Steve Hackett demos his tone and technique secrets 

Steve is the most underrated guitarist ever. He did so many sounds and "tricks" way before anyone else did. A really great, humble, and talented person.

I was blessed to see Steve and the band performing Foxtrot live three weeks ago. And I was super lucky to have a quick chat with him after the concert.

A renowned musician who places modesty and artistic integrity above celebrity and sales figures.

Steve Hackett and David Gilmour are definitely my favorite guitarists

Good old Steve Hackett deserves as much attention as any guitarist around. Such an intriguing original style.

Such a badass guitar player. Never got the credit for a lot of his innovative riffs and techniques.

This dude cracks me up with his sophisticated talk and badass finger tapping all at once... *plays eruption*.... "I do say, I fancy this tone immensely to an extraordinary measure."

Tone is everything, and after that, a great live mix is critical. Saw Steve Hackett Band in November 2023 - great performances, very clear audio, well-balanced mix with all instruments. Tremendous show.

Steve is a master musician. His technique - uniquely his own - is impeccable, his thought process and concepts well grounded in specialized theory and artistic integrity. Such a joy to listen to him. Cheers, Steve!

There’s such mystique to Steve’s playing, even as he’s personally attempting to demystify it for you.

"No-one needs to play any faster than that really" - love it! :)

Hugely underrated guitarist and a real gentleman. Love not just his playing but his whole approach to the guitar. This video is one of the most informative I've seen.

As someone who owns a Fernandez, I can say it is an absolutely phenomenal guitar.

If anyone wants to understand the genius of Steve Hackett,look up Firth Of Fifth. You're welcome.

Going back to those early Genesis records I realised that Steve Hackett's unique tone was subconsciously hardwired into my brain at an impressionable age ... such an underrated artist: see Selling England by the Pound

The Hackett/Gilmour comparisons are striking. They are both players that concentrate on melody and timbre. In an age where so many guitarists were trying to play these "fire-breathing" solos, they stood out for being memorable. Their work was universal. Whether you were a musician or not, you would likely remember the melody. Playing like this takes a certain amount of concentration. It's not just technique and patterns. It's about ear training and "composing in the moment". Suprisingly few improvisers can actually do this.

Cracking interview. Steve's a gent, and a fantastic player.

A true genius. His departure from Genesis marked the demise of the band. Fortunately, Mr Hackett still tours with Genesis music, as well as his impressive solo material.

Steve is guitar genius!! His talent, tecnics are wonderful!! Saw his show yesterday in São Paulo, impossible to describe!! Congratulations Steve, you are a legend!!! 👏👏👏👏👏

Genesis changed immediately after Steve left. I still loved the music of Genesis. And it didn’t really change in intensity. But I always missed the imaginative, thoughtful, dreamlike experience of early Genesis.

Rumor has it that Steve Hackett's neighbors called the cops one day as he was playing his guitar loudly. The cops arrested the neighbors and the court awarded them life sentence.

I'd love to see Fripp and Hackett work together one day

Aside from his outstanding work on the electric guitar, I recommend everyone to listen his remarkable classical guitar albums such as "Bay of Kings", "Momentum", "Tribute" and "A midsummer night's dream". This man is the genius of a generation.

Wow he really understands what his guitar is doing

Steve Hackett was the best part about Genesis.

"The sustain...listen to it!" -- Nigel Tufnel

At first I thought WTF is he talking about but glad I watched it all - great lesson and a true humble genius. Never heard somebody talk about some these ideas before.. being "tired" in a solo... "dropping" a string.. etc... very honest and makes you realize all guitarists have same challenges

This is amazing...I wish more guitar players would do lessons like this where they just teach you all of their little trademarks and simple techniques that when done correctly can add that certain shine to your playing.

My Maestro! Simply one of the most genuine guitar players we have been gifted to know!

What I find amazingly shocking about Steve Hackett on guitar is how he can come across as simplistic at times and then eventually getting really complex and astonishing...especially during live transmission! As a member of the audience you might walk away thinking "Oh...I didn't realize he could play like that" Other times...on studio albums for example...he might give the impression that he could be more than what he reveals. You can sort of hear that in his universal tone and technique. In a live setting you never know what he's going to pull off! He can totally blow your mind in that sense. Just because he's demonstrating tricks or techniques on video doesn't mean he'll be limited to only what he reveals on camera. He often expands upon it live and it then becomes shocking as if he's unmasking himself or giving the impression that he sometimes holds back. When he improvises he plays variations of things and he expands on his own knowledge. He is very masterful in that way

Steve you are my hero because you play classical and rock is very rare... When you post some classical

Saw him yesterday in Akron and he played the entire foxtrot album, in addition to a ton of his solo material! The total show, including the small break, was three hours!

Thanks for talking about ear protection!

Jeff Beck, Steve Hackkett, S. Rothery, S. Howe, Robert Fripp, D. Gilmour, Andy Latimer, S. Stevens arre fuckin GODS

'Fly on a Windshield' as they say, 'nuff said He is to Genesis what Dave is to Pink Floyd

I have been listening to what a gentleman he is, besides being a master of the guitar.

9:30 - The Musical Box solo 9:40 - A bit of Supper's Ready, before "Today's a day to celebrate, the foe have met their fate" 9:47 - Dancing with the Moonlit Knight solo He could have also played here the intro of Giant Hogweed, which I think is the best example of tapping before Van Halen.

Steve is an awesome musician and my opinion did not change in Many years of listening to his music!!!😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Steve Hackett is a true genius with a guitar. He can make the sound coming off an amplifier from an electric guitar sound like almost anything !

I loved the 3-second ad for Pete Cornish complete with telephone number. That's brand loyalty. Top job. Honestly no irony or sarcasm intended. I love that he's helping out someone that probably helped him on his way. Big respect. Luv and Peace.

He makes guitar look so easy. When I was first getting into Genesis I used to question where the guitar was. found out later much of what I thought was keyboard was actually Steve Hackett on guitar

Wow this is so cool! His work on foxtrot and selling England by the pound absolutely blew me away when I first heard it. Especially the big climax of dinners (suppers?) Ready. Such a THICK creamy tone with just endless harmonic sustain. I always thought that was due to some sort of modulation effect and a compressor but he had a few other tricks up his sleeve I see.

Listen to seconds out the. Fab genesis live album. Lovely tone there. Phasing. Chorus. Brilliant. Orchestral almost. Fitted perfectly. Tremendous sustain back then too!!!

Saw Steve in 1981. Saw/met him on Genesis Revisited Tour, and again during the "Wolflight" tour.

Genius and generous! Txs mr. Steve Hackett for your music you received from the stars, your riffs and your wisdom to share your blessed knowledge! You are my favorite guitarist ever!!!

One of the greats.

Been seeing and byeing Steve's albums with genesis and after he left steve gets a great sound nobody else sounds like him seen him many times always had a great band brilliant live

Great guitarist! Cool to hear him explain his approach now.

So ahead of his time

A great guitarist, really!

Alex Skolnick uses that same Guitar. Steve is legend, Thank You! awesome totally.

STeve was the first person I ever heard tapping. As he said it was 73, EVH was 78.

First guy I saw doing hammer ons. Very creative player. Got to see him with Genesis and without. Always good.

Master. Thank you

"Watch out for your ears, guys." Where was Steve in 1973 when I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd in Phoenix. My ears have been ringing ever sense. It's nice of Steve to show us all his secrets, it's like the Wizard coming out from behind the curtains.

sympathisch, der gute Mann! Hat mich mit seiner Musik durch die Pubertät gebracht, während andere auf Leichtkost wie One hit wonder standen.....

Steven the consummate gentleman & Musician

Full respect to Steve Hackett for sharing his techniques with everyone. Steve Hackett and Andrew Latimer where powerful inspirations for me as a guitarist. I use to do the harmonic ping voicing by holding the pic really close to the tip, so my thumb actually lightly came into contact with the string, directly after striking the string to get that wah wah vocal effect with singing harmonics. When Steve Hackett said he struggled with vibrato, I noticed something I had never thought about before. He bends up, pushing up and down to change pitch. That seems a very hard way to do vibrato that lacks emotional control. I found vibrato very easy and very expressive by pulling down. The vibrato is then implemented simply by twisting your wrist to pull the string up and down. One mistake guitarists always make is they try to push the string either side of the static position, thinking the pitch has to go plus and minus away from the original pitch. You can never go minus in pitch unless you use a whammy bar. What gives manual vibrato so much human expression is that the pitch only goes up due to bending the string. Trying to slide the string back and forth across the central position is pointless. Just tension it in one direction. Down gives you more control over how much tension you add and how fast. It's all the the wrist.

Totally appreciate Steve's crazy innovation and massive contribution to music. Is the main message here being "how to play guitar without exhausting yourself"?

Steve you’re a genius

He should be credited with tapping on electric guitar before any other. It's well known and eddy was witnessed meeting with Hackett and another player in LA and I'm sure tapping was discussed way prior to the debut album.

I consider S. Hackett as the greatest, most original, and the wise man of etc.

Genius! He was the force behind Genesis' direction for their good stuff prior to selling out. Didn't realize he was tapping (or "nailing" as he called it) in some of those lines. Explains a lot.

The good thing about PG leaving is that we could see Steve, Mike, Tony and dear Phil

The debate here is pathetic. Every great guitarist stands on the shoulders of the giants who came before him. Who cares who invented what and when? What matters is each taking the best techniques and making it his/her own. No doubt, many techniques have been independently discovered by various great players. Mr. Hackett is a musical genius, as composer, producer and guitarist. His dexterity as a classical guitarist is astounding, but his accomplishments in rock are second to none. And that is no claim to say he is the best, as if anyone could determine such a thing. The great players have their own signature and leave a legacy of influence. The most amazing Hackett live experience I had was his gig with GTR. I didn't care so much for the GTR songs, but seeing Hackett and Howe perform together was nothing less than transcendental. Two of the best guitarists in rock history, at their peak.

Pity Genesis didn't appreciate Steve nearly enough. He was a key component in the band's sound and they lost much of their magic and identity after he left.

he has a great sound!

Grande Steve ,tecnica superba,,inventiva straordinaria,nn x niente faceva parte della + grande formazione del mondo👌

Absolutely awesome and just a pleasure to watch and listen to Steve as always.

Great lesson dear, thank you.

A LP shaped Fernandes w/ a Fender strap, quite a blend.

Steve, you are muting the false harmonic with your right hand using your thumb to mute the index finger plectrum technique on the false harmonic node... it's not really the hardware causing the effect it's how precise you are about attacking the note, you get that sound on a nylon guitar that is why I love your playing. thanks!

"It looks a bit like a galloping horse. A three-legged horse in this case, but here you go." LOL

Genesis was a ton different after Steve and Peter Gabriel left. Tony wrote a lot of pop songs afterwards.

Un Génie Steve Hackett create Tapping Guitar technic first 1971 on The Return of te Giant Hogweed , create A Misdummer Nights dream and Metamorpheus , Voyage of the Acolyte, play The Ciaonne of Bach , only to play that , co -writer of Genesis

Intelligent player. Thank you

Steve Hackett create tapping guitar , play The Ciaconne of Bach , the brain Guitarist-Composer ever , merci Steve Hackett , pour tes albums Solo qui sont sublimes et pour tes compositions pour Genesis ...merci Steve Hackett

There is a video on RU-vid of Roy Smeck doing tapping, or nailing, as Steve calls it, on a ukulele in the 1930's that you can find here on RU-vid. Jazz musicians are said to have been doing it in the 20s too. Steve did it before Eddie, but others did it at least 50 years before Steve did.

He looks incredible for his age. Unbelieveable!

"It's an angry little sound" Indeed it is.

I need to go listen to Return of the Giant Hogweed.

So cool. I'm hooked.

No tyranny of volume...

Alfred Brendel the famous Austrian pianist once refused to play a concert piano saying, I wasn't playing it, it was playing me. I think Steve has this problem with his guitar.

And one of the nicest, kindest people I have ever come across. His music is one of the longest red lines in my life.

Right . . . so now it's the same old quandary for me. How big of a bonfire do I wish to build with all of my gear? Or should I draw inspiration and endeavor to persevere? Hackett has been in my ear for over 45 years now. Talk abut underrated. The man is brilliant, humble, funny, knowledgeable about his art and his craft. Thank you for posting. City would fine me for the bonfire anyway. Whew!

First saw Steve on the Spectul Mornings Tour, and in the beginning it was the case of let just play the music, and let it flow, and thru his career how much confidence he has now, if only Genesis would of listen to what he had to offer them, even now he is singing. Lets just say he was like a little cat stuffed in the corner and only speak when your spoken to, Now this Cat has surly woken up again, and look who is now flying the Genesis flag.

One of the most underrated guitar player, check out his old genesis videos showing him using tap technique way before Eddie van Halen. Not nocking Eddie, just an example

Wow Love it and can never get enough of the old genesis songs ever and playing guitar now for 3 years appreciating his technics here. When Peter left genesis then A new genesis sound was born I also like a lot but Peter and steve In the beginning was the best for my taste.

The whole time he was playing that vibrato, I was just thinking of his solo from the wheels turning”

he is a master, someone who has his unique guitar voice and never was as recognized as deserved.

"Tyranny of volume". That's an awesome phrase.

I wanna know how to get the guitar tone of the solo in Dancing with the moonlit knight

Fernades ,, the most accurate recreation of the Gibson Les Paul.

11:05 reminded me a bit of "meditteranean sunsets" by al di meola

Reminds me of Nigel Tufnel when he was going on about the sustain when he hit that E.

Just brilliant

Steve Hackett having met him as well he’s like middle class Van Halen.

I can't put into words how upset I am that Steve has never returned to Genesis since he left. It's absolutely ridiculous that all 5 members are still alive yet have refused to reunite. Absolutely reprehensible. And now that Phil can't play like he used to, it seems it's too late unless Phil plays percussion and his son plays drums.

Wow. Steve does some early Genesis licks from Musical Box and Moonlit Knight. 9:30