger ones than others. 

“The lineup that had been given the green light by the Hall of Fame was just a moment in time. I knew there would be challenges, but you have to rise to them. I had to perform, and that’s what I did. Roundabout worked out not being too bad, really. 

“I don’t own Owner of a Lonely Heart. We don’t play it – it’s the '80s band’s song. So for that performance, I learned Chris’ bass parts note for note, and I enjoyed, you know, ‘doing Chris’. I respected what he did, and that’s it. All in all, not a performance I would put in my top 10.”

You’re at the point in your career where each year is bound to bring up an anniversary. And as we approach 2022, we mark the 50-year mark of Close to the Edge, which routinely tops lists as the “greatest prog album of all time”. Where do you rank it?

“Oh, I place it right at the top, actually. When we started that album, there was such a feeling of ignition within the band. After Fragile, we knew that people were listening and were like, ‘What are they going to do now?’ We rose to the occasion. The song Close to the Edge was the moment in time when everybody’s contributions fired off in the highest possible way. [Producer] Eddy Offord, too. 

“The other tracks were, too – they were identically identifiable and well arranged. The arrangement skills of Yes were coming through with Close to the Edge. I remember listening back to it in the studio and saying, ‘That’s pretty all right.’ 

Some of the reviews for the album at the time were pretty remarkable. NME actually said, ‘Yes aren’t just close to the edge, they’ve gone right over it.’ 

“That’s right. We were definitely feeling more confident, and that started with The Yes Album and into Fragile. We could do bigger tracks with longer intros, do more noodling, stopping and restarting. Everything was going ‘out there’ and we had some tricky arrangements.  I mean, we were basically a rock band that fluffed it out a lot. 

“Bill [Bruford] was the guy who said, ‘I’ll never play 4/4,’ and we didn’t expect him to. That’s what everybody was doing – finding their own voices. Bill was very adventurous, as evidenced by his decision to go and join King Crimson after Close to the Edge. He followed his heart. I’m not quoting him, but I think he thought Yes had gotten as commercial as he wanted us to be. It was so catastrophic when Bill said he was leaving. It sort of made no sense, but to him it did. I respected his view.”

How exactly did Alan White come into the picture?

“We were all hanging out with him in the studio before Bill left. Alan was a mate of Eddy’s, and we got to know him. We had a few “hang-out” guys. So when Bill told us the shocking news that he was leaving, there was silence, but then we all thought, ‘Well, Alan is a drummer, a really good drummer, in fact. We’ll go with him, right?’ We were in a jam, and Bill’s decision put pressure on us to replace him quickly. 

“We got Alan in and played with him. He had to learn the whole set in four days or something. We had two rehearsals, and he bluffed his way through it. [Laughs] But if you’re a good musician, that’s what you’ve been taught to do. Nobody had really heard Close to the Edge yet, so there wasn’t anything to compare him to. Alan knew he didn’t play like Bill, but he rose to the occasion. There was a change in the band, but I guess it’s like when I came in and there was that change.” 

You and Alan are now the longest-standing members of Yes. Is it fair to assume the two of you pretty much call the shots?

“Yeah, we have a strength of opinion based on our experience, and we can bring light to the dark tunnel sometimes by saying we’ve been through all these things before. I’m sure Alan and I have voices that are going to be listened to. But this is a team. This does rely immensely on teamwork, and pretty much things have to run through people, and they have to agree irrespective of their period in the band.” 

There was that period in which Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman toured together. You and Alan didn’t take part in that. Was that a contentious time?

“Probably. That was just a futile thing they did. When they came out with the idea for it, I actually sent three emails to each of them saying, ‘Good luck,’ like, ‘It’s not going anywhere.’ But that was just true sentiment. I said to them, ‘Great. You’ve put a band together. Go with it. Good luck.’ I never heard back from them, but basically that was fine. They had their run. There has to be some competition in life, and they appeared to be what might be called competition. 

“Basically, in their second year they decided to tack Yes on the front, and some promoters used the Yes logo, which they weren’t allowed to do. There was a bit of a pickle, but fortunately people woke up and said, ‘OK, we won’t do that.’ 

“It was a bit of a difficult time, because it was confusing, not only for the audience, but also for promoters. ‘Is this Yes, or is it Yes with ARW?’ It was a bit of a mess for a long time.”

Being in your position, is it like an extended family at reunions sometimes? 

“You have to make peace with one another, and at times it’s difficult. It’s not difficult in certain situations. Some situations are really good, provided one keeps the same perspective and viewpoint that are most helpful to everybody going forward. Basically, you try not to jam things up. 

“Whenever you leave a band, you might stay in touch with somebody, or you might not. The latter says something, in a way: ‘Look, I’ve done that, and we can’t really connect so much anymore.’ It happens.

“Sometimes you stay in touch with people that you don’t work with anymore. I never stopped being friendly with Bill, but we’re not working together. That’s ideal. It’s quite mature to accept something. If you can’t accept a situation, you keep rattling the cage and all you’re going to do is make yourself unhappy – and other people.”

Let’s get into some of the new songs. Dare to Know features such beautifully languid guitar melody lines at the top, and the volume swells you do are gorgeous. 

“Thank you. Yeah, it was one in which I got more ambitious as I went. There’s several different frameworks to the tune, and of course, the orchestra comes in near the middle. The volume swells… it’s a Les Paul Junior and a pedal. I’m doing this drone without any harmonies. It’s a thick sound that I enjoy playing with. 

“There’s the long intro. I’m mad about intros and endings. I’m the guy who always says, ‘Love the song, but it can’t start like this, and it can’t end like that.’ So it’s a song where I said, ‘Look, it just can’t possibly start like this. Love it, but it’s got to start like this.’ So I keep trying to stimulate other people to come up with more things.” 

Leave Well Alone has such a soulful rhythm – it’s almost R&B. Not what people normally associate with Yes. 

“Well, I’m glad you hear that. Like I said, Yes is a rock band. We should try to use all facets of different mediums of rock to tell our story.”  

The outro is signature Steve Howe, a stunning tapestry of clean guitar lines. Did you demo that? Was that improv? 

“That was complete improv, and it’s pretty much what I played. I had a few takes, but that’s the take I like. Basically, I just started dabbling around with chords. I find different ways of leaning on them and crossing over them. I really enjoy guitar breaks, and that one is quite long. I sort of drifted out with it and made it reach a climax while other things were happening in the arrangement. The drums picked up and went to double time. All those things were very calculated, but they’re also improvised.” 

On Music to My Ears, you and Jon Davison do a vocal duet. People forget what a strong singer you are. 

“Well, thanks. Overall, I haven’t had many compliments about my singing. I do enjoy singing, and when you’re doing it with somebody else, you have to have the right sense of harmony. There are a few tracks on the album with duet vocals. On some occasions, Jon would say, ‘I could just sing what you’re singing, but what about us both doing it?’ That’s quite unique for Yes, but it goes back to Asia, with John Wetton and me singing.” 

Your guitar playing dots the entire track, but it never seems intrusive. Do you ever have to pull back, like, “Okay, that’s too much. Stay in the pocket”? 

“That might happen as I’m finding my feet. Sometimes I’ll play something and it’s over the top, so I’ll pull it back. There’s a certain kind of order and sensibility I like to bring to my guitar. One of the great skills of being any musician is being able to accompany a singer. 

“It’s a big part of rock music. Beyond the moments when you get to do whatever the hell you like, it’s important to find out what you should do to support the singing. There are even times when you don’t need the guitar.” 

A lot of people do Beatles tributes, but a lot of them are kind of cheesy. Mystery Tour is whimsical, but it’s not gooey or tacky.

“Oh, good. Thanks. I wrote about half the lyrics in 1985, and a year or so ago I found them and thought, ‘There’s kind of something here.’ Then I looked at my voice recorder and picked out the last tune I wrote, so that’s what I used. The song doesn’t quite sound like the Beatles, but it is a tribute to their greatness. I think they’re the best band that ever existed. They introduced such a broad spectrum of music in ways that hadn’t been allowed before.”

It’s interesting how in the solo you channel a bit of George Harrison’s sound and spirit, but you dovetail it with your own style.

“At first I wasn’t trying to do that. I’m not one to copy other people, but I thought, “I’m playing a Telecaster,” and if you remember during the Let It Be period, George was big on Telecasters. The solo’s got a few bends. It’s very casual and relaxed, like the whole song. I like that break a lot.”

Which Telecaster did you use?

“It’s my ’55 Relayer guitar. The pickup combination on that one is great.”

You always use your Gibson ES-175, and you mentioned a Les Paul Junior. What other guitars did you play on the record?

“I used the Les Paul Roland all the time. There’s plenty of reasons why I like this guitar, mainly because it isn’t heavy, so that’s unique. I played it at a trade show and said, ‘I’ve got to have this.’ I had Customs and an old Les Paul that weighed a ton, so this guitar felt quite nice. It became a workhorse, much like the Les Paul Junior. It’s nicely set up and has a Tune-O-Matic tailpiece. I love it.

“There are other guitars besides those. I used a Gibson ES-345, and of course, the ES-175. There’s steel guitar, which is a Fender Stringmaster. I love that. There’s some Stratocaster, and on The Living Island I played a Martin MC-28 acoustic. I played sitar and mandolin, and there’s a Portuguese guitar that got a spotlight. Quite a few guitars – they all seem to come out.”

Does having so many guitars at your fingertips ever feel like you have too many options? 

“Not really, although I will say that I do like fewer choices in some respects. My collection is still too big. Gradually I’m whittling back, because I know there are key guitars that I must have for their sound. Danelectros, Rickenbackers and other things pop in the scene a little bit, but mainly, you can’t go wrong with Gibson and Fender.”

• The Quest is out now via Inside Out / Sony.

In this edition of Bought & Sold, the prog icon Steve Howe revisits the most important gear purchases in his life.

He explains why he likes to keep a diverse collection of acoustic and electric guitars, steering clear of owning many of the same model. Well, he did allow himself to double up on some ES-175Ds. And a few Martin acoustic guitars but then, you have to make some exceptions for your favourites…

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money?

“It would be the 1964 Gibson ES-175D. I yearned for that guitar. I wanted to start playing when I was 10 and I started when I was 12, and after a few years of playing Guyatone, Burns and things, just regular guitars, I had the courage to say to my mum and dad, ‘I want a really good guitar; I want one of these 175D things…’ So they said, ‘Okay, we’ll help you,’ but I paid for it. 

“My dad paid the deposit – I think it was £40 – and I paid all the instalments on the hire purchase from my hard-earned gig-money of the day. That guitar is not only my first and best investment, it’s been my greatest guitar and I love it to pieces. I still have it, I still play it and it’s featured on The Quest quite considerably. Basically, it’s a really good guitar and it always has been. Nothing else has ever been able to truly compete.”

What was the last guitar you bought?

“Most of the guitars I’ve bought were in the '70s, particularly from George Gruhn and Paul’s Guitars in Minneapolis… I did my buying in that era, really. The most recent guitar is really hard to find. I waited 10 years asking people, ‘Can you look out for one of these?’ 

“It’s a Fender six-string, two-pickup Stringmaster [steel guitar] – but a single-neck Stringmaster. It’s like the doubleneck I’ve been using on stage for years with Yes and other groups, but that guitar is not in my possession; it’s always being shipped or on tour or something. 

“I always dreamed of having a single-neck and why I mentioned the two pickups is that I’ve always liked the sound of Santo & Johnny – that’s the classic Fender sound. If you’re going to play a steel and you want the Fender sound, get the one with two pickups. 

“They’re really hard to get because most of them have one: the Student Steel, the Champ Steel, they’ve got one horrible pickup. If you get the two-pickup models, like I’m raving about here, you get a control on the bridge so you can optimise which pickup you’re using. The other thing is the portability of a single-neck steel of this quality.”

What’s the most incredible find or bargain that you’ve had when buying instruments?

“I remember in the '70s, Frank Zappa was quoted as saying, ‘Never pay more than $500 for a guitar. They’re not worth it!’ My most incredible find I think is an Epiphone Howard Roberts. This guitar is a chocolate-brown colour with really thick binding and the ‘Tree Of Life’ on the headstock – so it’s nothing like a Gibson Howard Roberts, I’ve gotta tell you. Nothing like that at all. 

“The pickup is floating; it’s a small mini-style pickup. And this is truly a wonderful guitar. I was on tour and one of the band had popped round the shops and said, ‘D’ya know what? I saw this guitar down the road and it’s got that cutaway like your guitar,’ and I said, ‘Oh, yeah?’ So I went to have a look and I just walked in and bought it. I can see a gem. I’ve never seen one the same, as good as or anywhere near as beautiful.”

What’s the strongest case of buyer’s remorse that you’ve had when buying guitars?

“I had three [Gibson] L-5s: I had a 1946 acoustic non-cutaway, I had a ’55 Alnico pickup and another one. Then I got a late-70s two-pickup L-5 and one of the things I love about early guitars is how light they are – and this was heavy. So I had three L-5s that were very light and beautiful to play, and this one was rather heavy. I think I might have regretted that.”

Have you ever sold a guitar that you intensely regret letting go?

“In the most part, no. Because, usually, if I sell a guitar I might have had it for 10, 20, 30 years, you know? I’ve had my opportunities with it, I’ve taken my chances. Any guitar I’ve bought has been exciting at the time, but if, after 20, 30 years, it isn’t exciting then sell it to someone who is excited. 

“I think there’s only one guitar I’ve sold a bit along those lines, which was when I sold a cream Gibson Les Paul Special TV model. That guitar was special because I had a [Bigsby] Palm Pedal put on and that actually appears on the song Only Time Will Tell on the first Asia album. The tuning was pretty horrendous, but guitars have their own distinct sound and that one was most probably worth keeping.”

What’s your best guitar-buying tip?

“Probably the best tip is don’t buy unseen. I suppose it depends if you want to be a versatile guitarist or if you don’t. For most of my collection, with one or two exceptions, I don’t buy multiples of the same guitar. I don’t think there’s much point in doing that. I need a few ES-175Ds and I need a few Martin acoustics and so I have allowed myself a little bit of indulgence there, but I don’t buy them to hoard them; I buy them because I believe I need them.

“The other thing you should do before buying is think about the way you want the guitar to sound – it’s all about the sound. We play and the music comes from us and the way that we play actually affects the sound. So play the guitar and look to feel at home. It’s got to feel right to you and feel right in your hands. Feeling and instinctive sound-quality are the keepers.”

When was the last time you stopped to stare in a guitar shop window and what were you looking at?

“Back in 2018, I was on tour and I got to Cincinnati and I went to Gary’s Guitars, and it’s a house. He’s got rooms in his house that are dedicated to guitars, and so I went in there and said, ‘Have you got any ES-335s?’ So he pulled out a 1959 335 and I just gawped at it – and then I played it. Ah! It had everything and I wondered why I haven’t bought lots of 335s. 

“I’ve had a 12-string, I had the stereo… but I didn’t do these enough. So I was yearning, but it was 50k, but I wasn’t going to spend that. I could have got one for $100 in the '70s if I’d been smart enough. But I wasn’t. So, basically, I almost bought the guitar, but the reason I didn’t buy wasn’t only the high price.

“I mean, it’s a big investment. But the other thing was that I didn’t want my 175 to miss out, because I think if I’d have started playing a 335 I’d have been playing it all the time, day after day.”

If forced to make a choice, would you rather buy a really good guitar and a cheap amp or a cheap guitar and a really top-notch amp?

“I don’t even have to think about this one – I’d buy a good guitar. A good guitar will most probably sound good in any amp, but the reverse certainly isn’t true. Without any doubt: top guitar, the amp is less important.”

If you could only use humbuckers or single coils for the rest of your career, which would it be and why?

“You know I’m a bit more of a Gibson guy, but I was actually really upset not to be included in one particular Fender book where they were talking about people who play Strats. Because I played Strats on the Going For the One album. In fact, I used Fenders on Relayer as well. I would probably choose a humbucker… but I would miss single coils.”

What’s your favourite guitar shop?

“My favourite shop is Mansons in Exeter. It’s a nice quiet place, it’s got a separate acoustic room and a separate bass room, they’ve got all the toys, all the guitars and they also do some secondhand [instruments]. That, to me, is a wonderful store, full of wonderful people who really know their stuff.” 

• The Quest is available now via InsideOut Music.

Yes were already firmly established within the British rock world when Steve Howe joined the band in 1970. But no one could have imagined the heights they would climb to with the then-23-year-old Howe, already a seasoned musician fluent in everything from rock, pop and folk to jazz, classical and flamenco, installed in the guitar spot.

Howe’s prodigious skills, as well as his ambitious and inventive approach to his instrument and songwriting in general, ignited a new fire in the group. His first album with the band, 1971’s The Yes Album, made it known that there was a new progressive rock force in town, the album boasting now legendary compositions like Yours is No Disgrace, I’ve Seen All Good People, Starship Trooper and Howe’s solo acoustic tour de force, Clap. 

Yes has gone through many, many iterations since then, and for most of them Howe has been centerstage, leading the band through some of rock music’s most innovative, adventurous and enduring music. 

That journey only continues with The Quest (InsideOutMusic/Sony Music), Yes’ new and 22nd studio album, which finds Howe’s guitar – in most cases, a trusty Gibson ES-175 – continuing to both anchor and push the progressive titans’ sound into new and uncharted territory. 

To celebrate the release of The Quest, Guitar World looks at some of the great musical moments from Howe’s 50-year career with Yes.

Yours is No Disgrace (1971)

The Yes Album marked Steve Howe’s debut with Yes, and what a debut it was. The record opens with Yours is No Disgrace, which, half a century later, remains a masterclass in electric guitar excellence.

Howe kicks off the proceedings with plenty of hard-charging riffs and nimble licks and runs, before ramping things up with an explosive wah-drenched guitar break and a moody, jazzy solo. Finally, he wraps the track  – after nine thrilling minutes, mind you – with a series of euphoric, and now iconic, triplet runs. For all intents and purposes, Howe starts here.

Clap (1971)

Howe has always evidenced a wide variety of influences in his playing, but at the top of that list of artists, as he has long publicly declared, is Chet Atkins – “Mr. Guitar” himself. And nowhere is Chet’s nimble Travis picking style better on display than in Howe’s iconic solo acoustic instrumental, Clap, a country blues and ragtime stunner that still delights – and flummoxes – guitarists to this day.

“That piece is the quintessential coming together of all my love for Chet Atkins,” Howe told Guitar Player of his pick-and-fingers masterpiece. “There was basically him and Merle Travis, along with other great guitarists who inspired me along the way. But Chet was the biggest influence on me. I just wrote that out of admiration for him, really. The opportunity came along where I could write that as my first-ever solo guitar instrumental, and it’s a pretty hard one to beat.”

As for how it came together?

“I actually wrote it on the 4th of August, 1969, on the night that my first son was born,” Howe said. “So he was born, and six months later I’m starting to get to know who Yes are – I knew I was going to play with them. So we were writing The Yes Album, and it was one night in this old farmhouse and I said to them – or maybe it was Bill Bruford – I said, ‘I’ve got this guitar solo. What do you think?’ I played it to him, and he said, ‘That’s terrific. Let’s stick it on the album.’ And then they all said, ‘Let’s stick it on the album.’ ”

And like that, a legendary guitar moment was born.

Siberian Khatru (1972)

Yes and Steve Howe were a lot of things, but funky wasn’t usually one of them. Enter Siberian Khatru, a sort of prog-funk amalgam that features Howe at his most slippery and syncopated. 

At least, that is, when it comes to the rhythms. At the song’s eight-minute climax Howe unleashes a clean-toned solo that, decades later, found an inspirational home in an unlikely place – the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

Talking about his solo in the band’s 1999 song Get On Top, RHCP guitarist John Frusciante said, “I was thinking about Steve Howe's solo at the end of Siberian Khatru. The band sound is really big – and they're playing fast – and then this clean guitar comes out over the top. It's really beautiful, like it's on its own sort of shelf. For Get On Top, I wanted to play something that would create a contrast between the solo and the background.”

Sound Chaser (1974)

Steve Howe himself has said he struggled with Sound Chaser, and it’s not hard to understand why. He unfurls reams of notes across the epic track – and that’s before the band even arrives at the extended unaccompanied Howe solo spot. 

“When we get into the song it’s at a very rapid speed, and there are guitar riffs behind it that are totally driving,” Howe once said. “But then it gets the almighty – what I call flamenco rock solo. I don’t know where that came from. It goes kind of pretty bananas out there.”

But wait – there’s more. 

“There’s some very sensitive stuff, and when Jon comes back in singing the main song again with different chords, it really tells you that Yes had really learned a few tricks along the way,” Howe continued. “And then we start hammering again and we go nuts again and we go crazy. There are time changes, and it’s a real minefield. But as you say, once you’ve kind of grasped it, digested it a little, then it’s probably okay. But it’s still a big listen.”

Going for the One (1977)

Going for the One is among Yes’ most straightforward, hardest-rocking songs, and yet…Steve Howe doesn’t even play traditional six-string on it. Rather, as evidenced in the stop-you-in-your-tracks, greasy-as-all-get-out opening lick, he sticks solely to pedal steel, delivering plenty of whines, shrieks and screeches – not to mention a killer, raunchy mid-song solo – that pushes the full-tilt tune to even greater heights of musical ecstasy.

A track unlike any other in the band’s catalog, but one that is quintessential Yes.

Tempus Fugit (1980)

Like its title, which translates to “Time Flies,” Tempus Fugit is fast-paced and also frantic, reflecting, perhaps, the new music – namely, punk and new wave – that was threatening to usurp rock and prog as the sound of choice for young fans, as well as the interband turmoil that was infecting Yes. The group had been whittled down to a trio – just Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White, following the exit of Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman – during the earliest writing stages, and by the time the song was finished and recorded it also included Geoff Downes and Trevor Horn, recruited from the Buggles.

To be sure, there’s an air of tension in the song’s grooves (despite the repeated affirmation of “yes” in its lyrics), and this version of Yes dissolved just a year later. But Tempus Fugit has stood the test of time (or test of tempus?), in particular thanks to Squire and Howe’s fantastic playing, with the latter’s Stratocaster work filled with sharply-strummed chords, precision-picked, finger-twisting lines, wailing whammy bar wiggles and blazing, distortion-drenched runs.

Mind Drive (1997)

Originally released on 1997’s live/studio double album Keys to Ascension 2, Mind Drive’s roots were laid decades earlier, in the hands of XYZ, a proposed supergroup featuring Chris Squire, Alan White and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page following the death of Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and the dissolution of Yes in the wake of the Drama album.

Despite its non-Yes origins, Mind Drive is about as Yes as Yes can get. Not only does it feature the full mid ‘70s glory years lineup, it’s also an epic of, well, epic proportions, clocking in at over 18 minutes in length. And if nothing else, Howe signals that, yes, this is classic Yes right from the opening guitar moments, which find him peeling off classically-tinged filigrees over Rick Wakeman’s keyboard pads. Throughout, Howe and his trusty Gibson ES-175 are in top form, resulting in one of Yes’ most indulgent and impressive latter-day compositions.

Nine Voices (Longwalker) (1999)

The closing track on The Ladder is also one of Yes’ prettiest compositions, and it’s highlighted by Howe’s use of a Portuguese 12-string guitar. But it’s not just any Portuguese 12-string guitar – it’s the very same one he used on classic Yes songs “I’ve Seen All Good People” and “Wonderous Stories.”

The guitar – and Howe’s playing – forges a beautiful bridge between the past and present of Yes, and the guitarist spices up the mostly strummed passages with flamenco-like runs at the outro.

Some keyboard and exotic instrumentation fill out the arrangement, but Nine Voices is first and foremost a vocal-and-guitar expression. In fact, Anderson and Howe performed an acoustic version of the song at the funeral for The Ladder producer Bruce Fairbairn, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack during the final recording and mixing sessions for the album. Anderson has stated that Nine Voices was a favorite of Fairbairn’s, and the band went on to dedicate the entire album to the beloved producer.

Magnification

Magnification is known as Yes’ “orchestral album” – the band recorded it with assistance from the San Diego Symphony Orchestra – but the title track nevertheless is dominated by Howe’s always stellar guitar work, from his pastoral lines at the song’s opening, to his jazzy excursions in the middle section, to the more open, rock ‘n’ roll phrases later on. 

Throughout, the orchestral swoops and glides only heighten the mood, demonstrating Howe’s ability to adapt to any musical situation, while at the same time keeping his trademark sound and style intact.

The Ice Bridge (2021)

The Quest, Yes’ first album of new material in seven years, opens with this epic seven-minute, C minor exploration of the dangers of climate change. While the subject matter is heavy, the song itself is an uplifting, instrumentally dazzling excursion – classic Yes, in other words.

And it’s all headlined by Howe’s exquisite guitar playing, in particular the extended  instrumental outro section, in which he and Geoff Downes go head-to-head in a six-string/synth face-off, with Howe’s rich, round-toned lines providing counterpoint to his band mate’s keyboard squiggles. It’s a thrilling exchange that demonstrates that, 50 years after debuting with Yes, Howe still has it.

When you think of Yes’s six-string studio sounds, high-end electric guitars and vintage tube guitar amps probably spring to mind. 

However, while that may be true for previous albums, the band’s upcoming effort, The Quest, instead saw Steve Howe turn to a far more humble amplifier to help with recording duties: the Line 6 Spider.

Speaking to MusicRadar, the Yes guitarist took a deep-dive into the gear used on the iconic prog outfit’s highly anticipated record – their first new album of material since 2014 – and discussed the unusual pairings he opted for in his quest to discover the album’s tone.

After being quizzed about what guitar effects he used, Howe replied, “I used the Boss GS-10 [Guitar Effects System with USB Audio Interface] which is a remarkable little system. But for the most part I was using a Line 6 Spider amp.”

Howe cited the guitar solo from Leave Well Alone as having been recorded using the Line 6 Spider, and said much of the album was crafted by pairing the affordable modelling amp with his not-so-affordable vintage 1964 Gibson ES-175D. If ever there was a clash of gear worlds, this would probably be it. 

“My original Gibson ES-175[D] came into play a lot more because I was recording at my studio. I don’t take that guitar out of the country anymore,” he reflected, “so it got a good outing on this album.”

Howe is no stranger to modelling amps, however, having previously opted for Line 6's HD500 and Bogner-designed DT50 digital modeling amps in the past, while he's also a keen advocate of Line 6's Variax.

Yes have released two singles from the album so far – The Ice Bridge and Dare To Know – which have probably already given us an unknowing insight into how the vintage jazz guitar sounds in partnership with the rehearsal room stalwart.

The Line 6 Spider seems to have become an increasingly popular option for guitar heavyweights in recent years. Back in 2019, The Cure’s Robert Smith was flanked by an army of Line 6 Spider V 120s during the band’s 30th anniversary Disintegration concert, which attempted – and succeeded – to recreate his iconic tones.

As for Yes, the hollowbodied single-cut wasn’t the only guitar paired with the Line 6 on The Quest, according to Howe, who went on to list the other axes that made it onto the album.

“I have a selection of familiar guitars that I love to play – like my Les Paul Junior and Martin acoustics – which allow me to explore, improvise, and reinvent,” he continued. “The 175 was often my first choice. And if that didn’t work, it was a Tele or a Strat or a Steinberger.”

Yes’s upcoming album The Quest is available to preorder now ahead of its release on October 1.

Veteran prog lords Yes have unveiled a new song, Dare To Know, the latest track to be taken from their new album, The Quest, which is due October 1. 

The video mixes some characteristic kaleidoscopic visualisations and Yes concept art among pictures of the band – and then throws in a load of CGI eagle footage (for bonus prog points).

The piece is constructed around some sizeable orchestral elements, with Steve Howe deftly incorporating both electric and classical guitar lines amid the strings and brass.

“Dare To Know presents a guitar theme played within many different arrangements, with different chord structures and altered textures,” says Howe of the song. 

“The 'idea' mentioned in the first verse gets described later as an awakening to the subtle goings on within our bodies and mind, all geared to nature's scheme of things, all fluctuating and rearranging according to the principles of life, as we know it. 

“The centrepiece leaves the orchestra alone to elaborate and develop the way the theme is heard, then augments the closing minutes of the song as it rests, with an acoustic guitar cadenza.”

Which is exactly what we meant to say.

Dare To Know is the second song we’ve heard from The Quest now, following the arrival of The Ice Bridge back in July, which represented the first new music from Yes  since 2014's Heaven And Earth.

Pre-order Yes’ new album The Quest in CD, LP and digital formats.

UK prog giants Yes have debuted a new single, The Ice Bridge, taken from their forthcoming record, The Quest – due October 1.

The track is our first taste of what's to come with The Quest and is the legendary prog rock outfit's first new material in seven years, since the release of 2014's Heaven & Earth.

The band’s line-up (now consisting of Steve Howe, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison, Alan White and Billy Sherwood) recorded The Quest in two camps, split across the Atlantic. Howe, Downes and Davison recorded in the UK, while White and Sherwood took care of rhythm duties in LA.

The song is said to be an exploration of the dangers of climate change and would seem to be timely, given the spate of recent climate-linked disasters in the US and Europe.

“The Ice Bridge opens the album in the dark and moody key of C minor, aided by the orchestra,” says Steve Howe. “The rolling bass part kicks things into gear as the vocals and guitars start a winding journey through the various structures till the breakdown happens, where ice breaking is heard.”

While we’ll have to wait until October to hear the full record, Howe has also been busy pulling together a new collection in his Homebrew series, ready for release at the end of the month.  

Homebrew 7 collects 21 previously unreleased tracks from the late '70s through to 2016, and is out July 30. 

Meanwhile, fans can pre-order The Quest in CD, LP and digital formats.

Progressive rock legends Yes have announced a new album, The Quest.

Set for an October 1 release via InsideOut/Sony, the new LP was produced by the band's longtime guitarist, Steve Howe. It's the group's first album of new material since 2014's Heaven & Earth, and their first to not feature co-founding bassist Chris Squire, who died in 2015.

The album features the band's current lineup of Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, vocalist Jon Davison and bassist Billy Sherwood, with some additional percussion from Jay Schellen. 

"It is simply an honor for me to have the opportunity to bring together the band members in the development of a well-refined set of songs that capture the band’s true potential,” Howe said in a statement.

"Much of the music was written in late 2019 with the rest in 2020. We commissioned several orchestrations to augment and enhance the overall sound of these fresh new recordings, hoping that our emphasis on melody, coupled with some expansive instrumental solo breaks, keeps up the momentum for our listeners.”

The Quest features 11 songs in total – 8 on the main album with 3 extra tracks on a bonus CD – and will be available physically on vinyl and 5.1 Blu-ray and CD deluxe editions. 

Pre-order for The Quest begins on July 23. You can check out the album's track list below.

Yes – The Quest:

CD1:

01. The Ice Bridge
02. Dare To Know
03. Minus The Man
04. Leave Well Alone
05. The Western Edge
06. Future Memories
07. Music To My Ears
08. A Living Island 

CD2:

01. Sister Sleeping Soul
02. Mystery Tour
03. Damaged World 

Multi-platinum selling supergroup Asia are celebrating their 40th anniversary with new 5-CD boxset, The Reunion Albums: 2007-2012. The package includes the three albums (Phoenix, Omega and XXX) that reunited original members John Wetton, Steve Howe, Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes. The reunion albums are presented together in a collector’s boxset designed by Roger Dean, who produced all of the artwork on the original albums.

A dual-CD live recording, Fantasia: Live in Tokyo rounds out the package and features many of the tracks from the band’s first two albums, Asia (1982) and Alpha (1983) as well as heritage tracks from each band member’s musical history. The live concert also includes an acoustic version of Ride Easy, a B-side from the band’s debut single, Heat of the Moment, performed for the first time.

We spoke with guitarist Steve Howe about the new boxset, 50 years of Yes's landmark single Roundabout, and his undying love for Martin guitars…

How did The Reunion Albums: 2007-2012 boxset come about?

“Because there hasn’t been much touring, there were discussions with management about the idea of taking a look at those three albums which had recently returned to our ownership.

“When I listened back to Phoenix, Omega and XXX, it was a delight to put them in perspective. It was a very productive period for the band. Phoenix has a bit more intricacies and proggy bits and the other albums are a development from that starting point. So we decided to put together a boxset with Roger Dean and everyone else who’s worked with us. It’s marvelous.”

The set includes the 2CD live concert Fantasia, Live in Tokyo from 2007. Did the idea to do a full-on reunion album build out of that tour?

“When we met in 2006, Geoff said he and John were starting to write together and that there was enthusiasm from Japan, America and England. At the time, Yes had taken a hiatus and I thought, 'Great! I hadn’t played this music in years.' My only pre-condition was that we would play the songs more meticulously than we did in the old days.

“One of the things I learned with Yes in the later years was that there has to be a certain accuracy in the parts, sounds and development. For me, this was possible because I was using Line 6 equipment. I was fascinated with the Variax and the company was so interested in how I was going to use it and their amps. Up to that point I’d never use any programming amps or pedalboards.

“The original premise was to get on tour, play and make sure there was still good glue between us. That’s when the idea came along about a reunion album, and we started writing for Phoenix.”

Of the five Asia albums you played on is there one song that you consider a favorite?

“I can’t really pick one that signifies the idea of a band wanting to find success, but I also can’t underestimate the power of the first album when Geoff, John, Carl and I came together. That first album carries the balance of the pop approach with the prog history. I would say that Time Again has a lot of that attitude. Heat of the Moment was another track that signified the entry point of this marriage between rock, pop and prog.”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Yes classic Roundabout. What thoughts come to mind when you look back on it now? Did you know at the time it was going to be something special?

“It would be a bit egotistical to say yes, because anything you write you think is good, otherwise you wouldn’t spend months designing, recording and polishing it.

“At the time, Yes had designed this idea that we didn’t have to rush into songs and could have longer innuendos before the song started. I’ve always been interested in intros and outros as much as the whole piece, and that introduction on Roundabout is the kind of idea I like.

“I will say that when I hear that song now the thing that stands out is the production and Bill Bruford’s drumming. He didn’t play conventionally and that’s what Yes was trying to be – as unconventional as possible.”

Are there any projects with Yes that you’re currently working on right now?

“We’ve got some unannounced plans about the early part of next year, but right now, touring is the focus of our attention. The European tour has been moved to early spring and we’re going to be playing Relayer, which will be a great challenge.

It’s no secret that you’re a fan of Martin guitars. When did your love affair with them begin?

“It started in 1968. I saw Paul Simon, Lonnie Donegan and a few others playing Martins and I realized the sound I liked came from them. I looked out for one and found a 1953 00-18 that I bought for £132. I’ve still got it and it’s actually the best Martin I’ve ever had.

“It isn’t a guitar I play as much as I used to because my playing style and demand in the guitar are based around the last signature model they did, the MC-38 Steve Howe, which has a cutaway and an open headstock. It’s everything I want in a performance guitar.”

How would you like Asia to be remembered?

“That’s a tricky one, because we really had three periods. We had the original period with the two albums and tours and then there was that middle period where Geoff was working with other people and I rejoined for a while, and then you have this last period covered by the three reunion albums.

“You have to take into account all of those periods but, again, you can never underestimate the beauty and power of that first album. It set the bar very high and right up until we toured in 2012 we were still in its afterglow. That album has a length, breadth and high quality to it. From Heat of the Moment right to the last track, Here Comes the Feeling. We were rocking.”

• The Reunion Albums 2007-2012 is out now via BMG.

With Yes, Steve Howe’s legacy is firmly cemented as the six-string force behind some of prog rock’s most indelible songs, from Roundabout and Close to the Edge to Starship Trooper and his classic acoustic instrumental, Clap. 

Howe still tours and records with Yes – in fact, he’s the sole remaining member from the classic early Seventies Fragile-era lineup – but he has also kept up an active schedule over the years with other acts (among them Asia and Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe) as well as working as a guest musician and, of course, as a rather prolific solo artist. 

His latest solo effort is Love Is, and it presents 10 new Howe compositions, half of which are instrumental and half featuring his own vocals. Howe plays electric, acoustic and steel guitars on the album, as well as keyboards, percussion and bass, with help from current Yes singer Jon Davison on background vocals and bass and Howe’s son, Dylan, on drums

And while the songs range from trademark bright-toned, nimble-fingered instrumentals like Fulcrum and Sound Picture to the textured ballad Love Is a River, the slide-guitar-focused The Headlands and the distorted riff-rocker On the Balcony, the sound and guitar style is 100 percent classic Steve Howe. 

“Building tracks is basically what I enjoy doing,” he says. “I get ideas, and some of them come from years ago, and some of them came yesterday. But in the back of my mind the idea is always very steeped in my persona, if you like. In an indescribable way, everything is sort of the way that I do things.” 

Howe sat down with Guitar World to discuss the way he did things on Love Is, taking the time to offer a wide-ranging look into the songwriting process for each of the album’s 10 tracks, as well as the assortment of guitars he used on the recording. 

And while he was happy to expound on each song individually, he also warned: “With me, a song is never – strictly speaking – about one thing. I draw in things that I find to be personally meaningful, but I don’t really mind if they’re a bit vague for the listener. I like a bit of disguise.” 

Fulcrum

“The album starts with acoustic guitar, because acoustic guitar is very important to me. Most of my music starts on some sort of acoustic, whether it’s a playing idea or a chordal structure or a melody. So I start there and I’m strumming away, and then I bring in a steel guitar that plays the top line of the melody, and another steel that just sort of goes ‘wheee.’ 

“I was thinking about Santo & Johnny, their great tunes like Sleep Walk, and how they would have intros and little subtle bits, so there’s a little of that going on. 

“Then we get into the main section, which was actually recorded on a MiniDisc in a chalet in Switzerland. I took that piece of music and laid it into a track, with the front and the end of the song constructed around it. 

“I play the intro on my [signature] Martin MC-38 Steve Howe, and that guitar runs through the whole song. Then the melody is played in two-string movements on my Steinberger GM4T, which is a lovely instrument from a guitaristic point of view. It’s so well made. And when it gets to the sort of bridge section you get the two pickup sound, which is my Les Paul. It’s one of my standby sounds, with a little bit of depth and color to it that I like. 

“With that guitar I’m doing these melodic additions which are very casual and relaxed. It’s not in a hurry, not too dazzle-y, but just kind of adding little notes of reflection. And then at the end it comes back around to the acoustic sound.”

See Me Through

“We get a bit more energy and a bit more drive going here. But once again it still starts on the acoustic – the drive is in the riff with the droning A string. Then when it splashes out into where the song is going, the steel guitar comes through in a different way, with that sort of heavy, slide-y, delayed sound. It’s very thematic. 

“The lyrics on this one are very straightforward: ‘See me through / till tomorrow / give me the strength I need / to follow and to follow.’ A simple, straightforward message there. A good thing to remember about your time is that there’s a lot of happiness with simplicity. 

“There’s some single-line guitar work that I’m doing on my Les Paul Junior — it’s a ’55 or a ’56, and it’s a remarkable instrument. I feel so at home on that guitar that I can rock out on it. “At the end of the song I’m really having a good time and the track’s rocking away, and I use the themes that are implied in the acoustic guitar part to embellish and have a lead guitar break.” 

Beyond the Call

“This one starts with acoustic again. I set up a chord pattern and then I use the Steinberger with a volume pedal, which allows me to get a sound that I first heard from steel players in my youthful time. 

“Chet Atkins is the biggest thing in my world of guitar, and he used a volume pedal very nicely – his idea occasionally was to use the volume pedal like steel players did, so you don’t hear the attack. So when I start playing this tune, you’re not really hearing the full frontal attack of the notes, because I’m taking them out with the volume pedal. That’s a stylistic approach I like very much.

“As for the title, the expression ‘beyond the call’ is the times in all of our lives where we’re asked more of us than we expected. With instrumentals you can call them anything – I could have called it Cheese and Eggs. But why not find something… not eloquent, but sort of descriptive?”

Love Is a River

Love Is a River is sort of the central strength of the record. It’s not your average ‘lovey dovey’ thing, but it is about the challenges of love, and it’s using the comparison to a river – you’re sort of flowing through your life and you’re sensing the waves, you’re sensing the calmness, you’re sensing the drama and you’re sensing the sunshine. Love is a flowing, ebbing and tiding and fluxing and moving sort of thing. Besides the fact that it makes people really happy [Laughs]. 

“Musically, there’s a Martin 12-string acoustic, which is a really robust-sounding thing. So it kicks off, and then the steel guitar comes in with the bass and drums and the other instruments. It’s a lilting sort of tune because it doesn’t do a lot – it’s not wasting about being melodic. It is melodic, but it’s melodic in a purposeful way.” 

Sound Picture

“This one has a fairly complicated little nifty idea at the front end of it that is more ‘orchestrated,’ in the rock sense. It’s a complex little guitar phrase. And when it settles, an interesting thing happens because, and I’m going to get really simplistic here, I had this tune I wanted to play, and I didn’t realize until I finished it really that it’s sort of this Shadows type of thing. 

“I’ve not often talked about Hank Marvin, even though he’s a big influence. So I do this song as a sort of updated Shadows take, which is a very funny thing to say. I’m playing a Fender Stratocaster and then I harmonize with another Strat as the tune builds. And there is a bit of whammy bar on there too, which isn’t something I allow myself to do too much of… because then you will definitely do too much of it!” [Laughs] 

It Ain’t Easy

“This is a song where the hook is more in the verse than the chorus. But basically the idea of having a question and answer – the lyric, ‘You know it ain’t easy,’ is a statement, and then you get the lines after it – appealed to me. The way I built the chorus was really to take that idea a little further. 

“We go through a couple of sections, and some of them are quite intricate – it starts with a guitar part not dissimilar to Sound Picture, in terms of the ‘phraseology’ of the intro. And there are a couple of hooky bits of guitar – the Strat is very evident here – one of which I use for the backing bits of the chorus. 

“And the message, just briefly, is about loving your children and your grandchildren and watching them walk away from you. They walk down the beach, go in the water, you have to let go of your feelings of nurturing and protection and you’ve got to see them walk out into their lives — ‘You know it ain’t easy.’ ”

Pause for Thought

“This starts off with a simple rolling, picking acoustic guitar figure — not in the country style, but more just fingerstyle guitar. And it moves in stages. 

“After that, the featured guitar is a Line 6 Variax with a Boss GP-10 guitar processor on a synth setting. The GP-10 is great because it has a speaker in it, so while you’re selecting sounds, you can hear them coming out of the unit and then say, ‘Oh, I like that sound!’ But it’s important to note that there’s not a synth keyboard in sight on this. It’s all in the guitar. 

“Basically it’s a casual song that’s got a slightly melancholy feel, I guess. As for the title, when you ‘pause for thought,’ you might think about the good parts of the day, but, you know, you might also think about the not-so-good parts. Basically you can decide which way you’re going to go with it.” [Laughs]

Imagination

“Imagination was another nice challenge for me. It took a while to come together because originally it had all these various intros. But then I realized it just needed to get to the song a bit sooner. So it took some editing. 

“When the actual intro comes back I use the Steinberger to add in some very high notes, which I love. And I know there’s a bit of the old flanged rhythm guitar, which is an ingredient that’s stock in my sound basket, if you like. 

“Overall, Imagination is a gentle rock song and it’s about when my granddaughter came along, but it’s also most probably about my wife. There are lyrics about riding the big storm, riding the big wave, you were so brave… people have to go through difficulties as much as learn how to feed themselves with happiness.”

The Headlands

“I really like the sense of polish about this one. What happens is it’s got that kind of ploddy ‘eighths’ thing, but before you know it, the whiny steel guitar comes in and it starts giving you an idea that the song hasn’t quite started yet, that we’ve got to get past this point. And then the theme comes in with the melody. 

“The key changes are very important to me – the major seventh here or the way the melody plays the ninth – the musical mix is just to my liking. Then about two thirds in I start moving in different ways. I’m sort of leaping around on the guitar and finding different ways to exploit the moment. To me this song is really about my love for chord structure, how a melody moves across chord structures, and how I like to develop that.”

On the Balcony

“This track was really important to me, and it was an exciting one to work on. There’s a fair bit of Strat on there, and also a Les Paul Junior and a Line 6 James Tyler [Variax]. It’s a weightier song and I enjoy that. 

“The idea of the lyric I found compelling – being on a balcony and finding freedom. You can think of the stage being a balcony and how, when you get on there, you’ve got everybody looking at you. But on an actual balcony you’re escaping being seen because you’re kind of concealed. 

“I was thinking partly about a hotel in Hawaii that I stayed at, which had a balcony that looked out over a lovely beach. But it wasn’t a crowded beach with punters with transistor radios and ice cream – there really wasn’t anybody there. It was quite joyful. [Laughs] 

“This could have been the opening track on the record, but I thought I wanted to end on something very solid and big and kind of noisy, really. So I saved it till the end to kind of send the album off.”

• Steve How's new solo album, Love Is, is out now via BMG.

As a child of the '50s stirred by the spirit of rock ’n’ roll, Steve Howe’s rite of passage on the London gig circuit saw him come of age during the swinging '60s.

Later rising from the ashes of flower power to join prog-rock trailblazers Yes in 1970, he then spent the next decade helping to cut a swathe of genre-defining classic albums.

With his new autobiography – All My Yesterdays: The Autobiography Of Steve Howe – set for release later this year, we caught up with the man himself to take a look back at his prolific career as one of rock’s most influential guitarists...

Guitars, guitars, guitars

"I wasn’t immune to music before the rock ’n’ roll revolution started. My parents had Les Paul and Mary Ford records on 78, you know, singing How High The Moon and The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise. Amazing recordings. I heard them and they were just part of my life. 

"There was also a guy called Tennessee Ernie Ford and he had a couple of great players on his records called Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. Those records were pretty exciting. 

"And then rock ’n’ roll and Chuck Berry came along and I was just thinking, ‘Guitars, guitars, guitars...’ I was moaning at my parents, ‘I want a guitar! I want a guitar!’ and I finally got one for Christmas in 1959, when I was 12 years old. It wasn’t a Framus, but it looked like a Framus f-hole acoustic archtop."

Shut up ’n play yer guitar

“Chuck Berry was one of the big inspirations, but I liked all the rock ’n’ roll acts. I started to notice that singers often had a good guitarist alongside them. Like Bill Hailey had great guitarists, Ricky Nelson had James Burton, and Elvis Presley had Scotty Moore. 

"So I modelled myself on being a guy like that - the guy who stood on stage and just played guitar while the singer did all the shaking about and all the yelling. I thought, ‘I’d like that job,’ and that’s basically what happened.

"Standing there, playing the guitar became my whole life. That’s where it started.”

• Steve Howe lesson: Learn how to play Yes's Starship Trooper, Siberian Khatru and Mood for a Day
• How to play acoustic guitar like Yes's Steve Howe

Electric dreams

“The '60s were all about learning for me. For the first couple of years, I used that acoustic archtop. I screwed pickups on it, but it became horrible to play. It wasn’t much good for me for stage work, and after a couple of years I realized if I really wanted to play the guitar, I’d need to get an electric. 

"That’s when I bought an Antoria from a friend - I also had an Antoria amp to go with it - but it had a tiny little body. After playing that for a while, I decided I wanted a big guitar, a full-body guitar, and when I was 17, my parents helped me buy the [1964] Gibson ES-175D.

"That was the guitar I loved the shape of and the one I really wanted to play.”

Only my Gibson is good enough

“The signature [Gibson Steve Howe ES-175] was a struggle to get right. After all, the ’64 Gibson ES-175D is a very, very fine guitar and I wanted them to make one as good as that. It was a very nice relationship, but I was just put out by the fact that it was never going to be as good as my ’64. 

"But then an original ’64 costs a lot more. When Gibson changed hands, some people got on to me and said, ‘Steve, we want to do this guitar exactly like your ’64,’ and I said, ‘Tell me about it!’ The new guys are sweethearts. I’ve dealt with them and they’re really nice.

“Martin have been amazing, too. I’m delighted to have a great working relationship with them. I have a ’53 00-18 and they brought out the 00-18SH [Steve Howe] based on that, which is a very nice guitar. 

"Then they brought out the MC-38 Steve Howe, which is a signature model based on the MC-28 - a guitar I played for many years.”

On the road with vintage guitars

“I play old guitars on stage because they’re worth taking along. It doesn’t hurt that something’s worn in. It’s like an old pair of slippers or an old sofa, you know, they do kind of caress you. 

"I have another ’64 ES-175D that I use a lot because my best one stays at home most of the time, mainly because of airlines and stupid rules. You can go to Spain with a guitar, but you can’t come back with that same guitar. Are you nuts? 

"I just came over with this guitar and nobody blinked an eyelid, but when I come back it’s, ‘Oh, no, you can’t take that on the plane!’ That’s why my other 175D stays at home.”

Digital revelations

“I’ve got some great, great guitars, but what I don’t use now are endless arrays of pedals. I mean, I did the pedalboard thing pretty early on. A lot of people sussed that if you stuck them on a ’board, you didn’t have to set it up every day, they wouldn’t break or fall apart so easily, and you wouldn’t stumble over them. 

"I had pedalboards like that for years and years, but now I don’t. It’s just passé to me. These days, my gear is incredibly streamlined. I like to press one button and radically change my sound. I just press a button and it all happens at once. That is heaven, you know. 

"Performing is all about preparation. It took me a while to get into programming, but the [Line 6] Helix can do everything I can possibly want and, therefore, that’s all I want to use. 

"Line 6 are one of the most accomplished and excellent companies doing electric guitar stuff. The Helix is amazing, and I’ve got nothing bad to say about Line 6. They’re great guys, too.”

Chain reaction

“I’ve had so many [pedals] over the years: Big Muffs, Boomerang pedals, different sorts of wah-wahs and stuff from Maestro.

"Most of the stuff I’ve forgotten about, but I have it somewhere, or remnants of it. But the thing people often miss is - and this is important - is that it’s not just about your guitarist, their guitar, the pedals, the amp, the microphone... It’s also about the recording engineer who knows how to record a guitar. 

"So I give credit where it’s due, because there’s a lot more to sound. There’s a myriad of different things. The first thing is who’s playing it and what that person thinks while he’s planning to play something. It goes down that long chain and it ends up with a recording engineer sitting in a studio.”

Junior class

“When it comes to guitars, one of the biggest criteria for me is playability. I’m happy on 175s, I’m happy on 335s, and I’m happy on Les Pauls. The Les Paul Junior is a great guitar. The thing I like about Steinbergers and Les Paul Juniors and Telecasters is they’re so simple. 

"Nothing can go wrong. They’re great guitars to explore your ideas with. My Les Paul Junior is an absolute beauty. It’s featured a lot on Tales From Topographic Oceans and a fair amount of other things, so it goes out on tour with me. I love it. It’s a great-sounding guitar. Great!”

Venturing out of the shadows

“My first band started out more or less as a pop group called The Syndicats. We’d do what other bands did, which was play chart material in a pub, because that’s all we knew we could do. Then I threw in some other weird tunes that nobody had ever heard before. 

"We also did a lot of The Shadows and The Ventures and guitar-featured numbers. But we had a singer, so we had to do some songs. We did a lot of Chuck Berry, and that’s where the R&B side of things took off. Eventually, I wanted to move on, and when The In-Crowd asked me if I wanted to play, I said yes. And that meant I was playing soul - Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and that kind of stuff. 

"That lasted a year or so. We had a hit record and I got to work with a top producer by the name of Joe Meek.”

Getting smart

“Joe Meek was the first producer I had ever worked with in my life. He was complicated - a little crazy at times - but very nice and he was a talent. I wouldn’t say he was a genius like some do, but he was a talent. 

"He thought that Phil Spector was stealing his ideas - as opposed to him stealing Phil Spector’s ideas, of course. Maybe. He was a bit difficult to work with at times, but then again a lot of people in the industry are.

“I wanted the producers I worked with to think I was adaptable. If they said to me, ‘Will you play that?’ then I’d say, ‘Oh, yes, I’ll play that.’ I enjoyed having people who were smart and had made thousands of records talking to me about what I should play. And that also educated me about being in a band. 

"You really have to listen to somebody when they say, ‘Why don’t you play that? Don’t play this, play that.’ At first, it gets your back up and you might hate them and you feel a little hurt.

"And then you realize, ‘No, it’s a good idea.’ You’ve got to smarten up and not be a bag of emotional nerves.”

The summer of love

“There were a lot of seeds planted in the '60s. We cared a lot about the world. We cared about love, we cared about flowers, we cared about ecology, we cared about food. The band I was in after I joined The Syndicats - The In-Crowd - lasted a while and then we converted ourselves into Tomorrow. 

"I wrote a few bits and I improvised a lot, and we became a wild touring band. We opened for Pink Floyd, we opened for Jimi Hendrix, we opened for everybody. We were everybody’s opening act, but we didn’t mind that. 

"We were climbing the ladder and I was delighted. We had a level of success that we could deal with.

“Tomorrow were so cocky. We thought we were the best band in the world. We played with Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix and Vanilla Fudge, and we thought nobody could play us off the stage. We thought we could play other people off the stage. And we enjoyed that egotism and cockiness. 

"But then ’68 came along and flower power was kind of over, you know. It was like, ‘Okay, what’s next?’"

Yes, I do

“In 1970, I got a phone call from Chris Squire. He said, ‘Do you want to come down and play Jon [Anderson] and I a tune? We both like your playing. Come down and play with us.’ So we played and it worked. And we made The Yes Album in the countryside - basically, we were back on that kind of hippie thing, really. 

"At the time, the ideal thing a band could do was escape to somewhere remote, write songs and record them. And that’s what we did. The 70s were an incredible decade, just years of making all different kinds of music.”

Decade of progression

“That 10 years was the most intense and most successful in my career. I wallow in the delight of great albums like Tales From Topographic Oceans and Relayer and Fragile and Close To The Edge. I really don’t have a favorite because I change my mind, but Close To The Edge is a phenomenal collection and was a new style of record.

I mean, it’s astounding. Even I can see that. It gave us an interesting balance, which allowed us to expand our music without any regard for commercialization whatsoever. We cared if people listened to it, but we didn’t want to fit into the box of being a three-and-a-half-minute hit band. 

We went in the opposite direction. Sometimes Yes purposely decommercialized music.”

Searching for the sound

“Throughout that whole 10 years we changed all the time. And I changed guitars all the time. By the time we got to Drama [in 1980], my goodness, I was playing the Les Paul, I was playing 175s, I was playing steels, I was playing any kind of guitar I could grapple with, and loving it. 

"Every album has got the 175 on it somewhere - some more predominantly than others - but it always had a new featured guitar. I was looking for the sound. You know, where’s my Steve Howe sound? What is it? Well, I had it all the time. 

"You can’t search for your own sound. You’ve already got it. It’s there. It’s what you sound like.”

All My Yesterdays: The Autobiography Of Steve Howe is available now via Omnibus Press, and a new solo album - Love Is - is available now.

In this classic GW video, legendary Yes guitarist Steve Howe - acoustic guitar in hand - shows you how to play the key riffs to several Yes classics.

Live at the Guitar World studio, the prog-rock guitar legend gives you the inside scoop on how to properly play Starship Trooper, Siberian Khatru and Mood for a Day.

Howe also marvels at the creative freedom he was allowed in the band, which he first joined in 1970. "The statement I was most hungry to make," Howe remarks, "was to be seen as not a 'one-sound' guitarist."

He also offers some good general advice for guitarists - and for musicians in general, really: "thinking about something [what you're playing] can sometimes bring you in the wrong headspace." 

You can check the super-cool video out above.

While Steve Howe is perhaps best known for his electric and acoustic guitar contributions to the progressive rock band Yes, the uber-eclectic axman has also played key roles in bands like Asia and GTR and released well over a dozen solo albums.

When Howe joined Yes in 1970, his classical influences, jazz-tinged electric guitar lines and general 'experimental' musical nature had a profound impact on the band’s art-rock sound, resulting in a string of classic '70s-era progressive rock records like The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge.

Furthermore, live Yes photos from this era show Howe wielding 'unlikely' rock instruments, including a Gibson ES-175 electric and innumerable steel-, nylon- and 12-string acoustic guitars. In doing so, he made many guitarists reconsider their own perceptions of what makes an 'acceptable' rock axe.

Let’s take a closer look at Howe’s acoustic output with this timeless prog act. Howe uses a pick-and-fingers (“hybrid- picking”) technique on Clap (The Yes Album, 1970), an acoustic solo piece that informs FIGURE 1.

Grip your pick between your thumb and index finger and pluck with your middle (m) and ring (a) fingers. Get the D/A pattern together first - downstroke the lowest note, pluck the highest with your ring finger (a) and then downstroke the chord’s middle notes - and pick/pluck the remaining chords in a similar manner.

This figure’s last four bars feature E7 chord fragments shifted up the neck, played with a 'banjo-rolling' technique and punctuated with a strummed E6/9 chord. Howe’s intro to Roundabout (Fragile, 1971), not unlike FIGURE 2, is also performed using hybrid picking and is played in “free time” (with no discernible pulse) for expressive effect. After sounding the signature harmonics, “pre-fret” the third, fifth and seventh frets along the high E string, and pull off.

For Am, G and D/F#, pick the bass notes and pluck the B and G strings with your ring and middle fingers, respectively. Now let’s put the pick aside and focus on Howe’s fingerstyle chops.

Mood for a Day (Fragile, 1971) is a flamenco-influenced (with Celtic overtones) nylon-string solo piece featuring counterpoint moves - upper-register scalar lines played over shifting bass notes - like those in FIGURE 3a. Pluck each bass note with your thumb (p), using your middle and index fingers to sound notes on the top three strings.

FIGURE 3b is reminiscent of another recurring theme in the piece and requires all four fret-hand fingers for high-E string pull- offs while low open strings sound beneath. Our final examples are inspired by the song Masquerade (Union, 1991) and fall in open position, decorating a D chord.

Fret Dsus2 in FIGURE 4a with your index and middle fingers on the G and B strings, respectively; this frees up your other fingers to add hammer-on/ pull-off ornaments and comfortably grab later chords. FIGURE 4b embellishes the open D with sixths intervals (two notes, six scale steps apart), played with hammer-ons and pull-offs and plucked with the index (i) and ring (a) fingers, throughout.

Yes have announced "The Royal Affair Tour," a summer trek that will take the band across the United States—with a date in Toronto, Canada for good measure—from mid-June through late July.

Notably, the tour will feature guitarist Steve Howe pulling double duty, as he will play with both Yes and—for the first time since 2012—Asia, who are second on the bill. The trek will also feature John Lodge of The Moody Blues and Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy.

"Yes are delighted to headline this celebration of British music which has been so warmly received in America over the past five decades," Howe said in a press release.

You can check out the full itinerary of "The Royal Affair Tour" below.

For tickets and more info, head on over to yesworld.com.

Yes/Asia 2019 Tour Dates:

WED 6/12: Bethlehem, PA—Bethlehem Event Center

FRI 6/14: Farmingdale, NY—Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater

SAT 6/15: Atlantic City, NJ—Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena

SUN 6/16: Holmdel, NJ—PNC Bank Arts Center

THU 6/20: Westchester, NY—Westchester County Center

FRI 6/21: Pittsburgh, PA—Stage AE

SAT 6/22: Baltimore, MD—MECU Pavillion

MON 6/24: Toronto, ON—Budweiser Stage

TUE 6/25: Lewiston, NY—Artpark Amphitheater

THU 6/27: Bethel, NY—Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

SAT 6/29: Gilford, NH—Bank of NH Pavilion

SUN 6/30: Providence, RI—Bold Point Park

WED 7/3: Rochester Hills, MI—Meadow Brook Amphitheatre

FRI 7/5: Columbus, OH—Express Live

SAT 7/6: Aurora, IL—RiverEdge Park

MON 7/8: Nashville, TN—Grand Ole Opry House

WED 7/10: Cary, NC—Koka Booth Amphitheatre at Regency Park

FRI 7/12: Clearwater, FL—Ruth Eckerd Hall

SAT 7/13: Hollywood, FL—Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

THU 7/18: St Augustine, FL—St. Augustine Amphitheatre

SAT 7/20: Irving, TX—Toyota Music Factory

SUN 7/21: Rogers, AR—Walmart AMP

WED 7/24: Phoenix, AZ—Comerica Theatre

FRI 7/26: Las Vegas, NV—The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino)

SAT 7/27: Irvine, CA—FivePoints Amphitheatre

SUN 7/28: Saratoga, CA—The Mountain Winery

Awhile back, Dream Theater's John Petrucci recounted the moment one of his top guitar heroes—Steve Howe of Yes and Asia fame—told him to "turn it down."

"We played a show in London at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club [in 1995], a little special gig," Petrucci told Cosmo Music. "[It was] all covers; we had guests come, and it ended up on [Dream Theater's 1995] EP, A Change of Seasons.

"One of the guests was Steve Howe, and we were doing a Yes [medley] thing. So we're rehearsing, [and] he came down. I'm such a huge fan of Steve Howe, I worship him. I had my Mesa Boogie set up, he comes in and says [imitating Howe's voice], 'Do you mind turning it down a bit?' [Laughs].

"Steve Howe told me to turn it down! Awesome!"

In the top clip below, you can see the performance of Yes' "Starship Trooper" by Dream Theater with Howe. Below that, you'll find an audio clip of the complete Yes medley that was performed that night.

"Starship Trooper," which was written by Howe, Jon Anderson and Chris Squire, originally appeared on 1971's The Yes Album.

Here's another one from the "fun with isolated tracks" files!

It's Steve Howe's isolated guitar (top YouTube player) and Chris Squire's isolated bass (bottom player) from "Roundabout," the classic early 1972 Yes tune from Fragile.

While the bass line pure genius, it is pretty straightforward in its isolated form. What's truly fascinating is how Howe's various guitar parts—played on various guitars—were spliced together into the final track, thus creating a one-of-a-kind musical performance.

Howe mingles acoustic and electric figures, finishing things off with a series of furious electric runs and an atonal solo that doesn't adhere to traditional rock forms.

"Certainly what I felt I was doing was bringing that guitar sound, the Martin 00-18, right to the front of the group, which was not something that I knew would work," Howe said in 1998. "I wondered how much could I play acoustic guitar in a rock band. I’d done it with 'Clap' and 'Starship,' and little bits on 'Yours Is No Disgrace.' My goal on 'Roundabout' was to make the acoustic a feature instrument."

Yes—with a lineup of Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood—have announced a 50th anniversary tour of America. It will take place this summer.

Titled Yes50: Celebrating 50 Years of Yes, the 30-plus date trek will take the band across the country throughout the months of June and July. Tickets for the shows will go on sale to the public beginning this Friday, March 30 or Saturday, March 31, with select shows going on sale in early April.

"Much has changed since I joined Yes in 1970, but the core elements of the band have remained consistent," Howe said in a press release. "We want to mark this anniversary with a tour that encompasses some of our best-loved work and revisit a few classic pieces that have been lost for a while. We look forward to sharing the 50th anniversary with the fanbase, playing classic songs that celebrate the broad musical style of Yes."

"I have been blessed to be a member of this amazing band's rhythm section for the past 46 years, mostly in the company of my great friend Chris Squire, and latterly alongside Chris' chosen successor, Billy Sherwood, who is receiving recognition for stepping into Chris' pre-eminent bass and vocals," Alan White added. "Each night we are pausing to reflect on Chris' importance to Yes, his desire that we should continue to share Yes music on stages worldwide, and the specific dedication of 'Onward' to his huge memory. I'm so grateful to continue to be performing on stages for our dedicated fans and look forward to celebrating our 50th Anniversary in America. It has been a great ride!"

You can see the band's full itinerary below.

For tickets and more info, head on over to yesworld.com.

Yes 2018 Summer Tour Dates:

Tue 6/5 St. Charles, IL Arcada Theatre

Wed 6/6 St. Charles, IL Arcada Theatre

Fri 6/8 New Buffalo, MI Four Winds Casino Ballroom

Sun 6/10 Kansas City, MO Midland Theatre

Mon 6/11 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre

Wed 6/13 Boise, ID CenturyLink Arena

Thu 6/14 Woodinville, WA Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery

Sat 6/16 Bakersfield, CA Spectrum Amphitheater

Sun 6/17 Anaheim, CA City National Grove of Anaheim

Tue 6/19 Los Angeles, CA Ford Theatre

Wed 6/20 San Jose, CA City National Civic

Fri 6/22 Wendover, NV Peppermill Casino Hall

Sat 6/23 Laughlin, NV Edgewater Hotel & Casino

Sun 6/24 Temecula, CA Pechanga Resort & Casino

Thu 6/28 Interlochen, MI Kresge Auditorium

Fri 6/29 Grand Rapids, MI 20 Monroe Live

Sat 6/30 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre

Mon 7/2 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center

Thu 7/5 Pittsburgh, PA Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall

Fri 7/6 Jim Thorpe, PA Penn's Peak

Sat 7/7 Montclair, NJ The Wellmont Theater

Tue 7/10 Boston, MA The Wilbur Theatre

Wed 7/11 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom

Sat 7/14 Atlantic City, NJ Tropicana Casino

Sun 7/15 Staten Island, NY St. George Theatre

Tue 7/17 Peekskill, NY Paramount Hudson Valley

Wed 7/18 Westbury, NY Theatre at Westbury

Fri 7/20 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore

Sat 7/21 Philadelphia, PA The Fillmore

Mon 7/23 Washington, DC Warner Theatre

Thu 7/26 Clearwater, FL Capitol Theatre

Fri 7/27 Orlando, FL The Plaza Live

Sat 7/28 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Symphony Hall

Back in September, the Yes camp was shaken by the death of guitarist Steve Howe's son, Virgil.

Virgil Howe—who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 41—had collaborated with his father on Nexus, an instrumental album that was set for release this Friday, November 17. Now, the elder Howe has released the music video for the latest single from the album, "Leaving Aurora."

The emotional video shows Steve Howe playing against the backdrop of a montage of photos and film clips of his late son. You can watch it below.

Of the decision to go forward with the album's release, Steve Howe said "We hope that the music just completed will stand as a fitting tribute to his life and legacy.”

You can preorder Nexus here.

Last month, the Yes camp was deeply shaken by the loss of guitarist Steve Howe's son, Virgil.

Virgil Howe—a talented musician in his own right who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 41—had collaborated with his father on Nexus, an instrumental album that was set for release on November 17. Now, we have been given our first preview of the album, with the release of its title track.

"On most of the tracks on the album I stick to one featured guitar per track but on 'Nexus' I use a dual guitar approach, I start by playing my favourite Gibson ES175D but then move over to a single neck Fender Professional Steel, which has 2 pick-ups, then I move back & forwards between them," said the elder Howe of the song.

"The structure of this track demonstrates Virgil's melodic and rhythmic approach, which came about by him learning to play and make music 'by ear' utilising his keyboards and drums to invent his own writing style."

Of the decision to go forward with the album's release, Steve Howe said "We hope that the music just completed will stand as a fitting tribute to his life and legacy.”

You can give "Nexus" a listen for yourself below. Preorder the album here.

When it first blew through America in the mid-Fifties, rock music’s main calling card was its simplicity.

Thumbing its nose at the lavish arrangements typical of the pop music of the day, rock thrived on volume, rhythm and excitement. Of course, in order to survive, rock couldn’t simply rely on its roots indefinitely.

As the Beatles began to take mainstream audiences on journeys to uncharted musical waters (and further underground), some bands began to chuck the rock-music rulebook entirely.

In New York City, the Velvet Underground incorporated pop art, noise and drones into their otherwise conventional pop songs. In California, the Grateful Dead mixed their rootsy, proto-Americana tunes with extended improvisation and free-form jamming.

All of these branches swung the doors open for the full-blown experimentation of progressive rock, a genre defined by ambition, complexity and some of music’s all-time six-string greats.

Here, we present 15 of the best progressive rock guitarists through the years. Enjoy—and feel free to recommend others in the comments below.

FRANK ZAPPA

No list of progressive rock guitarists, or guitarists as a whole, is complete without Frank Zappa. A true musician who was never afraid (and often all too eager to) offend, or challenge any convention, he constantly flouted the boundaries between genres. On a dime, he could switch from absurd, funk-laden pop, to devoted recreations of the Fifties R&B he so loved, to dizzyingly complicated, classical-influenced passages. It’s hard to find a guitarist who cast a wider musical net.

ROBERT FRIPP | KING CRIMSON

Though King Crimson has swung wildly from one sound and concept to another over the past half-century, the prog pioneers have had one constant: Robert Fripp. Fripp, the band’s intellectual and creative powerhouse, has constantly eschewed both expectation and convention, using his astonishing chops to forge a sound and identity that is at once both unique and unmistakable.

STEVE HOWE | YES

For over 45 years, Yes have been one of progressive rock’s titans. Their records have featured extraordinary playing from numerous musicians, Steve Howe certainly being among them. Howe has been with the group for all but a handful of years since 1970, in doing so lending his eclectic influences and tastes to the band’s sound. Howe was instrumental in creating prog classics like “Roundabout,” and the influence of his playing can be heard across genres to this day.

STEVE HACKETT | GENESIS

It’s unfortunate that when most people think of Genesis, they immediately picture either Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins. Though entirely worthy of their immense success, Gabriel and Collins have overshadowed the contributions of Genesis’ early guitarist, Steve Hackett, in the public eye. Hackett’s early explorations of two-handed tapping and sweep picking were far ahead of their time, and influenced Eddie Van Halen and Brian May, among countless others.

JOHN McLAUGHLIN | MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA

Miles Davis was somewhat infamous for not giving the musicians he worked and collaborated with a lot of credit for their contributions. So, the fact that a track on Davis’ landmark fusion LP, Bitches Brew, is simply named “John McLaughlin,” speaks volumes to how highly regarded McLaughlin’s playing was in both jazz and rock circles. Once on his own, McLaughlin continued innovating with the groundbreaking Mahavishnu Orchestra, who played a huge role in the jazz fusion movement. Few guitarists were as good at blending previously incompatible sounds.

TODD RUNDGREN | UTOPIA

A reliably unpredictable jack-of-all-trades, Todd Rundgren has spent the last four and a half decades wearing all sorts of musical hats. On Utopia’s Deface the Music, he paid tribute to, and emulated the sound of the Beatles so closely that one of the tracks (written for the film Roadie) was rejected out of a fear of lawsuits. Before then, of course, he had piloted Utopia through their years as prog-rock pioneers, and then unlikely new wave hit-makers. Few other musicians have as fascinating a resume.

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH

Many guitarists on this list have made their mark primarily by executing blazing solos in front of arenas full of screaming fans. Allan Holdsworth, however, is one of those musicians whose influence is infinitely greater than the amount of platinum records he has been involved with. His back catalog, and list of collaborators, is immense. Incorporating numerous scales and complex chord progressions into his jazz-inflected playing, Holdsworth has been a huge influence on Eddie Van Halen, Shawn Lane, Yngwie Malmsteen and countless others.

ALEX LIFESON | RUSH

Chops-worshipping fans have long heralded Alex Lifeson, drummer Neil Peart and bassist-singer Geddy Lee for their supreme instrumental skills, but the intriguing thing about Rush is the way they deliver the goods without infantilizing their musicianship. Their razzle-dazzle never seems as if it’s tossed off to satisfy some demand for immediate gratification; it has grace and purpose. Take, for example, "Jacob's Ladder" ...

ADRIAN BELEW | KING CRIMSON

Robert Fripp may be the name most associated with King Crimson, but the influence of Adrian Belew on the band’s post-1981 material cannot be discounted. As the band’s frontman and second guitarist, it was Belew who was responsible for bringing Fripp’s ideas to light, which he did with aplomb. Belew has brought a fearless attitude to each and every one of his many projects, exploring and creating otherworldly sounds most would never dream of crafting on a six-string.

TREVOR RABIN | YES

Few guitarists have the talent to fill shoes as big as Steve Howe’s, but Trevor Rabin happens to be one of them. While Howe left to form the early Eighties super group Asia, Rabin teamed up with bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White and (later) vocalist Jon Anderson. Though Rabin was initially apprehensive about the new band’s decision to adopt the Yes name, the new lineup was more than worthy of it. Rabin’s compositions and powerful guitar playing helped Yes move seamlessly into more pop-friendly territory, and introduced the band to millions of new fans.

STEVEN WILSON | PORCUPINE TREE

Taking cues from ambient and psychedelic music, Steven Wilson breathed fresh air into the increasingly staid prog rock genre with his band Porcupine Tree in the early 1990s. Ignoring the oft-dramatic elements of prog in favor of more ethereal vibes, Porcupine Tree’s music was incredibly forward-looking, while still blending quite well with the popular music of the time. Though he has repeatedly disavowed the comparison, Wilson has often been labeled as the heir to Pink Floyd’s legacy, and with good reason.

JOHN PETRUCCI | DREAM THEATER

Often seen as one of the leading figures of progressive metal, John Petrucci, with his band Dream Theater, has left an intangible mark. Focusing more on technique and complexity than speed and power, Petrucci created a sound that has been emulated by countless guitarists over the last two decades. His intricately detailed six-string work helps convey the often complex themes and narratives in Dream Theater’s music, and played a large part in changing the world’s conception of metal.

ALAN MORSE | SPOCK’S BEARD

Since their beginning in the mid-Nineties, Spock’s Beard have been this era’s answer to bands like Genesis. They even have a similar story with singer and main/songwriter Neal Morse leaving the group and having the drummer take over as singer. Now with their third singer, the band have continued to produce great Prog albums, most recently 2015’s The Oblivion Particle. Original guitarist Alan Morse has remained the linchpin between all the lineups, with his signature finger-picking shredding-style and is one of the genre’s most underrated guitarists.

RICHARD HENSHALL, CHARLIE GRIFFITHS | HAKEN

Formed in 2007, London-based prog metal group Haken have quickly climbed to the top of the new prog heap based on the success of their 2013 breakthrough, The Mountain. Their new album, Affinity, takes the band’s creativity even further, combining their wide-ranging influences from Seventies prog to djent, even borrowing from the Eighties on the track “1985." Richard Henshall and Charlie Griffiths take turns as lead guitarists, showcasing their diversity through metal epics like the 15-minute “The Architect” or the pop-flavored “Earthside." The group has toured with bands like Between the Buried and Me and Leprous, and hit the U.S. for a headlining tour with Thank You Scientist starting August 30.

JIM MATHEOS | FATES WARNING

One of the pioneering groups of the progressive metal movement, Fates Warning formed in 1982 under guitarist and main songwriter Jim Matheos. The band found commercial success in the Nineties with albums like Parallels and Inside Out, before venturing into darker, more progressive territory with 1997’s A Pleasant Shade of Grey. Through it all, Matheos has been the band’s driving force and is highly regarded as one of the most influential guitarists of his era. The band’s new album, Theories of Flight, was released earlier this year and was their best-selling album in almost two decades with Matheos still at the helm.

ROINE STOLT | ANDERSON/STOLT

Jon Anderson returned to prog with the new album Invention of Knowledge, partnering with guitarist Roine Stolt. Stolt is known for his work as leader of the Swedish outfit the Flower Kings, as well as with Prog supergroup Transatlantic, which includes Mike Portnoy. Anderson and Stolt decided to join forces after Jon joined Transatlantic for a set of Yes classics on 2014’s Prog Nation at Sea Cruise. On their new album, Stolt composed much of the music around Anderson’s lyrical melodies and ideas, resulting in what many are calling Anderson’s return to the style of Yes music he helped create. Stolt was also on tour with Steve Hackett earlier this year, joining the band on bass.

Yes have cancelled the remaining dates of their Yestival tour following the sudden, unexpected death of Steve Howe's younger son, Virgil, according to a post on the band's official Facebook page.

Virgil Howe—an accomplished musician in his own right—frequently collaborated with his father, playing drums and keyboards on his father's 1993 album, The Grand Scheme of Things, and working with him on an instrumental album, Nexus, that is set for release in November.

Ticket refunds for all of the affected tour dates (Moorhead, Cedar Rapids, London, Rochester, Boston and Huntington) will be available at point of purchase.

Howe and his family requested that their privacy be respected during this difficult time.

“It’s been refreshing to work with Virgil, and we’ve pulled this beautiful album together,” the elder Howe recently said to Prog magazine about Nexus. "Although it’s got shades of mellow music, it doesn’t sit still. It moves across electronic music and my guitars."

Yes—with a lineup of Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood—have announced a 50th anniversary tour that will take them through Europe next March.

Along with a selection of their biggest hits, the prog-rock legends will also be performing sides 1 and 4 and an excerpt from Side 3 of their 1973 album Tales From Topographic Oceans. The band is also planning to release a live album entitled Topographic Drama—Live Across America—featuring recordings from their 2016 and 2017 American tour—later this year.

"We want to mark this anniversary with a tour that encompasses some of our best-loved work," guitarist Steve Howe said of the tour. "We want to play things we enjoy, maybe songs we haven't done in a while."

"I'm extremely grateful to continue to be performing on stages for our dedicated fans and look forward to our fiftieth anniversary performing together in 2018," added drummer Alan White. "It's been a great ride!"

You can see the band's upcoming shows below. For more on Yes, stop by yesworld.com.

Yes 2018 Tour Dates:

• March 13 – Bristol, UK @ Colston Hall
• March 14 - Sheffield, UK @ City Hall
• March 16 - Glasgow, UK @ SEC Armadillo
• March 17 - Manchester, UK @ Bridgewater Hall
• March 18 - Gateshead, UK @ Sage
• March 20 - Birmingham, UK @ Symphony Hall
• March 21 - Brighton, UK @ Centre
• March 23 - Liverpool, UK @ Philharmonic Hall
• March 24 - London, UK @ Palladium
• March 25 - London, UK @ Palladium
• March 27 - Tilburg, NETH @ 013
• March 28 - Antwerp, BEL @ De Roma
• March 30 - Paris, FRA @ Olympia

Yes fans across the globe greeted the band’s recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a collective response: “It’s about time!”

Noting the institution’s lackadaisical, almost begrudging acknowledgement for prog, which began in 2013 with Rush’s induction, guitarist Steve Howe observes, “They have been a bit slow to come around, but we’re quite pleased to finally be inducted. We heard the same thing from Rush, who inducted us. They noticed the change that’s happening. It seems like there’s an acceptance for prog the second time around.”

Onetime Yes members Bill Bruford and Tony Kaye weren’t able to take part in the band’s Rock Hall performances of “Roundabout” and “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” but players past and present were represented with a lineup that consisted of guitarists Howe and Trevor Rabin, keyboardist Rick Wakeman, singer Jon Anderson and drummer Alan White.

Geddy Lee subbed for the late bassist Chris Squire on “Roundabout,” and Howe then strapped on the bass for “Owner of a Lonely Heart.”

“It was a little unusual,” Howe notes, “but it was a lot of fun. We practiced just enough to navigate our way through it all.” Responding to the notion that the Rock Hall performance could lead to an eventual reunion of the Union-era lineup, which featured every major contributor from the band’s legacy, Howe says, “I think what we just did was a one-off. It wasn’t a demonstration of anything we’re going to do again.”

Instead, the current iteration of Yes (Howe, White, keyboardist Geoff Downes, bassist Billy Sherwood and singer Jon Davison) is celebrating the group’s epic history this summer with a full festival show called, appropriately enough, “Yestival” (the dates also include openers Todd Rundgren and Carl Palmer’s ELP Legacy). Unlike recent tours in which the band performed entire albums front-to-back, Yes will trace a significant portion of their career by playing one song from each of their first 10 studio albums, starting with 1969’s Yes and ending with 1980’s Drama.

“I won’t take sole credit for the idea, but I did push for it,” Howe says with a laugh. “I think the presentation will be an interesting one because we’re going to play the songs chronologically. It’ll allow our fans to really get a sense of our development and how our music evolved album to album during the course of 12 years. In an hour and a half, you’ll get a nice picture of that period.”

In addition to Yes’ debut album, the set will include a track from its follow-up, Time and a Word, from 1970. Howe didn’t play on either record (he replaced the band’s original guitarist, Peter Banks, shortly after the second album’s completion), but he says that he’s looking forward to digging back to both discs.

“When I joined Yes I learned quite a bit of Time and a Word because it was the bulk of the band’s set list,” he explains. “I’ve grown quite fond of it, and when I hear it, it sounds a little like my own work. It’ll be a joy to touch on something from that record, because, in my view, it’s almost attached to The Yes Album. And it’ll be interesting to touch on something from the first album because that’s something I only did in my early years with the band.”

Given Howe and White’s shared status as the longest-tenured members of Yes, one might think they would have bigger roles in devising a set list. Not so, Howe reports.

“Everybody will float their ideas around, and then we’ll start to build a consensus,” he says. “The prevailing mood is that we want to play things we enjoy, but maybe they should be songs we haven’t done in a while. We’d like to have a few surprises up our sleeves.”

And if Howe has anything to do with it, fans will be kept in the dark about the set list right up until the first gig.

“That’s hard to do these days,” he admits. “Once word gets out online, it goes everywhere. But we’ll try to keep things under wraps as best we can. Maybe we’ll change some songs as we go. Luckily, we can play it all.”

For the Yestival tour dates, visit yesworld.com.

This past Friday night, vocalist Jon Anderson performed with Yes—his former band—at the the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

It marked Anderson's first performance with the group since 2004.

Best of all, Yes—in this case, Anderson, Steve Howe, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman and Alan White—were joined by a special guest, Rush bassist Geddy Lee. They opened with “Roundabout,” a classic track from 1971’s Fragile, which happens to be their first album to feature Wakeman.

Lee then left the stage, and the band—with former Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin taking the lead—performed an extended version of “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” the band's only Number 1 chart hit (from 1983’s 90125). For this performance, guitarist Steve Howe played a Rickenbacker bass, most likely in honor of longtime Yes bassist Chris Squire, who died in 2015. Meanwhile, Wakeman switched to keytar.

Other former Yes members (and co-founders) were honored Friday night, including Squire, Bill Bruford and Tony Kaye.

This year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air on HBO 8 p.m. EST April 29.

Will the third time be the charm for Yes?

The pioneering British prog-rock group has once again been nominated for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame following two previous nominations. The nod puts the band on the ballot for the Hall of Fame’s class of 2017.

Longtime Yes drummer Alan White said, “It is a distinguished honor to again receive a nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes has a history of being pioneers in exploring new musical territory, 48 years later the band is still continuing this quest, who knew? Thank you for the consideration of this esteemed award.”

• The ballot for Yes includes White, current guitarist Steve Howe, late bassist Chris Squire and former members Jon Anderson (vocals), Bill Bruford (drums), Tony Kaye (keyboards), Rick Wakeman (keyboards) and Trevor Rabin (guitar).
• Other nominees for the class of 2017 include Bad Brains, Chic, Electric Light Orchestra, the J. Geils Band, Jane’s Addiction, Joan Baez, Journey, MC5, Pearl Jam, Steppenwolf, the Cars, the Zombies, Joe Tex, Chaka Khan, Depeche Mode, Janet Jackson, Kraftwerk and Tupac Shakur.
• Fans can visit RockHall.com/vote to case their votes (one ballot per day) for whom they want to see inducted. Voting is open now through December 5. The top five artists from the fan vote will comprise a "fans' ballot" that will be counted along with the other ballots to determine the 2017 inductees, announced in December.
• The current Yes line-up—which includes Howe, White, Jon Davison (vocals), Billy Sherwood (bass) and Geoff Downes (keyboard)—heads to Japan next month for a six-date tour, from November 21 to 29, where the group will perform the albums Yessongs and Tales from Topographic Oceans. Drummer Jay Schellen will also travel with the band for these dates to sit in for White at times until he is fully healed from this summer's back surgery.

In early 2017, Yes will again host and headline the fourth annual Cruise to the Edge, set for February 7 to 11, aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. The cruise will feature more than 20 artist performances, including Yes (with White on drums), Kansas, Steve Hackett, Mike Portnoy, John Wetton, Patrick Moraz, Bad Dreams, and many others.

OK, so you have your headphones out.

What do you want to listen to? Something beautiful? Something cool? Something you’ve never heard before? How about all three?

The following are five tracks by some of your favorite bands worth putting under the microscope for reasons listed below.

Enjoy!

Led Zeppelin, "Whole Lotta Love"

Someone laughs briefly at the very beginning, must be Robert Plant. It’s nearly impossible to detect except on headphones, but the laugh exudes a “get a load of this” confidence and sets the stage for one of the most crushing songs ever recorded. But most importantly it provides part of the human element that helped make Led Zeppelin one of the most revered and heralded bands of all time.

Steve Howe, "Sketches in the Sun"

Most folks know Steve Howe’s fabulous “Mood for a Day” instrumental, but some folks may not be as familiar with his “Sketches in the Sun” track. On headphones, listen to the tender articulation of this performance and the interaction between the guitar and the lush reverb; the song takes on an amazing orchestral quality.

David Lee Roth, "Drop in the Bucket"

There is so much going on in this song it is ridiculous, from a spunky acoustic guitar intro, to Jason Becker’s subtle finger-picked clean lines, to a signature sweep picking solo break. But starting around 3:37 the guitar and vocals begin a magnificent interplay where at one second you think you are listening to David Lee Roth singing in falsetto, but it is actually Jason Becker’s guitar, and the next second it is the other way around. This passage is just beautiful and gives me the chills every time I listen to it.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" from Live Alive

This song is a pure treat on headphones as the guitar slathered in a slow panning effect just struts around the stereo field destroying all in its path. Stevie had a masterful way of making his guitar scream that was utterly unique. You can just feel the volume and the amount of air being pushed out of his amps.

Nirvana, "In Bloom"

This song jumps right out of the speakers and with incredible power. If you listen on headphones, you will notice that instead of simply double tracking the same exact guitar rig/EQ setup and panning hard left and right, the left side guitar was recorded with a different rig/EQ setup. These two different guitar sounds combine to make this track sound absolutely huge, and accentuates the quiet/loud verse/chorus structure of the song.

Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of a previously undiscovered live version of “I’ve Seen All Good People” by Yes.

The performance, which was recorded October 31, 1972, at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada, is from a pair of new archival releases from Rhino Records: Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two and Progeny: Highlights from Seventy-Two.

Both collections, which will be released March 25, feature newly discovered recordings from the prog-rock pioneers' '72 world tour.

Yes was firing on all cylinders in the fall of 1972. The their fifth studio album, Close to the Edge, was a huge success. The band captured the magic of that tour on their first live album, Yessongs, which was released in 1973 and sold more than a million copies.

The band recently discovered recordings of seven complete shows from the weeks leading up to the shows heard on Yessongs. The latest technology was used to restore the reel-to-reel recordings and bring out sonic details, creating an open, immediate sound that drops listeners into the front row.

Progeny: Highlights from Seventy-Two includes 90 minutes of live recordings from various shows. Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two is a 14-disc set that holds every note from all seven shows, as the band's tour jumped from Canada to North Carolina, and then Georgia and Tennessee, before their last stop in New York at Nassau Coliseum on November 20. This set comes in a cigarette-style flip top box with new artwork by Roger Dean.

This was Yes' first tour with drummer Alan White, who has been with the band ever since. He replaced Bill Bruford, who recorded Close to the Edge before leaving to join King Crimson. White had only three days to learn the band's live show before his first night on stage with Jon Anderson (vocals), Steve Howe (guitar), Chris Squire (bass) and Rick Wakeman (keyboards).

PROGENY: HIGHLIGHTS FROM SEVENTY-TWO
Track Listing

• Disc One
• 1. Opening (Excerpt From "Firebird Suite")
• 2. "Siberian Khatru"
• 3. "I've Seen All Good People"
• a. "Your Move"
• b. "All Good People"
• 4. "Heart Of The Sunrise"
• 5. "Clap/Mood For A Day"
• 6. "And You And I"
• a. "Cord Of Life"
• b. "Eclipse"
• c. "The Preacher The Teacher"
• d. "Apocalypse"

Disc Two
1. "Close To The Edge"
a. "The Solid Time Of Change"
b. "Total Mass Retain"
c. "I Get Up I Get Down"
d. "Seasons Of Man"
2. Excerpts From "The Six Wives Of Henry VIII"
3. "Roundabout"
4. "Yours Is No Disgrace"

PROGENY: SEVEN SHOWS FROM SEVENTY-TWO

Show listing:
October 31, 1972 Toronto, Canada
November 1, 1972 Ottawa, Canada
November 11, 1972 Durham, NC
November 12, 1972 Greensboro, NC
November 14, 1972 Athens, GA
November 15, 1972 Knoxville, TN
November 20, 1972 Uniondale, NY

“Somebody called me the granddaddy of prog-rock,” Steve Howe says with a laugh.

“I’m not ashamed to be called that. But the thing that matters most to me is musicality. I don’t think prog is all about technical playing. Much more important are your musical ideas. What choices and decisions are you making in the music? If that’s still an intelligent force within the music, then I like being considered a part of prog.”

More than just a part of progressive rock, Howe is one of the music’s great originators.

From the moment he joined Yes in 1970, he staked out a bold and vast territorial range for the guitar in a musical form often dominated by keyboard virtuosos like Keith Emerson and his former Yes bandmate Rick Wakeman. What those guys needed banks of pianos, organs and synthesizers to achieve Howe could often attain with just six strings and a boundless imagination.

His contribution, moreover, transcends prog-rock or any single musical genre. Steve Howe is one of the most distinctive and original guitarists in all of rock, a brilliant musical colorist whose evocative volume pedal swells and echoey textures possess all the subtle and complex expressiveness of the human voice itself. Howe’s palette has always been incredibly broad, drafting everything from classical and flamenco fire to psychedelic expansiveness to jazzy archtop electric abstraction into the rock guitar vocabulary.

At age 67, he’s still in top form, as can be clearly heard on the brand new Yes album, Heaven & Earth. On the disc, Howe is joined by longtime Yes members bassist Chris Squire, drummer Alan White and keyboardist Geoff Downs, who has been an on-and-off Yes-man since 1980.

On vocals is the group’s newest member, Jon Davison, who joined in 2012 and does a superb job of channeling the dulcet melodicism of original Yes vocalist Jon Anderson. Davison even shares Anderson’s spiritual perspective on lyric writing and fondness of Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda.

While some tracks on Heaven & Earth evoke the prog symphonic majesty of Yes’ Seventies heyday, others skew in a lighter pop direction more in keeping with radio-friendly Eighties Yes recordings, such as their 90125 album. But in working with legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen, the Cars, Smashing Pumpkins), on Heaven & Earth, Howe had one supreme mandate.

“I told Roy, ‘It’s gotta be Yes.’ ”

The prominent presence of Howe’s guitar work on the album is a sterling guarantee that the disc does indeed sound like Yes. Howe’s inventive melody lines and otherworldly textures are woven deep into the polychromatic musical fabric. Never an overtly flash player, Howe will nonetheless sometimes conclude a tuneful guitar passage with a brief burst of sheer incandescent brilliance. The effortlessness with which he executes these dazzling little interludes offers understated testimony to his mastery of his instrument.

“I don’t think guitarists should concentrate on being guitarists,” he says. “They should concentrate on being musicians. Being a guitarist can be a dangerous thing if you just want to race off and steal the show all the time on bended knees with your tiddly tiddly tiddly. I think that’s pretty dead in the water. I daresay most people agree.”

Once famed for bringing a vast arsenal of guitars with him onstage and in the studio, Howe has taken a more streamlined approach in recent years. His rig is based largely around his Line 6 Variax guitar and Line 6 HD500/Bogner DT50 digital modeling amp and pedal board, which allow him to cover a wide range of traditional guitar and amp tones.

“I think the Variax is one of the most overlooked instruments in the guitar universe,” he says. “The first time I saw it, I knew it was made for me. I like affordable guitars that can make lots of sounds and textures. I’ve got to tell you, the Strat, ’58 Les Paul and [Gibson] ES-175 models, in particular, are sensational on the Variax. Okay, it doesn’t feel like a Les Paul. But when you plug it in and it sounds like one, what’s the problem?”

Howe does augment this digital setup with several “real” guitars in his live rig, however, all of which made it into the studio for the Heaven & Earth sessions. These include his mid-Eighties red Fender Stratocaster; a 1955 Fender Telecaster which he has modified with a humbucker in the neck position, six-saddle bridge and Gibson-style toggle switch; a Martin MC-38 Steve Howe signature model acoustic; a Fender dual-neck steel guitar; and a Gibson Steve Howe signature model ES-175 electric archtop.

“That one is actually Number One—the first-ever Steve Howe production model 175,” he says. “And I added a third pickup to it, because at the time I was using it cover the sound of the [Gibson] ES-5 Switchmaster that I used on Yes’ Fragile album.”

This signature model 175 is based on Howe’s 1964 ES-175D, his first serious electric guitar, purchased new when he was just 17 and an instrument with which he has been closely associated ever since. These days he uses the guitar only in the U.K. where he lives, “because the airlines have been such an effing pain in the butt over the years,” he says. “But I have actually got a ’63 175 as well, which a friend of mine in Fort Wayne [Indiana] found for me. That was there with me in the studio as well.”

Another key instrument for Howe onstage and in the studio is his guitarra portuguesa, or Portuguese guitar. Heard on the track “To Ascend” from Heaven & Earth, it is also featured prominently on classic Yes tracks like “Your Move/All Good People” and “The Preacher The Teacher” and “Wonderous Stories.” Strung in six double-string courses, the instrument is tuned unconventionally by Howe: [low to high] E B E B E Ab.

“That one came from Spain,” he says, “My sister bought it for me when I was a kid. It has a slightly ringy, sitarish kind of sound that I really like. It has become a real identity thing with me.”

To this array of instruments from his live rig, Howe added a few more items during sessions for Heaven & Earth. “The only extra guitar was a Steinberger GMT that I really like,” he says. “And the studio had some really nice Marshall and Vox amps that I used. I also rented a Fender Deluxe that was customized by a good friend of mine, Rick Coberly.”

So while Howe wasn’t exactly lacking for guitars and amps while making the album, the setup was minimal compared with the days of Seventies prog-rock opulence. “Usually I would do a whole setup for an album, which could be anything from 15 to 30 guitars—a bit extravagant,” Howe says, with a laugh. “Plus various amps—things I liked and had tried out. The whole fiddly process. But this time, we really didn’t have time for that. Nobody did in their own departments. Basically, we wanted to streamline the whole process.”

Howe’s relatively compact live rig will also serve him in good stead on the current Yes tour, which will feature live performances by the band of two classic Yes albums, Fragile and Close to the Edge, in their entirety. Released in 1971, Fragile was Yes’ breakthrough record. It featured what for many is the classic Yes lineup: Anderson, Howe, Squire, Wakeman and drummer extraordinaire Bill Bruford. But what really put the album across at the time was its lead track and hit single “Roundabout,” a perfect amalgam of melodic accessibility, driving rock, deft arrangement and superior musicianship.

“We’ve been playing ‘Roundabout’ and ‘Heart of the Sunrise’ from Fragile for years,” Howe says. “But in performing the entire album live, I really wanted to revisit the way we actually did those songs on the record—to capture the understatement, the subtleties and the playing down. Because playing onstage is often—too often for my liking—all about playing up. But I really like the subtleties and less expected moments of tranquility and gentleness. I think people sometimes forget that that’s the key to Yes. There’s no bash and crash about Yes.”

“Roundabout” is one of many classic Yes songs that Howe wrote in collaboration with Jon Anderson. “Jon and I were in a hotel room up in Scotland when we started writing that song,” Howe recalls. “We seemed to find a lot of time to do that in the Seventies. We had a private plane. We got to places. People sat by the pool. And Jon and I were in this hotel room, kind of going, ‘Well, what have you got that’s a bit like this?’ We used to quiz one another like that. We did those exchanges in our music, and lyrically as well. This was the era of cassettes, and I’ve still got all of them—Jon and me fooling around in hotel rooms.

"And with ‘Roundabout,’ we had all these bits of music, tentative moments. I was big on intros back then, and the classical guitar intro I came up with for ‘Roundabout’ was really one of the most signature things. And I believe I thought of the backward piano [also in the intro], but I won’t lay 100 percent claim to that, in case I’m wrong. But basically the song just kept developing. Jon and I presented as much as we had to the band, and the band did a fair amount of input and arrangement. What Yes were brilliant at, even before I joined, was arranging skills.”

Another key feature of Fragile were its solo tracks, written and performed by each of the five band members. Howe’s contribution was “Mood for a Day,” a solo piece he performed on a Conde classical guitar and which toggles neatly between baroque decorum and flamenco passion.

“It was Bill Bruford who thought of the concept of doing individual tracks, not to mention the album title Fragile,” Howe recalls. “But his original idea wasn’t that each guy should do a completely solo track, the way I did mine and Rick Wakeman did his. Bill’s concept was more like he did with his own track, ‘Five Per Cent for Nothing,’ where the group were utilized at his command—like, ‘You play this and you play that.’ I think we could make up our own notes, but we had to play his beats, which was a marvelous way of doing it. I was really excited about doing that live, but other people in the group were like, ‘Are we really gonna do this?’ I think the guitar part is one of the easiest parts in it. But there was a fair amount of struggling with some of the other parts, because they have to mix together. Bill wasn’t the kind of drummer you could just busk along to.”

Howe’s main electric guitar for Fragile was the aforementioned Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster, which he recalls playing through a Dual Showman amp. “In 1969, I toured with Delaney & Bonnie as guitarist for the opening act, P.P. Arnold,” Howe narrates. “On that tour, both Eric Clapton and George Harrison were playing with Delaney & Bonnie, and they both had Dual Showmen. So when I joined Yes a year later, I was hell-bent to buy a Dual Showman. And I did.”

Yes’ 1972 masterpiece, Close to the Edge, was the triumphant follow-up to Fragile. While capitalizing on all the strengths of Fragile, Close to the Edge also took Yes into a new compositional dimension. Occupying all of side one on the original vinyl release, the album’s title track is a tour de force of brilliant, recurring melodic and lyrical themes that overlap in myriad permutations—transposed, superimposed, reharmonized, contrapuctualized and melded into one of progressive rock’s proudest and finest moments. “Close to the Edge” is another outstanding compositional collaboration between Anderson and Howe.

“Jon was more competent than me lyrically,” Howe says. “But I wound up writing lyrics for ‘Close to the Edge,’ and our next album Tales from Topographic Oceans. My stuff was more lateral, more earthbound, as opposed to his skybound stuff. The lyrical phrase ‘Close to the edge, down by the river’ was originally about the River Thames! But Jon converted that into the river of life, which was a wonderful thing.” As with “Roundabout,” Howe and Anderson began by amassing the musical fragments that would eventually go to making up “Close to the Edge.”

“Jon and I put together a lot of the shape of that song. We’d been working live with the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time, and it might have been Jon who said to me, ‘Why don’t we start this with improvisation? That would be really scary.’ Normally you start off with something you can grasp—an intro or a hook. But we inspired Yes to go into this improvisation. All I had on guitar was that octave jumping two-note phrase you hear on the record. But that was enough to kick off an improvisation. After that it was purely freeform. Although we did have those stops arranged. [i.e., climactic moments that give way to a single a cappella chord in vocal harmony.] I can only look back in amazement that we were able to do some of that. But we did. We didn’t always count everything out. It was almost like we could remember things that were quite complicated. So that intro then spawned the whole idea of a thematic approach—the musical themes that come in and out of the track.“Jon and I really had a certain magic going on at that time,” Howe continues. “That level of collaboration ended after we wrote ‘Awaken’ [from 1977’s Going for the One], which is another really epic piece. We did some good work after that, like “Bring Me to the Power” on Keys to Ascension 2 [1997], some songs on The Ladder [1999] and a few on Magnification [2001]. But I think that greatest time was ‘Roundabout’ through ‘Awaken.’ ” Howe’s main electric guitar for Close to the Edge was a Gibson ES-345 stereo model. He is one of the few rock guitarists to fully exploit the atmospheric potential of stereo guitar. Each of the 345’s two pickups would be routed to a separate amp with a separate delay line and volume pedal for each. “A lot of the panning I did live with my feet between the two pickups,” he explains. “I had a volume pedal for each pickup and panned them in opposite ways. When one went down, the other one went up. I had a lot of fun! You can hear it if you listen with headphones.” The volume pedal has always been a key element to Howe’s guitar approach. He’s used a variety of pedals down through the years, including Fender, Sho-Bud and Ernie Ball units. Since 2006, he’s employed the volume pedal on the Line 6 HD500 pedal board. “As soon as I got an electric guitar I also got a volume pedal,” he says. “And that really started my relationship with phrasing, effects and being able to alter the way a guitar sounds. And of course delays are also very important. The way you can play into a delay with a volume pedal is also a very exciting thing I developed. And then of course the fuzz box, wah and all kinds of guitar processing.” Close to the Edge was also Bill Bruford’s last album with Yes. He departed the band to join King Crimson not long after Close to the Edge was completed. “I see him as a quintessential Yes member,” Howe says. “And when he ran off from us to join Crimson, that was a really painful experience for me. Because I didn’t want him to go, not one bit. Yet what he proved to me is that a musician always has to follow his music. And I tend to do that. That’s why I left Asia a year or so back. Because I listened to myself and said, ‘I can’t do this now.’ And I’ve done that often in my career when I’ve made decisions. It’s good to remember that, no matter who the paymaster is, or what you’re going to lose, if you don’t follow the direction your music takes you in, then you’ll fall. You’ll lose much more than a few bucks.”In the years since Yes’ early Seventies classic run, Howe has kept up with old band mates like Bruford and Anderson through projects like Anderson, Wakeman, Bruford and Howe in the late Eighties/early Nineties. He’s currently planning to record a few of Bruford’s compositions on the next release by his side group, the Steve Howe Trio. Meanwhile, he still keeps an ear out for exciting new guitarists. “I really love Martin Taylor as a jazz guitarist,” he says. “He does everything I love. Wonderful guitarist. Wonderful technique. And yet he isn’t stifled by technique. By the time you’re a virtuoso, you don’t think along the lines of technique. Your technique is solid enough to enable you to do anything you want. Another guitarist I really admire is Flavio Sala, a young guitarist from Italy. He’s just over 30 now. "And he’s got all the classical repertoire under his belt, which is a huge goal to be at by your 30th birthday. But now he’s looking at music in a more general way, and not shy about it. I met him a few years ago. We recorded a track together, which we haven’t released yet. But whenever I see a guitarist, I can’t help but want to understand more about, Where’s this guy at? What’s his repertoire? With a guy like Flavio I think, That’s a true international guitarist. And I think that’s the goal for all of us as players—to become an international guitarist.”

In April, guitar legend Jeff Beck hosted a Rock 'n’ Roll Fantasy Camp in Las Vegas. Now rock fans will get a chance to learn from prog-rock legends Yes, including guitarist Steve Howe, when the band hosts its own camp in July.

Yes will host the four-day camp at Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp’s Las Vegas facility from July 14 to 17. The camp will culminate in a live performance at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino. Portions of the Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp will be streamed live on RockCamp.com.

“Our camp with Yes continues our tradition of bringing together the most influential artists in rock history with their fans for a once-in-a-lifetime experience that could happen only in Las Vegas,” said Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp Founder David Fishof. “What’s taught in our camps can be used in more than just a band. Our campers learn real life skills about working together diplomatically as a group and confidence building through being put into a band with people they met just a few days prior and being asked to perform live at MGM Grand.”

Over the course of the four-day camp, campers will be placed into bands led by rock star counselors like Joe Vitale (Eagles), Gary Hoey, Kane Roberts (Alice Cooper) and Mike Pinera (Iron Butterfly), among many others. Only at Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp can musicians learn stage presence, how to play some of rock’s greatest songs, write and record a song, receive tips on playing together as a band and hear stories of life on the road from their counselors. The highlight for Yes fans will be participating in jam sessions and receiving instructions from the members of the group. Campers also will attend Master Classes with renowned musicians and then perform live with their band in front of an audience at MGM Grand.

Yes Drummer Alan White said, “I’ve been working with Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp for six years and each camp is a unique, memorable experience for both the campers and the counselors. We have a blast getting to know each other, jamming, and making music together. I'm excited the whole band will be at rock camp this summer."

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp includes everything that future rock stars will need with optional add-ons. Created for musicians of any instrument including drums, keyboard, guitar, bass, horns and even vocals, all instruments and backline are provided by Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy Camp (although campers may bring their own equipment with them). The Yes Fantasy Camp Spouse Package, $599, includes entry to the opening night cocktail party and dinner, daily lunches, music lessons during camp, access to daily Master Classes and jam sessions and a ticket to the final night concert. Campers can add a private, eight-hour recording studio session as part of their experience for an additional $2,500.

For more information on Yes, visit yesworld.com. Follow Yes on Twitter and Facebook at twitter.com/yesofficial and facebook.com/yestheband.

For more information, visit RockCamp.com or call 888-762-2263. Admission starts at $4,999 as part of an early bird special until June 1.

"Supergroup" is a word that doesn't sit well with a lot of people.

For some, it conjures thoughts of bloated egos battling for creative control. For others, it brings to mind flash-in-the-pan projects that lacked a lasting impact.

That said, in the 48 years since Cream stepped forward as arguably the world's first rock and roll supergroup, there have been quite a few all-star bands that have made an indelible mark on the musical world — independent of their collective members' individual pasts.

So what do we consider a supergroup?

1. There have to be at least three members.

2. They have to have released at least one album — no all-star jams.

3. A majority of their band members have to have been in well-known bands before the supergroup formed.

4. A supergroup cannot be formed by a well-known musician joining a pre-existing band — no Van Hagar.

In making our picks for this list, we tried to take into account the impact the supergroup itself had on the music scene. We couldn't help but take into consideration the profiles of the musicians involved, but — and you can quote this — merely having big names does not a great supergroup make.

Steve Howe is not predisposed to retreat, particularly not in the morning.

One of rock music’s most respected and prolific guitar heroes — and a cornerstone of two enduringly iconic classic-rock bands — Howe has eased up just a bit on his overtime, with an eye on getting back to his solo career.

“I’ve got a bit more time on my hands since I left Asia,” said Howe during a recent phone interview from Chicago, where he was on tour with Yes, which is presenting The Yes Album, Close to the Edge and Going for the One in their entirety.

The tour continues through the end of May, after which Howe has some solo dates planned for June.

Whatever free time he may have left comes from his formal retirement in January from Asia, which he has toured extensively with since 2006 and alternated with Yes tours since 2008.

Some of that free time has been committed to a guitar retreat — the Cross Styles Music Retreat — August 19 to 23 at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, New York. Guitar players of all skill level and experience are welcome to sign up, as are non-musicians. All-inclusive packages run from $1,195 to $2,495.

“I’ve done a lot of these over the years,” Howe said. “But I haven’t done one here. We did one on a cruise ship once … four days.” With legions of passionate fans, he is used to indulging the star-struck, and interaction with the attendees is definitely part of the experience.

“But you hope at some point the focus is on the music, and guitars, and learning,” he said.

Just not too early in the day.

“You’ll see the day begins with breakfast,” he said with a laugh. “And you’ll see I’m scheduled for the afternoon. I need some time to wake up.”

For those who like an early start, the days theoretically begin with an hour of recreation, followed by a leisurely breakfast from 8:30 to 10 a.m. The mornings continue with classes by Ray Matuza, an expert of fingerstyle and jazz techniques, classical guitarist Flavio Sala. Dick Boak of Martin Guitars also will attend to present an interactive Martin history.

For most, though, the retreat will be about Howe’s daily two-hour “master Class,” in which he promises to play as much as talk. “I haven’t quite worked it out yet, that’s something I’ll get to as the date gets closer,” he said. “But there will definitely be some structure to it in terms of style and technique. And most definitely there will be a lot of playing. I’m not just going to be up there talking. Demonstration is an essential part of what I’m doing.”

He also said his equipment choices will be made closer to the date, but inevitably will include two primary guitars. “Well, of course I’m bound to my Martin MC-38,” he said, referring to his signature limited-edition model. “And I think to demonstrate a number of things, it will be important to have the Variax.”

He’ll bring pedals and other gear for a more-complete demonstration of effects as well as techniques, which he will use during instruction as well as lessons with special guests and evening jams that are also inked into the program schedule.”

“I think it’s a great chance to explore playing and composing and just spending time really focused on guitar,” he said. “As I’m self-taught and don’t actually read music, I come at these things in a different way than perhaps some others do. After all, I’ve been doing this for about 53 years and doing pretty well at it. You learn by doing, by working, by practice. That’s why playing is so important and so much a part of this.”

Howe said he’s also looking forward to getting back to his solo career and the freedom “of being out there on a stage and not having to worry about what everybody else is doing,” he said. “I’ll be doing some solo dates in Britain, then some with the jazz trio, then back to the States with Yes.”

For more information about the retreat, visit crossstylesmusicretreat.com.

William Westhoven is a freelance writer. His novel, One-Hit Willie, takes place over more than 50 years of rock and roll history. For information, visit onehitwillie.com.

Prog-rock legend Steve Howe has officially announced his departure from Asia, the supergroup he helped found with John Wetton (King Crimson, Uriah Heep), Geoff Downes (Yes, The Buggles) and Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Atomic Rooster).

Howe has stepped down from the group to focus on other projects, mainly Yes — who will be playing three of their classic albums live this year — and his own trio.

"Myself and the band wish to thank their fans for the enthusiasm shown during the original members' reunion," said Howe in an official statement. "I will continue with Yes, and with my trio and solo guitar work. I wish my friends continued success."

The band regrouped last year to celebrate their 30th anniversary, recording a new album, XXX, and touring extensively.

The remaining members of Asia have decided to continue on without Howe and have announced that guitarist Sam Coulson will join the band for upcoming live dates, including Sweden Rock 2013.

"Asia is ready to take its next steps along this remarkable road," Wetton said. "We cannot wait to perform again for the fans and also to unveil some of the new material, of which we are very proud."

The band are expected to hit the studio sometime this year to record another new album, tentatively titled Valkyrie.

Yes have announced a 2013 tour, during which they'll perform three classic Yes albums in their entirety: 1971’s The Yes Album, 1972's Close to the Edge and 1977’s Going for the One.

The band — which now features bassist Chris Squire, guitarist Steve Howe, drummer Alan White, keyboardist Geoff Downes and new singer Jon Davison — will kick off the North American tour March 1 and conclude April 12 in Detroit. The tour will mark the first time since 1973 that Yes have performed an album onstage in its entirety.

“These albums we all easily agreed on. They are complete works in themselves,” said Howe, who added that several of the songs have rarely been performed live.

“I believe the only song not performed in concert is ‘A Venture’ from The Yes Album,” Squire added. “And probably the most tricky of all the songs planned for this set is ‘Turn of the Century’ from the Going for the One album. ... I think the 12-inch album is alive and well as reinforced by the rising interest in the analog format."

“This is a great opportunity to show the growth of Yes in these different eras, and to relive the memories of these times,” White said.

After starting in West Wendover, Nevada, the trek will continue down the West Coast and including stops in Seattle (3/3, Moore Theatre), San Francisco (3/5, The Warfield) and Los Angeles (3/6, Orpheum Theatre) before heading east for shows in New York (4/9, Beacon Theatre), Toronto (4/11, Massey Hall), Detroit (4/12, Fox Theatre) and more. See the full itinerary below.

For more about Yes, visit yesworld.com.

Yes on Tour in 2013

*Fri, 3/1
West Wendover, NV, Peppermill Concert Hall
www.wendoverfun.com

Sun, 3/3
Seattle, WA, Moore Theatre
www.tickets.com

Tue, 3/5
San Francisco, CA, The Warfield
www.axs.com

Wed, 3/6
Los Angeles, CA, Orpheum Theatre
www.ticketmaster.com

Fri, 3/8
Temecula, CA, Pechanga Theater (at Pechanga Casino)
www.pechanga.com

*Sat, 3/9
Reno, NV, Silver Legacy Casino
www.ticketmaster.com

Tue, 3/12
Aspen, CO, Belly Up Aspen
www.frontgatetickets.com

Thu, 3/14
Omaha, NE, Holland Performing Arts Center
www.ticketsomaha.com

Sat, 3/16
Hammond, IN, The Venue at Horseshoe Casino
www.ticketmaster.com

Sun, 3/17
Louisville, KY, Palace Theatre
www.ticketmaster.com

Mon, 3/18
Kansas City, MO, The Midland by AMC
www.axs.com

Wed, 3/20
Austin, TX, ACL Live at the Moody Theater
www.ticketfly.com

Thu, 3/21
Grand Prairie, TX, Verizon Theatre
www.axs.com

*Fri, 3/22
Biloxi, MS, Hard Rock Live - Biloxi
www.ticketmaster.com

*Sun, 3/24
Hollywood, FL, Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena
www.ticketmaster.com

• Sat, 3/30
• Melbourne, FL, Maxwell C. King Center for the Perf. Arts
• tbd

Tue, 4/2
Clearwater, FL, Ruck Eckerd Hall
www.rutheckerdhall.com

*Fri, 4/5
Mashantucket, CT, MGM Grand at Foxwoods
www.mgmatfoxwoods.com

Sat, 4/6
Hampton, NH, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
www.ticketmaster.com

Sun, 4/7
Bethlehem, PA, Sands Bethlehem Event Center
www.ticketmaster.com

Tue, 4/9
New York, NY, Beacon Theatre
www.ticketmaster.com

Thu, 4/11
Toronto, ON, Massey Hall
www.ticketmaster.com

Fri, 4/12
Detroit, MI, Fox Theatre
www.ticketmaster.com

* Yes will performing only two albums, The Yes Album and Close to the Edge — for shows at casinos due to the time constrictions of events.

Do you remember exactly when and where you were when you first heard it?

I do. It was June of 1982. I was in seventh grade sitting in, ironically enough, music class during one of the last days before summer vacation. The school was a two-story brick structure that had no air conditioning, and by mid-morning the temperature in the classroom had risen to an almost unbearable level. The open windows and portable fans that circulated the hot air throughout the classroom provided little relief.

As an end-of-year gift to the class, the teacher allowed students to bring in some of their albums to listen to while we cleared out our desks. That was when this kid named Danny put it on the turntable. As needle met vinyl and the crackling hum and hiss began, it was the first time I heard that now infamous guitar riff and opening line:

“I never meant to be so bad to you. One thing I said that I would never do …”

“Heat of The Moment” became the coolest thing ever that day, and it wouldn’t be long before I became one of the 8 million other people who bought the debut album from Asia. In addition to “Heat," songs like “Only Time Will Tell” and “Sole Survivor” would become staples of my music library.

Over the next few decades, Asia went through various ups and downs and several lineup changes. It wasn’t until 2006 that the four original members — Steve Howe, John Wetton, Carl Palmer and Geoff Downes — reunited and have since released three successful studio albums: Phoenix, Omega and their latest, XXX (pronounced “Triple X”) (Buy on iTunes), a flawlessly executed album that continues to push the barriers of progressive rock.

Thirty years after that steaming-hot day in seventh-grade music class, I spoke via telephone with Howe, who was home in the UK. In this interview, he shares his thoughts on XXX, the origins of Asia and their groundbreaking debut album. Howe also discusses the short-lived, albeit successful GTR project with Steve Hackett, his affinity for Martin guitars and his latest solo album, Time.

GUITAR WORLD: Did you ever in your wildest dreams think that after 30 years, Asia would still be a force to be reckoned with?

We certainly had great aspirations when we first started out, but we’ve done so much more now than we did back then.

The new record, XXX, continues the push of progressive rock and is the second one you’ve recorded with producer Mike Paxon.

That’s what’s been so pleasant! Mike had worked with us on the Omega album and I think it gave him a load of confidence and encouragement to be with us again. He pulled out all the stops and really brought a lot to the project.

XXX features another classic mixture of Wetton/Downes songwriting mixed in with a little Steve Howe for good measure.

Geoff and John’s writing is fantastic and perfect for Asia. When you add mine, it twists that story. It’s not the same song and it doesn’t have that same kind of shape. I think it’s a great marriage to have that kind of balance.

Specifically, your contributions include the songs “No Religion” and “Judas."

That’s right. Another song I contribute is “Reno,” which appears on the expanded version of the album. It didn’t run quite with the other songs — it’s very gentle, acoustic — but we didn’t want to leave it out. So we added it to the extended version.

What was the song writing process like for XXX?

Shortly after we decided to go with the project, we started making plans to collaborate. Usually, Geoff will come over to my place and he’ll show me some of the songs he and John had been working on. Then I’ll play him some of my stuff and we’ll work to get the material in a way that will be accessible for John. We’ll then leave John with the song for a while to let him get the feel of it. He’s just got a style for it.

Can you tell me how Asia first got together?

At the end of 1981, Geoff and I were both in Yes, and there was talk among members of wanting to do different things. So Geoff and I assumed that meant that Yes was going to have a hiatus. A few months later, my manager called and said, “John Wetton just came into my office. He’s not sure what he wants to do next, but he’d like to do something. Do you want to meet up?”

So John and I met up in a little studio for a few days. He had his bass and I had my guitar, and we were just finding things out about each other. After a week or so, we started writing. Songs like “Without You” and “Cutting It Fine” came about. I played him “One Step Closer” and “Here Comes The Feeling." Some of those ideas started to surface between us.

Then John said, “You know, I’d like to work with Carl Palmer. I think it would make a great lineup." Then I said, “Well, I’d like to work with Geoff.” So we brought Carl in first and it was great. We were a nice trio. Then Geoff walks in and it was magic. We had the lineup.

How did "Heat of The Moment" come about?

That song almost didn’t make the album. We had just about finished the record when one day, John and Geoff came in with “Heat of The Moment." And the minute they played it for us, it was like, "Oh yes, this is kind of good! [laughs]." It had a freshness to it that really became the icing on the cake, but it was also the last song we recorded for the album.

I’ve read where occasionally the band likes to perform the first album in its entirety as part of the show. Are there any plans to do that this time?

We are planning on doing the complete album on one of dates in Japan and maybe we might even do it in reverse order. I think it’s very good if you do it forward, but of course "Heat of The Moment" is the big song, and that’s what usually ends the show [laughs].

I wanted to ask you about a project that I believe doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as it should: GTR.

It’s funny, the way the GTR project came about was very much similar to the way things started with John. Steve Hackett showed up in my manager’s office [laughs]. It was during a period right after Asia fell apart. Steve and I got together and for the next six months, we just wrote and wrote. We got the whole deal together. Then Geoff came in and provided us with “The Hunter." We had the entire package, but the only problem was Steve and I didn’t really know how it was going to be to work with each other for so long. But we both love “When The Heart Rules The Mind,” and it’s much like we talked about with “Heat of The Moment”; it’ s a song that lends itself to the success of the album.

You’ve been a big fan of Martin guitars over the years. How did you become involved with them?

I’ve been playing Martins since 1968. When I first started playing, I played on an arch-top guitar; that’s what I started on. Then I got the (Gibson) 175 a bit later, which at the time I thought was great. But it wasn’t long before I realized there were some other players — who were just starting to come out — that had a guitar sound I just didn’t have.

One day, I saw a guitar for sale in the West End for £132. I went in and discovered it was a Martin 00-18 from 1953. So I bought it and I fell in love with the guitar. It’s still, to this day, my absolute No. 1 Martin guitar. I’ve played plenty of other great guitars over the years, but the 00-18 is the sweetest, tightest sound I’ve ever found.

I’ve got a wonderful Martin collection. The current model I’m promoting is the MC-38 Steve Howe, which is taken from the MC 28 model I used to play during the '80s and '90s.

Tell me about your solo work.

My solo albums have always been very important to me. I’ve just finished my latest one called Time, which is my first fully orchestral album. I’ve found a great collaborator in Paul K. Joyce. When I first met him in 2007, I had various music recorded in different stages of development and over the next few years, we rethought and rearranged the pieces. Finally, we added the live orchestra. It’s been great fun.

Asia's new album, XXX, came out July 3 on Frontiers Records. Keep up with the band on Facebook and at their official website.

Need a prog-rock fix? Check out the September 2012 issue of Guitar World, our Progressive Rock Special, featuring interviews with Steve Vai, Tosin Abasi, Periphery and Rush's Alex Lifeson. It's available now at the Guitar World Online Store.

If you’ve ever wondered how the influences of classical guitarist Andres Segovia and The Shadows’ instro-rocking legend Hank Marvin might blend, no doubt your imagination could take you to many places.

It’s not that surprising, then, to learn that you might find Steve Hackett — a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee in 2010 for his work with Genesis — at the end of your journey. An influential guitarist in his own right, with a list of disciples that includes Eddie Van Halen, Hackett’s enviable career covers a lot of ground.

There’s his groundbreaking progressive-rock work with early Genesis, the harder, louder pop sound of the supergroup GTR and his diverse and prolific body of solo work, which dabbles in jazz, worldbeat and a great deal of classical acoustic guitar, both with and without full orchestra.

And now there is his latest project, Squackett, which mashes in a wide range of styles and influences, not to mention his last name with that of his newest collaborator, Yes bassist Chris Squire. Their album, A Life Within a Day, drops on May 29. An advance single was released on vinyl April 21 for International Record Day.

Hackett, whose schedule includes some U.K. dates with his Electric Band, hopes to take Squackett on the road at some point, but Squire’s schedule won’t permit that just yet. Meanwhile, he took the time to speak with Guitar World about projects past, present and future, including the latest on the Genesis reunion so many people are yearning for.

GUITAR WORLD: How long have you known Chris Squire and when did you first work together?

Chris and I first met in Los Angeles when I was doing GTR with Steve Howe and he came to our show, liked the two guitar thing very much and I was able compliment him on many of the things he’d done with Yes. He was telling me how much he enjoyed Trick of the Tail with Genesis, which he thought was our best album, which was post-Peter Gabriel as it happens. …

Then it was around 2007, Chris wanted to make a Christmas album and I played some guitar on it for him. I asked him to return the favor and so, you know, that was spread over three different projects, a couple of solo things of mine.

Who wrote the Squackett material?

Most of it we really wrote face-to face but were things we brought in separately. To give you some idea, when the record kicks off [with the title and lead track], the orchestral stuff on the front, I had that stuff all ready. But the idea of turning that into a song came up. Chris and I and Roger King, we all sat down and batted the ball backwards and forwards, and the idea for a melody, a vocal melody, and lyrics, we were literally all pitching in, it was written on the spot. I had a rough idea of the middle section with Roger King. We were working on an idea that we thought sounded quite Yessy.

So you’ve got something on the first track that had more than a nod to Led Zeppelin and also had a nod to Yes. Chris said to me, “This has got a slight sort of Muse feel.” I had not heard Muse at the time; I heard them subsequently and I could see what he’s on about, you know, the slightly hysterical vocal quality to it.

The second track, “Tall Ships,” was really an idea that came from something I heard Chris play on bass. He was trying out a new bass in my studio … So we turned that into a song. We worked on it instrumentally and then I had an idea for a lyric for it. Then Chris said, “Why don’t we do a bluesy melody for it?” So it was being batted backwards and forwards. Other ones were more fully formed in other ways. For instance, he brought in “Aliens,” which was more fully formed, and “Can’t Stop the Rain” and “Perfect Love Song,” Although the lyrics, I came up with the verse lyrics and he had the chorus for that. Songs like “Divided Self” I had, and “Stormchaser.”

Roger King is from your Electric Band?

Roger King is the keyboard player, engineer and producer of this record. He and I have done a number of projects together. He was originally trained as a cathedral organist. And he did some soundtracks for some major [movie] blockbusters. … a very thorough, very talented guy.

Who else is on A Life Within a Day?

On drums is Jeremy Stacey, and on vocals on the last two tracks, harmony vocals, is Amanda Lehmann [also from Hackett’s Electric Band].

Speaking of vocals and vocal harmonies, you and Chris do a lot of singing, but I rarely hear you speak about vocals. Do you enjoy singing?

I do like to singing, I think when I first started out singing many, many years ago people said you should be working with Peter Gabriel, Richie Havens or Phil Collins. But later I think people started to understand why I do things the way I do, the harmony approach and the fact that I think that I’ve gotten to know the sound of my own voice, the strengths and weaknesses. So I think I know where to place it, how to do it much better than I used to. I’ve gotten better.

You just mentioned three fine singers who don’t really much on harmonies. But the new Squackett project, like a lot of your solo work, contains a lot of vocal harmony, a lot of layers, a very lush atmosphere.

Yes, it’s something common to both my tastes and Chris’. We both love the use of vocal harmonies. We both adore the same bands that made that their calling card. The Everleys, The Beatles, Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas, The Who — let’s not forget The Who — Crosby-Stills, The Hollies, I’m sure there are more if I can think of them. I love the use of vocal harmonies, I particularly like three-part. That wasn’t something I got to explore very much with Genesis. I know Yes did that and they are all stronger for using that.

Will there be a Squackett tour?

I’m hoping there’s going to be some shows of this. I’m hoping that Chris will find time to do that. I’m hoping we can both fit it into our increasingly burgeoning schedules.

Your schedule, though, does include some upcoming shows with your Electric Band.

Yes. I’m also recording some Genesis songs with a bunch of friends of mine, some of them are very well-known, in order to produce a Genesis Revisited No. 2 [Hackett’s Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited was released in 1997]. Which I will take on the road next year.

And who are these people you are teasing us about?

Ah, well, I am teasing you. One of them is John Wetton. On record, he’s recorded one of the tracks, “Afterglow,” which sounds wonderful. Again, a great lover of vocal harmonies.

Are you still doing acoustic recordings and shows?

Very often, yeah. I have done acoustic shows and exclusively acoustic albums in order to pay back some of what the guitar has given me. I don’t do these albums to outsell the Beatles. It’s something I do for the love of the instrument. If I do an album with six pieces of Bach, it’s in order to show people what a beautiful instrument the guitar is on its own. I also love working with orchestras with acoustic guitars as well. The sound of a gentle orchestra, with a gentle nylon guitar, is a winning combination. The stuff of many film soundtracks. It’s a great, really warm combination. Absolutely magic.

You are well-known as an influential guitar player. Who influenced you when you were starting out?

I think in the early days I was trying to sound like Hank Marvin of The Shadows, who were Cliff Richard’s backing band in England, covering much of the same material as The Ventures. In those days, the sounds that the guitar made were the kind of “Bonanza”-sounding soundtracks, that cowboy sound, cowboy themes.

And the surf sound.

Yeah, the lines are blurred between country and surf, of course. But as time moved forward, when the Stones hit the scene, the most exciting thing on the planet was Brian Jones playing “I Want to Be Your Man.” A year or so later, I got to hear [Andres] Segovia play Bach, and suddenly it was another revolution for me. It struck me that the guitar could take off into a whole different direction. I was smitten with that the first I heard it, and that started to influence the kind of music that I was trying to play. And I didn’t think that rock and roll, or pop music as we knew, was going to accommodate those two very separate styles of music. It wasn’t until really know that we look back on it, what we laterally call progressive, that those two very separate energies manage to fuse into something mighty.

What was your first guitar?

My first guitar was a Canadian F-cello hole guitar called Kay. It was my father’s guitar. He brought it back from Canada, circa 1958-59. It was built for country music; you need a Stetson to go with that, really.

What did you play mostly while with Genesis?

I was using a Gibson Les Paul for most of the lead work. I used a Fender Strat. I used a Yairi nylon. Also, during that time with Genesis, I used a Hokada 12-string and a Danelectro Sitar guitar.

I wonder, with his affinity for sitar, whether George Harrison ever used one of those.

I think he probably used the real thing. I don’t know if he ever used a sitar guitar, but you never know. I don’t know whether they would have approved, somehow.

You are known for your use of tapping. Eddie Van Halen has cited you as a primary influence. Have you ever had a chance to talk with him about that?

He and I have never had that conversation, but he’s a fabulous guitarist and I was happy to be an influence.

When did you start tapping?

I was doing that in 1971 on the first Genesis album and doing it live before that.

Did you pick that up from someone else?

No, no, I was trying to play a line from Bach, a line out of Toccata and Fugue, and I realized the only way to do that was to play on one string … gradually I realized that by using a series of hammer-ons and pull-offs, you could do that with both hands on the same string, on the fretboard, using it a little bit like a keyboard.

I read recently that Stanley Jordan is back from 10 years of music therapy study and doing more live shows.

I’m very well aware that he’s probably the most proficient tapper out there.

Have you had a chance to compare notes with him?

No, again, I’ve never met these guys, but I’m aware of their work.

What guitar players excite you these days?

Oh, goodness me. I can answer that in a roundabout kind of way. There’s a guy from Azerbaijan called Malik Mansurov who plays a thing called the tar. It’s from the guitar family and I think he’s one of the hottest string players out there at the moment. I think he’s really extraordinary.

Do you have a primary go-to guitar these days?

At home, I play nylon most of the time. Even when I write things for rock guitar. I usually sing it to myself on the nylon, the Yairi.

How about in the studio and onstage?

Well, it’s normally a Fernandez these days. Fernandez was taken over by the Japanese but they have the sustainer pickups and that makes a wonderful sound, rather like an onboard ebow. You are not dependent on volume for feedback. You can whisper with it.

The label of “progressive rock” was the kiss of death for a long time, but now it seems to be hot again. What is your take on the progressive rock label?

It’s funny, isn’t it? Yeah, I remember people were saying at one point it’s a terminally unhip genre. The other way of looking at it is if you take the pan-genre approach, it doesn’t mean to say you necessarily have to produce an opus every time out. It’s just flexible length, flexible form.

By the way, congratulations on your induction into the Rock Hall. Of course, Chris Squire is a founder of Yes, which is not in, and you can certainly make the argument that if Genesis is in, then Yes should be as well.

Funny enough, that was something I mentioned when I was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one of the many interviews we did in and around it. I was on record as saying I think Yes should be inducted as well. Yes should certainly be in there because they were a huge influence on us. It’s only right that they should be.

Who else from that era do you think is being overlooked?

I think there are many British bands that deserve that. It’s entirely possible, the more people that lobby, the more that’s mentioned, then I think it should redress the balance in favor of what we, again, laterally call progressive rock. At the time when bands like [Jethro] Tull and Genesis were doing our thing, we weren’t aware that we were supposed to be progressive at all.

Just pushing boundaries, perhaps?

I think we were doing what came naturally to us and trying to operate in areas that were being neglected by others.

OK, when you are not playing guitar, what do you do to kick back and relax?

Well you know, if I get the time, I go for a walk. But these days, I have to book an appointment with myself to find the time to do it. I’m involved with so many different projects, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I like to read as well. That’s a quick way to have an out-of-body experience.

Finally, just because it always comes up, what’s the latest on the possibility of a Genesis reunion?

I think a Genesis reunion is probably unlikely. Phil has said he is retiring. The last time we tried to put together a Genesis reunion that included Peter Gabriel and myself, it ended up being the other three. All I can say is that I am recording Genesis material myself and I will take a show of that out on the road. There is a Revisited No. 2 coming up from me and I’m looking forward to. In the next few weeks, I might have a whole bunch of other people I can say for certain will be on this record. But they have to try it out first and see if it flies for them.

William Westhoven is a freelance writer. His novel, One-Hit Willie, takes place over more than 50 years of rock and roll history. For information, visit onehitwillie.com.

Two prog-rock legends — bassist Chris Squire and guitarist Steve Hackett — have gotten together to form a new band, Squackett.

Their debut album, A Life Within A Day, will be released May 29 via Esoteric Antenna.

Squackett also will release a limited-edition 7-inch single — "Sea of Smiles" backed with "Perfect Love Song" — April 21 as part of International Record Store Day.

The pair got together about four years ago when Squire, the only Yes member to appear on every Yes album, was working on a solo album. Someone put him in touch with Hackett, who originally came to prominence as a member of Genesis and later worked with another member of Yes, Steve Howe, in GTR.

Once the duo started working together, Squackett was born.

“It was very much about a bunch of pals swapping notes and anecdotes,” Hackett says. “I would say if people are looking for uncountable time signatures, in the main that’s not what this album holds. I think the songs are more simple and direct.”

“It has a flavor to it that is reminiscent of a few things from different artists,” Squire adds. “There is some clever prog-rock stuff in there, some jazzy bits but there are parts that have vocal harmonies like Crosby, Stills and Nash.”

A Life Within A Day tracklisting:

• 01. A Life Within a Day
• 02. Tall Ships
• 03. Divided Self
• 04. Aliens
• 05. Sea of Smiles
• 06. The Summer Backwards
• 07. Storm Chaser
• 08. Can't Stop the Rain
• 09. Perfect Love Song

Look forward to interviews with Squire and Hackett in the weeks leading up to the album's release.