There is no way that you might not have heard of the name Neal Schon if you are a music fanatic, especially one that has a craving for guitars. This world famous guitarist from Oklahoma is considered by many to be the God of guitar. This guitarist from American who was born on the 5th of February, 1954, is famous for his performances with the band Journey that is famous worldwide. It is a fact that Neal is the sole member of the band Journey to have played in all of their recordings. This guitarist who was born in an air force base situated close to Oklahoma City, picked up the guitar at the tender age of 5.

His father too was into music and was a jazz saxophonist but few people know this. A quick learner, Neal joined Santana at the tender age of 15. Before forming the group Journey in 1973, which he still leads, Neal was connected with Azteca. Those who are familiar with the playing style of this guitarist consider it as soulful. Apart from the fourteen studio albums he has made with the group he founded, Neal has also cut albums with many other musicians.

Early on in his career, Neal had been requested by another guitar great, Eric Clapton, to join his group, Derek and the Dominos. However, this offer was turned down by Neal, since he was first called upon by Santana. Neal Schon joined Santana for recording the album Santana III. Those who are interested in learning electric guitars will be interested to know that the first guitar used by Neal was an acoustic Stella. Two years later this guitar was replaced for a Gibson ES-335. Neal substituted his stolen Gibson with the 1956 make Les Paul Goldtop reissue and he performed using the same for quite a number of years.

Gibson guitars are currently endorsed by Neal. Some limited editions signature models also available and they are known as the “Neal Schon Signature Model Custom Les Paul”. Only 35 numbers of such custom guitars were manufactured according to the official Gibson website. Neal has also used some other guitars during his long career and one of them is the Goldin guitar which he had used for “Beyond the Thunder”, a solo album, which was released towards the end of the 1980’s. Schon endorses Gibson, which makes some of the best solo guitars.

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