Still gotta come up with good music
Steve Morse demonstrates his signature DiMarzio pickups. Everything you need to know about electric guitar pickups, and then some.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride6.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/gillan.jpg)
Steve Morse demonstrates his signature DiMarzio pickups. Everything you need to know about electric guitar pickups, and then some.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Today I saw Steve’s age, 72 years old!!, damn, I remembered he was younger and he seemed like a boy to me when he joined DP but in reality he was already around 40 years old…. I was surprised that Lukater is “only” 68 years old and had success with Toto when he was very young!
August 26th, 2026 at 12:36What a good and genuine man Steve is. His prolific contributions to Deep Purple cannot be overstated.
August 26th, 2026 at 14:26Did Beate do this? š¤ I suspect foul play. Did that deceitful woman slip him a message to NOT WEAR SOMETHING SHOULDER-FREE for once? She ruined my day with that!
Iāll get to the bottom of this, you just wait.
Moving on to less musically important subjects: Steveās array of DiMarzios sure sounds varied, but jeez, there is not one sound that sounds ānaturalā like a good quality guitar out of the box should over a clean amp, may it be with with humbuckers OR single coils. Everything is (i) Ć¼ber-compressed and (ii) Ć¼ber-processed with him. I know, I know , itās what he wants to sound like and it is largely his own creation, Iām not disputing his idiosyncrasies in sound, but sometimes less could be mor
August 26th, 2026 at 17:15se.@3 I made this up. Iāve called him sleeveless Morse for years. Met him twice what a wonderful man so friendly and kind no ego at all.
August 26th, 2026 at 22:09Wonderful to see Steve always smiling and enjoying music. As he says, you still have to come up with something decent. Excellent also with the Eric Johnson ‘tributes’, twice. Those two guitarists stood out from the pack for me during the 1980’s and 90’s, they still do. Superb musicians and all round nice chaps. Thanks for posting. Fla76 you are not wrong, they always seemed to be the younger guys way back then, the replacement musicians in some of our favourite bands. I suppose they still are. But yes indeed, time waits for no-one and now even they are ‘grand old men’ plying their trade. Trevor Rabin is another one. I remember way back then discovering how ‘old’ Ronnie James Dio was, even older than Ritchie. As a ‘new’ boy in a band that seemed strange in a way, in 1975 at least when we were all so young and innocent! Cheers.
August 26th, 2026 at 22:39@3
Your honor, I swear that I’m innocent!
I was as surprised as you when I watched the video and saw Steve not in his regular “working clothes”. I wonder who convinced him to wear something different for the Di Marzio-Photos (perhaps Larry himself?) and I think he did this video at the same time: no need and time to change clothes, always busy!
Call it over-compressed and over-processed: for me, these are the most wonderful sounds a guitar can make. He really makes the guitar sing, esp. with harp-harmonics and the things only he can do with the volume-knob.
Btw, from my female point of view: a handsome man is a handsome man, (nearly) no matter what he is wearing!
August 27th, 2026 at 10:20Haircuts donāt count then?
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSil3DTkA2k6uAuMGxccwHaNZ64I0QFyjZoFt_G6-vzUdATj3jfEh6UrUI&s=10
August 27th, 2026 at 12:07@7
I never thought he would do it – but his second passion for flying was stronger!
We all have to thank Gary Rossington (RIP) from LS – he brought him back to music (even when it was business).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MATOh5vgwaU
Unfortunately this is audio only, but you recognize at once, who is playing that “crazy” guitar-solo quite at the end!!
August 27th, 2026 at 13:43I used to love my sleeveless t shirts/tanktops.
Right now coincedentally I m wearing my t shirt with sleeves but coloured in a way I always refer to it as my Steve Morse t shirt.
Cousin from NewJersey sent it to me.
I need to honour that now and then.
The other one is even more extreme.
A shirt picturing doing a joint, based on the international image of Amsterdam.
I never smoked and live in Rotterdam!
Cousin s really cringy, a house filled with Dutch memorabila like clumps hanging on his outer walls and a huge FEYENOORD tattoo on his arm.
I hate football š
August 27th, 2026 at 14:03Uwe@3,
Here for your fixation on Steve’s garb….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GohKMzdByeA&list=RDGohKMzdByeA&start_radio=1
Peace,
August 27th, 2026 at 16:50Ted
Oh yeah, that classic airbrush T-shirt ācritters & Injunsā gas station bargain ābuy two, get a third one freeā look! Only Steve could wear it with such flattering grace. He is to sleeveless T-shirts what a Bolshoi Ć©lĆØve is to a tutu, no less.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/73/fa/bb/73fabb35cdfd5d2fa272e59d6b724d94.gif
Beate is a fascinating woman, she even knows obscure guest appearances of her Steve with indestructible Southern Rockers!
August 27th, 2026 at 19:47#8 Beate:
I had never heard this piece with Steve!… you can definitely recognize him after a nanosecond!
August 27th, 2026 at 21:53Steve’s touch always amazes me, unique and unmistakable!
#7 Uwe:
Of course they do count!
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrCNoa-Qm9XYgBbECQ-mQtf8SC0e6NzQT6ryx_Czm9oE3EWsin5X300I_h&s=10
https://c8.alamy.com/comp/PK3XEG/ian-gillan-deep-purple-on-17021987-in-mnchen-munich-usage-worldwide-PK3XEG.jpg
When BigIan cut his hair before the PS tour, Ritchie got really pissed off, and along with him, many fans were also shocked by the spinach Gillan had on his head!
August 27th, 2026 at 23:13I was never a fan of Gillanās ultra-long hair, it looked to me like he was auditioning with Type-O-Negative.
https://youtu.be/KgkBWZXVLyk
Frankly, I donāt regard Ritchie as much of a credible authority when it comes to how real (!) hair on a man should look. š Candice should have had a serious āwifeās wordā with him about that aheād ago. In contrast, JoLTās looks have won immeasurably since he took the step he took.
August 28th, 2026 at 14:32@fla
There are pics of Ian in the beginning of the reunion where he and Lord had lost weight.
Rumor had it Ritchie saying” We cant go on stage like elephants so I gave them the evil eye.”
At some moments while still in Black Sabbath he looked relatively good with black tanktop, dyed long hair and seemingly having lost weight again.
Often , it took decades to wear off he appearred in strange clothing and the looks of an alcoholic junkfood man with a taste for tobacco.
Amazing his brains never died.
I do blame him for many bad words .
Saying Blackmore was an intellectual dwarf, things like that.
August 28th, 2026 at 18:35@11, Hello Uwe,
August 29th, 2026 at 08:13Yes, I listened to every interview with Steve I could find and mostly quote what he said there. He told the story of getting back to music after his āpilot-episodeā so funny (even imitating Garyās voiceš)!
I was very late to the āDP party with Steveā. I got into their music again by 2020 with Whoosh!, although I was a DP fan since the 70ies. But because of studying and family I lost contact and did not even realize the reunion 1983. But since 2020 I caught up on everything about DP and realized that I had missed a lot – esp. a unique guitarist who was outstanding since the 70ies, but was rather mentioned in Europe.
@15 Rock:
Gillan was 37 on Sabbath, I don’t think she was dyeing her hair yet.
The low-budget tours of Naked Thunder and Toolbox were the wildest and most unruly, compared to the more comfortable tours of Sabbath and MKII bis.
August 29th, 2026 at 22:47Yo,
There’s no question about Steve’s sound being par-excellance, & that he’s maintaining that sound. Obviously DiMarzio are a key ingredient for sure. It’s a good
advertisement for sure, thanks for posting.
It’s also cool to hear him reveal some secrets about when he switches pick-ups depending on where he’s playing on the neck.
Perhaps the main difference in sound between SM & RB is that SM predominantly solos with the front / neck pick-up ( = mellow tones ). RB would tend to alternate, & generally lean towards the rear / bridge pick-up ( = biting tones ).
Simon is certainly more a rear pick-up player, but his sound ( at least on studio recordings ) isn’t glossy with deep-lows or sparkling highs, is fixed with a snarly but clear mid-range bite.
Ciao !
August 29th, 2026 at 23:18@18 Gregster,
Yo! :>
As per usual, Great observations. You must be a gun slinging banjo player!
Herr Tolstoy, err uh, Herr Uwe, he of Deutscland, You now need to attempt to out do Gregster.
No! No need to!
And try to get more sleep away from this board. Although your wife must love her solace from your time on this board..
Just having fun with you. :>
Now offer us 3 or 4 YouTube clips!
Love from New Jersey! But seriously. A nod’s as good as a wink!
Peace,
August 30th, 2026 at 04:49Ted (Vavoom!)
All good – except on GHās performances with Mk III and IV, I more often than not agree with Gregster and he knows guitar-wise what he is talking about. Me, Iām just a lowly bassist!
August 30th, 2026 at 12:33TYPE O NEGATIVE
I seem to remember that this man was large in several ways and that women I didnt expect to love metal were crazy about him.
The image didnt attract me.
I never was into Gothic/black metal or what was it?
Rumors about racism and sympathy for the third Reich didnt help.
And as always there was already so much music I did not get around to.
Money was tight, though I attended
many shows including 3 x Slaves and Masters.
I was in debt due to this passion starting in 1977.
End 92 the perfect storm hit me and I had to change before I drowned.
I just filed it away in a dark corner of my head.
Maybe I should try to listen with an open mind for the first time?
My first step of love ever into RIP Peter Steel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfi4oioeWBw
https://www.spaink.net/1994/10/19/your-roots-are-showing/
August 30th, 2026 at 13:22“Gillan was 37 in Sabbath, I donāt think she was dyeing her hair yet.”
Our resident barbiere @diciassette, it sure looked it, allora, and even earlier than that. A natural looking black hair tone is devilish difficult to achieve and Ian’s coiffeur didn’t do a very good job with it. I can always tell dyed black hair from real one.
Also, from own experience, as a (formerly!) dark-haired person (for German standards almost black), if you have that hair color then grey sticks out like a sore thumb (with a blonde person, grey needs to accumulate a sufficient percentage to really get noticed). I never dyed. My (also dark-haired, we all are in our family, that alleged gypsy blood …) dad did initially with his beard, but it never really matched with his scalp hair.
August 30th, 2026 at 16:30Not that I am into the vanity of it all, however Ian Gillan in November 1981 still had his mane and it was definitely darker than blue. Cheers.
August 30th, 2026 at 23:01@23
Cant remember Ian going woke with his hair and dying it Deep Purple.
Like Uwe I think he started much earlier.
Maybe even early 70s.
He often had my colour and I never had black hair, more chestnut or brownish, going light due to the sun.
I remember Ian swimming in the Thames . Full with acid rain?
Maybe like me also went into indoor pools with too much bleach?
I tried colouring it but my skin wasnt happy.
Also used to perm my hair to get some more firmness but stopped in 2015.
So it thinned and ” grayed” .
It is what it is.
August 31st, 2026 at 14:46Yo,
@19, Ted the Mechanic…
Yes indeed, I’ve played guitar most of my life…And like most players, still searching for that perfect sound / tone ha-ha !
It’s a bonus for sure when great-players like Steve offer hints & tips about how they arrived at their sound, or alternate between sounds, with perhaps the most understated thing about this video is the constant rolling-on-&-off the tone dial, as it’s just as busy as his plectrum lol !
*Hint for young players…Before spending thousands on a new amp, tubes, guitar, & pick-ups etc, try playing around with your tone dials on your amp & pedal board first lol !…”That sound” you’re searching for could be already living in your present rig, but you haven’t found it just yet.
And you can never underestimate how a fresh set of strings changes how your rig sounds, & how you play š !
Ciao !
September 1st, 2026 at 00:19Gregster @25
Yet further astute, sagacious commentary…. Thumbs up with kudos!
Peace,
September 4th, 2026 at 03:07Ted :>
I learned a new word: sagacious. Vielen Dank, Ted The Literate.
September 4th, 2026 at 14:20Gern gescheren Herr Uwe. :>
Peace,
September 7th, 2026 at 01:27Ted