Steely Dan Sound and effects
Zman
great Dan guitarists
PMG
wrote:
>Any suggestions for amps and effects to produce the jazz blues sounds of the
>great Dan guitarists
>
You might want to dig up articles on Pat Metheny to see what equipment
he uses, and that might cover a lot of the Jazz sounds they used. I
think Skunk Baxter did all the cool stuff that help make them famous
though. He's a real interesting guy.
They did a Pub TV show recently that was pretty good I guess. As I
recall, Walter Becker used some sort of Marshall half stack, and a
guitar that wasn't all that closely based on the Strat. I don't
recall him using pedals, it was just pretty much straight forward
playing. He just had a sound that worked and it wasn't effects laden.
I wouldn't waste any time chasing down any equipment to go after a
Steely Dan sound. They were a studio creation for the most part.
Just pick up your guitar and play, you should be able to come close
enough if you have your guitar and amp setup already worked out.
Pete
--
Can I borrow a bucket of worms
and a keg of gunpowder? --Froggo
Tony
> Any suggestions for amps and effects to produce the jazz blues sounds of the
> great Dan guitarists
I think they used various players over the years. I would recommend a
Deluxe reverb if I had to pick.
Scott Colborn
Wander over to Rich Koerner's site:
Rich did the amp for Elliott Randall.
Take care,
Walk in Beauty, Peace. Scott
Zman wrote in message <9rlj6...@enews2.newsguy.com>...
Bruce Morgen
>Any suggestions for amps and effects to produce the jazz blues sounds of the
>great Dan guitarists
>
There really is no pat formula
gear-wise. These days, Walter
Becker plays a Sadowski Strat
clone through Bogner amps and
Jon Herington plays an ES-335
and a Tele. Not sure about
his amps or effects, but he's
the one covering the solos
done by various studio aces on
the albums. Historically, we
have Denny Dias with his two-
'bucker FrankenTele and Elliot
Randall with his 'bucker-
equipped Strat and Koernerized
BF Super Reverb -- ironically,
Randall's most famous and
influential solo was played
not through that Super, but
through a dimed Ampeg SVT bass
amp. Then of course there's
Jeff Baxter, who I believe was
mostly a Strat guy during his
SD stint.
Like I said, there's really
no pat SD formula gear-wise.
Pj
and a decent fuzz will see you there.
If you want to go for the Larry Carlton vibe you want a 335 style guitar
straight into an amp.
As one of the other posts say, you need to rely on the melodic and playing
ideas used in order to achieve the dan feel. Just get a decent, neutral
sound set up.
Cheers
Pj
winnard
"Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
news:gpntttk558lkbjne7...@4ax.com...
> "Zman" <den...@innernet.net> wrote:
>
> >Any suggestions for amps and effects to produce the jazz blues sounds of
the
> >great Dan guitarists
> >
> There really is no pat formula
> gear-wise. These days, Walter
> Becker plays a Sadowski Strat
> clone through Bogner amps and
> Jon Herington plays an ES-335
> and a Tele.
Awesome! You spelled his (Jon) name right! They didn't even get it right
on the 2VN album. Herington is awesome. I got the 2VN DVD, the sound
mix is incredible.
winnard
Steve2000indeja
>and a decent fuzz will see you there.
>If you want to go for the Larry Carlton vibe you want a 335 style guitar
>straight into an amp
Larry's the signature mid 70s jazz rock guitar tone all over "Royal Scam" - he
also contributed a lot to Aja, though some of that records solos were farmed
out.
Royal Scam is my favorite overall guitar album, though all the records have
some great guitar from various guys as mentioned on this thread.
Larry C was Mr. 335 then and would soon be using a Mesa Boogie, but he has
said in a lot of interviews that the amp he used for all his Steely Dan stuff -
including the Kid Charlemagne solo etc- was a BF Deluxe Reverb with a mid mod
by Paul Rivera who was the tech to the stars back then.
Someone said just get a guitar and play - and their sorta right.
A 335 into a good combo cranked will get you close to Larry's thing - if you
have anything near his hands, which most of us don't. 90's SD tour guitarist
Drew Zing has the hands and nailed a great version of that tone on their 93
tour with a 335 into a matchless.
You can hear all kinds of tone flavors from the first album on. Right outa the
gate (second single, Reelin In the Years, 1973) they bring Elliot Randall in as
a hired gun for the solo and he nails a classic with the Ampeg SVT as
mentioned. Legend has it he did it on the first or second try in one rolling
take, no punch-ins ( ! )
Baxter and Diaz were the official guitarists when there was actually a band
through 1974/Pretzel Logic.
Diaz with jazz the franken-tele mentioned earlier, and the electric sitar solo
on their first hit "Do It Again"- no string bending for Denny. Just cool jazz
rock playing, sometimes with fuzz. Hot solos like the one on the fast early
jazzy rocker "Bodishattva'. Any combo would do it, if ya got the chops.
Baxter was the very musical blues rocker who also played jazzy stuff and
country (is there any style he couldn't do?) He used some Fenders, real or
homemade and also Les Pauls depending on what the track called for. Sometimes
through a (combo) amp, sometimes direct into the board - even with a Les Paul
and fuzz box.
One of my favorite solos by anyone is the song within a song that is Baxter's
solo in "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" -apparently a strat or strat clone
(possibly made by Baxter himself) through heavy limiting straight into the
board. They somehow got just the right amount of dirt on that one. One of those
'perfect solos.'
After Pretzel Logic, they turned into a total studio project and the next LP
was the unique piano oriented "Katy Lied," which also had some good guitar from
Diaz, who they still used -Baxter was long gone and never recorded with em
again.
They also invited The A-list first chair session cat in LA - Larry C - to play
on the Katy sessions and he became their main guitar man for arguably their
career best records, "Royal Scam" (if you're a guitar player) and Aja (if you
are a Dan fan). They are both amazing records with state of the art 70s jazz
rock session guitar genius.
Becker and Fagen's last record from their original run was 'Gaucho' (1980). It
came out 3 very long and strange years after Aja- an album which they didn't
try to 'top.' ...just went where their muse led them, which was into more R+B
stylings and kinda set the tone for tasty session tones of that time, using
clean strats and chorused fender rhodes electric pianos. Carlton wasn't on
Gaucho much. They cut it in NYC with guys like Steve Kahn and even new kid Mark
Knopfler turning in a guest appearance and solo.
Btw, all through their 70s peak run, Walter Becker-their de facto bassist, but
actually a guitarist first- turned in the occasional excellent highly stylized
solo. He rocked out on Black Friday, but his signature 70s solo sound on songs
like "Josie" and "FM" is a clean strat, super compressed and with heavy
atmospheric reverb and echo-and his unique bluesy-jazzy note choices.
After 'Gaucho' it was 13 years 'off' for Steely Dan-while drugs and writers
block were struggled with - as well as their own very high standards.
Becker and Fagen pulled together Steely Dan in 93 and are back for good. After
3 mid 90s tours - with 3 very different lead players in the 'stunt guitar'
chair-Drew Zingg nailing it the best imo- and Walter Becker also now firmly on
guitar.
After the 96 tour they went into the studio to begin recording their followup
to 1980s "Gaucho.". "Two Against Nature" predictably took them 3 years to
finish and came out in 2000. And won all the grammies last year.
Walter Becker is takes all the solos on 2VN - and plays jazzy blues licks on
his Sadowsky with a tasty blues tone- Bogners and Mesa (mavericks or Blue
Angels) onstage. Walter's playing is fine for that record, a little tonal
variety and/or effects may have helped add some variety to his contribution,
but overall it's fine.
They have said they didn't use hot session cats on 2VN as lot's of it was done
with just the 2 of them in the studio- technology has come a long way since the
70s - when
Steely Dan was notorious for recutting the same song 3 or 4 times with
different rhythm sections (using tons of studio hours) searching for the right
feel. They got some great grooves from guys like Bernard Purdie, Jeff Porcaro
and Chuck Rainey doing things that way.
SD prefer to use studio technology-and live drummers to come up with their
grooves/rhythm parts thesedays (to some criticism) and they didn't have studio
bands booker or overdub dates planned. So when a guitar part came along, Walter
would just take a stab at it- they all turned out to be keepers - though there
was some criticism of the missing hot session solos- which actually peaked on
"Royal Scam" and had been steadily dialed back on each subsequent release...so
what's the big deal?:)
Jon Herrington covered the stunt guitar stuff on the last tour and while he
didn't have Drew's dead on Carlton vibe, he had plenty of variety for all the
tunes using a 335, tele and (i think) a strat- through a Bogner half stack,
iirc.
Fyi, Steely Dan were working on a new recording in NYC when the WTC was hit.
They tried to continue but took this month off and are supposed to get back at
it soon.
Rumors abound that they are using a bit more of a live rhythm section feel. Who
knows who will take the guitar solos on The Next One.
imo,
Steve
MBarnett
> You might want to dig up articles on Pat Metheny to see what equipment
> he uses, and that might cover a lot of the Jazz sounds they used. I
> think Skunk Baxter did all the cool stuff that help make them famous
> though. He's a real interesting guy.
Err... Pete, I might be wrong, but I don't think Pat Metheny played with
Steely Dan. The list of guitarists they used is long, including:
Denny Dias
Jeff Baxter
Larry Carlton
Elliot Randall
Wayne Krantz
Jay Graydon
Jon Herington
Walter Becker (of course!)
........ and perhaps a few more, but I couldn't find any reference to Pat
Metheny. You're right, though: There were so many different guys using a
wide variety of equipment, so focusing on specific gear isn't really
important. A nice guitar, a decent amp, and a couple of pedals should do the
trick. The most important aspect is chops.
Monte
Miles O'Neal
>
> "PMG" <avo...@home.com> wrote:
>
> > You might want to dig up articles on Pat Metheny to see what equipment
> > he uses, and that might cover a lot of the Jazz sounds they used. I
> > think Skunk Baxter did all the cool stuff that help make them famous
> > though. He's a real interesting guy.
>
> Err... Pete, I might be wrong, but I don't think Pat Metheny played with
> Steely Dan.
That's true - but Pete just said that Pat's gear
might give you a lot of the jazz tones ST got.
Which sounds reasonable to me. But what do I
know? I can barely spell jazz...
PMG
I get those Jazz guyz mixed up. To me they all sound the same so I
don't remember their names. I must have been thinking of Larry
Carlton, my apologies. And I think Denny Dias probably played a lot
of the stuff I'm giving Jeff Baxter credit for too.
PMG
The correct spelling is Jasszzz. Unfortunately none of them can
spell.
DBCooper41
>From: PMG avo...@home.com
the production was the most important effect in steely dan. b & f had great
taste.
DBCooper41
>Larry's the signature mid 70s jazz rock guitar tone all over "Royal Scam" -
>he
>also contributed a lot to Aja, though some of that records solos were farmed
>out.
>
>Royal Scam is my favorite overall guitar album, though all the records have
>some great guitar from various guys as mentioned on this thread.
>
> Larry C was Mr. 335 then and would soon be using a Mesa Boogie, but he has
>said in a lot of interviews that the amp he used for all his Steely Dan stuff
>-
>including the Kid Charlemagne solo etc- was a BF Deluxe Reverb with a mid mod
>by Paul Rivera who was the tech to the stars back then.
>
>Someone said just get a guitar and play - and their sorta right.
>
>A 335 into a good combo cranked will get you close to Larry's thing - if you
>have anything near his hands, which most of us don't. 90's SD tour guitarist
>Drew Zing has the hands and nailed a great version of that tone on their 93
>tour with a 335 into a matchless.
>
>You can hear all kinds of tone flavors from the first album on. Right outa
>the
>gate (second single, Reelin In the Years, 1973) they bring Elliot Randall in
>as
>a hired gun for the solo and he nails a classic with the Ampeg SVT as
>mentioned. Legend has it he did it on the first or second try in one rolling
>take, no punch-ins ( ! )
>
>Baxter and Diaz were the official guitarists when there was actually a ban
..........
great post!!
thanks so much. i was turned on to sd in about 75 and bought everything through
gaucho. i've always thought of them as being the epitome of good taste.
once had a huge fight with a drummer over dr wu. i said it was the perfect
song, he said the snare was too loud. they were/are great.
you sound like you know the band. can you get me backstage?:)
Steve2000indeja
Two notable MIA's on the "why didn't these guys record with Steely Dan" list
are Pat Metheny and Robben Ford.
It's sorta understandable with Pat as he was just getting started in the late
70s Steely Dan was winding down their 70s work. While Becker and Fagen took
major time off - most of the 80s:) - Pat used that time to become a major
figure in modern jazz guitar. Some Dan fans have wondered about a possible
collaboration with Becker/Fagen and Pat now.
I really don't see it, myself.
Heck they coulda got almost any hot jazz rocker in the world to play on the
last release and they still wound up having Walter play all the solos. Also
those guys are not jammers as far as recordings...they work on the tunes and
polish polish polish. They are basically great pop songwriters/producers first.
Pat Metheny is 180 degrees opposite. He's a Player in the true jazz (and blues
and jam rock) tradition. He plays on lots of projects as a leader or a member
or a guest.
A collaboration or a guest shot would be nice though. I'm just not betting on
it.
---
Robben Ford was an active A-List player on the LA session scene when Steely Dan
were using the hottest guys in town. Larry Carlton actually took Robben under
his wing and got him going/introduced to the right producers etc when Robin hit
LA circa 1975....so Robben could have/should have shown up on a Dan tune
somewhere on those last 3 70s records.
In fact, I think Robben was one of the guys who took a shot at the solo on
"Peg" - a notorious solo in that most of the hot guys in town- including Larry-
got booked for session time to try it. The legend seems to grow with time,
something like 15 top guys tried it - they wound up using Jay Graydon's or Dean
Parks' solo, I think.
So Robben did record with them at least a little, he just didn't make the final
cut.
Steve
Steve2000indeja
>>From: sslag...@aol.comnospam (Steve2000indeja )
>
>>Larry's the signature mid 70s jazz rock guitar tone all over "Royal Scam" -
>>he
>>also contributed a lot to Aja, though some of that records solos were farmed
>>out.
>>
>>Royal Scam is my favorite overall guitar album, though all the records have
>>some great guitar from various guys as mentioned on this thread.
>>
>> Larry C was Mr. 335 then and would soon be using a Mesa Boogie, but he has
>>said in a lot of interviews that the amp he used for all his Steely Dan
>stuff
>>-
>>including the Kid Charlemagne solo etc- was a BF Deluxe Reverb with a mid
>mod
>>by Paul Rivera who was the tech to the stars back then.
>..........
>great post!!
>thanks so much. i was turned on to sd in about 75 and bought everything
>through
>gaucho. i've always thought of them as being the epitome of good taste.
>once had a huge fight with a drummer over dr wu. i said it was the perfect
>song, he said the snare was too loud. they were/are great.
>you sound like you know the band. can you get me backstage?:)
>
Thanks!
I'm just a danfan and a Larryfan.
SD are my desert island band and have been since about 1975. I'm a regular in
the usenet SD newsgroup as well as the semi official dandom.com mailing list.
FYI, the newsgroup is very very quiet thesedays by the way, and a couple days
after the WTC tragedy, the official steelydan.com website put a little button
on their home page...one of those "I Love (little red heart shape) NY" buttons-
with the heart 'broken in two."
I don't have any connections to get you backstage, but I'd like to try...cause
that would mean Steely Dan were on tour again!:)
Steve
PMG
) wrote:
Robben Ford, I have one Lp by that guy. I like it a lot. "Talk to
Your Daughter". Several good tracks on there. He didn't seem like a
Jazz musician to me, and does a real good job on Blues based songs. I
don't know whatever other good albums the guy might have done though,
I never followed his career at all.
Scott Colborn
Just wanted to chime in with my appreciation for your posts as well.
Thanks.
Walk in Beauty, Peace. Scott
Steve2000indeja wrote in message
<20011031005530...@mb-fi.aol.com>...
Steve2000indeja
>) wrote:
>>Two notable MIA's on the "why didn't these guys record with Steely Dan" list
>>are Pat Metheny and Robben Ford.
>
>Robben Ford, I have one Lp by that guy. I like it a lot. "Talk to
>Your Daughter". Several good tracks on there. He didn't seem like a
>Jazz musician to me, and does a real good job on Blues based songs. I
>don't know whatever other good albums the guy might have done though,
>I never followed his career at all.
>
>Pete
Robben is Robben. A great, very musical guitarist.
He started out as a kick ass blues phenom who could also play jazz when he
backed bluesman Jimmy Witherspoon in the early 70s. Super 400 straight into a
dimed super reverb, killer tone, great feel.
His talent could not be denied and he move d to LA where he was quickly put on
the session player A-List (as mentioned with some good recommendations from
Larry Carlton and others).
When Joni Mitchell recorded her classic (and pop breakthrough hit) "Court And
Spark" album in the early 70s, she had saxophonist Tom Scott assemble a stellar
group of the best LA session players to back her on every song on the record.
That "band" - which included Larry Carlton on guitar-was the template for the
great LA studio/session groups which would play on lots of great 70s records -
and which influenced Steely Dan to go the 'session player' route, imo.
When Scott decided to formalize this jazz pop group to back Joni and George
Harrison on tours and also record their own LA style jazz fusion instrumental
records, Larry Carlton passed - he was simply too busy being the top session
guy in town, and he also already had a spot in a live funky jazz group- as a
member of the Crusaders, whose members also did a lot of sessions and weren't
interested in long national tours.
So Larry recommended young Robben Ford for the gig. Robben picked up the
standard issue (for LA session guys) 335-into Fenders, Boogies and Musicmans-
and became the guitarist in the jazz-fusion group which would become known as
(Tom Scott's) LA Express.
This group backed up the stars on tours and recorded a few of their own albums.
Robben got a solo deal and put out his first album in the late 70s- basically a
jazz fusion affair, even though that style's popularity was fading. His tour
band for that album eventually became the smooth but adventurous jazz group
"The YellowJackets" - and Robben guested on their albums and tours for a few
years.
Robben played the pop fusion stuff fine, but in his musical heart he was
always a (very musical) blues guy.
The LA Express faded and Robben went back to sessions, also did a year on the
road with Miles Davis-though he never recorded with him.
Robben also toured with pop/R+B singer Michael McDonald during his mid 80s
peak. McDonald had started as a member of Steely Dan's last 70s tour band and
recorded with them-mainly singing-on some of their classic tunes. He then moved
on with Jeff Baxter to give the Doobie Brothers a second lease on life when
their main singer and songwriter crashed and burned in 1976.
When McDonald finally went solo in the mid 80s he recorded and toured- with
Robben Ford on guitar.
Robben's great blues playing finally really got heard on his excellent 'return
to the blues' release "Talk To Your Daughter" in 1988. He had started the
project as a demo and the times were right for it-SRV had made playing the
blues cool-and marketable again-by then.
Robben got a record deal and released "TTYDaughter' then formed "The Blue
Line," a blues/jazzy rock trio which toured extensively and recorded several
albums over the next decade.
Robben has always had great tone. With "Talk To Your Daughter" Robben
established his signature tone for the next dozen years by plugging a Fender
Elite into a Dumble Overdrive Special. Shades of Clapton's best tone in live
Cream:)...though it's really Robben's great and unique sound. Huge glorious
tone on record and especially live.
Fwiw, the Elite has evolved into the Robben Ford model from Fender and is their
most Gibson-like guitar. And the Dumbles have become one of the most expensive
amps in the world. Howard Dumble oughta give world class players/tone monsters
like Robben, Larry Carlton and Sonny Landreth and David Lindley free amps for
helping push the value of Dumbles through the stratosphere, imo.
Robben is a great player and his Blue Line recordings have some excellent blues
rock solos on em.
Despite his numerous recordings as a featured artist and almost non-stop
touring in the 90s, Robben- who is also a decent lead vocalist- has never
broken big with a hit record... like say, Stevie Ray Vaughn did so many times.
While bluesy, Robben is playing in a different universe than SRV-and almost
everybody else. His playing is straight from the heart, bluesy and emotional,
but it's also Very musical. Perhaps too much so for the masses. Robben can and
does play through the changes. Any changes.
Lots of Stevie Ray wannabes, some even semi-successful (hello, Kenny Wayne).
Not too many Robben wannabes, not many players can approach the deft blend of
blues, jazz and rock informed by tremendous instinctive musical
knowledge-though the fairly unknown Garth Webber deserves a big mention here.
Even Robben supports Garth's similar musical path...in sorta the same way Larry
Carlton supported Robben 25 years ago.
Robben is in his late 40s now and his last few projects have been solo efforts,
trying various approaches. He remains a player's player and his recordings
always have some great solos and to-die-for tone...no matter what guitar he's
currently using. It's been a tele and a 50s Les Paul Gold top/ with P-90s, as
much as the Robben Ford sig guitars for the last several years. Still through
the Dumbles in the studio and live appearances in the US- through a red knob
Fender Evil Twin overseas. (and he sounds great through either amp.)
Robben's cut back on touring some but if he comes to your town, just go.
I've probably seen him 25 times or more starting in 1973 when he was a kid and
an unknown-and he stole the show from then red hot Roy Buchanan (and several
other guitar greats in many styles) on an all-star concert called 'Guitar
Explosion.'
Jazz great Joe Pass was on that show, and on the side of the stage or in the
front rows watching the parade of great players that night - from T-Bone Walker
(one of his last appearances), to Jim Hall and Kenny Burrell to Roy.
A friend was down front and said that Joe Pass seemed unimpressed with Roy's
telemagic (in fairness, Roy came on last as the headliner and admitted to the
audience that he felt he had no business being billed over all the legendary
great players that night - he turned in an average set, I've seen him Lot's
hotter.) However when young Robben Ford took the stage for 3 or 4 tunes: a
couple of jazz standards and some killer blues with that Super 400..my friend
said Joe was paying attention - and grumpy Joe may even have been smiling a
bit:)
Robben is Robben. And he's one of the greats.
imo
Steve
DBCooper41
>Robben Ford, I have one Lp by that guy. I like it a lot. "Talk to
>Your Daughter". Several good tracks on there. He didn't seem like a
>Jazz musician to me,
if i recall correctly robben ford did some nice stuff with joni mitchell on the
"miles os aisles" album. i'm pretty sure he also toured with her when i saw her
at duke in 1976?
Bruce Morgen
>
>"Bruce Morgen" <edi...@juno.com> wrote in message
>news:gpntttk558lkbjne7...@4ax.com...
>> "Zman" <den...@innernet.net> wrote:
>>
>> >Any suggestions for amps and effects to produce the jazz blues sounds of
>the
>> >great Dan guitarists
>> >
>> There really is no pat formula
>> gear-wise. These days, Walter
>> Becker plays a Sadowski Strat
>> clone through Bogner amps and
>> Jon Herington plays an ES-335
>> and a Tele.
>
> Awesome! You spelled his (Jon) name right!
How about that? :-) I'm a
little sensitive 'cuz people
constantly spell my name
wrong -- it's M-o-r-g-e-n,
not the much more common
M-o-r-g-a-n. Iow, I know
what Jon's going through.
>They didn't even get it right
>on the 2VN album.
True!
>Herington is awesome.
He's a very good, very
versatile player.
>I got the 2VN DVD, the sound
>mix is incredible.
Great. I don't even own a
DVD player -- I guess now
that passable ones go for
$100 or so, I should
consider it, eh? :-)
>
> winnard
>
bcnu -- Bruce
Andy van Tol
Andy
tonehenge
impress anyone. mykey
Richard
> > Zman wrote in message <9rlj6...@enews2.newsguy.com>...
> > > Any suggestions for amps and effects to produce the jazz blues sounds of
> > > the great Dan guitarists
>
> Like I have said before, If you can really play you dont need effects
> to impress anyone. mykey
No one would argue with that. The original question wasn't asking how
to use effects to impress people, however.
You can do a lot of Dan with a great overdrive, a great compressor, a
Strat, a 335, and an amp with reverb and a great clean sound. Add a
Tele in there a little for more coverage.
--
Not fear, Mr. bin Laden. Fury.
Zman
SD on their 1st reunion tour and played on the live album. When I saw him,
I was blown away by his aboility to cover all the old stuff--especially the
Carlton stuff--and then some.
Gotta say I was a little dissapointed in 2 Against Nature and the lack of a
real hired gun-type guitarist. Lets face it--Becker is very adequate but he
ain't no best of breed-type player. Hope they enlist the services of
someone like Zingg for some more work in the future.
Do you know what Zingg is doing now and other stuff about him??
Zman
"Steve2000indeja " <sslag...@aol.comnospam> wrote in message
news:20011031114659...@mb-fi.aol.com...
Nick Koutsoukis
Amphitheater in San Jose. He played a 335 through 2 red Matchless amps and he
really nailed the Carlton stuff but also played more furiously and outside for
some of his solos. I was really impressed. He plays with Boz Scaggs sometimes
now. A friend of mine saw him (with Scaggs) at Slims in S.F. and said he was
really smoking.
Walter Becker said in a recent interview that they (Fagen/Becker) wanted to move
away from the sax-lick inspired guitar solos of the past and go for a more
blues-based sound. I think its logical for Becker himself to become "the
guitarist" if Steely Dan wants to settle on a signature guitar sound for their
"band." Although a lot of guitarists played with Steely Dan, I think Denny Diaz
in the early days and Larry Carlton in the later days really stood out as their
predominant guitarists. Carlton, especially, has a penchant for playing the
extended diatonic triads implied in chords like major 9, dom. 9 sus 4, and 6/9
+11 that was ready-made for the harmonic tricks Fagen used in his song writing.
-Nick
Skip Helms
up. I agree that Walter (like me) is probably a little late in life to become a
virtuoso.
Skip