When rock guitarists get together and praise the heroes of yesterday, it’s all about Beck, Hendrix, Clapton, and as time as gone by, Rhoads and Van Halen. Nobody talks about Steve Hackett much because he played in Genesis which, when he was a member, was making arguably the best progressive rock ever made.
Steve once made the mistake of saying he invented tapping, which Van Halen went on to popularize. Steve didn’t invent tapping. But he did do it five years before Van Halen. And he almost never gets credit for it.
In the early 70s, almost every rock guitarist was trying hard to be Beck or Clapton – almost everything was blues-based. He was NOT playing blues-based guitar solos. His solos were haunting, often beautiful. He didn’t sound like anyone else.
I’d never make the argument that he was as influential as the greats, because he wasn’t. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t influence a ton of players. He was a pioneer, for sure.
Listen to the guitar solo in Dancing with the Moonlit Knight as a good example of Steve’s work.
