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What does everyone think of Steve Morse? He's been my favorite guitar player since I was 16 years old (I'm 41 now) when my dad took me to see the Dregs in concert. It just so happened that it was on one of the two nights that they recorded "Bring 'Em Back Alive".
That night forever changed the way I looked at music. Before then I was a fan of Bruford, Jeff Beck, King Crimson, Saga, and other prog rock stuff, but this was like nothing I'd heard before.
From the opening few bars of "Road Expense" (the opener that night) my jaw was in the floor.
Being 16, I didn't have lots of cash so I went and mowed a bunch of lawns and collected all the Steve Morse and Dregs CD's I could get.
I have a Steve Morse mix CD in my mp3 CD player in my Jeep right now. The music never gets old and always invokes powerful emotions.
Joined: July 20 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ USA
Status: Offline
Points: 7411
Posted: April 29 2015 at 23:51
Steve Morse is amazing! I've only seen him once, when the Dixie Dregs reformed....it was a killer gig! Jerry Goodman (ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra) was on violin, the amazing Andy West on bass, and the remarkable Rod Morgenstein on drums!
Steve used his MIDI guitar setup quite a bit, and he would hang over the stage, blazing away on his guitar!!
He has done some great work with Deep Purple, and is easily one of the most under-appreciated guitarists out there.
He is amazing. In all, I've probably seen the SMB or the Dregs 10 to 15 times since then when they've come within a 200 mile radius of Chattanooga, TN.
He's the nicest guy on the planet too. I actually did his website for a while (stevemorse.com) and after a show at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, we were hanging out with him backstage and he kept directing attention towards me from all of the people asking him questions (as if I was doing anything important. All I was doing was some HTML for him). He's just a SUPER nice guy...
Joined: November 29 2006
Location: Israel
Status: Offline
Points: 6632
Posted: April 30 2015 at 00:48
He's one hell of a guitar player that's for sure! I love his playing. I actually got to know him through Dixie Dregs and not from DP, I've collected all of The Dregs CDs over the years and they are all good.
Even my iPhone ringtone is Steve Morse, a song called Holiday from The Dregs second album, what an amazing intro.
Joined: July 27 2006
Location: wonderland
Status: Online
Points: 45622
Posted: April 30 2015 at 01:48
I like Steve Morse a lot; Dixie Dregs, the two albums with Kansas and his work with Deep Purple are great. I haven't listened to his solo albums though and apparently there are a few.
Joined: April 29 2006
Location: Atlantais
Status: Offline
Points: 29630
Posted: April 30 2015 at 18:08
I live and grew up in the Atlanta area and have seen the Dixie Dregs live more times than I can count starting in the late '70's. Even got to volunteer roadie for a couple of shows.
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
I've never been one of these "this guy is better than that guy" people, but I HAVE to share this.
I'm not sure if people here know about how Yngwie more or less trashed Morse in and interview in one of the guitar mags several years ago. They were asking Yngwie about what he thought about Morse becoming Blackmore's replacement in DP.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm a fan of the SMB and the Dregs. I've never been that big on Deep Purple. I listen to the stuff with Morse and fast forward to the solos :)
Anyway, generally when a band opens for DP, their guitar player will come out and jam with Morse for a tune or two during the encore. Morse, being such a humble and nice guy generally doesn't make a contest out of it, he just jams with the other player and pretty much gives the guest the spotlight.
I have a recording somewhere of Yngwie jamming with DP on a certain evening and it is PRICELESS. Yngwie starts all of that sweep arpeggio all over the fretboard stuff and Morse plays EVERY single lick Yngwie plays NOTE FOR NOTE.
If I had access to that recording, I'd post it here. It is PRICELESS. They are trading licks and you can tell that Yngwie is trying to stump him and he just can't do it. Morse plays back every note, at the same speed right back at him. The first time I heard that, I was listening by myself and I was chuckling.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't write this to bash Yngwie. I have some of his stuff too. I've just always admired Morse's work ethic and the fact that he's as down to earth as he is. To me, THAT's what makes one great.
I like the albums with Kansas as well. To me, it wasn't really Kansas and it wasn't really Morse. It was a different band, but I did like it. It's not in my top 5 (or even top 50) rotation, but I do like that output.
They made a King Biscuit recording of Morse playing with Kansas live and it's great to hear him do the soaring playing on "The Wall" and some of the other Kansas classics...
I like ALL of his output. I can't name too many SMB tunes that I don't LOVE. There are a couple. I enjoy SMB a bit more than the Dregs since it's a bit more guitar heavy, but it's all great stuff.
That much natural talent combined with the work ethic that Steve has and you're bound to come up with a VERY talented individual.
Have you ever noticed that if you look at him on (let's say) google pics. In more than half the pictures where he's standing there doing "meet and greets" he has his guitar and he's playing scales and such while he's talking to people?
I also read somewhere that his serial number 0001 Ernie Ball Music Man guitar has been re-fretted like 8 times - and that's because he doesn't practice with it. He just gigs with it. If he practiced on it, it would be more like 20.
It's a crime that he's not more recognized.
The Deep Purple thing has been a blessing and a curse. It's gotten him a LOT of exposure, but it's used up ALL of his time. I hope that in a couple of years, he'll say, "well guys, it's been fun, but I'm going to spend my last good playing years doing MY music". Of course, he has a life to live too (but I think playing his music IS the life he wants to lead).
Joined: June 16 2011
Location: Kerberos
Status: Offline
Points: 7036
Posted: April 30 2015 at 22:24
adam525 wrote:
I've never been one of these "this guy is better than that guy" people, but I HAVE to share this.
I'm not sure if people here know about how Yngwie more or less trashed Morse in and interview in one of the guitar mags several years ago. They were asking Yngwie about what he thought about Morse becoming Blackmore's replacement in DP.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm a fan of the SMB and the Dregs. I've never been that big on Deep Purple. I listen to the stuff with Morse and fast forward to the solos :)
Anyway, generally when a band opens for DP, their guitar player will come out and jam with Morse for a tune or two during the encore. Morse, being such a humble and nice guy generally doesn't make a contest out of it, he just jams with the other player and pretty much gives the guest the spotlight.
I have a recording somewhere of Yngwie jamming with DP on a certain evening and it is PRICELESS. Yngwie starts all of that sweep arpeggio all over the fretboard stuff and Morse plays EVERY single lick Yngwie plays NOTE FOR NOTE.
If I had access to that recording, I'd post it here. It is PRICELESS. They are trading licks and you can tell that Yngwie is trying to stump him and he just can't do it. Morse plays back every note, at the same speed right back at him. The first time I heard that, I was listening by myself and I was chuckling.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't write this to bash Yngwie. I have some of his stuff too. I've just always admired Morse's work ethic and the fact that he's as down to earth as he is. To me, THAT's what makes one great.
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Steve Morse
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adam525 wrote:
