Steve LukatherOne of the most versatile guitarists ofthe 80s, Steve Lukather is famed for his superb Session work and recordings with Toto. GT probed him im for some star playing tips. Cool Hand Luke ar and producing on literally hundreds of Liane Ric With The thre 80 le, Lakathecs as part of OT cauahe up wath Lx middle ofthe recent GT: One of the most remarked ‘apon aspects of ‘Rosanna’ is the rhythm =f yo buy adram machine these days, they'l have recreated that Rosanna’ drum groove as.a program, Peres Beate ‘SLE “That's pretty funny: You know were that came fron? Jeff ophed ly The Rain’ (from Zeppelins through The Out Door’ an Bang. The end vamp GT# For ‘osanna’s first soo, ‘you've got a very unique bending technique - you bend a tone with your third finger and then fret that bend with your fourth finger for an additional note, Other players Would choose the more ‘country’ approach of splitting those notes lover two strings. What influenced that technique? “Ijust started playing and ‘Rosanna’ was SLE “I don't know, that’s just the way [feel your, Love in that (Steely Dan) ‘Kid a one-take CCharlemerge/ ‘Royal Seam eolarlawent back and then doubled it: GT: As ‘Rosanna’s solo is so melodic, was it pre-planned” SL: “No, [had just started playin. ke, What I did de layed, the guys sad I should double i, Sof went back and learnt st and then double ‘But the end sola is not doubled... 4 that was a one-take too? you get icky sometimes vith stuff ke that. In the used to be Fd get the track and leversbody would say ‘do the solo now’ and everybody would be partying in the studio. Youd have the whole vibe of people hanging out, just great, Now its more technical tha be. Now everything is 0 soTm glad id bad he experience I We were in the last era of session gus, as it doesnt exist the same way anymore GT: On that outro solo, you've got big two-tone bends. Had you been MARCH 2003 Quitar Techniques 27Interview STEVE LUKATHER ‘COOL HAND LUKE’ “| like to play a bit every listening to a lot of Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck the night before? day and | still Re eatee eeu oie actually give a Zeppelin! Pagey h really 0 shit... even to me too sine, os weve met up OUT TOL | Girne she usin Seve Tose cool to be to be a session g was Jo Teally good eg fe son toca et these days’ GT: The outro solo displays your very able picking hand technique SLE use everything: down-up picking, dosen-picking, I use finger Tdont ever think about what fm ying now. But what 1 he Tras kid, whieh isthe m dont burt yourself, was stiffening ip rid wr I you start practising ane veins Lo hurt, then stop practising Otherwise, you'l get tendonitis, and ou won't be able to play the guitar fF and you wont be able to vps GTs You were at your height asa session player in the ‘S08 — wi there a typieal kind of session? Between 1076 and 1986, i ee ee Beier er itn ‘Lamb Possibly, 28 GhitarTechnigues MARCH 2003 ta n charts ne es 1 worl sang with Ra or Lee Rater neds were just it had to listen GT: Did you try to get a sound sorted within 15 oF 0 minutes? You a ‘what should I 0 foe?" of a Les Paul an Someone ke Ray >a using, what the token hat stuff, 3 a Marsh the funk guy. And i Jay (Gray and I played together, ane af us ould do the clean shit and other one would do the other par Sometimes, a producer would request me to do the solo or hatover GT: For the majority of sessions, ‘were you just called in to do an cera of a gulta solo be like (Olivia or 16 AU the tin cheesy songs Joti) ireland id Ihave anywhere near stack were playing for Shirley Bassey GT: Was there a studio protocol, a pecking order, about who sat where, like Tommy Tedesco in seat Land Lary Carlton in seat 2 SL: “Oh sure! I there were two fuitars, fa be guitar 2. unt became th and the suitar 2 part was alot has ar 1 pat. Ish te Le Ritenoir was the other gultar part and he can read anything, { showed up late as my car had fed up, so there was no time for me to get my shit together and, at 19 years old, I was panicking, After trying to ay sly, [looked at Rit d then at my guitar 2 part My part was ike a king piano part, no chord symbols anywhere Fis part was fl oft Ph st little fills to do. So he jus abbed my part and put his part in ‘of me. said to him, iT wa Fa suck your fe ay, Xe right now Te Saved me nnel he dient have to He saved my ass then for sur GT: What's your practice regime Ike these days? st:"] the strings. ik and T stil act wen though is when you pick 0 play abit every a lve a shit Lo be real GT: What stall do yom do? Sb: “Tmn studying some chor Jody stu, Keyboard and hor lf, Just dipping more into ty 3s there’ nol much of the radio "oD that’s challenging these days GT: What do you say to readers ‘who might sage‘ ean't read but noither did Hendrix stir Stevie Ray Vaughan ¢ ld, don’ arm Now to read! didn ntl 1 was 16, s0 going back ary Had A Lit nd Jeaming ory frustrating, But L ugh 1 ated! it; now I find t really helpful ‘To read rousie means you can commmunieate with any musician and Interview by Jason Sidwelli ocera from Tot Wilatoni IMAL eee). TOTO ROSANNA ISN MU clas ee Pe errennee las hese solos challenging to mast bout with such a splenic ractice against, it sho world most sought ater SOLO #1 session musician The frst solo is undoubtedly w winning solo artist in his own ri wf perfectly. Apart from th Sieve Likather is also a founder Xs) and the #5 (CH) passing nber ofthe band Toto. The solos in BAAR 3, it can be viewed rancenbed here ate taken from o notes from the F roixolyian hei biggest singles, Rosan hroughout which opened their smash album Toto IV. To my mind, th FGA BR CDS F warticularly th 1 one) ar SEQ CASTE song the best that Steve Lakathe as ever recorded, bristling with Js0, the ran in BAR 3 could be ody, fre, great phrasing, ena blues seale played cout, technique and fee. over the F chord, aka F major Bemard Purdie/Jotin Bonar matonie with an ad shred drum groove (played on rina by the late Jeff Por FGAACODE eof the best rock shule g 12335 6 1 oF et recone too, You will a4 8 57 1 8 ofD makes good ieune usually the 6 to add seller ONTHE CD Ri S71 GT RATING ADVANCED WSoloing idence feature phrases ‘Bende Played high up the neck, during Seale knowledge which Sieve uses interesting string BABromd rock bending to gr Notice haw zee he bends into the major rd of the Eh chord (G) and the Sth of the ord (A), Also observe how the solo ends on the note F the minor «Dr which incidentally same note as the frst note SOLO #2. When Toto were m rack, they al played live i radio, this second solo resulting of the song. As such, this solo reall player Steve Lukather is atthe solo his supert phrasing re well exh GAB CDEFG The G minor pentaton Ge cD F SES CALAIS and the G blues se GB CO DRUG Wonb3 aes pS SLE The opening 3 phases in BARS 1-2, 5-6 and 7-8 are fur straightforward blues-based i sok ott for the D-F minor drd bend in bar 5 though. The following hase in BARS 9-10 conta - MARCH 2003 GitarTechniques 29Steve Lukather TOTO 'ROSANNA’ dhe would never play in exactly the same way tice. So listen elosely to the track, and try and get as close as you can by ear, Remember that ibe and augression isthe most important factor here. BLUESY FINALE ‘The final three bars (BARS 25-27) feature a very fast blues scale passage, that will certainly be more ‘uid if you memorise it frst and th build it up to speed gradually over a As you play through this, you will finger on the F (10th fret G string). period of time. The aecomparying need to take care to ensure that Incidentally, to play the Cand By chord progression as originally Doth the E and B string pitches notes, you could use tappirw instead played by keys and brass section (BAR 9) reach the corect target’ of plaving them on the B stringas generally speaking, outlines a Gut, notes In both cases the bends are of indicated: for the C, tap the @ string, Dru, CAG, Gin? and CAG ~ this a major Srd. Look out for broken By tap the G should be phrased in the same way strings here too, You've been warmed! as the keyboard parton the backing BARS 11-14 involve adescencding The plurasing forthe unison bend track. Notice also on the track how triplet figure that uses the G dorian section in BARS 22-24 is nigh on the brass extens the harmony by mode. As well as this scale, there are possible to read ~ Steve was just playing notes a 3rd above the also couple of passing aotes used, really going for iat ths pout and 1 _keyboards toyads the end of Band Avan BAR 13. dare say its one of those things thatthe track ~ tis nice! ‘These are a favourite and ‘commonplace device of Steve's and they work really well in this kind of lick ~ introducing a ite tension into the run, making it sound more colourful and jazzy than a normal ‘stright’ scale-based idea, CHROMATIC FUN ‘The line in BARS 15-18 illustrates another example of chromaticisi, Here the chromatic section is the Dhrase that descends trom F to D on tho Sra beat of BAR 16. BAR 19 features a triplet-fuelled idea that necessitates quite a large left-hand stretch, Throughout this passage vou should leave your left-hand first Rosanna words and music by David Patch. © Copyright 1982 Hudmar Publshing Company Incorporated. SonwAT Music Poblshung Limited Used by permision of Mus Sales Lined. il Rignts Reserved: International Copyrgnt Secured 30 Guitar Techniques MaRcH 2003& TRACKS 7-|| (STEVE LUKATIHER:ROSANNAY CHORD SHAPES! :5 /S2800(28 NAA aT Gm7/D cre DmiF Gm7 | 3 5 6 : 3 9 9 “ cis Dmic 3 3 aa $5 a Soe awe ae eee 4 = Sen ee le ie eu iemees SS: — oe $ feed ca = sae 8 8 eu au AP BU BD = ———— | ve MARCH 2003 Guitar Techniques 31Steve Lukather TOTO ‘ROSANNA’ SE] Mereemitree | Gberbertomd rine [inert per rah eu 60 te 0718 Tl I eta)" ota) 19a) a Se ee et ai ay ey eo 10-29) 10-15— Bu By 80 s [ree (22) — 228) 122)- 1816020 — IE ee | 1911 15TH 1a 16-16 oe ‘i 32 Guitar Techniques manch 2003@ TRACKS 7-/| By 2 een 10-19 11110 30—19-10-1—19 19—1t +9418) 19-1945) y, Bu 2 te)-{18 (20 su Bu wu SET mea aE me PO et ee AT AS A7AS- at MARCH 2003 Guitar Techrixques 33