"I'm not a guitar player — I never took the time. I use it as a tool.” The guitarist behind some of music's biggest hits says you don't need to be virtuoso to have a career

As the former guitarist in Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Stax Records' celebrated house band, Steve Cropper made ripples in the guitar world that can still be felt today. He co-wrote that group's classic cut "Green Onions" as well as Otis Redding’s timeless "(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay."

But despite his well-earned acclaim, Cropper plays down his talents and achievements with modesty uncharacteristic among most guitarists of his class.

“My playing has always sucked, but it sells,” he says in the November 2024 issue of Total Guitar. “I keep it simple, I guess. I'm not a guitar player. I never took the time.”

Practicality has always usurped virtuosity for the guitarist. Indeed, his signature move, which sees him able to handle rhythm and lead duties simultaneously, was forged out of necessity and made him Stax Records' secret weapon.

“I use it as a tool,” he says of the electric guitar. “I couldn't afford to hire another guitarist on a lot of Stax records, so I learned to play rhythm and lead at the same time so when I was soloing the rhythm wouldn't drop out.

“I'll never use a capo, either,” he adds. “God gave you a capo right here [hold up his first finger], so I learned how to play a lot of chords with three fingers instead of four. That was important.”

Cropper's emphasis on feel extends beyond guitarists to include singers. Speaking to Guitar Player in 2021, he called Redding and Rod Stewart the best vocalists he's ever worked with, because they “sang every song like it was the last song.”

Asked to share his advice for young guitarists, the Telecaster lover maintained that same spirit, saying groove should be at the forefront of every player’s skillset.

“If someone's got groove,” he says, “he's gonna last a lot longer than the guy who doesn’t, whatever 'groove' means to you.

“To me it means soul. And I play in the box, not outside it. That's what people like. If you play too far outside the box, people aren't gonna like it.”

Cropper was never a guitarist intent on dazzling. Rather, he was there to get a job done, and do it well, whether playing guitar or producing behind the scenes. As he revealed in 2019, he was under consideration to helm the Beatles' Revolver album in 1966, but Brian Epstein scuttled the idea after he determined security around the Memphis-based Stax studio was not tight enough for the Fab Four.

Nevertheless, Cropper would work with John Lennon on the former Beatle's 1975 solo album, Rock 'n' Roll. His mile-long resume also includes work with B.B. King, Roy Orbison and Peter Frampton, and earned him a reputation as one of the best guitarists of his time.

But, asked who he thinks is the best, he only had one answer: Jeff Beck.

“Whatever Jeff's mind thought, his hands would go there,” he says. “You couldn't say 'You can't get that' to Jeff. He did things that no one else thought was possible and he’d make it sound right. Working on the [1972's Jeff Beck Group album] is one of my proudest moments.”

The full interview with Steve Cropper appears in the November 2024 issue of Total Guitar, on sale on October 18. It will be the magazine's final issue after a 30-year run.