Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse recently spoke with Guitar World, giving them a rundown of his evolution as a guitar player. Following is an excerpt.

I’m a speed king, see me fly… 

Morse: "As guitar players, I think we have it pretty good. But I would say finding a place to practice comfortably is quite a hard thing. Even without an amp, I annoy people when I play because I pick my strings pretty hard and make a lot of acoustic noise. It can get pretty weird if others are in the room! Throughout my life, I’ve always annoyed people. The guys in Deep Purple used to put me in a separate van for that reason (laughs)! I’d just be playing the whole way in between gigs and going to airports."

The show must go on…

Morse: "For about 50 years, I played with my thumb and two fingers on the pick. It really helped me play with exceptional clarity and muting. There are a lot of advantages with it. The only disadvantage is it wears out your wrist after 50 years. But I was doing 10,000 notes a day… most people should be fine! Now I’ve had to switch to one finger and the thumb because I have arthritis in my right wrist. It’s very painful to flex my wrist, so I save that for gigs."

Check out the complete interview here.

Morse performed on classical guitar live on the Ernie Ball stage at NAMM 2020, held January 16 - 19 at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Watch the video below:

Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) and Steve Morse performed Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" live on the Ernie Ball stage at NAMM 2020. Watch below: