Well to be fair Jimi only recorded for a few years. Steve's been recording for almost 50. We'll never know what Jimi could've done.
Steve Howe is and will always be one of my favorite guitarists because he combines his unique style, his amazing musicianship, his brilliant song writing, and his emotion into his music.
@RockOfTheAges777 One possibility is - and I am not joking - is that he was considering joining forces with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. They were supposed to have a sort of fooling around rehearsal after Isle of Wight Festival to see if their ideas and personalities would fit. Unfortunately Jimi passed away before that so they decided to carry on without a guitarist.
@Thule77 You can find this song on the self-titled GTR album that was released back in 1986. It's out of print now, but you can sometimes find it on Ebay or Amazon. Great album, highly recommended...I have my own copy on CD and I listen to it constantly.
@blakk69 Glad to hear from fellow fans who love music and have passion for songcraft. We all approach it from our own viewpoints, and i enjoy trying to figure out what elements make a particular piece work or fall short for me. No disrespect to anyone, esp. Mr. Howe.
"Sketches in the Sun" is the finest moment in this record. I remember watching this documentary, and specifically this scene, and anticipating the record release. And being let down by everything else about it. (continued)
Ah, what a magnificence and golden touch. Each time I listen this I fell like a precious thing was discovered. Pureness and consciousness melted into crystal like evoking music, with the craftmanship of a Master.
Thank you, so much, Steve. So much.
And for those who dislike: just try it !! Just try on a 12 strings those enlightened passages, those tempo jewels, those arp-like vibrations, AND the feeling he put in it.....NOTHING COMPARES TO HIM.
I love Steve Howe, I love electric 12 string guitar...
To keep flat picking the bass notes as you are finger picking the melody notes is not an easy thing to synchronize...believe me, it took me quite a while !
This is from the rare "Making Of GTR" video.
While the triads look easy, in the midst of all that you have lightning fast descending and ascending runs to do without breaking rhythm...
@gtrDan1963 "To keep flat picking the bass notes as you are finger picking the melody notes is not an easy thing to synchronize..." . . . it wasn't that hard.
What was hard was trying pick out those runs up and down the neck, with the open strings. I couldn't figure it out so I just played something else.
@GaryNull What is hard to one guy isn't that hard to another, and vice-versa. But one thing about Howe's material is certain - there's always something hard somewhere in the music no matter who you are or what your playing ability is.
To whoever suggested that "There isn't much to this," keep in mind that a lot of Steve Howe's work looks easier than it is. You get the true appreciation for its difficulty when you actually try to play it - especially in front of a live audience!
I think his picking hand work is what is particularly amazing, much more so than the fret hand. He has big-time hand strength.
@flickded Howe is certainly not your average rock guitar player. He once said that he wanted to play many different stringed instruments that others did not play. To do that, you must have a high level of skill because some of them are in different keys (mandolin, etc.).
He has always impressed me with his skill and style.
@bigbadbob58 Oh yes! Definitely, he is a true musician. He has such great musical phrasing, he must have been classically trained at one point. I can see him playing the lute haha.
@flickded he has actually said himself that he has absolutely no classical training :) shows you just how much one man is capable of equipped with only an ear to go by.
@flickded he said in an interview that he doesn't read music, but he has to know a lot of theory to be able to write the music that he does. Hell, I don't read music, but i know all my scales, modes, and chords. He has said also that he originally learned just by listening to people like Les Paul, and other things from his parent's record collection.
@fmsdaman1 Yeah, he must. I've been reading music for quite a few years and Im taking college theory classes. From what i know he must have some knowledge of theory haha. He must be incredible with diction if he learned by ear
@flickded I attempted to play guitar pretty late in life and was never very good. Got converted to play bass and loved it (even though I am not all that good). After being around people like Jay Roberts (Howard Roberts son) and seeing many jazz legends, I can really appreciate the skill they have. My limited music lessons by very talented musicians has taught me some music theory. Once you understand what it takes to play Melodic or Harmonic scales, you cannot help but be impressed....
@bigbadbob58 Oh yes, definitely! And that stuff is just like the basics, the more i learn, the more i respect good music. Its really incredible to have a good musical education because music becomes more and more enjoyable. But just simply knowing Melodic and Harmonic scales gives you a lot to work with. It's also sort of sad how so many popular "musicians" these days are really not great at all. They base all of their songs off of a basic I IV V progression. Ohhh the music of today,,,
He is the greatest, plain and simple. I'm 17, I have been listening to him for the past 5 or 6 years, and I still can't believe what he can do with one guitar on the spot. Everyone should listen to Steve Howe, and then reset the bar to which all guitarists are measured upon.
@es175dk You probably already know this by now, but Howe has always cited Chet Atkins as one of his heroes because of his innovative style of playing the melody and the countermelody with his picking hand at the same time. There's some pretty amazing footage of Atkins on youtube too, if you haven't discovered it yet.
Steve Howe is amazing. I was fortunate to see him with Yes on their 1991 "Union" tour, which was a reunion of all the major players who'd been in Yes up to then.
He knows, he knows. Enough to amazingly control the execution, and feel the harmony, to bring that exactly to us as he wants. Mastery and abandon. So, thank you again, and so much, Mr Howe.
If you see the detail of the right hand, he plays with the "nail" and the other three fingers at the same time. Most of the guitar players do one of the other, but not both together.
WOW! What an Amazing 12-string instrumental by Steve! I saw Steve's solo concert in late 1993, at the Park West (in Chicago), with my cousin Greg, and This tune was my favorite from that show.
Dang, I'm currently trying to learn this song from a powertab I found. I'm really going to have to learn that hybrid picking style he use to make it sound right.
I love his work with Asia and Yes, and I even got this GTR album when it came out in 86 or 87. But I have to say, after I worked on trying to play this particular piece, I found there wasn't very much to it... pretty much riff over an open D tuning.
Yeah, the composition is lovely and nicely executed, but come on - he's capable of much more harmonic movement. I wouldn't call this an example of genius. Discover Pat Metheny or Michael Hedges.
Not meant as hate. Just sayin. Peace to all of you.
When you say "there isn't much to it" - you do realize that that has nothing to do with it's merits as a uniquely composed and performed 12-string piece.
Metheny and Hedges are brilliant, I know them well.
Apples and Oranges. One could say "Are you going with me" is merely a 2-note intro while he just solos over it, but that clearly misses the point.
Well the song is very much in that sort of pseudo-Celtic style that Jimmy Page (as someone else mentioned), Richard Thompson, and many other excellent British players of their generation explored. Harmonically it's nothing much---just a bunch of D major---but harmonic complexity ain't everything. Adding a bunch of gratuitous key changes would simply detract from the song, which to me always evokes a nice sunny room. Steve CAN play whatever he wants; he CHOSE to play less here.
So nice to see someone who can be objective and senseful about a player he loves.
I agree, don't know this piece too much, but it's pretty simple comparing to other pieces of music (event though Mr. Howe's sense of motion and melody still manages to make an amazing composition), but if you look at other solo acoustic songs by him, you know he can also really create complex, moving chord patterns.
@MarcosHarkness - "after I worked on trying to play this particular piece, I found there wasn't very much to it... "
Still trying? This piece is not easy to truly master. I learned it the best I could then changed a few parts that I just couldn't get. . . especially because the the unquie sound of that 12 string. continued . . .
@MarcosHarkness it's not hard to play note by note any composition in music...it's hard and it is genius to WROTE stuff from scratch, in your head and then, years later any guitarist can claim "wasn't very much of it"
Smoke on the water is the best example, very simple, very in your face...but one man wrote it and millions are repeating
Rather than debate the difficulties of specific parts of this song -- including Steve's ridiculously clean runs and the classical-style leads over the finger-picked bass line, all on a very unforgiving 12-string electric (without any overdubs) -- I'd simply challenge you to post a video of you performing this song.
Talk is cheap -- can you back it up?
As for being "capable of more harmonic movement," so what? Does every song have to display all that a player is capable of?
@MarcosHarkness The beauty of music is that sometimes it is not the technique that blows away the listener's mind but the emotional impact a beautiful piece such as this can create. This lovely little piece makes you think and dream and imagine and take you to another world while it's all going on. Technique is great, I enjoy it a lot but without soul, there is no music. Here's hoping you discover that someday. Peace.
@MarcosHarkness Harmonic movement creates some of the greatest sound in the history of music. Tehcnical skill can only get you so far. Being able to generate beautiful sounds and melodies from simple harmonics, keys and timbres only shows more musical genius than people capable of playing fast arrangements could ever imagine accomplishing.
@MarcosHarkness How woefully incorrect you are! This is the single most important artistic achievement of mankind, the end result of 40,000 years of human creative evolution, and it could only have been realized by Steve Howe's fingers on a 12-string guitar. Such is the unparalleled genius of mid-1980s Steve Howe! This is better than Beethoven's 9th, Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy," Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel mural, and Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity...COMBINED!!!
Amazing control, guitar playing dosen't get much more perfect than this...Steve has been one of my favourite players since i was a kid (thanks in part to my old man who loves prog) and when i see things like this i'm reminded why, thanks for uploading you've made my day = )
There are a lot of comment about this wonderful piece, but am I alone in hearing an echo of Page's white summer/black mountainside in this. Not suggesting plagarisim, just two peformers at the top of their game.
I have always thought that this piece of music would have acted as the perfect 'lead-in' track to 'Wondorous Stories' on the classic 'Yes' album 'Going for the One'... after a moments' pause you just want to hear him go straight into it -even the slight change of tempo as you move from one track to the next just feels right.
I saw Yes back in December and Steve played Clap which was a real treat. He played it with perfection as always. Someone once described that song as like a cross between precise execution and reckless abandon which sounds kind of like an oxymoron of sorts. lol
Steve Howe is an amazing guitarist. Even today he's able to do those complicated sequences he did with Yes. I'm sure Jon Anderson and Chris Squire were happy when they got him to join the band back in 69. This song is very entertaining and his other solos, including the ones on the Live in Montreux DVD are some of the best guitar play you'll ever hear. The other posts talk about guitar types and strings, but for us Yes fans, the guitar doesn't matter. Steve Howe's music is fun and entertaining.
@bassbaby82 Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and several others are way overrated. First of all, there are very few virtuosos on any instrument in the genre of Rock, but Steve Howe along with Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn And Yngwie Malmsteen are all true virtuosos. Hendrix is mainly celebrated for the same reason that Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin are celebrated. That reason is that like them, he took a bunch of drugs and died young. Jimi was nowhere near this technically proficient.
@speakwhnspkn2 i agree about jimmy page still he created something big and influenced tons of great musicians but i have got to say that jimi was ******* great, to me, he was a virtuoso, as a guitarist, he created something bigger than page did, he used lots of effects extremely well, he had a crazy sound and maybe what he plays isn't that hard to play but without him, no one would have ever created something nowhere close to that extremely good and creative style he owns. he's a virtuoso.
Just listen to the song in its context. The name suits the mood. At first I thought it was Steve Hackett and Steve Howe playing. I was wrong. I like the mood of this song. No words just a feeling. Thats strong.
Steve is the master. Agree, being an 18 year old Yes man is tough :) I've been working on this on acoustic for at least a month, but still struggle with bits of it.
Agreed, the acoustic section of 'The Ancient' is beautiful.
Does anyone understand the complexity of this piece? This is all being played Live, with NO overdubs. I think it's fucking Brilliant!! Bravo, to one of the Greatest Guitarist, EVER!
I am a guitarist, this style of music is made to sound like more than one guitar,, thats what hes saying at the beggining, how he loves one man style guitar, teh twelve string also adds lots of dynamics
Howe es genial. Cuando escuché este tema pensaba que lo había hecho con dos grabaciones de guitarra ( que incluso parecen 3). Tenía mis dudas porque no es un guitarrista que use esos recursos, pero increiblemente lo hace todo en una sola guitarra. Afina las cuerdas bajas en acorde Mi mayor y de ahi en adelante corre la magia.
Eso si que es ser creativo e ingenioso. Grande Steve
I agree with assistant peanut, ancient giants under the sun is a brilliant piece. It's hard to find anyone to talk to about tales from topographic oceans when your 19! I grew up with the sounds of YES and actually just went and saw them it was brilliant. As a guitar major at indiana university, I think this song has amazing harmonies and is definitely a fun and refreshing piece to play!
I forgot also that Kurt Cobain was rated a better guitar player than Stevie Ray Vaugn and Jimmy Hendrix in Rolling Stone. Those poles are retarded, Cobain Shouldn't have even been in the top 50.
Its a good song, you can't judge everything a musician plays on "Is it the most technical and fast song in the world?". We play for a nice melody and some kick ass harmony, both of which this song has abundantly. I doubt he was trying to set any records let alone impress anyone when he wrote this, and this is childsplay to him. Listen to "Ancient giants under the sun" from tales from topographic oceans, last 6 minutes or so"
i saw howe live this month, and he shits on any of the shredders. he had a nice 2 minute siberian khatru solo, he is 61, and the guy has more energy than me, jumpin around and sucb. he was even tapping on his guitar haha the man is a genius and whiterobin if you cant see it, i feel very bad for you.
exactly. anyone can learn to shred, but being a good musician /writer is something else altogether. lol. this man also has great dynamics in his playing and a superb sense of time. i dont know if these things can really be taught. sad but true. sorry guys.
Hey thanks for posting this. About 10 years ago I was sitting in the local library trying to do a report when I figured I would go in the media area and go through the CD's they had and make a mix. It took me several hrs. and this was one of the songs I "discovered"
You know, I dont rate this song at all. If you close your eyes it could be Jimmy Page..even Brian May! I Didn't really mean an insult as such, its just that lots of people knock Howe but then turn round and admit to liking these Satriani types who only have one piece of guitar vocabulary. Without Howe I'd've never tried Segovia, Bream, even Williams.
In what context? Are you the law in guitar examinations? If so, I'll take your comment on board. We have a few systems in the UK, one of which is the Associate Board. Mood for A Day would easily fulfil Grade 8 level (highest)
He plays the same Ragtime song cos its a crowdpleaser. I agree with you on the polls thing, but he was voted for by guitarists in the business...hmmm....speaks volumes
My God you guys are lame. I'm only guessing here, but I'm thinking you bash another mans talent for lack of your own, or a small penis...I'm betting on both. Come on girls, now's the time to speak up!
Well, of course you know some of the world's best talent gets easily overpassed by mainstream media. Youtube is flooded with talent that may get a 1 in a million chance of receiving a record deal, not because they don't have enough talent, but because they're looked as being over-talented.
That's pretty harsh to make such an assumption. Polls are just polls, it doesn't mean they have to be correct. If we were talking 69th greatest guitarist in the world, it'd make more sense. But Steve Howe was rated based on popularity, not world renown talent, and it was not an international poll.
I read the polls to see if one of them is at least fair to include the extremely talented near the top and put more of the popular, yet less talented closer to the bottom of the list. Someone told me Steve Howe was #69 on the RS list, but he should have been higher.
Yes is a band I consider the Virtuoso's. Their music is complex on a level that most people cannot wrap their head's around. These polls do not base themselves on Talent but usually speed and popularity, as stated before. For Example, Chris Squire is one hell of a bassist and he hardly gets note for it outside Yes fans... because he isn't wild and obnoxious like say, Flea or Geddy Lee. Steve Howe is the same story... he has a reserved style to him there for hardly recognized.
This clip is from the 'Making of GTR'. It contains interviews with all band members, Geoff Downes (who produced) and Brian Lane (manager) I have a copy of it I taped from MTV, like 22 years ago now (crikey). I would love to upload it, as I think it may be out of print and have not seen it any of it here except for this. I don't know where to start, though. But this is my favorite Howe composition out of all he's done. You really can almost see "sketches in the sun".
Steve, like all the truly great solo guitarists, makes it look effortless and sound like two instruments are being played. Wonderful. Please God in the next life bless me with this gift.
Steve Howe is such a thoughtful player; that's why classical guitarists love him; every note has been carefully considered and rendered! Thanks for posting! Love it!
que algen me explique comolo hacer ...buen video :D pon mas!!! de el xD
amaradio2010 2 months ago
Lovely ;)
TheReebe1969 3 months ago
fucking fantastic!
TheConnord12 4 months ago
Guitar genius!
Docbung2791 8 months ago
Steve is Steve is Steve ....
scitsalcoryp 9 months ago 2
Genial as always.
ReligiaodeMerda 10 months ago
Steve Howe is my ultimate inspiration
Dpattison24 1 year ago
Well to be fair Jimi only recorded for a few years. Steve's been recording for almost 50. We'll never know what Jimi could've done.
Steve Howe is and will always be one of my favorite guitarists because he combines his unique style, his amazing musicianship, his brilliant song writing, and his emotion into his music.
RockOfTheAges777 1 year ago
@RockOfTheAges777 One possibility is - and I am not joking - is that he was considering joining forces with Emerson, Lake & Palmer. They were supposed to have a sort of fooling around rehearsal after Isle of Wight Festival to see if their ideas and personalities would fit. Unfortunately Jimi passed away before that so they decided to carry on without a guitarist.
konked 1 year ago
@konked
ELP didn't decide to carry on without a guitarist -- Greg Lake played both bass & guitar in ELP and a lot of their songs have guitar in them.
No offense -- just lettin' you know.
Ken5244 1 year ago
Très belle pièce de guitare!
JVdu78 1 year ago
What album can I find this on?
Thule77 1 year ago
@Thule77
The album is simply called GTR. The whole thing is excellent. Sadly, it's their one & only album (they broke up after the tour).
Ken5244 1 year ago
@Thule77 You can find this song on the self-titled GTR album that was released back in 1986. It's out of print now, but you can sometimes find it on Ebay or Amazon. Great album, highly recommended...I have my own copy on CD and I listen to it constantly.
1aceves 1 year ago
BUENISIMO!
ManelJordan 1 year ago
@blakk69 Glad to hear from fellow fans who love music and have passion for songcraft. We all approach it from our own viewpoints, and i enjoy trying to figure out what elements make a particular piece work or fall short for me. No disrespect to anyone, esp. Mr. Howe.
"Sketches in the Sun" is the finest moment in this record. I remember watching this documentary, and specifically this scene, and anticipating the record release. And being let down by everything else about it. (continued)
MarcosHarkness 1 year ago
is that a Danelectro?
Robfalcon501 1 year ago
one word amazing!!!! really love his work
bushog44 1 year ago
This song is from a different dimension
member805639 1 year ago
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Joeltaa347 1 year ago
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Joeltaa347 1 year ago
amazing song thanks my brother!!!
Dook144 1 year ago
Supreme.
youtoobaccount11 1 year ago
Incipit:
tillullulàaaa tu-tu tu tullullù
tillullullàaa tu-tu tu tullullù
Movement: (ravissant)
Lala lallà-lla llaa lla là-lla llàà la-llà-la-làà
la-là là-llala-llallà-llallaaaaaa
(the best I can do after self cooked dinner AND half bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo red wine, and of course, the querida company of Steve Howe !!!
cookaboorra 1 year ago
Ah, what a magnificence and golden touch. Each time I listen this I fell like a precious thing was discovered. Pureness and consciousness melted into crystal like evoking music, with the craftmanship of a Master.
Thank you, so much, Steve. So much.
And for those who dislike: just try it !! Just try on a 12 strings those enlightened passages, those tempo jewels, those arp-like vibrations, AND the feeling he put in it.....NOTHING COMPARES TO HIM.
cookaboorra 1 year ago
I love Steve Howe, I love electric 12 string guitar...
To keep flat picking the bass notes as you are finger picking the melody notes is not an easy thing to synchronize...believe me, it took me quite a while !
This is from the rare "Making Of GTR" video.
While the triads look easy, in the midst of all that you have lightning fast descending and ascending runs to do without breaking rhythm...
It's not that easy !
Love this a lot !
gtrDan1963 1 year ago
@gtrDan1963 "To keep flat picking the bass notes as you are finger picking the melody notes is not an easy thing to synchronize..." . . . it wasn't that hard.
What was hard was trying pick out those runs up and down the neck, with the open strings. I couldn't figure it out so I just played something else.
GaryNull 1 year ago
@GaryNull Actually, we each managed to do what the other had difficulty doing;
The open string runs I was able to manage without too much of a problem.
I have what would be considered small hands for a guitar player, thereby making my stretches a bit of a strain on my picking hand.
I recently got a new electric 12 string and our discussions have made me want to re-visit the piece and perfect it.
Keep on playing.
Dan.
gtrDan1963 1 year ago
@GaryNull What is hard to one guy isn't that hard to another, and vice-versa. But one thing about Howe's material is certain - there's always something hard somewhere in the music no matter who you are or what your playing ability is.
tonusaitis 1 year ago
It sounds...magical.
ChevKen 1 year ago 2
wow, there are no more genius like Howe
giovmari 1 year ago
11 dislikes are you F*ckin kidding me ? LOVE IT!!! Thanks for posting :-)
selenah1 1 year ago
Perdy
funkyjones 1 year ago
what a musical genius
nucleardude11 1 year ago
To whoever suggested that "There isn't much to this," keep in mind that a lot of Steve Howe's work looks easier than it is. You get the true appreciation for its difficulty when you actually try to play it - especially in front of a live audience!
I think his picking hand work is what is particularly amazing, much more so than the fret hand. He has big-time hand strength.
tonusaitis 1 year ago
Im playing it,..... sounds awful. nadie como steve definitivamente.
playcollections 1 year ago
Steve Howe is outstandingly fantastic, everything he does on the guitar just simply amazes me
socomsnake 1 year ago 2
Magical.
tima90328 1 year ago 2
Point is, it's freshly original material.
danielraysmithil 1 year ago 2
Danelectro guitar?... Nice design.
Anybody know wich series?
ndguido 1 year ago
I will say it again and again.....PERFECTION in guitar playing and sound.INCREDIBLE .He is worthy of a Classicaly trained guitar player.
STEVE HOWE FOREVER.
carrietide 1 year ago
He reminds me so much of a classical player
flickded 1 year ago 3
@flickded Howe is certainly not your average rock guitar player. He once said that he wanted to play many different stringed instruments that others did not play. To do that, you must have a high level of skill because some of them are in different keys (mandolin, etc.).
He has always impressed me with his skill and style.
bigbadbob58 4 months ago
@bigbadbob58 Oh yes! Definitely, he is a true musician. He has such great musical phrasing, he must have been classically trained at one point. I can see him playing the lute haha.
What musical instruments do you play?
flickded 4 months ago
@flickded he has actually said himself that he has absolutely no classical training :) shows you just how much one man is capable of equipped with only an ear to go by.
fmsdaman1 4 months ago
@fmsdaman1 Oh really? Wow, thats pretty awesome. Do you know if he has had training in music theory?
flickded 4 months ago
@flickded he said in an interview that he doesn't read music, but he has to know a lot of theory to be able to write the music that he does. Hell, I don't read music, but i know all my scales, modes, and chords. He has said also that he originally learned just by listening to people like Les Paul, and other things from his parent's record collection.
fmsdaman1 4 months ago
@fmsdaman1 Yeah, he must. I've been reading music for quite a few years and Im taking college theory classes. From what i know he must have some knowledge of theory haha. He must be incredible with diction if he learned by ear
flickded 4 months ago in playlist Satie - Hackett
@flickded I attempted to play guitar pretty late in life and was never very good. Got converted to play bass and loved it (even though I am not all that good). After being around people like Jay Roberts (Howard Roberts son) and seeing many jazz legends, I can really appreciate the skill they have. My limited music lessons by very talented musicians has taught me some music theory. Once you understand what it takes to play Melodic or Harmonic scales, you cannot help but be impressed....
bigbadbob58 4 months ago
@bigbadbob58 Oh yes, definitely! And that stuff is just like the basics, the more i learn, the more i respect good music. Its really incredible to have a good musical education because music becomes more and more enjoyable. But just simply knowing Melodic and Harmonic scales gives you a lot to work with. It's also sort of sad how so many popular "musicians" these days are really not great at all. They base all of their songs off of a basic I IV V progression. Ohhh the music of today,,,
flickded 4 months ago
I love how it doesn't sound llike all that other guitar crap musicians spew out; it has a divine quality.
HappyHumanism 1 year ago 2
omg, it should be very difficult to buy 12-strings for an e-guitar. i only saw them for acoustic!
lisian123 1 year ago
He is the greatest, plain and simple. I'm 17, I have been listening to him for the past 5 or 6 years, and I still can't believe what he can do with one guitar on the spot. Everyone should listen to Steve Howe, and then reset the bar to which all guitarists are measured upon.
es175dk 1 year ago 9
@es175dk agreed
fireguye4 1 year ago
@es175dk You probably already know this by now, but Howe has always cited Chet Atkins as one of his heroes because of his innovative style of playing the melody and the countermelody with his picking hand at the same time. There's some pretty amazing footage of Atkins on youtube too, if you haven't discovered it yet.
Steve Howe is amazing. I was fortunate to see him with Yes on their 1991 "Union" tour, which was a reunion of all the major players who'd been in Yes up to then.
dmreeoogdaq 3 months ago
the master!!!!!!!
tdragon68 2 years ago
He knows, he knows. Enough to amazingly control the execution, and feel the harmony, to bring that exactly to us as he wants. Mastery and abandon. So, thank you again, and so much, Mr Howe.
cookaboorra 2 years ago 2
If you see the detail of the right hand, he plays with the "nail" and the other three fingers at the same time. Most of the guitar players do one of the other, but not both together.
He is the best!!!
csarmiento3 2 years ago
@csarmiento3 > i use 4 nails to play, and not only once upon a time, don't you ever do that with arpeggios ? kinda surprising.
hirgons 1 year ago
How did he get the High G to tune so sharp and NOT snap? I know they make .007's but still.
JASTERI1 2 years ago
WOW! What an Amazing 12-string instrumental by Steve! I saw Steve's solo concert in late 1993, at the Park West (in Chicago), with my cousin Greg, and This tune was my favorite from that show.
saurian11 2 years ago
Where I can find the right tuning and the complete tab?
please help me!
smreggle 2 years ago
I don't use open E tuning at all. I drop the low E to a D, then capo at the second fret. So it's E, B, E, A, C#, E
howedelamitri 2 years ago
WE LOVE YOU MASTER.
cookaboorra 2 years ago
When I used to play it E B E G B E but that was a long time ago
KMAsKorner 2 years ago
Is that really really a Open E??? The Strings, treble to bass, are E, B, G#, E, B, E ???
gva128 2 years ago
drop D works too, I think. Sounds right to me
thethom247 2 years ago
Sorry, drop D will not work, open D will. might as well tune to open E and sound exactly the same.....:)
bsharporbflat 2 years ago
Yes open E it is
bsharporbflat 2 years ago
allll we need is the voice of Robert Plant to make a new mith
bababacardi 2 years ago
your right-hand rings can never been too gaudy if your name is steve howe :P
andristic 2 years ago
coll guitar steve howe
sincmasteremil 2 years ago
Man....
leineguy 2 years ago 2
Dang, I'm currently trying to learn this song from a powertab I found. I'm really going to have to learn that hybrid picking style he use to make it sound right.
pschroeter1 2 years ago
dude hybrid picking is SO fun. just keep working at it! i've been learning "clap" for oh... about a year. lol
andristic 2 years ago
Yeah... I tried the clap and never really got it, so I just move on to something else..... but how does Howe do these things?
FingersTucker 2 years ago
Bravo Howe!!!!
i want a tour with Howe & hackett =(
WillimDeCodDd 2 years ago
I love his work with Asia and Yes, and I even got this GTR album when it came out in 86 or 87. But I have to say, after I worked on trying to play this particular piece, I found there wasn't very much to it... pretty much riff over an open D tuning.
Yeah, the composition is lovely and nicely executed, but come on - he's capable of much more harmonic movement. I wouldn't call this an example of genius. Discover Pat Metheny or Michael Hedges.
Not meant as hate. Just sayin. Peace to all of you.
MarcosHarkness 2 years ago
I see what you're saying, but must disagree.
When you say "there isn't much to it" - you do realize that that has nothing to do with it's merits as a uniquely composed and performed 12-string piece.
Metheny and Hedges are brilliant, I know them well.
Apples and Oranges. One could say "Are you going with me" is merely a 2-note intro while he just solos over it, but that clearly misses the point.
petecellar 2 years ago 6
Well the song is very much in that sort of pseudo-Celtic style that Jimmy Page (as someone else mentioned), Richard Thompson, and many other excellent British players of their generation explored. Harmonically it's nothing much---just a bunch of D major---but harmonic complexity ain't everything. Adding a bunch of gratuitous key changes would simply detract from the song, which to me always evokes a nice sunny room. Steve CAN play whatever he wants; he CHOSE to play less here.
crimfan 2 years ago 4
So nice to see someone who can be objective and senseful about a player he loves.
I agree, don't know this piece too much, but it's pretty simple comparing to other pieces of music (event though Mr. Howe's sense of motion and melody still manages to make an amazing composition), but if you look at other solo acoustic songs by him, you know he can also really create complex, moving chord patterns.
0StarGazer 2 years ago
@MarcosHarkness - "after I worked on trying to play this particular piece, I found there wasn't very much to it... "
Still trying? This piece is not easy to truly master. I learned it the best I could then changed a few parts that I just couldn't get. . . especially because the the unquie sound of that 12 string. continued . . .
GaryNull 1 year ago
The tempo of the strumming and flow of this song is the main thing to master.
So Metheny or Hedges are going to play more notes or play fancier chords?
But they are not going to sound like this. This is perfection.
The piece has the right balance to it - something very hard to achieve.
Overplaying is just as a bigger problem than underplaying.
GaryNull 1 year ago
@MarcosHarkness it's not hard to play note by note any composition in music...it's hard and it is genius to WROTE stuff from scratch, in your head and then, years later any guitarist can claim "wasn't very much of it"
Smoke on the water is the best example, very simple, very in your face...but one man wrote it and millions are repeating
Blakk69 1 year ago
@MarcosHarkness
Rather than debate the difficulties of specific parts of this song -- including Steve's ridiculously clean runs and the classical-style leads over the finger-picked bass line, all on a very unforgiving 12-string electric (without any overdubs) -- I'd simply challenge you to post a video of you performing this song.
Talk is cheap -- can you back it up?
As for being "capable of more harmonic movement," so what? Does every song have to display all that a player is capable of?
Ken5244 1 year ago
@MarcosHarkness The beauty of music is that sometimes it is not the technique that blows away the listener's mind but the emotional impact a beautiful piece such as this can create. This lovely little piece makes you think and dream and imagine and take you to another world while it's all going on. Technique is great, I enjoy it a lot but without soul, there is no music. Here's hoping you discover that someday. Peace.
sweetnothing1977 1 year ago
@MarcosHarkness Michael Hedges was amazing, Aerial Boundaries is genius!
irena7777777 11 months ago
@MarcosHarkness Harmonic movement creates some of the greatest sound in the history of music. Tehcnical skill can only get you so far. Being able to generate beautiful sounds and melodies from simple harmonics, keys and timbres only shows more musical genius than people capable of playing fast arrangements could ever imagine accomplishing.
Rechiau 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@MarcosHarkness I disagree with you about playing this piece.
This piece is difficult to play because of the timing and feel of it.
When he starts the strumming parts, the whole tempo and rhythm changes.
I'm hoping to post this piece once I get my guitar fixed.
I have a Steve Howe medley posted for now, which has the clap,
mood for day, meadow rag, the continental, and sketches in the sun at the very end.
...
SteveHoweJeffBerlin 6 months ago
@MarcosHarkness Yah petecellar is right. You think it's easy trying to play stuff like this?
7SeasonsovFireBlaze 5 months ago
@MarcosHarkness How woefully incorrect you are! This is the single most important artistic achievement of mankind, the end result of 40,000 years of human creative evolution, and it could only have been realized by Steve Howe's fingers on a 12-string guitar. Such is the unparalleled genius of mid-1980s Steve Howe! This is better than Beethoven's 9th, Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy," Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel mural, and Einstein's Special and General Theories of Relativity...COMBINED!!!
mahajohn 5 months ago
Amazing control, guitar playing dosen't get much more perfect than this...Steve has been one of my favourite players since i was a kid (thanks in part to my old man who loves prog) and when i see things like this i'm reminded why, thanks for uploading you've made my day = )
frennirockin 2 years ago 2
There are a lot of comment about this wonderful piece, but am I alone in hearing an echo of Page's white summer/black mountainside in this. Not suggesting plagarisim, just two peformers at the top of their game.
Doctorbeermaker 2 years ago
I have always thought that this piece of music would have acted as the perfect 'lead-in' track to 'Wondorous Stories' on the classic 'Yes' album 'Going for the One'... after a moments' pause you just want to hear him go straight into it -even the slight change of tempo as you move from one track to the next just feels right.
thisisverytrue 2 years ago 2
F**king amaaaaazing guitar work. Wow, and very nice. Sounds so good I feel I could taste it.
zackjmack 2 years ago
In 1975 i realized he is up there in the pantheon of GREAT GUITARS players. Give me a break bunch of wanabees LEARN TO PLAY then we will talk
jimmybfan 2 years ago
He's the duke, no he's the king, no he's the God of guitar
n8tronics 2 years ago 6
I saw Yes back in December and Steve played Clap which was a real treat. He played it with perfection as always. Someone once described that song as like a cross between precise execution and reckless abandon which sounds kind of like an oxymoron of sorts. lol
SiberianMan2u 2 years ago
Steve Howe is an amazing guitarist. Even today he's able to do those complicated sequences he did with Yes. I'm sure Jon Anderson and Chris Squire were happy when they got him to join the band back in 69. This song is very entertaining and his other solos, including the ones on the Live in Montreux DVD are some of the best guitar play you'll ever hear. The other posts talk about guitar types and strings, but for us Yes fans, the guitar doesn't matter. Steve Howe's music is fun and entertaining.
tennismb 2 years ago 2
howe kicks ass
at the height of jimi
Cheskoslavia 2 years ago
Jimi's great but steve howe can do things that Jimi could never have done on guitar.
bassbaby82 2 years ago 24
@bassbaby82 Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and several others are way overrated. First of all, there are very few virtuosos on any instrument in the genre of Rock, but Steve Howe along with Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn And Yngwie Malmsteen are all true virtuosos. Hendrix is mainly celebrated for the same reason that Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin are celebrated. That reason is that like them, he took a bunch of drugs and died young. Jimi was nowhere near this technically proficient.
speakwhnspkn2 1 year ago
@speakwhnspkn2 i agree about jimmy page still he created something big and influenced tons of great musicians but i have got to say that jimi was ******* great, to me, he was a virtuoso, as a guitarist, he created something bigger than page did, he used lots of effects extremely well, he had a crazy sound and maybe what he plays isn't that hard to play but without him, no one would have ever created something nowhere close to that extremely good and creative style he owns. he's a virtuoso.
plpicher 1 year ago
@speakwhnspkn2 "virtuosos genre of Rock .. "
Eddie Van Halen is is not one. The "tapping" he does is crap.
Tapping is a lame guitar "technique".
Never liked Van Halen, another way overrated guitarist.
He impresses the "kids".
GaryNull 1 year ago
@bassbaby82 Jimi was all raw feel and emotion...Steve is so much more technical
Robfalcon501 1 year ago
Beautiful! Had to watch more than a couple of times!
emmyphale 2 years ago
Good show,Steve!!!!
Viznel137 2 years ago
Very good *****
RenshiottParrfmFyrre 2 years ago
kick ass
VitalGuitarJon 2 years ago
I want this played at my funeral, don't know who would be around to play it as well as Steve!
siouxsie3345 2 years ago
Does anybody know what kind of guitar that is?
h30002290 2 years ago
dan electro
frododarg 2 years ago
cool, thanks.
h30002290 2 years ago
Everytime he picks up a guitar, it amazes me.
Andytheminstrel 2 years ago 22
if Steve Howe is consider as a guitarist then i do another sport than playing the guitar... :-)
kstef1975 2 years ago
My god.
mischamowse 2 years ago
awesome
hokendog 2 years ago
Simply marvelous
MeIancholyMan 3 years ago
RIDICULOUSSSSSS
stagsmiister182 3 years ago
Wow, Steve is amazing.
ElliotWoolf 3 years ago 3
This is my favourite song of Steve's. I've never heard anything dripping with so much beauty from start to finish.
remcomroma 3 years ago 6
Just listen to the song in its context. The name suits the mood. At first I thought it was Steve Hackett and Steve Howe playing. I was wrong. I like the mood of this song. No words just a feeling. Thats strong.
mailman2564 3 years ago 2
Steve is the master. Agree, being an 18 year old Yes man is tough :) I've been working on this on acoustic for at least a month, but still struggle with bits of it.
Agreed, the acoustic section of 'The Ancient' is beautiful.
Thanks for being such an inspiration Steve!
Criddington 3 years ago 4
Does anyone understand the complexity of this piece? This is all being played Live, with NO overdubs. I think it's fucking Brilliant!! Bravo, to one of the Greatest Guitarist, EVER!
nignog87 3 years ago 6
Are you sure? I am not a guitarist but i know this sounds great,but it also sounds like there are more than one giuitar being played here.
ledzeplad 3 years ago
I am a guitarist, this style of music is made to sound like more than one guitar,, thats what hes saying at the beggining, how he loves one man style guitar, teh twelve string also adds lots of dynamics
firstitgivith 3 years ago
he is great isn't he??
ledzeplad 3 years ago
Thats the dynamics of a 12 string guitar.
Every string has another octave to it, thus producing what seems like, 2 guitars playing.
fisk0411 2 years ago
Ok i will have to take your word on this..............but it is witchcraft i tell you.
ledzeplad 2 years ago 3
Delay was also added in the Studio to thicken the Sound. Trust Me, it's only one Guitar.
nignog87 2 years ago
He is a genius isn't he.
ledzeplad 2 years ago 2
>> Thats the dynamics of a 12 strings, producing what seems like, 2 guitars playing.
Wrong. He playing 2 parts simultaneously (at the beginning), so it sounds like 2 guitars.
GaryNull 2 years ago
Only the 3 bottom (wound ) strings have an octave, the first three trings are just doubled.
SciMasterGeneral 2 years ago
actually high e and b are doubled, and the 4 wound strings (acoustic guitars have 4 wound strings), g, d, a and e, are doubled.
amm2911 2 years ago
Howe es genial. Cuando escuché este tema pensaba que lo había hecho con dos grabaciones de guitarra ( que incluso parecen 3). Tenía mis dudas porque no es un guitarrista que use esos recursos, pero increiblemente lo hace todo en una sola guitarra. Afina las cuerdas bajas en acorde Mi mayor y de ahi en adelante corre la magia.
Eso si que es ser creativo e ingenioso. Grande Steve
rober287 3 years ago 4
Steve is a magnificent musician
carrietide 3 years ago 5
I will say this again and again...ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL
carrietide 3 years ago 4
that's amazing.
Chudhole 3 years ago 2
I agree with assistant peanut, ancient giants under the sun is a brilliant piece. It's hard to find anyone to talk to about tales from topographic oceans when your 19! I grew up with the sounds of YES and actually just went and saw them it was brilliant. As a guitar major at indiana university, I think this song has amazing harmonies and is definitely a fun and refreshing piece to play!
projectstardom 3 years ago 2
hehe i'm 19 too and we could talk about yes together
AlexChernetsky 3 years ago
i'm only 17...but i <3 tales from topographic oceans
jgp1322 3 years ago
I forgot also that Kurt Cobain was rated a better guitar player than Stevie Ray Vaugn and Jimmy Hendrix in Rolling Stone. Those poles are retarded, Cobain Shouldn't have even been in the top 50.
assistantpeanut 3 years ago
Its a good song, you can't judge everything a musician plays on "Is it the most technical and fast song in the world?". We play for a nice melody and some kick ass harmony, both of which this song has abundantly. I doubt he was trying to set any records let alone impress anyone when he wrote this, and this is childsplay to him. Listen to "Ancient giants under the sun" from tales from topographic oceans, last 6 minutes or so"
assistantpeanut 3 years ago
I'm not a guitar player but I'm smart enough to know this is damn good.
kramsmada 3 years ago 6
i saw howe live this month, and he shits on any of the shredders. he had a nice 2 minute siberian khatru solo, he is 61, and the guy has more energy than me, jumpin around and sucb. he was even tapping on his guitar haha the man is a genius and whiterobin if you cant see it, i feel very bad for you.
theancient74 3 years ago 4
exactly. anyone can learn to shred, but being a good musician /writer is something else altogether. lol. this man also has great dynamics in his playing and a superb sense of time. i dont know if these things can really be taught. sad but true. sorry guys.
AhYaOk 3 years ago
Hey thanks for posting this. About 10 years ago I was sitting in the local library trying to do a report when I figured I would go in the media area and go through the CD's they had and make a mix. It took me several hrs. and this was one of the songs I "discovered"
man! best way for a rainy day.
AK
akashmer 3 years ago 2
You know, I dont rate this song at all. If you close your eyes it could be Jimmy Page..even Brian May! I Didn't really mean an insult as such, its just that lots of people knock Howe but then turn round and admit to liking these Satriani types who only have one piece of guitar vocabulary. Without Howe I'd've never tried Segovia, Bream, even Williams.
Cheers
kirk193 3 years ago
Steve is the best! This is a beautiful song!
julyvalls 3 years ago 3
"low-intermediate classical guitar skills "
In what context? Are you the law in guitar examinations? If so, I'll take your comment on board. We have a few systems in the UK, one of which is the Associate Board. Mood for A Day would easily fulfil Grade 8 level (highest)
He plays the same Ragtime song cos its a crowdpleaser. I agree with you on the polls thing, but he was voted for by guitarists in the business...hmmm....speaks volumes
kirk193 3 years ago
My God you guys are lame. I'm only guessing here, but I'm thinking you bash another mans talent for lack of your own, or a small penis...I'm betting on both. Come on girls, now's the time to speak up!
scottlarson925 3 years ago
Well, of course you know some of the world's best talent gets easily overpassed by mainstream media. Youtube is flooded with talent that may get a 1 in a million chance of receiving a record deal, not because they don't have enough talent, but because they're looked as being over-talented.
Rawk4Life 3 years ago
That's pretty harsh to make such an assumption. Polls are just polls, it doesn't mean they have to be correct. If we were talking 69th greatest guitarist in the world, it'd make more sense. But Steve Howe was rated based on popularity, not world renown talent, and it was not an international poll.
Rawk4Life 3 years ago
yes you are right , for me he is the best but , 69th of all , it´s good number!
julyvalls 3 years ago
what a guy!!!
myuselessopinion 3 years ago
Fabulous tune.
carrietide 3 years ago
I read the polls to see if one of them is at least fair to include the extremely talented near the top and put more of the popular, yet less talented closer to the bottom of the list. Someone told me Steve Howe was #69 on the RS list, but he should have been higher.
Rawk4Life 3 years ago
Yes is a band I consider the Virtuoso's. Their music is complex on a level that most people cannot wrap their head's around. These polls do not base themselves on Talent but usually speed and popularity, as stated before. For Example, Chris Squire is one hell of a bassist and he hardly gets note for it outside Yes fans... because he isn't wild and obnoxious like say, Flea or Geddy Lee. Steve Howe is the same story... he has a reserved style to him there for hardly recognized.
TheSpiralAim 3 years ago
Well said.
sselden8 3 years ago
hes so fast!
tomcaza 3 years ago
this guy rocks.
hawknelsonjoker 3 years ago
this clip must be voted to be the best clip on youtube:)
bytedildo 3 years ago 14
This clip is from the 'Making of GTR'. It contains interviews with all band members, Geoff Downes (who produced) and Brian Lane (manager) I have a copy of it I taped from MTV, like 22 years ago now (crikey). I would love to upload it, as I think it may be out of print and have not seen it any of it here except for this. I don't know where to start, though. But this is my favorite Howe composition out of all he's done. You really can almost see "sketches in the sun".
marilynlh 3 years ago
Steve, like all the truly great solo guitarists, makes it look effortless and sound like two instruments are being played. Wonderful. Please God in the next life bless me with this gift.
A66omd 3 years ago
Dude is just Chicken Pickin. A Combo of Classical and Plectrum picking. Is not the thechnique as much as the tone of his hands.
einarabelc5 3 years ago
que grande es steve!
danimustaine 3 years ago
wow, its so bright
Aspartamebraintumor 3 years ago
Steve Howe is such a thoughtful player; that's why classical guitarists love him; every note has been carefully considered and rendered! Thanks for posting! Love it!
amccann7 3 years ago
best?
bighaiku 3 years ago