I saw a Steely Dan and Michael McDonald concert last night. I'm a big fan of Steely Dan since the first time that I heard the Asia album. I've always followed their list of top studio guitar players on their records and admired all the great solos in their songs.

The guitar playing was handled by Walter Becker and John Herrington (their latest addition) at their show last night. John Herrington played some great solo's. He was getting the same kinds of sounds as the original solos for songs like Peg, My Old School, Don't Take Me Alive, and others. But he was also adding his own stuff to these familar songs. He was able to cop the same feel and tone as the original solos but then add an extra flash to it from his own style. I really enjoyed listening to him. I think that he actually improved on some of the solos versus the original recordings, which would have been a very tough act to follow considering the guys who played these original solos (Skunk Baxter, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, etc)

Anyway it was a very inspiring show.

I also enjoyed Michael McDonald's guitarist. He was playing one of those new Line 6 Variax guitars and it sounded fantastic. I'd never seen anyone using those live yet, but this guy was doing all kinds of great sounds with it, especially Les Paul and 335 tones.

-- Jim