God bless Jeff Baxter’s guitar solo (and pick scrape) on Steely Dan’s “Change of the Guard”

By Steve Newton

A few weeks back my wife confiscated the Zeppelin CD from my Corolla–without even asking, mind you–so she could rock out in her SUV on the way to work.

I replaced it with my two-disc compilation, Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story, 1972–1980, so for the last little while I’ve been cruising along to the exceptional guitar talents of the Dan’s hired guns like Larry Carlton, Rick Derringer, Dean Parks, and Elliott Randall, as well as original band member Jeff “Skunk” Baxter.

Speaking of “Skunk”, I found myself constantly replaying a track he’s featured on–“Change of the Guard”, from the group’s 1972 debut LP Can’t Buy a Thrill–because his piercing solo at the 2:06 mark is so damn tasty and impetuous.

I especially like the part where Baxter ends the solo by scraping his pick along the strings for a glorious four seconds or so.

In previous blogs I’ve asked God to bless outstanding solos by guitarists like Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham, Blue Öyster Cult’s Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, and the Outlaws’ Huey Thomasson.

So now I’m asking His Holiness to sanctify this solo of Jeff Baxter’s as well. And I’m confident that once the Good Lord gets a load of that stellar pick scrape he’ll be blessing the heck out of it.