Steve Howe Guitars A collection of original Steve Howe guitar solos with notes from Steve and Mick Barker, who transcribed “pieces, on exactly how they should be played. Titles include Clap, Mood For A Day, Sound Chaser ad RaContents With notes on the songs by Steve Howe Clap F Page & After writing songs for two years, in 1969 I wrate my frst inhrametal, Caf Arad ic a bce relistening «considerably to Chet Atkins and waiting for my first son 10 be born, Soon L joined Yes and have performed this, ‘at almost all of or concert appearances but in the last two years Thave played it witha much more relaxed finger technigue ‘Uhtb hes hep the sped 4p and also seat conto The Yes album recording was made on a Revox at the Lyceum Ballroom on my Martin 0018 which I till use ‘for concerts now, aided by a Barcus Berry Pick-Up. Mood For A Day Page 12 Atthe tine ofreconding ‘Fragile’ [finished Mood For A Day. Some new interests gave this piece a rather special quality The changing passages gave space fora litte flamenco influence ‘and cycles ofsmplified gutar performed on a Conde flamenco guitar The Ancient Page 16 In the midst ofthe controversial ‘Tales from the Topegraphic Ocean’ this excerpt from The Ancient twas a formidable challenge although Ihave prepared the piece whilst working with Jobnny Harris who wastohave arranged it This piece was recorded on my Kobno concert guitar cand mast be played lightly with alittle zest. Sound Chaser Page 21 To write a cadenza forthe electric guitar with puthesser and percussion accompaniment called for «short composition thatthe group could work from land inject into a song, In this excerpt from Sound Chaser ‘thesong gowsat a highspeed and the guitar bastolead off from thi Uni the bass enters the feeling isof tension and uncertainty Sat from heron we dei ally Hare fo quality, This piece was played on a Fender Telecaster nd recorded ut with he gro. Ram Page 26 T wanted my fist solo album Beginnings to contain a ragtime ‘guitar piece so Rasm was the bass for this and after recording ‘the Dobro guitar | added various typical street struments Meadow Rag Page 32 Itwas with childrens’ belp that I completed Meadow Rag, “after the Bent notes appealed tothe little ones imaginations Whilst practising t 1 also imagined a sleepy clown wandering aimlessly about the countryside, Once again the Martin 0018 footed the bill. Surface Tenston Page 37 ‘My style of playing Spanish guitar with my finger "Tas iol baie lols Funes i echade with Susface Tension This seems ome to be «London theme and needs a similar approach to The Ancien, _gentle but positive. Before settling for a studio recording ‘his piece was recorded ina London church but unfortunately the English weather didn't allow for a warm interpretation, although my Kobno guitar eventually etme play i without squeaks. Diary OfA Man Who Disappeared Page 42 Ieaaye ce one tons which hve bln sections _forfresformplayingand Diary OfAMan Who Disappeared ‘ésone ofthese. found that it builds towards the (Cinor improvised section then eases through the repeat of ‘the A section onto the end. On the Steve Howe Albunt I played tice a ender tratcaster. ‘The transcription bere is ofa solo version and played on an acoustic guitar at the Montreaux FestivalIntroduction By Mick Barker In doing these transcriptions, Ihave tried to write them insuch a way that even a player who is not familiar with a piece should, after some practice, be able to produce a reasonable facsimile of the original. “The pieces are for the most part unaccompanied. Steve plays them as he feels them, laying back on. some sections and pushing others, Capturing these variations has led to the use of fairly complex time signatures, but persevere with them, they work! ‘You will find much use made of the tenuto or as it is normally abbreviated ‘ten’, For those unfamiliar with the phrase it comes from the Italian and means ‘held’ or ‘sustained’. Thus, notes so marked should be held on for a little longer than their written value, Itallows the writer or transcriber to keep the normal time signature, but put the correct ‘feeling’ into the phrase. Thave only resorted to use of the ubiquitous ‘cadenza’ on two occasions and even then the relative note values are correct and should not present any problems. Alot of the phrases are played inchord positions and the player should let notes ring. This is normal in much guitar music and: this sounds this Thave tied notes over in sections where I felt it was not clear what was intended, but for the most part let em ring’. ‘The chord symbols are only to help find the chord shape for a phrase and do not take into account passing notes and other embellishments ‘which must be read from the notation. When notes are doubled on different strings they are marked so ‘Thus, the G would be played on the open G. string and also the 4th string (Sth fret). All numbers refer to strings and not fingering. ‘Clap was the first of Steve's work that I transcribed and I realized just writing it down in notation would not be enough. Tn many chords the same note sounds on different strings at the same time. Giving positions ‘would be confusing as sometimes the top note of the chord is not played on the top string. This is why I decided to signify which strings notes were sounding on. This not only shows notes sounding twice it also gives you the position, If ths is still not clear a good example is in bar 84, @) is played like so 12th Using this method I hope you will be able to find the right shapes for this interesting piece. Ramis played in the 1st (C Major) position except where indicated. The chords marked with an asterisk in the ad lib banjo section were ninths on the original recording but Steve now prefers sharp ninths.. ‘in the G Major section where I've cued the bottle neck solo, you can combine the written melody with the chord symbols and play it as a solo. I find it easier to play the first two bars as is and then bring the melody down the octave and play inthe Ist position, The pause just before the end is actually 8% beats so to be exactly like the record Gut Sight and kick in tothe 9/4 bas. In Mood For A Day the listesso changes between 3/8, 12/8 and 3/4 need not create any problems, Just keep you foot tapping and ememer that n the 12/8 and 3/8 bars it is three quarters per beat and in the 3/4 and 2/4 bars, two quarters pet beat. The bracketed notes about midway through the pieceare not on the record but Steve now likes to extend this piece. The time signatures in Sound Chaser are complicated. For those not familiar with the piece it is unaccompanied apart from background synth effects (which are cued) and is almost in the style of a long cadenza. if Although I don’t agree with giving fingerings, as they will vary with different players, I suggest you start Bar 3 with the 3rd finger on the Sth string and this will put you in the right position for that rather difficult 6 Bar passage. The short cadenza which follows is actually out of tempo but relative note values areas stated, In the fast 3/4 section further on, itis important to emphasize the accented notes as this helps the flow and also makes it easier to play ‘On the record, Steve makes very effective use of swell pedal on almostall the notes between the starred (*) double bar lines. If you have one, try it yourself but don't worry ifyou haven't or are playing ‘Qnacoustic, the piece was originally conceived on a Spanish guitar. ‘Meadow Rag is not easy to play but well worth the effort involved. The ‘Chet Atkins’ style picking is not straightforward and the bass part cleverly seems tomove across the bar lines. The quaver triplets are difficult to master but if you observe the string markings and get the right ‘shape’ it works very well Surface Tension is one of my favourite pieces and using the chord symbols to get the correct positions, is fairly straightforward Diary is another ‘country picking’ style piece and Thave given you the fingering in Bar 18 because even though Steve uses it lot found ita little ‘unusual, You will find the maia theme occurs in different keys 50 when you have got the first section correct the fingering will be the same further on but in a different position. md ed ‘The Topographic Oceans solo has difficult time signatures. It could be argued that for instance the fifth bar (7/8) is actually a‘pushed! bar of 4/4 but L decided this was the best way to write it. The tempo always returns to the original after pause notes and the 3/4 section is listesso. In conclusion, I would like to say that these picces will obviously take a lot of time and effort to learn to play. Ican only say Tam sure the pleasure gained will be more than worth the work involved.Clap By Steve Howe from "The Yes Alou’ D/A G GD GD £ ! : 4 aa ea a gic = (—— ay eae o - iol ee FF | eerieE G/F «G7/D G7/F «G7p G7 D7DIA G Dre AIE D/A G Dt B7 A F/GMood For A Day By Steve Howe ‘from Fragile d= 196 6 ay c Fe G poids effi pe Listesso ded) ee oS = RN ‘molto accel HM ~y SF snes Ztight ral ————S w@ ge p= # HH ‘ d t | will “i wlll 4 pS ELS _ : * 4 CPPS HESS Sess esas ates SesG ‘Tempo primo d=« >= a 4 ; i : 3 2 z 7 = z = = Zt =———+ = 2S Spe cane,Bm A alc D EVGt A OG minim oma FH!The Ancient By Stee Howe, Jon Anderon, Alan White, ‘Chris Squire and Rick Wakeman ee ‘from Tales From Topographic Oceans? c A G Fim Em =D % E > s 3 oS - pit a= 2 2 ij eo = Tempo Primo d= 4 su paras we iheSe Baz, ; seat s po . s ‘4 sa ce Harmonics 8° aa D> omeS Brio BT Bmit= Em —- Re = jt — c mal Bm/A cS ; == ee poi oI La ‘TempoSound Chaser By Steve Howe, Jon Andeum, Patrick Moras, ins Square and Man White from Relayer / Je 160 | eee # x S=5 = cE Rp Fe aes St rall. into next section OBER Db ee, | pod Pe inSiowty(J=160 SU pars Guitar Synth. Cue Synth, Tacet accel zs z “Approx. twice speed (d= 120) —_—_v slight rail Slow (d= 75) > z eS (Hold position) = ipa ties ot 8 |(hold position) (hold position) > sitar th, Tempo very fastd= 88 Sf Synth, Tacet Synth. al niente. ———Brightly approx. (d= 160) eetete Guitar Synth. Que > % Siowly approx. (d= 60) a aoe yy 16va-3loco 2 ‘Synth, also continues holding F#m triad, + ie Foe am pos, 4 T \ 1 damped strings’Eo A TEh pos, cee w ~ S | ? Hl gee i be oo Pge E Ad lib. Bottleneck guitar ——E E and A strings damped FF dUG Em Bottleneck guitar cue 28D7 p79 Pe | © Slide guitar cue © An G z dampeddamped fF 30 Em Am 6Meadow Rag By Steve Howe _from "The Stove Howe Album’ Edim bend FT Deron 0 o+5th> 3.043043 04let ring AA, wie se TTT damped ....2222---‘ap body SV 535 Pdi FTSurface Tension By Si ’ {from The Steve Howe Album dh 3 WHI ffl. bn De 7 38. T Lt te ce = = tp 5 Fay |DareBth string ten, ten Tempoo f F f Bb Am Gm F Dm Am7 obs yt ee : palit Eee tage aml He a bm an CG pega! 142 os a tg . = ic — Hoe a _mfion Shs; oS SSS Se oes ‘ee 8S fq SS aecB Am c zp = Am a G/B Am G GB Am G Dire & fet ring 5 San a eee eee = i 7 = = ; it aDiary Of A Man Who Disappeared By Steve Howe ‘fram The Steve Howe Album’ 4=96 Banereee77727 9 Joco fee) ’) e2tte ff eee es Zz: e 6p, _ Ete & fe = eee === 7 Si oe —— “a* Steve Howe is internationally recognised as one of the finest guitarists of our time. His talent ts acknowledged by. fellow musicians, who listen to his playing with respect and in order to learn, For the first time ever, a guitarist of the stature of Steve Howe has published a collection of his own solos and shows exactly how they should be played. Long time associate Mick Barker, who has transcribed all of the pieces in this collection, has added notes clarifying technical points in ihe pete Steve Howe has also included some notes of his own, which give an insight into his attitude towards his music. Titles included are: Clap Mood For A Day The Ancient Sound Chaser Diary Of A Man Who Disappeared Surface Tension Meadow Rag Ram Every guitarist today should have this book in bis library. It represents contemporary guitar music at its best and most exciting. Steve Howe originally made his name with Yes. Since then his interest in guitar has widened to cover all its vast possthilitivs: jazz, country classical, ragtime. His unique musicianship has placed him in the forofront of bis profession, and in the Melndy Maker he was voted world’s best guitarist. gid *y Wa Wise Pa ications ISBN 0,85001,740.0 Order No AM 26345 a, at