What Guitar Does Steve Howe Use?

Steve Howe is best known as the guitarist with the Progressive rock band Yes and has been playing the guitar since he was 12 years old. His first guitar, an F-hole acoustic, was a Christmas present from his parents. One of his first residency gigs was in Pentonville prison, playing for two nights a week.

Before becoming a full time musician Steve worked in a piano factory, then a music shop which he subsequently left when he started getting regular gigs. His first professional band was a rhythm and blues band called the Syndicats. They released a single which was a version of “Maybellene” by Chuck Berry. The Syndicats were often the opening act for Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds and one night Steve got asked to step in for Albert Lee who had been taken ill.

When he left the Syndicats he joined a band called The In Crowd who eventually changed their name to Tomorrow and started performing psychedelic rock. Tomorrow performed alongside Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd and Steve also did some session guitar work and he and the band were also involved in a pie fight scene in a satirical film called “Smashing Time”.

After Tomorrow split he worked with numerous other bands before being invited to audition for Yes to replace their guitarist Peter Banks. He featured on the cover of their second album even though he never contributed a note to it. It was their third album, “The Yes Album” that really showcased Steve’s guitar and songwriting abilities.

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What Kind Of Guitar Does Steve Howe Play?

Steve has always favoured his Gibson ES-175, even taking it to bed with him on their first American tour because their hotel was in a rough area. He has also played;

Gibson Super 400 CES
Gibson ES-345 Electric Guitar
Gibson EDS-1275 Double-Neck Electric Guitar
Coral 3S19 Electric Sitar
Gibson Custom ES-5 Switchmaster Electric Guitar
70’s Gibson Les Paul Recording
Gretsch G6120TM Chet Atkins Signature Electric Guitar
Line 6 Variax 600 (multi-guitar sound)
Burns Nu-Sonic Electric Guitar
Gibson EMS-1235 Double-Neck Electric Guitar
Gibson The Les Paul – Wine Red
Gibson Les Paul Junior
Rickenbacker 360/12 12-String Electric Guitar
Fender Stratocaster
Gibson Les Paul Custom

Steve’s Acoustic Guitars include

Ramirez 1A Acoustic Guitar
Martin MC-38 Steve Howe signature
Portuguese 12-string acoustic tuned to E,B,E,B,E,Ab

Steve also plays a steel guitar with two necks one tuned in E major and the other tuned to E9 tuning.

Who Has Steve Howe Worked With During His Long Career?

Steve Howe has worked with many artists over the years including;

Jon Anderson
Bill Bruford
Chris Squire
Tony Kaye
Rick Wakeman
Stone the Crows
Claire Hammill
Alan White
Patrick Moraz
Trevor Horn
Geoff Downes
John Wetton
Carl Palmer
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
The Dregs
Steve Hackett
Max Bacon
Jonathon Mover
Phil Spalding
Robert Berry
And many more

What Strings Does Steve Howe Use?

Steve uses Martin acoustic guitar strings on his acoustics and always has new strings on his ES-175 because he likes the bright tone new strings produce. He has often said guitar strings are like cars, nowadays there are so many great makes that he doesn’t really bother about particular strings.

Steve uses 12,12,16,26,40,50 strings on his ES-175 which is his main guitar. Steve says if he needs to bend the top E string on a particular track, he’ll use a guitar with a 10 gauge top E. But he prefers the heavier gauge strings.

What Amps Does Steve Howe Use?

Steve uses a few different amps including;

LINE 6 DT 50
Fender Twin Reverb Blackface
Line 6 Vetta II Modeling Amp Combo
Leslie Speaker 145

What Effects Pedals Does Steve Howe Use?

Steve and his guitar technician have programmed his LINE6 POD HD500 to sound like all of the various effects on his albums. He says this is all he uses now along with the Morley A/B pedal to swap between acoustic and electric guitars. He has also used;

Line 6 Helix Guitar Multi-effects Floor Processor
Electro-Harmonix EH-3003 “Triangle” Big Muff Pi V1
Line 6 POD XT Live
DeArmond 610 Volume/Tone

What Pickups Does Steve Howe Use?

The pick-ups used by Steve aren’t documented and after hearing him speak we surmise the feel and the sound of the guitar are the important part for him. Not so much technical issues like pick-up types.

What Chords Does Steve Howe Use?

Steve has been quoted as saying he likes playing with other guitarists because it forces him to use the chords they use. He is very knowledgeable musically, and can turn his hand to rock, psychedelic rock, jazz , prog rock, jazz fusion and is more than able to play all the associated chords.

What Pick Does Steve Howe Use?

Steve originally used homemade plectrums (not made by him, but by a guy who worked in a music shop in Shaftesbury Avenue) until he eventually settled on Fender medium heart-shaped plectrums.

What Kind Of Music Does Steve Howe Play?

Steve plays progressive rock, psychedelic rock, jazz, jazz fusion, hard rock and art rock.

How To Play Guitar Like Steve Howe

Steve is a very technical player, his style is more classical and jazz than blues or rock. With that said there’s enough bluesy feel in many of his tracks to make that last statement sound like nonsense. Instead of string bends, Steve uses slides or more slurs as jazz musicians call them.

He uses relatively heavy gauge strings that almost prevents bending on most strings. He often plays in 7/4 time as opposed to standard 4/4 time which makes for some interesting solos.