stevelukather.net

I lived it a million times!

A collection of covers on official albums
played by Steve Lukather

In an interview in Guitar Player back in 1984, Lukather explained the practical utility of copying your masters: "The best way to learn how to play rock and roll guitar is to copy people you dig. It is very valuable for a young player who has just been playing for a couple of years to get that vocabulary under his fingers, to understand wang bar tricks and how and why things work. Just learn how to do it. Like Pat Martino said, 'Try to learn everything you can, and then forget it.' Then just play your own stuff. Learning everything from a book isn't going to do you any good. You need practical application of what you learn. When you're out doing a top-40 club gig six nights a week, three sets a night, and learn an Ozzy solo, eventually you are going to start playing other stuff. You are going to start permutating those little things. That's how you develop your style. I'm sure Carlton learned solos from old jazz guys like Wes Montgomery. You can hear the same elements in everybody's playing, everyone has the same blues vocabulary. But it's the vibrato and the touch that makes the style. You develop what pleases your ear, and if you're lucky, it will please someone else's ear."

Lukather stated more than once that he copied lots of masters to incorporate their tricks and licks into his own developing sound and style. Music wise he's interested in Miles Davis, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Derek Sherinian, Edgar Winter, Fee Waybill, David Garfield etc. and guitar wise in Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Joe Walsh, David Gilmour, Larry Carlton, Jimmy Page, Steve Vai, Joe satriani and Micheal Landau, just to list a few examples.

One of the best metaphors to explain how Lukather is handling his musical examples is coming from keyboard player Derek Sherinian who worked with Lukather on his album Inertia (2001): "What makes Lukather so great, is that he can take someone elses piece of music, and make it sound like he has lived it a million times, and plays a perfect track for you instantly. (Young musicians, please re-read the last paragraph in case you missed that)."

Aerosmith | Steve Lukather - Walk this way

(Perry/Tyler) (Not the same old song and dance, a tribute to Aerosmith, 1999 )

Aerosmith | Steve Lukather - Kings and queens

(Hamilton/Tyler/Whitford/Kramer/Douglas) (One way street, a tribute to Aerosmith, 2002 )

Animals, The | Toto - House of the rising sun

(Traditional) (Through the looking glass, 2002 )

Beatles, The | Toto - With a little help from my friends

(J. Lennon, P. McCartney) (Absolutely live, 1993 )

Beatles, The | Toto - While my guitar gently weeps

(George Harrison) (Through the looking glass, 2002 )

Beatles, The | Steve Lukather - Julia

(Lennon/McCartney) (Norwegian wood II, 1995 )

Beatles, The | Steve Lukather - Eleonor Rigby

(Lennon/McCartney) (Norwegian wood II, 1995 )

Beatles, The | Lukather, Steve - Taxman

(George Harrison) (Butchering the Beatles, 2006 )

Beck, Jeff | Carlton & Lukather - The Pump

(Simon Phillips, Tony Hymas) (No substitutions, 2001 )

Beck, Jeff | Steve Lukather - Behind the veil

(Steve Lukather, guitar) (Jeffology, 1995 )

Beck, Jeff | Derek Sherinian - Goodbye porkpie hat

(C. Mingus) (Inertia, 2001 )

Beck, Jeff | Derek Sherinian - Star cycle

(J. Hammer) (Black utopia, 2003 )

Beck, Jeff | Steve Lukather - Brush with the blues

(Tony Hymas/Jeff Beck) (Guitars for freedom II, 2002 )

Beck, Jeff | The Crusaders - Cause we've ended as lovers

(S. Wonder) (Healing the wounds, 1990 )

Beck, Jeff | Lukather, Steve - The pump

(Simon Phillips, Tony Hymas) (Luke, 1997 )

Beck, Jeff | El Grupo - Led boots

(Max Middleton) (El Grupo live, 2005 )

Bob Marley | Toto - Could you be loved

(Bob Marley) (Through the looking glass, 2002 )

Christmas songs | Lukather, Steve & Friends - Joy to the world