Journey’s 70-year-old guitarist shares tour secrets

In a new series USA TODAY’s The Essentials, celebrities share what fuels their lives whether it’s at home, on the set or on the road.
Guitarist Neal Schon started making waves on his instrument as a Bay Area teen during the summer of love in 1968, and eventually joined Carlos Santana’s band at 17 in 1971. He’s never looked back.
Schon, who teamed up with Santana band colleagues and went on to found the radio-hit juggernaut Journey, is back on the road this summer hitting stadiums and arenas around the country along with ’80s giants Def Leppard. Now 70, Schon seems more dialed in than ever.
“I love what I do. I’m in good health since I’ve been taking care of myself for the last 20 years, after a bunch of years doing everything you shouldn’t be doing,” Schon says with a laugh. “Besides, I like being involved in all the details of our tour. And the business people don’t enjoy you as much when you’re paying attention.”
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The road inevitably presents an array of challenges for all touring musicians, but combine a legendary band with the comforts that come with success and the months ahead promise to not be as hard as they once were. Schon shares with us some of his on-the-road rituals, his passion for guitars and the best way to travel.
While rock band green rooms have been known to be dens of iniquity, that’s not the case for Schon, who prefers to prepare for an upcoming gig by sitting with his guitar.
“I don’t really even listen to music backstage before going on, but I’ll play music,” he says. “That’s one way to stay young when you’re older, practicing all the time. I play many hours a day, because you never stop learning on your instrument.”
Schon’s says his father was a jazz musician and bandleader, and he remains intrigued by getting new and innovative sounds out of his six-stringed instrument. “I’m finding ways to incorporate horn lines into my playing. Now, that might not work with a Journey song, but it’s fun to challenge yourself. So before we go on, that’s what I’m doing. That, and just chilling out.”
Schon just laughs at the question. “I’ve had more guitars in my life, but right now I still have about 750 or so,” he says. “They’re all great, and I don’t really have one in particular that I favor.”
The guitarist says that depending on what model his is playing, his style will immediately shift. “If I’m playing a Fender Telecaster or Strat(ocaster), or if I’m playing a (Gibson) Les Paul, I’ll play totally differently. I also have jazz-style guitars such as a Gibson 335 and an L5. Big hollow body guitars that can produce feedback if you’re not careful, but they can also provide such a huge, huge tone.”
A number of years back, Schon sold a number of his prized guitars including a Fender Stratocaster known as the “Lights” guitar, as it was used during the recording of Journey’s 1978 “Infinity” album which featured the hit song, “Lights.” The price? $65,000.
We all love our beds. And that’s what Schon dreams of when he’s on the road with his band.
“If I could beam myself from the stage to my home bed, that would be amazing,” he says. “To be in that bed and not in a hotel, wow. But that said, we as a band have made a lot of friends at a lot of nice hotels in cities around the world, and if you’re kind to the people there, they are kind to you. So it’s not that bad at all.”
At this point, says Schon, being in a traveling band is second nature. “Remember, I started this life when I was a kid,” he says. “I’m not only used to it, but I don’t see myself stopping either.”
Schon’s touring memories are filled with now comical memories of trying to get some rest on a loud, cramped bus as he and his bandmates shuttled from city to city trying to make a name for themselves. No more. These days, those journeys have wings.
“For us, it’s a (private) plane, definitely,” he says. “We’ve flown private for years now, and it’s hard to break away from that. It’s still the best and safest way to get from one gig to another.”
In fact, some recollections from tours past include many a black-and-blue ride. “I did many, many years in a bus, with those tiny bunks. Then there were the private coaches, but they were really expensive and then you learned what roads in the country were no good. In some states, I’d find myself literally bounced onto the floor in the middle of the night.”
Asking Schon about his favorite Journey tunes is a bit like the proverbial request for a parent to name their most adored child. Can’t be done.
“The truth is the audience makes all those hits come alive, honest,” he says. “I’ve played these songs so, so many times, whether it’s ‘Lights’ or ‘Wheel In The Sky’ or ‘Faithfully,’ but the emotions that run through me each time as you play them never gets old, especially when you see how the audience is moved.”
For Schon, filling the air with those classic songs is all about trying to be a guitar therapist. “You’re trying to remove people from whatever kind of funk is going on in their lives,” he says. “The music becomes the ultimate healer.”
Countless bands have opened for Journey over the band’s five decade existence. But one group left a particularly huge impression on Schon.
“It was Bryan Adams,” he says. “This was in the ’80s and he was just out with his (1983) album ‘Cuts Like A Knife,’ and I remember listening to them and I thought, ‘Wow, he’s amazing, and his band is amazing.'”
Schon has high praise in particular for Adams’ guitar player, Keith Douglas Scott. The Canadian ace “plays slowhand, meaning, only what’s necessary to serve the song. But one day I was walking past his dressing room and I hear the most amazing sounds and I couldn’t believe it, it was him. Just really experimental guitar. I’d love to co-headline with them again. Bryan Adams and Journey really go well together.”