been reacquainting myself with steely dan of late, having picked up all their early stuff on vinyl thru the bargain bins, and man i've been mighty impressed with baxter's guitar playing. i vaguely remembered he was pretty handy on a fretboard but the guy was seriously GOOD. i haven't been able to find out what he used to play back then, sure sounds like a strat or two on some of those old dan songs. hell, he even went on to make the doobies sound good...

patrick
auckland nz

Skunk is a great player but I think Larry Carlton played more of the most well known stuff on some of those albums....but I could be wrong....someone else will know more.

Not only does he have serious chops on many instruments, but he's also a defense consultant and chairs a Congressional Advisory Board on missile defense.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I remember him playing a telecaster at least some of the time. Him and Denny Dias used something they called "mu" chords.

I talked to him at a Namm show one year. Very cool guy.

Check this out from 0:45 +

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD4rqYOx9PY

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I saw him playing a clear acrylic type of strat with single coil set up. Larry Carlton also used a variety of guitars back in the SD years including a Fender Strat and Tweed Deluxe amp.

I remember an interview with Skunk Baxter in Guitar Player from back in the 70s or 80s where he said that he did a lot of his best Steely Dan solos on an old Silvertone guitar.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

thanks for posting Mike

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I've seen Jack Pearson play an old Silvertone and he gets a killer tone out of it.
I think Skunk and Carlton both played on Reeling in the Years,is that the title?
I remember reading an interview by Skunk where he said he played the "surf stuff" at the beginning and before the solos,and Carlton played the "tasty stuff",something similar to that.

There's a picture of him in the latest Wolf Marshall article in VG playing a Rosewood Tele

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following Miami Mike's youtube link i've spent a very productive hour or two looking thru the various old dan stuff there and baxter's guitar tutorials too. he has an interesting take or two on playing in general.

as far as fender goes, seems he was pretty fond of a few tele's and there's that clear polymer or whatever strat that someone mentioned.

Elliot Randall played some Steely Dan solos including "Reeling in the Years".

He happened to ba a childhood friend of Skunk's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Randall

yup, Elliot Randall did the solo on Reeling and it's smokin', and Denny Dias was no slouch either, but Baxter's bit on Midnite Cruiser (this is on Can't Buy a Thrill) makes my teeth hurt.

+1

One of my SD favs!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Man,all this time I've thought that was Larry Carlton...I've seen Randall's name on album credits.....what does somebody here say..."old age rears it's ugly head again".