When Steve Howe first appeared on The Yes Album....it was like an explosion with guitar players in the U.S. Every guitar player forming or performing in a Prog band wanted to go home and practice. He had this ball of energy rotating through everything he did on the axe with amazing speed and clarity. It was the early 70's and not many guitarists were entering the stage with a band to be diverse like Steve Howe decided to and guitarists desired to emulate his style and in point, they had to study to do that. It was quite similar in some ways to the story Chris Squire tells about meeting Jimi Hendrix. Most people here remember that story where Chris Squire was checking his mic and he looked up and saw George Harrison, Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, members of The Beatles and others waiting to see Hendrix who Squire, himself was in a band and opening for ..without personal knowledge of Hendrix' reputation. The same surroundings, groupings, and personal interest existed for Steve Howe in the U.S. when he hit the music scene and dazzled people for the first time.
Steve Hackett seemed very serious about the Classical guitar and when I eventually did hear Voyage and Wind and Wuthering, he came across to me as an understudy of Segovia. Then years later with Bay Of Kings..he had developed further and in recent years he has developed an overall tone like Christopher Parkening. I spent between 12 to 15 hours a day practicing Classical guitar and gave up Electric to master aspects to it and in the real world that is not enough time at all. Not if you are seriously considering working out technical pieces to perform in a theater/hall/church. Steve Hackett seemed to progress on Classical guitar slowly/gradually ..because he put a lot of his energy into the electric guitar and writing. He even has a Blues album...so there's no doubt he has locked in with other styles which would be almost forbidden during the serious developmental growth stages of the Classical student. So...Steve played in Genesis, went solo and releasing more Prog, but still became a universal sounding Classical player. Over-time.
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