Morse worked briefly with his older brother Dave in a band called the Plague until the family moved to Augusta, Georgia.

During the 1970s, the University of Miami played host to a number of future influential musicians, including Bruce Hornsby, Pat Metheny, and Jaco Pastorius.

Andy West also enrolled at the University of Miami, and with Morse, drummer Bart Yarnold, keyboardist Frank Josephs and violinist Allen Sloan, collaborated in a lab project entitled Rock Ensemble II.

A fellow University of Miami alumnus, Rod Morgenstein, replaced the injured Bart Yarnold and the band began performing regularly; with some of their own compositions, along with material by John McLaughlin and southern rock favorites.

An increasingly heavier performance schedule eventually led to the attention of Capricorn Records recruiters including Allman Brothers Band manager Twiggs Lyndon, and in late 1976, the group was signed by the southern rock label.

[6] Their first effort for Capricorn, Free Fall, established Morse as an important newcomer to the fusion genre, and he was recognized for both his compositional skills (having written all 11 tracks) and his musicianship.

Although supported by a tour, record sales remained flat, but gained Morse and the band an invitation to perform at Montreux Jazz Festival on July 23, 1978.

Unsung Heroes included seven new Morse compositions, plus a shortened re-arrangement of "Cruise Control," in early 1981, but the name change did little to address Arista's worries.

The Dregs felt compelled by label management to add lyrics to their next release, appropriately titled Industry Standard.

Morse's compositions on Industry Standard began to sound more like his evolving solo work than Dregs' collaborations, and the album received critical and public praise.

Additionally, Morse was voted "Best Overall Guitarist" in the same poll, an honor that he would hold for five consecutive years (which ended his eligibility by retiring him into their "Gallery of Greats", a distinction shared only by Steve Howe of Yes and Eric Johnson).

Bassist Dave LaRue completed the lineup for a seven date tour culminating in the 1992 live album Bring 'em Back Alive.

Violinist Jerry Goodman, of Mahavishnu Orchestra fame, filled in for Sloan, who was frequently absent as a result of his medical career.

This effort included guest vocalists and guitarists (Eric Johnson, Alex Ligertwood, Peter Frampton, Albert Lee, Van Temple), and violinist Mark O'Connor.

While he was with the band, Kansas had its last big hit, "All I Wanted," which reached the Billboard Top 20 and on which Morse received co-writing credit.

In 1994, Morse joined the British hard rock group Deep Purple, replacing Ritchie Blackmore (after Joe Satriani had initially replaced Blackmore on a temporary basis, for the final leg of The Battle Rages On tour in Japan, and European dates the following summer).

[7] In addition to playing with Deep Purple, Morse, together with Jimmy Barnes, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake and Don Airey, formed Living Loud in 2003.

In Spring 2010 it was reported that Steve Morse and Bob Daisley started work on a new studio album which was set for a release in 2011, but nothing came of this.

In the words of Guitar Player's Jas Obrecht, Morse seamlessly blends "heavy metal, Baroque/classical, freeform jazz/rock, bluegrass, chicken pickin' country, Irish jigs" with "energy and finesse".

[15]Steve Morse is well-versed in a number of techniques - trilling, string skipping, alternate picking, artificial harmonics and legato - which he employs on his solos, guitar riffs and chord progressions.

While he contends these work for the blues-inspired licks of guitarists such as Alvin Lee, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, for faster and more technical music it's better to pick all notes.

The definite turning point came when he watched the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the University of Miami playing Inner Mounting Flame (1971) live.

It was made up of a Fender Telecaster body with a Stratocaster neck, a Gibson trapeze-style tailpiece (coming from a twelve-string guitar) and four pickups in HSSH configuration.

Dimarzio also wires a custom wound single coil pickup for Music Man to use into the SM signature model.

Morse's live equipment includes two ENGL E 656 Signature heads and several Music Man guitars (both models), his #1 still being his favorite.