Steve Lukather Quotes

I worked with Paul McCartney, and he was lovely.

The right notes mean more than 1,000 mph arpeggios.

When the ‘Thriller‘ album came up, we all knew that was going to be the cool record.

We always felt it helped during live shows to have multiple lead singers to give our voices a break.

When you‘re young, you can burn the candle at both ends, and you’re fine.

I get up now at 5:30 in the morning. I practice the guitar for a couple of hours – I do that before I even start my day.

I’ve got the coolest job in the world.

In the ’60s, people had diverse tastes, which made the musical climate that much better and more interesting.

I wish I had perfect pitch, but I don’t, and thanks to the miracle of YouTube, a bad night lives forever!

There’s not an anti-Toto spray that will keep us down.

Self-deprecation is my game.

Henley’s one of my favorite singers. I’ve maintained a friendship with Don over the years.

As a session player for so many years, I have found myself in rooms looking around going, ‘Is this for real?’

I listen to Miles Davis and Slipknot.

I don’t believe that heavy strings make it all that much bigger-sounding. If anything, it can mess up your fingers, and you can get tendonitis, which is not cool.

If it wasn’t for Boz, my life would‘ve changed. Meeting the Porcaro brothers and getting that Boz Scaggs gig were two life-changing events for me. It all fell into place after that.

We were just a high school band that loved music, you know?

There are so many myths about us.

I got caught up in 35 years of Saturday nights. Every night was like party night to me. As a young man, you can do that; it’s OK to be an idiot. But I woke up one day, and I realized that 35 years had gone by.

I was a good father. I was a nice guy, pretty good guitar player, and funny as hell.

Y’know, it’s funny: I didn’t think I’d be playing ‘Hold The Line‘ at 60 years old. I was 19 when I first played that.

I’m no musical snob.

If someone sees me with what looks like a beer, it’s always zero per cent.

I played on Asia records with Geoff Downes.

That’s all that matters in music: fun.

I play keyboards and have played on many a Toto record.

Gear not working on a live show – that is rough.

There’s nobody like us in rock history. I’m not saying we’re the greatest band in the world – that would be ridiculous.

I’m a weird guy with a weird sense of humor.

I’ve never stopped working, and I still have ‘pinch me’ moments all the time.

That’s the thing, though: It doesn’t matter how much you’ve done or who you’ve played with. Do you have the passion?

Everyone I know, including myself, has missed or lost an audition.

We’ve had to develop a super-thick skin. We’ve been beaten up more than any band in history.

Everything we got was never given to us.

A lot of festivals on a worldwide basis that I am seeing, they’re trying to multi-genre it. Like, they put a wild card band on, like, us old guys that happen to have a record that has stayed in pop culture for as long as it has.

I got to work with legendary people.

When people make fun of us, it’s fine. I get it.

‘Rosanna’ was the hit, but ‘Africa‘ resonated with everyone who heard it.

We’ve always had a sense of humor – look at our name.

I love to create and play, I can’t stop, hahaha!

We were never the trendiest band, but we’ve always been here.

We’ve become an underground thing for kids, because we never got the love our peers got back in the day. Kids are loving discovering us, and I’m happy to be that band.

Playing live is one thing. Playing under a microscope is another.

Believe me, when I saw ‘Family Guy’ do the bit on ‘Africa,’ I howled laughing.

There’s so many players that I love and admire. Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci, Mike Landau, Robben Ford, Lee Ritenour, Jay Graydon, John Scofield, Warren Haynes – the list goes on and on.

Nobody loves everybody.

I was asked to be in Elton John’s band, Joni Mitchell‘s band, and Miles Davis’ band. I couldn’t do it.

I’m always writing music.

I worked with Chris Squire on a Greg Lake record in the early ’80s, worked with Alan White.

You look out in our audiences, you don’t see a sea of white-haired people. You see a lot of younger people.

There’s no such thing as a lead singer in our band.

I have been using small teardrop jazz picks since I was, like, 14.

I can’t sight-read classical etudes – I would have to see it and learn it. But yeah, I can read. It is a wonderful tool. It’s like speaking another language. Anyone that says reading music can hurt your playing is either stupid, lazy, or ignorant.

What happens is people go, ‘I want to play the guitar,’ and the first thing they do is hit Google: ‘How can I play this?’ and the next thing you know, you’ve learned all these tricks, but you’ve never learned how to play rhythm guitar with a groove.

A great solo does not make a great piece. Rather, a great solo in a great song – that’s what makes a 10 out of 10. It’s the combination of emotional feel and inventive ideas.