"MY HANDS HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR SIXTY YEARS SO THEY KNOW WHERE THE FRETS ARE! "

In the 1970s, Steve Howe became a hugely influential figure in the sphere of progressive rock as the guitarist for Yes. Now on his third stint with the band, he’s also created an experimental new solo album. The guitar,” he says, is a very tempting instrument to explore...”

- Jonathan Horsley

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

What guitar did you learn on?

I think it cost £14. I bought it in King’s Cross, London. It was just a brownish archtop kind of guitar, two f-holes and a bridge. Nothing fancy.

It wasn’t a Framus but it was like that kind of guitar, and that was the first instrument that I owned. I was very grateful my Dad bought it for me. That was in 1959, and I really started in 1960.

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

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

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

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

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