Tommy Denander’s musical experience includes work on over 3,500 albums, of which over 100 are gold or platinum, and credits on eight Number 1 Billboard LPs.

“The list of who I’ve worked with looks like a guy who couldn’t hold down a gig to save his life!” he happily admits. “Michael Jackson, Anastacia, Steve Perry, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stephen Pearcy, Bernie Marsden, Eric Singer, Bruce Kulick, blah-blah-blah!”

His A-list collaborations span from the late ’80s to the present day, and also includes Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, Paul Stanley and Ace Frehley. “Those guys were on posters on my wall when I was a kid in Sweden,” Denander laughs. “So we really are talking about a dream coming true!”

He’s most proud of a quote from producer Mutt Lange – who rarely speaks in public. “Tommy has always been the consummate live player,” the rock icon said. “I recently found out that he’s the consummate studio guitarist as well. Excellent and so egoless to work with – great feel and a perfectionist, too.”

Denander, who signed his first record deal at the age of 15 and always knew he wanted to be “a studio musician, songwriter and producer instead of a rock star,” is also proud of his VGS signature guitar, which he states never goes out of tune thanks to the use of Evertune bridge and True Temperament frets.

“I’d been endorsed by Hamer, Steinberger, Yamaha, PRS and more, so when VGS asked, I said only if we could create my actual dream guitar. I’m close friends with Evertune, who asked me at NAMM one year if I’d like to be the first to have it on a real model.

“On the flight home to Sweden it just struck me that we should use the True Temperament invention, with the bent frets. It’s the first guitar to stay in tune and maintain 100 percent intonation.”

Denander’s guitar made it to a second model about 14 years ago, but then business issues got in the way. “The main company had the money – they just didn’t see a future in the products. What a miss!”

What’s the session industry like these days?

“Real music is coming back. Kids love great music played by top-level musicians again, so bigger studios are coming back as well. You need a collection of rare skills, gigantic determination and a strong sense of brand building – you need to find the balance of how and where to promote yourself, and when not to.

“Always answer people fast, deliver fast ,and leave your ego out of it, because no matter how sure you are of something, it’s always the client’s wish that matters. I like to suggest things and maybe give them too much, so they can pick the parts they like best.

“There are opportunities to become a solid touring musician too. It’s rare that the people you see on tour also play on the albums. It takes equal skill and time to do both, but in the studio no one can see you, so looks don’t matter. Live, they do!”

What’s the worst aspect of session work?

“Something that’s more important these days than in the ‘good old days’ – it’s when credits are missing. It happens more often now and it pisses me off big time. It happened with Paul Stanley, and he was pissed because I’d been in the album press release, that he put together himself. He said an idiot messed it up for the product.

“Then Ace Frehley ‘forgot’ that I wrote the music to a song on his latest album. I missed credit on, like, 25 variations of vinyl and all the CD and digital versions. It’s corrected now, but I lost a lot of media and PR was lost.

“Once, Ricky Martin decided he wanted big photos of himself all over the CD booklet of an album we did with Desmond Child, and put all credits on his website. I don’t even know what to say!

“I often work for much less money than than I should, because of the names involved. Getting those credits adds to my value which leads to income. When people are sloppy and miss it, we get screwed twice. So sloppiness bugs me!”

Regardless of the downsides, how was it to work on Paul Stanley’s 2006 solo album Live to Win?

“I saw a Kiss poster in a record store when I was 7 years old. That poster was why I started to play guitar, and to this day I’m a huge fan. Ace Frehley was my first guitar idol – I co-wrote Up In The Sky on his latest album 10,000 Volts.

“When I was asked to play on Paul’s Live To Win it was a surreal and beautiful moment. I ended up playing on the title track and Wake Up Screaming. First time I heard Paul’s voice through the big monitors in the studio, I just sat there smiling – I couldn’t even play!”

Working with Alice Cooper was another dream come true, wasn’t it?

“Yeah! In the mid ’80s I started writing songs with Alice in mind. I told my friends that I’d be perfect to write for him. My dear friend Desmond Child introduced me to Bob Ezrin around 2010, and that’s how I ended up playing on I Am Made of You on Alice’s Welcome 2 My Nightmare album.

“Then Bob and Alice asking me to work on Paranormal. I ended up co-producing it with Bob and I co-wrote half the songs. I play guitar on all the songs – including the ones with the whole original Alice Cooper Band.

“The song Fallen In Love started when Bob asked if I could write a take on Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water. I thought I’d done it quite well until Alice said, ‘Well, it has a ZZ Top feel to it.’ Then he asked Billy Gibbons to play on it. Cool!”

What about your rather minimal appearance on Deep Purple’s Infinite (2017)?

“When Bob Ezrin invited me to help with Infinite it meant I’d completed a triple of posters from my wall in the ’70s! They were almost done with the album, but Ian Gillan wanted to re-record his vocals and Don Airey wanted to add a keyboard part.

“They were in Stockholm and I worked at the biggest studio in Sweden, so it was perfect. Roger Glover and I recorded Ian’s vocals; it was stunning how professional these guys were. Don came over and nailed his part in one take, too.

“Then Roger said, ‘We’re missing one chord on the guitar.’ I said, ‘Can we get Steve Morse over from the hotel?’ Roger said, ‘No – Bob says you’re a great guitarist, so you can do it.’ I was like, ‘Did Roger Glover just ask me to play on a Deep Purple album?’

“I grabbed my Kemper and my VGS guitar. I knew that Steve used ENGL amps, so I found a profile that matched the recording perfectly. Roger was impressed! He showed me the missing chord – a missing D on a breakdown – and I recorded three takes: two mono for left-right panning and a stereo one with a small chorus.

“It hit me that I’d just had my Spinal Tap moment. I’d been playing guitar full-time for 25 years at that point, and when I got to play on a Deep Purple album it was just one chord!”

Your connection with Alice Cooper led to your work with the Hollywood Vampires, right?

“Right. I’ve done five or six albums with Alice. When we were doing Paranomal he invited me to play with the Vampires at a charity concert in Phoenix. Hanging for 12 hours with Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, Sammy Hagar, Korn and others, jamming and having way too many laughs, was a super-fun day.

“For their second album Rise (2019) the Vampires decided to recorded a song I wrote for Paranormal that hadn’t been used. Johnny wrote a cool lyric about a true event – it’s called Welcome to Bushwackers.

“Alice and Jeff Beck had talked for years about doing something together. To my big luck it ended up being my song! So it’s me, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry on rhythm guitars, and the stunning Jeff Beck on solos.”

You’ve also done solo work, usually under the banner of Radioactive. The first album, 2001’s Ceremony of Innocence, featured members of Toto. How did you swing that?

“I was living in Los Angeles and I’d become friends with all the Toto guys. I asked them if I got a solo deal would they play on it? I got an instant ‘Yes!’

“Luckily a friend at Sony Records was there too, and I got signed in a few days. Recording my first album, aged 23, with Jeff, Mike and Steve Porcaro and David Paich as my backing band was amazing.

“I was very close friends with Jeff and Mike Porcaro during those years. I miss them a lot. I’ve released six albums as Radioactive, and the list of legends on them all is pretty astonishing.”

Do you have any missing dream collaborations left?

“It sometimes feels like I have worked with them all! But Peter Gabriel has always been a major wish. I absolutely love his music, but also I feel deeply connected to it, and his way of writing. I think I’d be able to contribute something worthy. Then Sting, John Mayer, Stevie Wonder… the list is still long!”

And is there one who got away?

“The song Grace, from my first Radioactive album, was totally written with Richard Page from Mr Mister in mind. I managed to send him the song and he really loved it. But he said: ‘I’m aware of the value of my voice. I’d love to do but my price is …… dollars.

“He was and is worth every cent, but it was way out of my reach at the time, despite serious discussions about making it happen.”

• Keep up with Denander’s projects via Facebook.

Beloved by fans all over the world, ‘Luke’ is a legendary player. Among countless A-list recording sessions, he has played with Michael Jackson, Boz Scaggs, Lionel Richie, Earth Wind And Fire, Joe Cocker, Michael Bolton, Aretha Franklin, Peter Frampton and countless others.

He’s also worked with Elton John, played with three of The Beatles, and is currently a member of Ringo’s All-Starr Band. Steve’s technique is legendary, and he was already making a name for himself as a world-class soloist while still in his teens.

Rhythmic variety is a big part of his style, mixing up different kinds of rhythms to add drama to his solos. The use of sextuplets is a big facet of this, as playing in groups of six means that the chord tones will fall differently compared to when playing in groups of four or eight notes.

If you were to play a bebop line that’s meant to be played in groups of four but presented the notes in groups of six, the harmonic feel would be completely different.

Therefore the lines that you play in sixes need to be designed with thought in order to fit the harmony. Of course you don’t always have to land chord tones on the beat, but this is a consideration. Our examples and the sample solo feature many sextuplets.

Steve’s string-bending chops are pretty insane – just check out the second solo in Rosanna by Toto. One of our examples here pays tribute to that approach but I was merciful with the pacing of the idea.

Steve often makes use of chromaticism, a bold strategy on modern pop-rock records, yet always makes it sound exciting and appropriate. His use of chromaticism is sophisticated but doesn’t venture into be-bop vocabulary.

He has a jazzy way of working between the chord tones but never attempts to shoehorn jazz lines in where not required. He will use melodic 3rds in semitones which land on consonant notes over the chords. He’s also a big fan of Eddie Van Halen, so you’ll find some picking-hand tapping along with other expressive techniques mentioned here.

Lukather is an incredibly imaginative rhythm guitarist, too. For a great example of this aspect of his work, check out Boz Scaggs’ album Middle Man. Steve came up with remarkable guitar textures which work beautifully with the other guitarist on the record – Ray Parker Jr.

The track Breakdown Dead Ahead features a classic Lukather solo with some killer bends and characteristic chromatic 3rds. And what about his amazing breaks in Lionel Richie’s Running With The Night, and Randy Crawford’s You Might Need Somebody? The list goes on and on…

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 9, Bass 6, Middle 4, Treble 7, Reverb 3

Steve has been wedded to his Music Man ‘Luke’ models in various pickup configurations and finishes for many years. He uses Bogner Ecstasy tube amps and Strymon (among others) pedals.

Go for a deep, clean rhythm tone with some nice modulation and delay, and a heavily overdriven lead sound where the notes remain clearly defined. Add digital delay and reverb to taste.

Example 1

This line works chromatically around the intervals of the F chord but in a lovely bluesy manner. This approach continues with the use of the relative F minor/F blues scale over the Ab chord. Take this in small sections to both master the notes but also for you to hone in on phrases that you’ll particularly want for yourself!

Example 2

This features a major 3rd (four-fret) bend and weaves a line in sixes ending with 3rd intervals moving chromatically to resolve in bar 4. It’s classic Lukather.

Example 3

We introduce tapping to add a little more flash. Steve doesn’t do a lot of this (in part to respect his friend, Eddie Van Halen) but when he does it sure hits home!

Example 4

This line extends the tapping idea by turning up the heat a little, so take it slowly until you perfect it. Note the bend from the 6th to the b7 in bar 4 – tasty!

Example 5

This line starts with alternate picking but moves into a sliding motif that works its way down the neck. Note the chromatic notes that target chord tones.

Example 6. The Solo

The solo ties together many of the examples’ approaches. You’ll find a lot of Steve’s natural bluesiness throughout but there also many instances of chromaticism.

Steve Lukather has been filmed playing Jeff Beck’s White Fender Stratocaster for a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Little Wing during a recent Toto show.

During the concert, which took place at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday (September 1), Lukather and his Toto bandmates indulged in a seven-minute cover of the Hendrix classic, for which the electric guitar hero played a rather notable Strat.

That Strat was one of Beck’s main go-to guitars, and has become synonymous with the late guitar great’s style and sound.

Identifiable from its reverse headstock, Olympic White finish and split roller nut, the guitar was originally built by the Fender Custom shop around 2014, and used by Beck for much of the latter years of his career.

But it was pulled out of hibernation for the Toto show, and was used by Lukather for an extended effort that saw the virtuoso doff his cap to the guitar’s former owner – and Little Wing’s original writer – with nearly two minutes of flat-out soloing.

“I’ve got something special to do tonight,” Lukather says to introduce the cover, and the Strat. “I normally don't play a white Stratocaster. This is a special one. This is Jeff Beck’s guitar.

“His lovely wife Sandra and his closest friend and guitar tech brought this out, and they’ve been bringing it out to guitar players to put a little of love on it. Jeff and I were friends.

“They asked a certain amount of guitar players, but they’re just getting started. They asked Billy Gibbons, John Mayer and me, and they’ve probably got a long list. I wish this would make me sound like Jeff Beck, but it won’t.”

And so Lukather’s use of Beck’s Strat seems to be one of the first of potentially many cases of players using Beck’s guitars for live performances. In the description of the video, it is noted that “Steve Lukather plays Jeff Beck’s White Stratocaster as part of a musician’s project to honor Jeff’s legacy”.

True to Lukather’s words, we’ve already seen Mayer use Jeff Beck’s White Strat during Dead & Company’s recent residency shows at The Sphere. Although it was first speculated to be a Custom Shop replica, Joe Bonamassa later confirmed it was indeed the real deal.

At the time, it was assumed JoBo’s keen eye for iconic guitars had helped him with the identification, but now it’s entirely plausible that he knew it was Beck’s White Strat because Bonamassa himself is also involved in this mysterious “musicians’ project”, and is clued up on the whereabouts of Beck’s instruments. Could he be next to partake in this “musician’s project”?

It’s certainly an exciting prospect, and fans of Beck will no doubt be pleased to see his presence and influence live on with the continued use of his guitars. Having Beck’s guitars out on the road for a range of tribute covers seems a better way of honoring his musical memory than by keeping them under lock and key.

We are now into the fourth generation of Steve Lukather’s Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar line, with Luke IV defying cinematic convention by being the most thrilling instalment of the franchise. But once upon a time – let’s call it the ‘80s – the Toto guitarist and session ace was more associated with the Fender Stratocaster.

This was a more innocent era, when vintage electric guitars were not so sacrosanct (read: expensive) and so the bold Lukather, his career in the ascendancy, modded his, swapping in EMG active pickups, giving it the whole Valley Arts makeover that was en vogue at the time.

Just before this guitar turned into The Robot Strat, it and Lukather appeared on the September 1983 cover of Guitar World, and as part of our celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Strat, we’ve been tracking down these cover stars and the players who played them. So this, you might say, is the story of The Robot Strat, how it started, and how it’s going.

Where and when did you buy this guitar?

“It would have been the late ’70s. I don’t remember where I got it – not Norm’s [Norman’s Rare Guitars]; it would have been a wannabe Norm’s down in Studio City. I guarantee the spot doesn’t exist anymore.”

Why did you choose it?

“I just wanted a Strat. [Laughs] It felt good, and I liked it. There wasn’t that much more to it beyond that. I had played Les Pauls and other guitars, and for whatever reason, I was searching for a Strat. I came upon that ’64, and that was it.”

You ended up modifying it, right?

“I did. That guitar has a massive history and looks totally different [now] than it did on the cover. If you remember that funny-looking guitar I had back in the ’80s with the robot painted on it, that’s the same guitar as the one on the cover.

“I had put EMG pickups in and didn’t care that the guitar was vintage because I had no connection to it. I ended up bringing it to Valley Arts Guitars and said, ‘I’ll let you fuck with this guitar; it doesn’t mean much to me,’ and they made me a new neck, put a humbucking EMG and two single-coil EMGs in – and they painted the robot.”

What notable recordings did you use this guitar on?

“Literally, every record I did from mid 1984 to 1993. After I got it back from Valley Arts, the Robot Strat was my main guitar until I started using Music Man. If you look at any live show from the ’80s, you’ll probably see me playing it – especially in ’86 and ’87, when that guitar was everywhere. I played on about a billion records, and that guitar was on all of them.”

Why did you choose this guitar for your GW cover shoot?

“It’s funny because, at that point, the ’64 Strat had not become the Robot Strat with the EMGs and the Valley Arts neck, so it wasn’t my main guitar, per se.

“So, the same day I was supposed to do the Guitar World shoot, I was working at the studio with [producer] Keith Olsen, and I had to run, so I grabbed the first one I saw. I was like, ‘Shit, I need a guitar for this shoot. This one will do. I had no allegiance to any guitar then, so I grabbed the Strat and ran to the shoot.’”

Do you still have this guitar?

“I still have it. I went through a phase where I was getting rid of shit, and I sold some vintage shit I could have made a lot more money on, but whatever; how many can you play at once? But I still have it; it’s in its case at home. It’s been a while since I broke it out and played it, but it felt pretty good the last time I did.

“I bet it needs an upgrade, so who knows when we’ll see it again. I only kept the guitars that meant something to me and have a history, so that fits the bill. I saw people were making bogus copies of it in Germany and Japan, though, so it must have meant something to other people, too.”

Preparing to hit the road playing the songs that made him famous with Toto, the joy on Steve Lukather’s face is vivid. “Nobody laughs harder than me,” he says. “I’ve enjoyed the ride, and man, what a ride it’s been.”

Back in ’78, when Luke was a fresh-faced 20-year-old kid out of California’s San Fernando Valley, he couldn’t have imagined the wonders that awaited. When he peeled off the solo from Hold the Line, sure, his love for guitar was evident, but did that signal what lay ahead?

“I never thought in a million years that I’d be playing this when I was a 66-year-old adult,” he says. “But there’s still an audience for it – not just people rolling in wheelchairs and iron lungs, but a lot of young people, too.”

Some wonder what keeps Toto’s flame burning, but Lukather thinks he has it figured out. “It started with the demented success of Africa. That went crazy. And people still love it. It still baffles me, but it was a wonderful gift as it puts butts in the seats!”

The band’s continued success isn’t just about live shows, either. “I know a lot of guys complain about streaming, but not me,” the guitarist says. “It’s really helped us, even though people are pissing and moaning.

“When I first took over the management stuff, I made a great deal with Sony for streaming. We get a lot of streams, and over the last eight or nine years, we’ve gotten billions of people listening to the music. So even though I’m an old bastard, I have no complaints.”

When he talks about the songs he’s lived with for decades, it comes down to gratitude. “This is my whole life laid out via music,” he says. “It’s like smelling grandma’s apple pie, you know?

“The smell of that pie does something to your brain, and these songs do that for me. They’re pleasant memories. Grandma might not be around anymore, and you miss that, and I think that’s what these songs are in that I miss them.”

He continues: “I was a teenager when I started, and now here I am, pension age. I gotta laugh at myself; I’m the luckiest motherfucker in the world, man. All I ever wanted was a long career – and I got it. I’m still doing it. So I’m the luckiest guy on planet Earth. I’m slapping myself most days to believe it.”

Yet Lukather’s impact and relevance loom large; not just as a player, but as a positive force in a world that’s often stifling for creatives. “The world is unhappy. I get it, believe me,” he says. “I got kids who have to live through this, but I still find ways to push that aside.

“Just before you called, you know what I was doing? Playing my guitar. I was sitting here, thinking to myself, ‘I really love playing this thing. This old piece of wood sure has been good to me.’ That’s all it takes. I can sit here and find joy in picking up this instrument and still being able to play. All of this is a blessing. If I can do it, so can anyone my age. I still love the guitar. Man, that’s the truth.”

Just before Toto hit the road, Lukather dialed in with Guitar World to reveal – in no particular order – the 12 guitarists who shaped his sound.

1. George Harrison

“I’m starting off this list spontaneously because if I don’t, it won’t work, and it’ll be impossible. I have to start with George Harrison. In the early days, George was my number-one guitar hero. He’s the reason why I play.

“The wonderful sounds he made on The Ed Sullivan Show did it for me. Then there were the first Beatles records, which were like the on-switch for my life. George was where it started for me. Without him, none of this would have started for me.”

2. Jeff Beck

“Jeff changed it all. From being a fan as a kid, to working with him and getting to know him in the studio, to playing live shows and seeing how he did what he did – man, I would have to shake my head. I would think, ‘Man, this cat’s an alien.’

“The things he did were not the things normal human beings did on guitar. Wherever he was from, man, it was somewhere else. What more can I say? Losing Jeff hit hard because he was one of the greatest of all time.”

3. David Gilmour

“Gilmour’s whole thing, with his sound, how his touch affects those sounds and makes them sound huge, is incredible. I really wanted to get that sound when I was a kid – what he did on Dark Side of the Moon, which got me into him.

“I heard that, started going backward, and went forward in real time. I’m honored to call him a friend, as he’s one of my all-time heroes. David makes one note sound huge, like it’s banging off the wall – boom! It’s fantastic. He’s a really nice man, too.”

4. Larry Carlton

“I’ll go with Larry because his performance on Steely Dan’s The Royal Scam was life-changing for me. After that, I listened to everything he did, going backward and then forward.

“And then I got to work with him, and we won a Grammy together. I’ve been very fortunate to work with many of my childhood heroes; I’m deeply thankful for that honor.”

5. Michael Landau

“Michael has been one of my best friends since we were 12, and he’s an incredible musician. He’s always raised the bar higher over the years and made me a better player because we grew up together. I was like, ‘Fucking Landau, man, he’s great.’

“Honestly, we’ve played in a million bands together, done sessions together, and he’s just one of the finest ever to pick up the guitar. He’s unique and very special, and he’s always made me better. That’s the truth.”

6. Jimi Hendrix

“You gotta understand that, as a kid in the ‘60s, I grew up seeing this guy do what he did in real time. When his first album came out, it was like aliens had landed. It was like watching The Exorcist – it was shocking. When I was so young, hearing Hendrix, it scared the shit outta me. It changed the whole standard.

“Learning about the Hendrix E chord was amazing. I figured out where to put my fingers and kinda eked it out on my own. But again, it was scary – and it sounds funny to say – but seeing and hearing it in real time was much different than listening to it now.”

7. Eddie Van Halen

“My bro, Eddie, changed the world. Like Hendrix, watching what Eddie did in real time was wild. I got to know him very well, and he was a very special human being. The places Eddie’s musical head were coming from, man, he didn’t think like a regular person.

“His riffs, where he felt them from, the timing, and how he dressed them up were so unique. It was like, ‘Wow. I never woulda thought to do that.’ That was Eddie’s whole style – I never would think to do that. I don’t know where guitar would be without him, but he spawned a whole lot.”

8/9. Al Di Meola / John McLaughlin

“I’m gonna have to have these two together – even though it might piss them off! They’re both friends of mine, and I’m honored to say that; but I don’t think there’s a lot of love between them at this point.

“That’s hard for me to rationalize because they’re two of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. But anyway, both guys smacked me in the face as far as sound and style. They’re incredible players.”

10. Steve Hackett

“Again, I watched this guy in real time. I wore Selling England by the Pound out, and Steve’s unique way of playing was striking. He wasn’t just a guy in a band looking to take a solo – he was integral to the composition with his beautiful legato playing.

“And he was one of the first tapper guys, which was crazy to hear. He’d do these riffs, and they were hard to replicate. I never tried to play like Steve, but I love how he plays. He’s an astounding player, and he’s still out there doing it.”

11/12. Jimmy Page / Eric Clapton

“This is where it gets so hard, man. As far as directly influencing me, I’m gonna say Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton not only because of their playing but their compositions. I remember dropping the needle on those Led Zeppelin and Cream records and trying to learn the solos. I put hours into doing that.

“I wanted to know where that was coming from. I wanted to play like the guys on those records. I spent a lot of time listening to Stairway to Heaven and Crossroads, which have perfect solos and made me feel like they were in the room with me.”

• Toto are currently touring North America – see TotoOfficial.com for full dates.

A member of Toto, Steve Lukather’s melodic solos and slick songwriting defined a generation of AOR-loving fans throughout the '80s. If you can recall the sweet sounds of pop-leaning rock classics like Hold the Line, I’ll Supply the Love, Africa and I Won’t Hold You Back, then surely you’ve dug into Lukather’s inspired licks. 

Of course, a player as inspired as Lukather can’t be held down, as evidenced by his expansive career as a sideman with the likes of George Benson, Michael Bolton, Michael Jackson, Cher, Peter Criss, Ringo Starr, Elton John and about a million others (including one especially cool appearance with George Harrison in 1992).

So, yeah… it goes without saying that Lukather has impacted the masses unimaginably. Through big hits, endless songsmithery and immense restraint in an era perpetually defined by shred, the San Fernando Valley native has managed to unintentionally soundtrack the music zeitgeist.

“It’s funny… I can’t even remember half of the things I’ve recorded,” Lukather says. “I’ve been on so many sessions that I’m lucky if I can remember any of them. People ask me, ‘Steve, what’s your favorite solo of yours?’ or ‘Do you think any of them are underrated?’ I always have to tell them, ‘I can’t remember.’ 

“I mean, I’ve got ones that I love, but I can never pick. It’s not for me to decide what’s best or most underrated, you know? I’ve always been one to try and write a good song and record a solo that people will remember. That’s always been way more important to me than shredding or competing.”

These days, due to a myriad of nasty legal dealings, Toto is no more. But that doesn’t mean Lukather is leaving behind the songs he helped create; quite the contrary. In addition to some of his most memorable solo cuts, Lukather happily plays many of Toto’s classics while on tour. And so, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that with his latest album, Bridges, Lukather is dialing back to the stylings that made him famous with his flagship band. 

“This album came together over the pandemic because of me sitting around saying, ‘Man… I’m so bored,’” he says. “But there was more to it. The pandemic was a weird time. The other side of Bridges becoming a reality was me being scared, thinking, ‘Are we ever gonna be able to come back? Are we ever gonna leave our homes again?’ 

“It was weird because it came out of nowhere, and it all hit me at once. Plus I had just broken up with my girlfriend, so I really wanted to do something significant. That led me to call my friends and make a record that is unabashedly '80s.”

During a break from the road, Lukather dialed in with GW to dig into the making of Bridges, his aversion to shredding and the challenges of making new music for a world that might not be listening.

Were you intentionally trying to make a stylistically different record from your last album, 2021’s I Found the Sun Again?

“I definitely did want to do something different because I think I Found the Sun Again was a bit more self-indulgent, so I was more focused on having fun again with Bridges. So I called up a bunch of my old Toto bandmates to be on the record because I really did want to harken back to that style of music. 

“Due to complicated legal issues, Toto will never make another record. But I still love that music, so I called up Simon Phillips, David Paich and even my son Trev [Lukather]. I love how it came out, but I think the sound results from just doing it for fun. We said, ‘Fuck it, let’s go in and make a cool, '80s-sounding record,’ and we did so shamelessly without denying ourselves what we wanted to do. I guess I needed to scratch that itch. It just came down to downshifting my approach.”

In what ways did you downshift?

“I just wasn’t trying to keep up with the insane abilities of the younger players. I’m a big fan and love it all, but my strength was always more melodic playing. So I said, 'Let me stay in that arena. I’ll leave the crazy stuff to the younger players.' As far as putting the parts together, all the solos were done in one or two takes, and I didn’t piece anything together. I really tried to make a statement where you could hum along and remember this stuff rather than just going, ‘Oh, wow….’”

Would you call this album a sort of ‘bridge’ – sorry, had to! – between Toto and your solo work?

“I think so. And that’s why I brought a guy like David Paich out of semi-retirement to write with me. We still love working together; we just didn’t want to call it Toto. And it’s not that I’m remotely ashamed of that music; I’m on the road performing that stuff now. But it’s complicated in terms of ownership and all the craziness of it all.”

How does your approach to guitar shift from project to project?

“First and foremost, I’ve gotta try to keep up. [Laughs] But don’t get me wrong; I’m not some old stiff thinking it’s over. But man, everybody seems to play so much fast bullshit, and I disagree with that entire concept. But there are so many incredible young players out there now, male and female. I’ve gotta say the women have stepped up. 

“Some of the best guitar players in the world today are women. And I think that’s great because when I started, there weren’t many. So while I hate even to differentiate between men and women because they’re all great players, the reality is that things have come a long way. So for me, it’s about trying to keep up with all these insane players while still being myself.”

What do you feel has empowered more women to pick up the guitar?

“People’s mindset has changed. It all starts there. Because it doesn’t matter what sex you are; a great player is a great player. Go ahead and blindfold-test anybody without telling them what sex the player is and see what happens. If the player is great, they’re gonna say, ‘Oh, shit, that was awesome. Who is that?’ 

“They’re not going to know if it’s a man or woman, and they’re not gonna be able to say, 'Oh well, that was pretty good for a chick,' or whatever bullshit thing. I wouldn’t ever say that, and I know it’s not politically correct to say that, but some people still think that way. But not me; I’m an old, peace-loving hippie from the '60s. [Laughs]”

You’re clearly tuned into what’s happening in music now, but do you ever feel beholden to what you’ve done in the past? If so, how do you balance the two?

“I think I was more beholden to my past as a player on this new record because I didn’t try to be too flashy. Like I said, I’ve always been known as a melodic player, and I’m cool with that. Back when I started, there was no such thing as 'shredding'. In the '70s, we were just trying to make good records. 

“But then Eddie Van Halen came along and changed the whole game. I remember him telling me once, ‘Man, I didn’t mean to start all this madness,’ but he really did change the entire game. That always cracked me up, as Eddie was the father of shred. But I never tried to do that, and I still don’t. I’m still the same melodic guy I’ve always been.”

Which solo from Bridges proved to be the most challenging?

“That’s hard to say. I think that each piece tells its own story, you know? So the most important thing for me was to craft memorable things. Again, I aimed to lean more melodic and avoid being too flashy. 

“But there are still a couple of flashy licks in there, which I guess means I can still play. [Laughs] But I think keeping it to one or two takes and not doing much editing meant I came away with some pretty clean, straightforward and memorable moments.”

Which electric guitars, amps and pedals did you bring to the party?

“You’re gonna laugh; I used one guitar for the entire record. [Laughs] And that was my Music Man Luke III. It’s the green one you’ve probably seen in my recent photos. As far as amps are concerned, I’ve been with Bogner for some time and love them. 

“They’re great amps. I’ve used a lot of different amps over the years, but I don’t really use anything else these days. And my pedals are the same ones I have on stage with me on tour. I used a little delay, reverb and a Jeff Kollman Bombastortion pedal. I didn’t do anything fancy, really. Like the songwriting and approach, I kept the gear minimalistic.”

What do you like most about Music Man guitars?

“This is my 30th year using Music Man guitars, and I love them. And we actually have the Luke IV coming out, which will have my own Music Man pickups that they wound just for me. I didn’t know if I wanted to do that, but they talked me into it. And I’m glad they did because they’re mind-blowingly good. But they’re great, versatile guitars. 

“They are incredible tools that give me everything I need in the studio and on the road. I love vintage guitars, too. I’ve got a bunch that will go to Trev when I’m gone, but there’s something about my Music Man guitars that have kept me with them for a long time. They’re beautiful guitars, play great, sound fantastic and do exactly what I need them to do.”

What are some challenges in making new music in a low-attention-span world?

“It really is a drag, man. I guess it would be easy to question why I’m still doing it, but I don’t. But it is challenging. Because when I was a kid, I remember crying and begging my parents for new records. It used to be an event when new albums would come out, and we’d all go out and get and scramble to get the latest [Jimi] Hendrix, Stevie Wonder or [Led] Zeppelin album. 

“And then we’d go to a friend’s house and sit around and take it in. And once we did that, we’d hang out and talk about what we just heard. But it’s not like that anymore. Now you put out an album, and it has a one-week shelf life. 

“It used to be six months, but it feels more like six minutes now. I mean… you’re lucky if you can get anyone’s attention with even one track, let alone an entire album. So I know it’s about singles and playlists now, but I still feel that as an artist, it’s essential to make a complete musical statement.” 

• Bridges is out now via Player's Club.

Toto need little introduction to the musically inclined; as a band, they have had over four decades of success, including winning several Grammy awards, an induction into the Musicians’ Hall Of Fame And Museum, and over 40 million albums sold. 

Perhaps more significant is the fact that they are individually and collectively heralded as some of the best musicians to ever grace the musical arena, having also played on countless sessions for some of the world’s most successful artists.

The classic line-up consisted of Steve Lukather on guitar, drummer Jeff Porcaro and his brother Steve on bass, keyboardist David Paich, bassist David Hungate and singer Bobby Kimball. It is this line-up that played on the band’s first few albums, which included Toto IV in the early 1980. It was this release that catapulted them to mainstream success with the mega hit single Africa, and of course Rosanna with its incredible improvised outro solo. 

Among the sessions that Lukather played on include legendary artists like Michael Jackson, Cher, Richard Marx, Lionel Richie, Barbra Streisand, Elton John and Diana Ross. The list literally runs on and on. Steve Lukather is also currently Ringo Starr’s guitarist – a dream come true for someone who grew up as a massive Beatles fan.

Lukather’s playing style is equal parts blistering technique, great melody and an incredible rhythm guitar pocket. It was his rhythm/riff playing and bass parts that set the foundation on Michael Jackson’s Beat It, that then allowed Eddie Van Halen to play one of the most memorable solos ever. But Lukather has always been an advocate for solid rhythm playing over flashy lead.

Steve has also toured and recorded with Larry Carlton. His playing more than stands up alongside that of his hero, and there’s not many who could swap licks with the jazz-blues master and not be found wanting.

Our lesson track is in the key of E minor (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D) and is built on single-note riffs. There are no chords in the arrangement but the overall sound lends itself to E Dorian in places (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D). The C# note from this mode is played during the solo, which gives it a bluesy edge to the overarching rock sound. 

There are several chromatic lines in the rhythm and the solo, and the lead guitar phrase in bar 18, which moves chromatically from D down to Bb lends a rock-fusion style of melody to the more pentatonic and bluesy phrases. 

Get the tone

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

Lukather is generally on the higher-gain side of things, so a good amount of preamp gain is in order (although Steve’s rhythm guitar often has less gain than you’d at first imagine). 

Aim for a Soldano or Bogner-type sound if possible plus a bridge humbucker and whammy bar. Effects such as chorus, delay and reverb are all good choices to add to the sonic soup.

Steve Lukather rhythm guitar lesson

Pay careful attention to timing and watch out for the phrases and notes that don’t start on the front of the beat, of which there are many. 

Steve Lukather solo guitar lesson

The solo begins with a line that isn’t difficult to play but will require some precision in the way each note then slides a semitone to the next. Using your first finger and third finger is probably the easiest way to play this line.

Bar 23 of the solo features a signature Lukather idea; bend the second string up from the 10th-fret A note to the 12th-fret B with your third finger,  then play the C note with your fourth finger at the 11th fret while the bend is still held. 

The final bar of the solo has hammer-ons that are scooped with the vibrato bar; depress the bar just ahead of each hammer-on, and then release the note back up to pitch.

Steve Lukather has reached the point where all the buying and the selling and the sifting of the ether for new gear is over. Ever since he signed up on the Ernie Ball Music Man artist roster and developed his superlative S-style signature model, he has found the one.

But there was a whole lot of guitar shopping before that, a lot of scrambling around for gear. With his new solo album, Bridges, out now, the Toto guitarist and session legend dropped Guitarist a line to share some gear-buying wisdom – spoiler, there is “no magic guitar, no magic amp” – and talk about some of his greatest buys, gear regrets, and favourites from his collection.

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

“I played a lot of really shitty guitars when I was young. I started out with a Kay acoustic guitar, which was like five bucks at a Thrifty Drug Store. The action was so far off the neck, it was painful to try to get a noise out of – guitars were not very sophisticated in the early ’60s.

“Then the first electric guitar I got was another Thrifty Drug Store guitar called an Astrotone. That one fell over and broke its neck – somebody let somebody play it and they dropped it. My old man goes, ‘Well, you’re gonna have to play it with a broken neck…’

“So what I used to do was borrow guitars from people who had good guitars. A Fender or Gibson or something like that was rare back then, but they existed. My father would go on the road while he was working behind the cameras in the television movie business and he would come home and say, ‘Where do you want to go?’ Instead of going to the toy store, I wanted to go to the guitar store and play all the expensive guitars I couldn’t afford.

“One time I got in there and I grabbed this Les Paul Deluxe off the wall and I was playing my ass off, I guess. I was gonna put it on the wall again and my dad goes, ‘Well, let’s get it in the car… I thought he was buying me an amp, but he said, ‘No, the guitar, too.’ He gave up getting a new car for himself to give me an Ampeg VT-22 amp and a Les Paul Deluxe. My parents were great.”

What was the last guitar you bought and why?

“I haven’t bought a guitar since I started working with Music Man 30 years ago [laughs]. I got a whole new line, the [Ernie Ball Music Man Lukather] L4. There’s four different versions of my signature guitar with Music Man – it’s sort of like a hybrid of a Strat and a Les Paul and it gives me everything I need in one stop. Plus, I love the company. I love the quality of the guitars. I love that they take care of me so well in every aspect of it, you know?

“They send me stuff and I go, ‘I love this.’ I don’t think I’ve ever sent anything back. They just made me all brand-new [Heat Treated/HT] pickups – they’re astounding.”

What’s the most incredible find or bargain you ever had when buying guitars?

“It’s a treasured part of my collection, a Vox Teardrop 12-string like Brian Jones had. It has all the fuzz tones and all the stuff on, a palm wah-wah with the tremolo bar. It’s very strange and very rare and sought after. Tom Petty was buying a whole ton of them – those guys love all that stuff, you know? I bought it for 200 bucks, 35 years ago.

“God knows what it’s worth. Not only was it a great deal, but it’s such a weird one-off guitar with very unique sounds. It’s got that kind of Satisfaction fuzz tone sound on it. I don’t really go out collecting any more. I’ve got a lot of friends who do – Joe Bonamassa, who’s one of the greats of all time and a dear friend of mine. I mean, his house smells like an old Les Paul case!”

Can you tell us about the strongest case of buyer’s remorse you’ve had after buying a piece of gear?

“I’ve bought things that I thought I was gonna like more than I did or use more than I did, but I’d sell them or keep them. I have a few seller’s remorse [stories]. I had a ’58 Goldtop that I sold. I mean, I bought it for a couple of grand and somebody offered me $50,000 for it. And this was, like, 20 years ago, my daughter was going to college.

“I said, ‘Well, I haven’t played it in a long time,’ not thinking about the history that I had with that guitar. And I sold it to this Japanese guy for 50 grand, and I just took care of my daughter’s college for a year.

“And then I had a 1960 Les Paul with a thin neck, like Jimmy Page’s, which I liked, but it didn’t sound anywhere near as good as my ’59 ’Burst. I didn’t play it for, like, 20 years. I figured if I didn’t play it for 20 years, I could get rid of it. It was a great investment – what I paid for it and what I sold it for were like, okay, but then I’m going, ‘Why am I selling this?’ So I stopped doing that.”

What’s your best guitar-buying tip?

“Some people like a certain feel, you know? You get a guitar and when you put it in your hand and you feel it, it’s a personal connection, and you go, ‘Aww, this feels good – this is nice.’ And then you have the sound… I think it’s a really personal thing. In terms of really great guitars, there are a lot of options that you have today. Pretty good-quality stuff. Apples and oranges, you know, personal taste.”

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

“Sometimes I poke my head in and look around and I’ll see something that stands out from the rest; maybe an oddball guitar will catch my eye. But I don’t go out that much. I’m always working and on my off-time I still have two young kids. I’m a homebody. My days of scouring for guitars [are done]. I got enough guitars! I need to spend more time practising and less time looking.”

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

“Here’s a really good answer: there’s no magic guitar, no magic amp, there’s just magic people. I’ve played Eddie Van Halen’s guitars, Jeff Beck’s guitars, and I sound like me. A great guitar and a great amp? Sure, that helps. How could it not? But if you give a 1959 Les Paul to a 10-year-old kid that can’t play it’s not gonna make him sound like Gary Moore. You know what I mean?”

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

“Wow, that’s a tough question, man, because I need them both. I can’t answer that. It’s like, my guitar is a hybrid of all that shit. So, I don’t know.”

Steve's go-to rig

“Two Bogner Helios run stereo just for some stereo delays and reverb. I put in the Gurus Echosex before the reverb that goes into the loop, which is this beautiful delayed chamber sound, still keeping your regular tone – you know, not buried in goo.

“I like a little goo, but I don’t want to be buried in it. I just got a couple of TC delay pedals. Hand-wired Jam pedals, a Rodenberg customised distortion box [Steve has a signature Rodenberg SL-OD pedal], a Bombastortion – Jeff Kollman’s overdrive pedal is killer, especially when you’re on high gain, you can get a little extra oomph out of it. I love it.

“What else is on there? The Strymon [Lex] Leslie simulator and the Strymon reverb. A Jam wah-wah, I have a TC chorus and a TC long stereo delay. Also, I got a Uni-Vibe and I use my Music Man guitars – and that’s it.”

• Bridges is out now via The Players Club/Mascot Label Group.

Those looking to get a toehold on Steve Lukather’s premium electric guitar tone can take five from hammering the Reverb search function and point their attentions towards the Foxgear site, where they might well find just what they are looking for. 

It’s called the Gurus Echosex 3º, it’s an emulator (and then some) of a vintage Binson Echorec echo unit, described by Lukather as “the most important” item of gear he owns – not to mention the most used. 

Lukather has used variations of the Echosex ever since it was first launched in 2014. This signature edition comes with his settings highlighted by Lukather’s tech, Jon Gosnell, in green text under the controls, but the invitation to experiment is very much extended to any player who mounts this on their pedalboard.

This is Lukather’s “always on” effects pedal. Many players will have one. Perhaps most pros. The Echosex is Lukather’s, and it is not just marketing pabulum either; when Alex Skolnick had a shot of the Toto guitarist’s rig last summer, revealing everything that was on the ‘board, he too noted how the Echosex was always on. 

Lukather’s signature Echosex 3º comes with a wholly redesigned power section, with its internal tube running at 262V just like the old Binson Echorec units. The dynamic response has been enhanced, with improved noise filtering to cut out any unwanted hiss and crackle.

But this being an emulator of a vintage echo machine you can get some very cool sounds from a relatively simple set of controls. The Mix Volume sets the level of the repeats. The Length of Swell dial is your feedback control, taking you from a single repeat to self-oscillation when you max it out, thus uniting two of the most disparate tribes in popular culture, the Toto and Radiohead superfans.

Echo sets the delay time, from 35ms to a generous 730ms. Age of Damage, meanwhile, oh, now your talking; this simulates mechanical wear and tear. If you’ve ever wanted to use one of David Gilmour’s old Echorec units but never had the chance, this might be the next best thing. 

There are no demos of Lukather's signature model but the demo of the regular Echosex 3º above will give you an idea how close it gets.

Finally, you have a Tone control to adjust how bright or dark you want those repeats, and this new edition of the Echosex pedal has the much-requested tap tempo, which has its own footswitch beside bypass/engage.

You’ll need a 12V DC from a pedalboard power supply to make it run. It’ll cost you $429, and a proportion of that will go to the Ed Asner’s Family Center for Autism. For more details, head over to Foxgear Distribution.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was back in 2010 that top session bassist Nathan East bounded across the stage in order to impress his bass hero, Verdine White, but his performance with American rockers TOTO would become memorable for all the wrong reasons. “It was a double bill in Switzerland with Earth, Wind & Fire,” says Nathan. “During our set Verdine White was sat in the front row and, of course, with him being one of my biggest influences I started trying to show off.”

The incident was captured on camera by a member of the audience, and if you watch closely enough you can pinpoint the exact moment where Nathan’s tendon tears. “I was trying to let Verdine know that he’s the man!” East explains. “So I started running on the spot and doing this big high-step thing when all of a sudden it felt as if the stage had gone out from under me.” Naturally, East refused to let the injury hinder his bass playing. “We ended up doing one more song and when I came off stage I was like, ‘why does this still hurt?’” 

A seasoned pro, Nathan East's discography reads like a who’s who of all-time greats, from TOTO and Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton. “It’s been 40 years since I officially started in this town, and I’m still running from one studio to another, or jumping on a plane for a tour,” says East.

“To me, life is almost like a big huge collection of songs, where you can remember what point you were at in your life, who you were with, where you were; there’s no prescription to how it’s done, and even when it gets pretty gruelling I still love it. Besides, this is what I signed up for!”

And of the injury, East says, “I tore my achilles tendon trying to show off to Verdine White. Remind me not to do that again!”

For more info on Nathan East, visit nathaneast.com.

When Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick discovered his band were operating right next door to Toto while preparing for their recent set at Germany’s RockHarz festival, he wasted no time in heading over to have a glance at Steve Lukather’s current guitar rig.

Toto’s crew were prepping gear for the commencement of the European leg of the band’s Dogz of Oz tour, and while Luke himself wasn’t present, his guitar tech Jon Gosnell was on hand to show Skolnick around.

“I had a fun time being shown around the rig of the great Steve Lukather,” Skolnick says in a new Instagram post, in which he can be seen playing the Toto guitarist’s Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar, the Luke III.

The rig is completed by a pair of Bogner Helios guitar amps, mic’d using a pair of Shure SM57 dynamic microphones, and a fully-stocked pedalboard housing an MXR Phase 95, TC Electronic Flashback delay and a Jam Pedals Wahcko wah pedal – all also featured on Skolnick’s current rig – among other Lukather staples such as a Strymon Lex rotary speaker sim, a TC Electronic SCF Gold, and a Tim Jauernig Bombastortion.

Lukather also stocks a Strymon BlueSky reverb pedal, an MXR Smart Gate, an MXR Uni-Vibe, a pair of DigiTech Hardwire delay/loopers, a Boss FV-500L volume pedal, his signature Rodenberg Gas 789 overdrive pedal, and the Gurus Echosex, which typically Lukather likes to leave on all the time. 

And no 'board would be complete without a guitar tuner. Here, Lukather uses a DigiTech HT-6 polychromatic tuner.

Skolnick mentions that playing Lukather’s rig marked the first time he played Bogner amps, adding that he “approves” of them.

The Testament guitarist includes two videos of him playing the rig: one in which he plays the solo for Toto’s Hold the Line – which he also played in an episode of metal-themed YouTube chat show Two Minutes to Late Night in August last year – and another of him jamming Jeff Beck’s The Pump.

“Luke’s super-responsive tone brought to mind a fine tune by Jeff Beck, from 1980 (a time long before his name was all over the tabloids due to a certain celebrity buddy’s divorce trial and the timing of their recent tour),” Skolnick writes.

“The first time I’d heard it, it was covered live and completely nailed by Stef Burns, shortly before his (1991 – 1995) Alice Cooper stint.”

Skolnick concludes the post: “Thanks to Luke (from afar) and especially tech wizard and fellow guitarist Jon Gosnell for showing me around. [I] had a blast!”

In other Skolnick news, the Testament guitarist joined Steve Stevens, Richard Fortus and others back in April to perform Yes’s Starship Trooper in an epic all-star ensemble for Roadie Relief.

The biggest challenge of writing about Steve Lukather for this column was choosing a song to examine. As a first-call session guitarist, he’s played on hundreds of hits over the last four and a half decades, and he’s recorded more than two dozen albums with Toto, about a dozen albums as a solo artist and god knows how many projects as a primary band member, including collaborations with Larry Carlton and Edgar Winter.

Considering Lukather’s massive amount of experience, it seemed like a better idea to look at his most recent work to learn how his tone has evolved. Until a few years ago, Luke used to rely on a sophisticated rack setup to access a wide variety of studio-quality tones, but more recently he’s adopted a much simpler approach, relying on his versatile Ernie Ball Music Man Luke signature guitars, classic Marshall-style Bogner Helios 100 half-stacks and an assortment of stomp boxes. 

The “keep it simple” approach also applied to the recording of his latest solo album, I Found the Sun Again, which was recorded live in the studio without click tracks or multiple takes and with only minimal overdubs and post-processing.

Along for the Ride kicks off the album, highlighted by its catchy melodic riff and gorgeously gritty overdriven rhythm guitar tones. Luke generated the riff’s distinctive warble by striking the base of his Luke III’s vibrato bridge with his palm. 

His guitar’s tone during the solo at the end of the song is as good as it gets, with thick body, smooth sustain and percussive punch courtesy of boost from his signature ToneConcepts Distillery The Luke pedal and dynamic expression that oozes personality, which only comes from tens of thousands of hours working the fretboard.

According to Lukather, the latter is the key to truly great guitar tone, and gear is just the mechanism and foundation to present that.

“Once after I played a gig with Larry Carlton,” he illustrates, “this guy walked up to Larry and said, ‘That guitar you played sure sounded great tonight.’ Larry then pointed to the guitar on the stage and answered, ‘Oh yeah. And how does that guitar sound now?’” [Laughs] 

It’s a great lesson – the player matters more than the instrument, and one should obsess less about gear and more about developing one’s touch, expression, phrasing and nuance in the quest to achieve great tone.

Get the sound, cheap!

Sterling by Music Man Luke

Marshall DSL20CR

ToneConcepts Distillery The Luke

TONE TIP: Luke’s tone settings tend to give most frequencies equal weight, so avoid the temptation to boost just the mids or highs. Do, however, feel free to go heavy on the gain.

• I Found the Sun Again is out now via The Players Club.

Toto founder and electric guitar icon Steve Lukather has revealed that the band will not be recording any more studio albums.

Lukather, who plays in the band's 15th lineup alongside singer Joseph Williams and keyboardist David Paich, broke the news to Misplaced Straws while promoting their latest live album, With a Little Help From My Friends. 

“There’s not gonna be another Toto record,” said the 63-year-old. “What we do is continue doing what we do. Joe and I can make records that have some cats on it. We can go out and play as Toto. We get the audience, we pay off the people that sued us and we go forward.

"I’m gonna dig in. I don’t roll over easy," he continued. "I’ve taken punches over the last 45-plus years – whatever the hell it is; it’s a long time. So, I can take a punch, man, and I’ve taken a whole lot of ‘em on falsities. 

"But that’s okay. It’s behind me now. I let it all go. Peace and love to everybody. I don’t carry around any hate. I’m like, ‘OK, life changes. I’m sorry.' 

"It broke my heart, too. It’s like getting over a divorce, you got to get back on the horse again and do it. That’s what we plan on doing. There’s no malicious vibe or no, ‘I’m going to get even with everybody,’ or anything like that. It’s such a waste of time. I’m 63 years old, man. I don’t want to play games anymore.”

With a Little Help From My Friends documents a November 2020 show in LA, which showcased the first performance from the current live lineup. Alongside Lukather, Williams and Paich, the 15th incarnation of Toto features bassist John Pierce, drummer Robert "Sput" Searight, keyboardist/background vocalist Steve Maggiora, keyboardist Dominique "Xavier" Taplin and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham.

The latest iteration of Toto will hit the road for the first time through Europe next year, kicking off at KunstRasen in Bonn, Germany, and finishing at the Partille Arena in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Head over to Toto's official website to check out With A Little Help From My Friends, which is available now.

When Steve Lukather talks guitar, you take a knee and listen. For over 40 years, the LA-born musician has been the one constant member of multi-platinum rockers Toto, and as a session player his unparalleled CV includes stints with an array of legendary artists including Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Michael Jackson. 

On Jackson’s masterpiece Thriller, the biggest selling album of all time, it was Eddie Van Halen who played the solo in Beat It, but Lukather who laid down the song’s signature riff. These days he is also a member of Ringo Starr’s All Star Band, and Ringo is just one of the friends appearing on his latest solo album, I Found The Sun Again. 

“I have to pinch myself,” he says. “Ringo’s a dear friend, we FaceTime every week. Yes, he’s one of the Beatles, but he’s also one of the most intelligent, funny, soulful and spiritual people you could meet. You just wanna be around him. We got half a million YouTube views for my Run To Me video with him, and 100,000 views for the title track. If people were still buying singles I’d have a gold record by now!” 

As he adds with a knowing smile: “I’m not doing too bad for an old guy!” And this old guy has much hard-earned wisdom to pass on...

Keep your ears and your mind open

“I can listen to Slipknot and The Carpenters on the same day and not be weirded out by it. But I’ve always loved sweet chords. I wrote the ballads for Toto on piano. And high school was where it started for me. When I met [future Toto bandmates] the Porcaro brothers they turned me onto all this new music – jazz, funk, what the studio musicians in LA were playing – and my musical palette grew. 

“I was the guy always changing stations seeking out new stuff, I was enamored by jazz and jazz fusion, players like John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour and Jay Graydon. 

“They were the big boys, and I wanted to be like them. Larry’s solo on [Steely Dan’s] Kid Charlemagne hit me hard. He was a jazz guy playing with a rock sound – it had a little hair on it, and I loved it.

“I didn’t have aspirations to be a ‘rock star’ or to have a hit record, because that’s the needle in a haystack. I just wanted to be a professional musician, a studio player, because that was a more viable job. I wound up on a lot of TV shows like Midnight Special, this weird 18 year-old behind all these singers!“

Be a team player

“I was 19 when I got a gig with Boz Scaggs, and he was great. He made a big deal about me on stage, and that’s what sold Jeff Porcaro on the idea I might be the right guy for Toto. So I got a shot, and that’s the luck – getting the shot.

“The trick is getting that second call-back. You have to perform, and if you’re good enough to get the call-back you’ve made the cut. That means you can handle the pressure of the gig, of being creative and coming up with your parts on the spot, with no demos, no rehearsal, no warning of what was coming. 

“When you’re given a chart that says G, E minor, A minor, D – what are you gonna play? You get the vibe of the song, the drummer starts playing a little bit so you get the groove, everybody’s playing, and you gotta find a part that works, that helps the whole song glue together.“

Timing is everything

“What I have that some other, better, players didn’t is an arranger’s ear. If I’m working with another guitar player I’d better come up with something that works with his part. I’ve found myself playing with legends like Jay [Graydon], Ray Parker Jr., Dean Parks. Yeah, I got lucky, but you’ve still gotta bring it. 

“I’ve seen some incredible musicians fold up under the pressure once they see that red light go on. You gotta be a great rhythm guitar player, have great feel and great time, and you gotta be consistent. 

“I’ve had to overdub guys in big bands who could play the solos, but when they played [rhythm] to the click they had no swing, they were stiff and all over the time. I’d be the ringer that came in and played all the dumb parts but play ’em in time! I can’t tell you who – I had to sign NDAs! And when you do get a solo you don’t have to show how big your dick is in the first two bars, y’know?“

Sometimes it’s right to play a little out of tune

“When I played on Thriller, Quincy [Jones, producer] gave me free rein all the time. For Human Nature, he told me: ‘You gotta make this funky for me, man – I gotta get this on RnB radio’. I said to Bruce [Swedien, legendary record engineer] ‘Let’s try something – plug me direct, let’s get a weird sound. 

“I came up with the part and double-tracked it, but for the second track we slowed the tape down a bit to make it a little out of tune, like the Beatles used to do. The two parts rubbed against each other a bit, gave it a quirky chorusy feeling, and Quincy loved it. Beat It was Michael’s riff, and when I changed it a little he started dancing, doing the Michael Jackson thing two feet away from me. 

“I’m 24 years old thinking I’d made the big time! I played the bass and all the guitars on that one, except Ed [Van Halen]’s solo. I’d used all these Marshalls, then Quincy called me back saying, ‘It sounds too big! I want to make this a crossover hit – use one of your little amps!’ So I plugged in my Fender Deluxe, backed off the distortion and gave him what you hear on the final record.“

For extra motivation, get a shitty job!

“If I were a kid starting out now, I would find a gig with someone with a record deal, a singer who needs a band. That’s a viable possibility for when the gigs come back, and they will. If you do wanna be in a band, it is competitive, but if you and your music are good enough you will rise. 

“As a kid I had a couple of shitty jobs – no way I was going to clean out dry cleaning solvent for the rest of my life! I suggest every kid have a shit job to motivate them to do what they wanna do.“

If you want to make money, write songs

“I still talk to [Toto keyboardist] David Paich every day at 6am. He’s not medically able to tour, but runs the band with me. We got a new line-up for our livestream show [last November] and it worked. I’m the thread through all 15 incarnations of the band. 

“Dave was a master composer, he wrote Hold The Line, Rosanna, co-wrote Africa with Jeff. He always said that if you write good songs and get great musicians to play them it’s going to sound like dope. 

“He would encourage me to write, then we’d write together, and by Toto IV we were all writing. It’s more lucrative than not writing, and the more you work on it the better you can get. We do solo stuff in the Toto set now, as a lot of the same people buy the records. But the world has changed. We’ve had three billion streams with Toto – three billion! And where’s the fucking money? I could use some right now!“

It’s a hard knock life!

“It’s a simple way of life. When somebody smacks you in the face and knocks you on your ass you get up and go: ‘Fuck you - give me another one!’ If you can’t take it get out, because that’s what this business is emotionally, it’s a punch in the face. You’ll hear ‘no’ a lot more than ‘yes’, and there’s real pressure. 

“That red light’s on – are you gonna deliver, or fold up like a chair? People say ‘It’s easy being a rock star! Anyone can do it’, like people say, ‘I’m an actor, I can remember lines, it’s easy!’ Yeah? Show me! Show me how easy it is next to a Jack Nicholson! 

“For us guitarists, it’s much harder and more tedious to learn how to play simple than it is to play 90 million miles an hour. There are levels of shred, and I’m on a low level. I used to learn George Harrison shit and everyone thought I was a badass! Now there’s these little kids on YouTube who play like Stevie Ray Vaughan. I was trained for a different era.“

Go easy on the effects

“The '80s were famous for too much of everything – chorus, delays. I’d play on a couple of records with these effects, then producers would ask you for that sound. I’d say, ‘Well I don’t hear that on this song,’ but they’d want it. 

“When they hire you they’d say ‘You’re gonna bring the Bradshaw, right?’ because that’s the sound they going for. On the first Toto records I’d have the time and money to experiment on layering guitars, but working on other people’s music, you had to give them what they want. 

“I get these guys making digital fx patches called things like ‘Luke’ and it’s all this flanging and reverb and it sounds like a wash of shit. ‘So that’s what you think I sound like?!’ But I have been guilty of overusing that stuff, shamefully so. 

“The day after I got the Bradshaw rig I did my Star Licks [instructional] video. It was an era. The clothes, the hair, the drugs, MTV... Those were heady times, bro! You had to be there.“

Find your own sound... 

“I know good when I hear it. Snarky Puppy are one of my favorite bands, and Tosin Abasi [Animals As Leaders] is an alien! Call me a musical snob, but I still like cats who can really play, and not just pretend, like these guys who make a wall of crunchy, quadrupled guitars then play the harmonic minor scale at lightning speed. 

“Maybe it’s a thing, a style purposely done, but I’m just saying – when I was a kid you could hear the difference between Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin. 

“My son Trev’s got his own band, Levara, they sound like Toto if we were heavier. He writes his solos out, and he once told me, ‘Dad, I’m not gonna just go play the blues for you!’ And I’m like ‘Great, you found your niche!’ And that’s important. Find your niche, find your sound, find your place. Not everybody can play everything."

• I Found the Sun Again is out now via The Players Club.

Joe Bonamassa is set to host the upcoming second annual stream-a-thon presented by his Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation – a livestream concert that will see JoBo perform alongside a huge array of electric guitar and acoustic guitar heroes to raise money for those affected by the pandemic.

Airing this Sunday (April 18) at 3pm ET, the virtual event promises an abundance of Bonamassa’s legendary friends, as well as a slew of emerging axe slingers, all of whom will join forces to support the Foundation's "Fueling Musicians" program.

Performing both original songs and classic covers, the blues-rock wizard will be joined by Toto, Dion, Ana Popovic, Warren Haynes, Bobby Rush, Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Gales, Kirk Fletcher, Tyler Bryant and many, many more.

Jared James Nichols and Emily Wolfe – who will no doubt be wielding their respective new signatures, the Epiphone Gold Glory and Sheraton Stealth – have also been recruited to join the online gig.

In total, the mammoth virtual event will include over three hours of non-stop guitar-heavy music played by 30 guest musicians.

As well as providing viewers with a bounty of out-of-this-world guitar work, the event will also sell exclusive merchandise, including signature guitars signed by Wolfe and Nichols themselves.

Since the start of its fundraising effort over a year ago, the program has been able to raise $417,000 in funding for those in need, with immediate $1,500 payments being given to help pay essential living expenses and keep musicians afloat.

The Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation second annual stream-a-thon will be streamed live on Joe Bonamassa's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

With all that leaf-blower vs 7am guitar solo rivalry out of the way, Steve Lukather has shared an upbeat new song, Run To Me, featuring Ringo Starr on drums. The famed electric guitar player, singer and songwriter says the tune is “heavily influenced” by his connection to music from the late ‘60s. 

Run To Me was co-written by Lukather and Toto alumni David Paich and Joseph Williams. The song features Luke on guitar and vocals, Starr on drums, Williams on keyboards and background vocals and Huey Lewis & The News’s John Pierce on bass.

“I wanted to release this now because it fits the moment,” Luke said. “A time where we all need a happy song for an unhappy time.

“When I got together with Joseph Williams and David Paich to collaborate on the songwriting, there was pure collective inspiration amongst the three of us to articulate this message of hope directed towards our daughters. Musically, the song is absolutely influenced by my growing up in the ‘60s, inspired by some of my favorite elements of the repertoire that defined that indelible era. 

“And, Ringo, what can I say. It is an honor to have his contribution captured on a song of mine, much less his gracious presence in the video. Over the course of the last decade, we’ve become dear friends traveling the world with one another, and much like Paich and Williams, I am certainly blessed to have these talented, amazing human beings in my life as both band mates and friends. As we all look towards the unknown of this crazy world we are living in, simply my hope is this tune brings a little peace, love and pleasant distraction to these uncertain times.”

You can check out Run To Me and the accompanying video above, complete with a hugely tasteful solo from the session great. And stay tuned for details on Luke’s forthcoming solo album, due in early 2021.

In the meantime, Lukather recently released his latest Ernie Ball Music Man Luke III and Luke III Maple Top models.

Steve Lukather was born on this day, October 21, 1957.

The Toto guitarist, session veteran and all-around great guy has recorded far too many notable guitar parts over the years to count, but - upon discovering this gem on YouTube - we thought we'd highlight one of the best.

Above, you can hear Lukather's isolated guitar work from Toto's monster 1982 hit, Rosanna.

Though chances are you've heard Rosanna a time or two in your life, the video will likely give you a new appreciation for Lukather's playing, which has made its way onto more than 1,500 albums in total.

Enjoy!

Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has confirmed that the long-running band, best known for smash hits like Hold the Line, Rosanna and… what is it… oh yes – Africa, will call it quits following their current 40 Trips Around the Sun 40th anniversary tour.

In an interview with The Morning Call, the electric guitar man said that the final date of the trek, on October 20 in Philadelphia, will be their last – at least in their current form.

"I don't know what the future-future's gonna be, but I do know that's gonna be the last show for the foreseeable future," he said. "And certainly the end of this configuration of Toto.”

In addition to Lukather, the current line-up of the six-time Grammy Award-winning band includes founding member Steve Porcaro and, until recently, David Paich and longtime singer Joseph Williams.

Lukather was hesitant to say if Toto might re-emerge in a different form, but did add, “I can tell you that this version is dead October 20. We gotta take a break from all this. We were beat up really badly and we gotta heal and figure out what's going on.”

He continued, “I'm not saying I'm never gonna play this music again – that would be stupid to say; that would be a lie. I can play whatever I want from my entire career with whomever I want to, and so can everybody else. But I don't know what that is yet."

Lukather goes on to state that the decision to stop is based in part on the toll of being out on the road for long stretches of time.

“This kind of lifestyle is way harder than people think it is,” he admits. “They just think that we float around from city to city magically and live a life of luxury. And I’m not saying that we travel poorly, but it’s a burden to be away from your family 230 days a year, like me.”

As for what comes next for Luke personally, the Ernie Ball player revealed that he has a new solo record in the works, as well as a follow-up to his 2017 autobiography, The Gospel According to Luke. He’ll also still be out on the road as a member of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band.

“How do you say no to Ringo Starr? You just don’t,” he says. "But that is my vacation tour. I’m also touring on my own in Japan. I got a lot of stuff going on, man, all year long. I got a couple of my fusion bands working. There’s talk about something in Europe that I can’t talk about yet; but it’s like a guitar-player thing. It’s really cool.”

Toto have unveiled a previously unreleased vintage track, “Chelsea.”

The “new old” song comes off All In, a limited-edition Toto box set boasting 17 LPs and 13 CDs.

All In features the following Toto albums on 17 LPs and 13 CDs: Toto, Hydra, Turn Back, IV, Isolation, Fahrenheit, The Seventh One, Kingdom of Desire, Tambu, Mindfields and Toto XX. Two Blu-rays are also included: Toto IV in 5.1 surround sound along with the Live in Paris 1990 concert. The set also includes a previously unreleased Live in Tokyo EP from their 1980 tour, along with an album titled Old is New.

Old is New features seven previously unreleased songs, among them “Chelsea," which was written by guitarist Steve Lukather, keyboardist David Paich, keyboardist Steve Porcaro and singer Joseph Williams.

Explained Williams about the lyrics: “I lived in Chelsea/Kensington, London as a kid and as we had written this cool Beatle-y shuffle, and we wanted an ‘English' feel, the guys let me run with the lyrics on Chelsea. In those days (1968-1971) we studied Shakespeare in school. I LOVED it! So for the words for Chelsea I have two of Shakespeare’s stories going.  Modern versions of Romeo and Juliet in verse one and then Hamlet in verse two. The chorus talks about those stories as well as Chelsea the place (Shakespeare’s house was moved there stone by stone in 1910) and some of my memories of it as a 10 year old kid!”

Also included in the box set is a 28-page booklet which includes new essays and previously unseen photos. 

For more information, head over to Toto’s official website.

Toto have unveiled a previously unreleased vintage track, “Devil’s Tower,” originally slated to appear on the band’s classic 1982 effort, Toto IV.

The “new old” song is being shared today in celebration of All In, a limited-edition Toto box set boasting 17 LPs and 13 CDs that is only available via the band’s website. 

All In features the following Toto albums on 17 LPs and 13 CD: Toto, Hydra, Turn Back, IV, Isolation, Fahrenheit, The Seventh One, Kingdom of Desire, Tambu, Mindfields and Toto XX.  Two Blu-rays are also included: Toto IV in 5.1 surround sound along with the Live in Paris 1990 concert. The set also includes a previously unreleased Live in Tokyo EP from their 1980 tour, along with an album titled Old is New.

Old is New features seven previously unreleased songs, among them “Devil’s Tower.”

“We originally recorded this track with Mike and Jeff Porcaro back in 1981 during the sessions for Toto IV," guitarist Steve Lukather explained.

Also included in the box set is an 80-page hardcover book which includes new essays, and previously unseen photos. All box sets will include a numbered 8"x 8" certificate of authenticity personally signed by the band.

For more information, head over to Toto’s official website.

In his new autobiography, The Gospel According to Luke, guitarist Steve Lukather tells the story of how he and his high school friends became the most in-demand session players in L.A., and then went on to form Toto, a band that continues to defy the odds and has sold more than 40 million albums.

Co-written with Paul Rees, Lukather’s biography is an engaging, hilarious and at times tender look into the life of one of music’s most accomplished guitarists and session players. His list of musical achievements alone are enough to fill an entire book. The five-time Grammy winner (and eight-time nominee) has worked with everyone from Boz Scaggs and Paul McCartney to Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis. He was once asked to join Elton John’s touring band and played guitar on Michael Jackson’s Thriller – the biggest selling album of all time. Then there’s his personal, brotherly relationship with the Porcaro brothers and Toto, and all of the highs and lows in between.

The Gospel According to Luke is more than a time capsule of life, love and redemption. It’s a treasure trove of information for anyone wondering what it was like being in the studio and working alongside some of the greatest artists, producers and engineers in music history.

Guitar World recently spoke with Lukather about his new book, session work, gear and more. 

What made you decide to write a book about your life and career? Was it something you always thought about doing?

I originally wasn’t looking to do a book at all. A few years ago I got invited to the Grammy Museum to do a Q&A with Scott Goldman. It was one of those interviews where he asked me questions about my whole career, and I didn’t know what was coming. I remember the room was packed and as I was talking, people were howling in the aisles, laughing at all of my stories. When I came offstage, my agents came up to me and said, “You have got to write a book.” From there, I started getting calls from publishers and it morphed out of that. We spent a few years doing it, editing and rewriting. It was hard because there’s a lot of life I remember clearly, and a lot where they told me I had a good time! [laughs]

What was the writing process like?

It was very cathartic and brought back a lot of memories, both good and bad. The session years, in particular, brought back a lot great memories. Those were wonderful times for me.

How did you become involved in session work?

My father saw being a pro musician as something more attainable than a rock star. I played by ear from the ages of seven to 14 and then took proper lessons. From that point, I met the Porcaro brothers. Both they and their father were session players. I started reading liner notes and following all of the great studio guitar players I looked up to, like, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton, Jay Graydon and Ray Parker Jr. I also happened to be geographically placed where I could actually meet these guys. Jeff [Porcaro] knew them all because Jeff was in Steely Dan when we were in high school.  

What was it that appealed to you as session player?

It was the challenge. You never knew what was going to happen. People imagine studio players just sitting in a room reading dots on a piece of paper, like regular notation, but most of the time all we got were blank sheets of paper with chord symbols on it. Then they’d count off the song and you had to play something that was part of the arrangement. You had to be a quick study by listening to the song, finding a cool part that worked and then adding great hooks to the song. That’s what kept getting you called back. It’s also about playing with other musicians. Listening to what they do and complementing them. It’s about making everyone sound good and not just yourself. That’s what we did every day.

You played an enormous role on Michael Jackson’s album, Thriller. Is there a story behind Eddie Van Halen’s solo on “Beat It”?

I played everything on that song except the solo. Eddie’s solo was already done, but Donn Landee [Eddie’s engineer] had accidentally cut the two-inch tape, and they couldn’t sync up the master solo to the master lead vocal and everything else that was on the tapes. So, Jeff Porcaro and I put it all back together again. Jeff made his own click track and cuts and I put all the guitar and bass parts on it. I came up with a few of the other parts with Michael [Jackson] and Quincy [Jones] while we were hanging. 

What’s your current setup like?

It’s simple. I’m using Bogner Helios, which I love, and 4x12’s. I also have a few stomp boxes on the floor along with a stereo delay, loop and wah. 

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

I just finished a tour with Ringo [Starr] and now I’ll be heading to the East Coast area with Toto. We’re releasing a new box set and are doing big business all over the world. I’ll also be doing a few shows with Toxic Monkey, my all-star rock/fusion band with Bill Evans, Will Lee, Keith Carlock and Steve Weingart, at the Iridium in New York for a week in December.

Of all the highlights if your career, is there one thing that stands out to you as most memorable?

There’s been so many of them. I’ve been in the room with some of the greatest artists, engineers and producers in the history of popular music over the last 60 years. It depends on the day. Is it Aretha Franklin sitting at the grand piano two feet away from me? Is it Paul McCartney standing there, or is it me jamming with George Harrison, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne? Then there’s Miles Davis, or standing there while Wayne Shorter makes me laugh as Herbie Hancock is taking a solo [laughs]. When I think about it I’m like, “How did this happen to me?” I can’t help but wake up and be grateful.

Is there a message you’d like readers to take away from The Gospel According to Luke? 

It’s a little piece of my life, and the best I could do given the amount of time and space that I’ve had. It’s the good, the bad, the ugly and the funny. It’s all there. There are things I wish I could go back and do over again, but then there are people who say you’re doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing right at this very second. Maybe all things lead to this moment. I’ve had a wonderful life and career and if it ended today I couldn’t be mad at anybody. I’ve surpassed any dream I may have had as a child. It’s sometimes hard to believe that I pulled it off. Maybe I’ll slow down in a couple of years, but right now, I’m going to continue to enjoy the ride.  

Legendary guitarist and Toto member Steve Lukather recently sat down with Ernie Ball to share his thoughts on Weezer’s cover of the Toto anthem, “Africa.”

“No one is laughing harder than me! And nobody appreciates it more than all of us at Toto,” Lukather said. “But, on the other hand, this one is really hard to do. Harder than it sounds.” You can read the full interview here.

Recorded by the band after a months-long campaign by the fan account @WeezerAfrica, the cover became Weezer’s highest charting song since 2009, reaching No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Below, watch Weezer perform “Africa” on Jimmy Kimmel Live with a guest appearance from Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro.

Toto have announced their definitive box set, a gargantuan 17 LP collection titled All In.

The limited edition set will not be available in any retail stores, and will only be available to purchase until April 10. The collection features the band's entire studio output up until 1999's Mindfields (Double LP set), in addition to Toto XX, the previously unreleased Live in Tokyo EP and a previously unreleased album called Old is New.

Live in Tokyo was recorded during the band's 1980 tour, while Old is New collects seven previously unreleased tracks, plus three until-recently unreleased songs featured on the band's new greatest hits collection, 40 Trips Around the Sun. All of the music in the box set was personally remastered by the band along with Elliot Scheiner.

The box set also includes an 80-page hardcover book which includes new essays, and previously unseen photos, a Blu-Ray featuring Toto IV in 5.1 surround sound and the band's Live in Paris 1990 concert film, and a numbered 8"x 8" certificate of authenticity personally signed by the band.

A CD version of All In with just the albums will be made available later this year.

You can preorder All In right here. All orders will ship this fall.

Toto have announced a new compilation, 40 Trips Around the Sun. The album—which is set for a February 9 release via Sony/Legacy—features 17 tracks, including three previously unreleased recordings.

The core members of the band—Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro and Joseph Williams—re-entered the studio earlier this year to work on the album. While going through the vaults, the band uncovered several unfinished tracks that featured both Jeff and Mike Porcaro, one of which would later become “Spanish Sea.”

“This track ["Spanish Sea"] is originally from the Isolation sessions,” Lukather said. “It’s one that didn't make it and we had to re-write it including creating a new chorus. Thanks to modern tech we were able to play once again with not only our 20 something selves but with our dear brothers Jeff and Mike Porcaro reminding us just how deep their groove was."

"Many stories, laughs and a few tears on this one," he continued. "It’s classic Toto with an excellent solo. I kept the old 1985 melody solo that Dave wanted me to do. It sounds like it was done 2 weeks ago, not 30 + years ago!”

The album features two other previously unreleased tracks, "Struck by Lightning" and the compilation's first single, "Alone."

Of "Alone," Lukather said “This one was written with just the four of us really writing together and no one else in the room with us. We wanted to start with an ‘up’ song in terms of groove for the album. The lyric is darker but we are older guys now and have lived life."

"The good, bad and ugly, we have lived it all and in the end we are all alone anyway. Proud of this piece and it just sort of organically happened.”

You can preorder 40 Trips Around the Sun here. For more on Toto, stop by totoofficial.com.

40 Trips Around the Sun tracklist:

Alone

Spanish Sea

I'll Supply The Love

I'll Be Over You

Stranger In Town

99

Struck By Lightning

Pamela

Afraid Of Love

I Won't Hold You Back

Jake To The Bone

Stop Loving You

Lea

Hold The Line

George Porgy

Rosanna

Africa

Los Angeles-based CMH Records will release a new album, Pickin' on the Biggest Hits of the 1980s: Volume 2, on February 24.

The album, which represents the second time the "Pickin' On" crew covered Eighties hits, features a brand-new bluegrass interpretation of Toto's 1982 hit "Africa," plus 11 more songs. You can check out our exclusive premiere of "Africa" below.

The collection was produced by Brad Davis, who is known in bluegrass circles for his "double down up" guitar technique, not to mention his songwriting, vocals and producing skills. He has worked with Willie Nelson, Earl Scruggs, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, Dwight Yoakam, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and many more.

And speaking of big names, Toto's Steve Lukather is a fan of Davis' version of "Africa."

"Of all the renditions of our song—and there are many—Brad Davis has taken it to a place I never expected in the coolest way," Lukather says.

"I'm honored to be the producer of the CMH bluegrass tribute to the Eighties," Davis adds. "I felt like these songs had such an impact on our generation that the only way to create a bluegrass arrangement was to use the original track as my pilot for the 'grass version. I fell in love with these songs years ago, and I hope this tribute will cause everyone to fall in love again.”

Besides Davis, who sings and plays acoustic rhythm and lead guitars, banjo, mandolin and acoustic bass on the album, Pickin' on the Biggest Hits of the 1980s: Volume 2 also features performances by vocalists Makenzie Rains and Lou Ann Price.

"Africa" will be available as an instant-grat track via iTunes starting Friday, February 10. Head here for more information.

For more information, visit cmhrecords.com/collections/pickin-on.

Pickin' on the Biggest Hits of the 1980s: Volume 2 Track Listing:

• 1. Africa (Toto)
• 2. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) (Whitney Houston)
• 3. Walking on Sunshine (Katrina & The Waves)
• 4. Faith (George Michael)
• 5. Our House (Madness)
• 6. The Power of Love (Huey Lewis & The News)
• 7. Dancing with Myself (Billy Idol)
• 8. Walk Like an Egyptian (The Bangles)
• 9. Simply Irresistible (Robert Palmer)
• 10. Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins)
• 11. I Want to Know What Love Is (Foreigner)
• 12. Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)

Toto have premiered “Holy War,” a new song from their upcoming album, Toto XIV. You can hear it below.

The album, which will be released March 20 via Frontiers Music, is available now for preorder.

“Holy War” is available now—along with another song, “Orphan”—as an instant-gratification track on iTunes when you order the album.

Toto XIV is the band’s first album of new material since 2006’s Falling In Between. It is a realized vision three-plus decades in the making, packed with the masterful arrangements, topical lyrical commentary and melodies that Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Joseph Williams and their bandmates bring to life.

"When you put us in a room, and everybody brings in their pieces, the next thing you know it all fits together," Lukather says. "Everybody's performances are top notch. We are really bringing our best out, forcing ourselves to make personal best choices, what's best for the music. I'm really excited to hear what people think."

The band will hit the ground running with a European headline arena tour with appearances at key festivals. The itinerary begins in Glasgow May 21 and takes Toto through the UK, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Italy and Belgium.

For more about Toto, visit totoofficial.com.

Toto XIV Track Listing:

• 01. Running Out Of Time
• 02. Burn
• 03. Holy War
• 04. 21st Century Blues
• 05. Orphan
• 06. Unknown Soldier (For Jeffrey)
• 07. The Little Things
• 08. Chinatown
• 09. All The Tears That Shine
• 10. Fortune
• 11. Great Expectations

2015 Toto Tour Dates:

5/21 Glasgow, UK Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
5/23 Dublin, Ireland Vicar Street (SOLD OUT)
5/25 Manchester, UK 02 Apollo Manchester
5/26 London, UK Apollo Hammersmith
5/28 Paris, France Zenith
5/29 Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg Rockhal
5/30 Amsterdam, Netherlands Ziggo Dome
6/02 Sonderborg, Denmark Molleparkens Friluftscene
6/03 Copenhagen, Denmark Falkoner Theatre
6/04 Solvesborg, Sweden Sweden Rock Festival
6/06 Bergen, Norway Bergen Calling
6/07 Oslo, Norway Sentrum Scene (SOLD OUT)
6/10 Bremerhaven, Germany Stadthalle
6/11 Berlin, Germany Tempodrome
6/12 Leipzig, Germany Parkbuhne
6/13 Dresden, Germany Junge Garde
6/15 Cologne, Germany Tanzbrunnen
6/16 Offenbach, Germany Stadthalle
6/17 Stuttgart, Germany Freilichtbuhne Killesberg
6/18 Abenberg, Germany Burg Abenberg
6/20 Hinwil, Switzerland Rock The Ring Festival
6/21 Klam, Austria Castle Clam
6/23 Wroclaw, Poland Orbita Hol
6/24 Warsaw, Poland Torwar
6/26 Budapest, Hungary Petofi Hall
6/27 Bucharest, Romania Sala Palatului
6/28 Sofia, Bulgaria Arena Armeec
6/30 Belgrade, Serbia Kalemegdan Fortress
7/03 Milan, Italy City Sound Milan
7/05 Rome, Italy Cavea Auditorium
7/07 Kufstein, Austria Festungsarena
7/08 Munich, Germany Olympiahalle
7/10 Zottegem, Belgium Rock Zottegem Festival
7/13 Morzine, France Morzine Harley Days
7/15 Nimes, France Festival de Nimes
7/16 Vienne, France Theatre Antique
7/19 Taormina, Italy Anfiteatro Romano

Steve Lukather, Toto's veteran guitarist, isn't a newcomer to rock. Along with his Toto work, he has played on albums like Michael Jackson's Thriller, solidifying his reputation as a guitarist who's sound has touched the ears of millions. His new album,Transition, is a bold statement, and shows that even after all these years, Lukather isn't ready to slow down.

You must be really excited about Transition.

I’m lucky to still be doing this after 36 years. But, I’m digging deep, man. I’m clear, focused, healthy, and motivated. I tried to make a musical statement that I can be proud of and have some fun doing it. I think it turned out pretty good for an old guy (laughs).

Could you talk about the writing process, and the kind of gear you used for the album?

I used a Bogner Ecstasy, an Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, and the new L-3 Music Man guitar with DiMarzio pickups. I kept it real simple. All the effects were done as plug-ins. I really tried to go way more organic, for lack of a better term. I just wanted to get great tone, less gain, not so much flash, more phrasing and interesting choice of notes. I think that’s what I probably do best. As far as the writing process, I did it totally different than I normally do. Usually, I just cut everything with live tracks and overdub to that, but this time, from the moment my fingers hit the guitar neck, my writing partner and co-producer, C.J, and I were working on writing in his studio, and we kept everything. Oddly enough, the way it’s sequenced on the record is the way we wrote it. First song we wrote was “Judgement Day.” The second was “Creep Motel,” and so on. You know, I’m just trying to be an “artist,” playing to the people who like what I do, and try and to be the best version of myself that I can be right now.

The lyrics seem more personal than on your previous work.

Steve: You know, I had a few dark, lost years that I’m not really too proud of, but after 36 years on the road, and all the personal, weird, dark, fucked-up experiences that one goes through in life, I’ve cleaned out my mind, body, and soul and gotten back into my love of playing the guitar. I appreciate my career more than ever. I’ve sort of publicly apologized for my sins, even though Youtube will never let me forget a bad night or a bad moment, with all those pleasant people who leave those comments (laughs). You know, I’ve been the human piñata more than one time and it’s painful, so I try not to read that shit. My shrink tells me it’s like people who cut themselves. You know, reading people’s personal hatred towards me is like taking a razor blade and cutting my arms or something like that. Everybody has haters and that’s part of life. That’s what the song “Creep Motel” is about. People who just sit in a little room by themselves and hate other people. It’s an unbelievable waste of time to me. And as a hypersensitive person, it really fucked with me for a while. But, I’ll have to take my beatings along with the good shit that comes, so what can I say? I’m sorry I lost my way for a minute, but I’m back and I feel great.

What is your favorite solo on Transition

Steve: Well, the opening track, “Judgement Day”, has a pretty cool solo. I try not to play in that pentatonic box. I try to define the chord changes a little differently a little bit more by ear and not as a typical rock or a typical blues scale kind of thing, even though it’s all rooted in the blues because everything fuckin’ cool is. I just try to...you know, I love jazz music but I’m not really a jazz guitar player in the traditional sense. People that I look up to mix rock and jazz and I’m a little bit more rock. I just try and play differently than maybe the other people would approach those changes, stylistically speaking.

Dave: What are your thoughts on your new Transition pickups from DiMarzio?

Steve: I wanted to try something different. I’ve had an incredible relationship with Music Man guitars. Sterling Ball, Brian, Scotty, and all their guys are like my family and best friends and I’ve been with them since 1992. We’ve developed these guitars and had different versions of them. With the third version, which is the L-3, I realized I like the guitar, but I don’t like active pickups. I ran into Larry DiMarzio many times. He’s a really cool guy, and some of the artists on his roster...come on! They’re some of the best artists of all time. I wanted to try something different and when I ran into Larry, I told him that. He sent over a bunch of different things, we went through some stuff, and I found something that I really liked that was really versatile and really full-bodied. It has a little bit more of the lower-mids that fill out the sound and doesn’t have that scoop in the middle. I like EMGs and I still have them, but Larry just changed my whole thing. As I changed my whole lifestyle to be more organic, I made my sound more organic. I’m not using any digital shit, no MIDI shit. I use a few stomp boxes on the floor right into the amp with a cable, passive DiMarzio pickups, and a bigger guitar body. I’m really quite pleased with how it turned out. I’m honored to be a part of that roster, too. There are some really diverse and amazing musicians on it, and on the Music Man team as well.

I heard that you have a photo of you and George Harrison on your iPhone.

I do have a picture of me and George Harrison. As a matter of fact, he was playing my ‘59 ‘burst. It was at the tribute to Jeff Porcaro in 1992 after Jeff passed. We became friends and he would call me, come over, and hang out. I have a few Beatles friends. I’ve worked with Paul as well in the ‘80s when I worked on the Thriller album, and then we did some other stuff right after that. I started playing guitar because of the Beatles and George was my first guitar hero. To be able to say that we were friends and to get to play and hang a little bit was a huge moment for me.

What was the story behind that jam?

Well, I ran into him in a club of all places in L.A. in 1992 and I knew that I had to meet George since he’s the reason that I play. I wanted to be George. He was the guy who did the guitar solo on “I Saw Her Standing There” and that touched me deeply. There was nothing before that sounded like it. Now it’s like 50 years old and the young don’t get it, but for us it was like aliens had landed. Just like when Jimi first hit, there was nothing like that. When I met George, we hit it off! He stunned me. I gave him my number thinking he was never going to call me, but not only did he call me, but he showed up and played. He would come into town, call me, and we would go out to dinner. We had this amazing jam with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, and Jim Keltner one night. It’s just unreal. He came up here with his son who wanted to meet Slash, who was a buddy of mine, so I brought him up to the house to meet Slash. George drove up in a little, beat-up car because he didn’t want to be noticed. No bodyguards, no shit, just a regular guy. He shared a lot of wisdom with me. He’s very soulful. I really dug him. And now that I have my Ringo connection, I’ve gotten to work with three of the four! I have a great picture of Paul McCartney, Jeff Porcaro, Linda, and me in my kitchen. It’s a great memory of something we did in the ‘80s. And there are not a lot of people that wow me like that. I’ve worked with a lot of really cool people in my career, but this is the high point.

What was it like to work with a young Michael Jackson on Thriller?

Steve: Well, I was a young Steve Lukather! (laughs) Michael and I were the same age. I think I was 23 or 24 years old when we did that. I was doing all of Quincy Jones’ records, so I did the Dude right prior to that. It was in between Off the Wall, which I didn’t work on, and Quincy did the Dude and David Foster told Quincy to hire me and he did and he liked me a lot, so I ended up doing all of his records for four or five years. When the Thriller album came up, we all knew that was going to be the cool record. You know you’ve made the A-team when you’re on certain records and that was definitely one of them. I remember Michael calling me on the phone at 8:00 am, saying, “Hey, this is Michael Jackson,” and I said “fuck off!” and hung up, thinking that someone was playing a joke on me. Two hours later I got a call from Quincy’s office explaining that the caller actually was Michael, so I called him back, and he was like, “oh, it happens all the time.” He was really nice, very professional. When Jeff Porcaro and I put “Beat It” back together again after Eddie cut the two-inch tape, they weren’t around. I ended up going back and working with Quincy and Michael later, after Jeff put the drum part on and I put the riff, all the guitar parts, and the bass part on. I worked on about 3 or 4 other things on that record, too. I mean, he did “Human Nature”, a Toto song, with us playing. We wrote and arranged it and Michael sang on it, but people don’t really give us much credit for it. Whatever. It was a very positive experience.

How did you balance Toto and consistent session work?

You know what? I wasn’t just sitting around the house. There were always rumors about how we were supposed to be a bunch of coke freaks and shit, and I’m hardly saying that we were innocent in that era of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but I was up at 10:00 am, working until 2:00 am everyday. I was doing sessions. We were working on records, making tours. We were very focused. When I look back at that time, I had some of the most amazing times of my life with the most amazing artists, musicians, engineers, and producers. I learned so much. It was a joy, man! Everyday you wake up and go, “who am I playing with today? Who’s going to be there? What studio am I at? Am I getting paid for this shit? This is amazing!” It was truly a dream come true. You made the time to do it all. I don’t really think about it. I look back at it now and think, “How the fuck did I do all of this?” I’ve kept date books since 1977 and I’ve started my book about my life and times in the studio. I’m writing it with my old high school buddy. He’s the editor of Riff Magazine. I’m trying to keep it interesting. I read a lot of biographies and so much is just so boring or so, like, “why did you say that?” I just want to write about the music, not about the stupid shit we did. There’s a lot of information about how the records were made, who actually contributed to what part. There are so many interesting stories rather than who fucked who or how much blow did you do. Some of these biographies, I wouldn’t put that stuff out. But hey, that’s just me.

When is that coming out?

Oh, it’s going to take me a few years get through that because I’m so lucky to be so busy doing all of these crazy things.

How did you fall into a lot of the session work?

We all went to school together. I went to high school in the Valley with the Karl Brothers, one of my old friends, Mike Landau. A couple of the guys went on to do really cool things and, I mean Jeff Porcaro was playing drums for Steely Dan when we were still in school. And so we got into the scene and I started meeting all the players, you know, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, right out of school. And then, before the machines took over, you could do demo sessions and get paid for it. It was kind of like the minor leagues. You’d start out in the minor leagues and then you’d work your way up to the major leagues, so you learned about how to do all this stuff, how to come up with parts, get your sound together, the etiquette of session playing, and the whole thing. It was all that you really needed to learn. I was very lucky to be geographically located in Los Angeles and to have the opportunity of knowing some older friends like Page and David Foster and people that I met along the way like Lee Ritenour who helped me and recommended me for sessions. And then, right out of school, Boz Scaggs’ Silk Degrees album was one of the biggest records of that year and a bunch of us jumped on that tour when we were like eighteen, nineteen years old, and that became Toto, which became...it just sort of all snowballed at once. I was very lucky. It just all blew up at one time and I happened to be all ready to handle it. Unfortunately, this era is gone. It’ll never happen again. There’s no session scene anymore. There’s no...I don’t know...who’s the twenty-year-old guy coming up? There isn’t one. I mean, who’s the next real guitar hero? Who’s the game changer? Who do you think it is? Where’s the eighteen-year-old wonder kid? I’m not talking about the guy who can play the fastest, because there’s a lot of that. We all know that there’s some incredible technique going on out there, and I bow to it with respect. But, where’s the guy who’s gonna come along and fuck it all up and make people go “what the fuck is that? How the fuck is he doing that? What is that sound?” Have we really done it all? Everything seems to be really derivative of something that has come before it, even to the point of full-on plagiarism of looks, sound, and technique. I mean, gosh, I guess it’s hard to dress up the clown in a new way. I’m certainly welcoming this and the concept of bands that would just come along and kick everyone off of their lazy asses and make them go, “wow, this is the new shit!” Not to say that there’s anything wrong with today. God bless classic rock. It’s been very good to me; I’ll tell you that. But I should say to you, as an older guy, that I look down and recognize that I had my turn. I’m still trying to revise my shit and am thankful to have the gigs, but who’s the twenty year old that’s going to come around and blow everybody’s mind? Where is the Eddie Van Halen? Where’s the Jimi? Where’s the Jeff Beck? Where’s the game changer?

Were you ever offered a project that you declined and later regretted?

Yeah, I was asked to be in Elton John’s band, Joni Mitchell’s band and Miles Davis’ band. I couldn’t do it. A lot of the guys in Toto had similar things. Jeff was asked to be in Springsteen’s band, Dire Straits. We’ve all been offered lots of really cool gigs, but we didn’t want to leave our high school situation behind. So, I have regrets of what might have been had I done these things. How much better a player would I have been had Miles taken me on the road for six months, assuming he didn’t fire me after the first night? What would I have learned from that? It was a great honor to be in the same room with somebody of that stature in music. And he liked me! He called me on the phone himself, (imitating Miles in a raspy voice) “hey man, you want to come to New York City tomorrow?” and I had to say, “I can’t since I’m leaving on tour tomorrow for three months. I’d love to. I’m honored. Are you sure? You really want me?” And Miles said, (again, imitating Miles) “I like that rock and roll shit you do.” Oh my god! And I had to say no! Because I’m working on these records and being around these people, I get these opportunities that I had to say no to.

Dave Reffett is a Berklee College of Music graduate and has worked with some of the best players in rock and metal. He is an instructor at (and the head of) the Hard Rock and Heavy Metal department at The Real School of Music in the metro Boston area. He is also a master clinician and a highly-in-demand private guitar teacher. He teaches lessons in person and worldwide via Skype. As an artist and performer, he is working on some soon-to-be revealed high-profile projects with A-list players in rock and metal. In 2009, he formed the musical project Shredding The Envelope and released the critically acclaimed album The Call Of The Flames. Dave also is an official artist endorsee for companies like Seymour Duncan, Gibson, Eminence and Esoterik Guitars, which in 2011 released a Dave Reffett signature model guitar, the DR-1. Dave has worked in the past at Sanctuary Records and Virgin Records, where he promoted acts like the Rolling Stones, Janet Jackson, Korn and Meat Loaf.