Surface Tension by Steve Howe played by Bob Crisp

I play Surface Tension by Steve Howe ( the guitar player from Yes ). from "The Steve Howe Album" (1979). I have been playing this piece since 1985, enjoy!! My NEW guitar lesson website: http://www.bobsguitarlessons.yolasite.com

Category:

Music

Tags:

• guitar
• classical
• spanish
• yes
• steve
• howe
• surface
• tension
• acoustic
• bobbycrispy

[connberkshire]

Bobby, this is one of my all-time favorite Howe tunes- watching you play it actually makes me think I could learn it- Awesome Job, Brutha!

[757flyer]

Great job! Loved it!!!

[amtreble]

oh sorry dude, i misread your original message and kept thinking you said he played Clap with his fingers alone. my mistake lol

[amtreble]

Well yes, on Mood for a Day and a few other things, but not most of his acoustic stuff and certainly not Clap :)

Oh I know it's difficult, and it's mostly a matter of getting used to it. It's very "bluegrassy" of him, I think it probably had to do with the Django influences as well. Plus he often uses the pick/finger technique on the electric stuff too.

[GaryNull]

He played this song and Mood for a Day "classical style" using no pick.

Playing with a pick and 1 or 2 fingers is a very difficult technique, especially when trying to play songs that were originally played using classical style.

[amtreble]

Actually Steve uses a pick and the middle finger most of the time, so he has two attacks. You can totally see it on Clap videos. Sometimes he'll also use a third attack from the ring finger. But it's rare seeing Howe play with his fingers alone.

[howedelamitri]

great job. I used to try to play this and would end up killing half the notes. You were very proficient.

[GaryNull]

Howe played it with fingers.

It is definately harder to play using a pick and fingers.

You could probably play this piece using just fingers without nails . . I'm sure Howe plays it like this - he plays The Clap without nails.

The reason I use a pick is that I learned "The Clap" first, which he uses a pick and fingers. Then played "Mood for a Day" the same way. I just finished learning "Meadow Rag", which is a difficult pick/finger technique type song.

[Milestonzz]

Just curious... How did Howe play it? What's the difference between fingers/pick in terms of difficulty? Is it possible that this fellow, or others who play it this way, is using a pick because his nails that aren't long enough? Again, just curious.

[peaceonearth777]

Nice job. Interesting swing on it. I like the G chords opposed to his original off the album, and the changes all over. Keep em coming! Peace on,,,,,,