Steve Vai
in Music ·
I can't believe this guy isn't on the list for this subforum yet! Any way:
Some people claim Steve Vai is the best on the planet, and he’s definitely among the top tier of electric guitar masters globally (Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, etc.). I absolutely love his stuff like Answers, Live, The Ultra Zone, and so on—his technique is just unreal. Honestly, which guitarist hasn't heard of "Eugene's trick bag"? (That's the solo from the movie Crossroads. And no, it's not the same movie as Britney Spears. This one came out around 1985, and Vai plays the villain, sort of like a guy playing against some other dude—who's played by The Karate Kid—where if he wins, he frees the soul of some bluesman who died ages ago. That solo is insane. Okay, fine, I'll stop before you guys start commenting on my favorite guitarist. BTW, he actually learned from Joe Satriani (they're best friends now).
Hehe, check out this quote from his diary:
"my band and i watched Joe's show from backstage on a TV. It was so perfect. His concentration is solid and his playing seems flawless. His command on the instrument is stunning. He squeezes that neck to get every sound and note possible. Reeves Gabrels put it perfectly once when after a 2 and a half hour Satriani performance, he said it reminded him of a prize fighter in the 15th round and he's made every punch his body could muster and still keeps slugging it out (I'm paraphrasing). We were all just looking at each other while Joe was playing, and laughing at how amazing it was. After the show I asked him how it went and he had the nerve to say "Ah, I played kind of sloppy tonight." I told him to shut the fuck up before I get sick."
This one is also good: (he's doing an interview in a hotel room, the camera is rolling and it's being broadcast live on TV🙂
The first question was, "so, how does Mexico differ from the rest of the world?" Now, I get asked this question in almost every interview and as usual I had to try to make it seem like, "Oh, what an interesting question." I start to speak with this very philosophical look of interest on my face. I bring my huge hands up to display my deep inner thoughts in gesture form when all of a sudden there is this huge SPLLLAAATTTT!!! type explosion sound that emanated from the fire sprinkler that was situated over the camera and right above the extremely high heat giving light. What had happened was the light that they were using to light me was too close to the sprinkler head that was in the ceiling and it caused the sprinkler to go off by first exploding a powdery like fire extinguishing chemical throughout the whole room, and then violently spraying water as if the Hoover Dam had just burst and the flood gates had blown!
The second I heard The Explosion I knew what happened. All hell broke loose. The TV crew was stunned and started to dash about in a frantic display of confusion and terror. The way they were all of a sudden running around, it looked like someone had kicked a beehive. I started laughing hysterically while clumsily trying to make my way off the chair and out of the range of the water flow. Dave Weiner and I were tremendously amused at all this. The crew tried desperately to save the camera from the waterfall that was filling the room. It was impossible to get out the door without going through the spraying water and I figured that I had better make a dash for the side door that led to the adjoining room. So there I was, laughing hysterically and trying to make my way through the water to the door. The door was already opened a crack and as I grabbed it and pulled, it slammed into my own face. After the stun of the impact from the door, the whole Keystone Cop activities made me laugh even harder. I go through the door soaking wet busting into Joe's interview. (Joe was in the next room, doing an interview too)🙂 )
Some people claim Steve Vai is the best on the planet, and he’s definitely among the top tier of electric guitar masters globally (Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, etc.). I absolutely love his stuff like Answers, Live, The Ultra Zone, and so on—his technique is just unreal. Honestly, which guitarist hasn't heard of "Eugene's trick bag"? (That's the solo from the movie Crossroads. And no, it's not the same movie as Britney Spears. This one came out around 1985, and Vai plays the villain, sort of like a guy playing against some other dude—who's played by The Karate Kid—where if he wins, he frees the soul of some bluesman who died ages ago. That solo is insane. Okay, fine, I'll stop before you guys start commenting on my favorite guitarist. BTW, he actually learned from Joe Satriani (they're best friends now).
Hehe, check out this quote from his diary:
"my band and i watched Joe's show from backstage on a TV. It was so perfect. His concentration is solid and his playing seems flawless. His command on the instrument is stunning. He squeezes that neck to get every sound and note possible. Reeves Gabrels put it perfectly once when after a 2 and a half hour Satriani performance, he said it reminded him of a prize fighter in the 15th round and he's made every punch his body could muster and still keeps slugging it out (I'm paraphrasing). We were all just looking at each other while Joe was playing, and laughing at how amazing it was. After the show I asked him how it went and he had the nerve to say "Ah, I played kind of sloppy tonight." I told him to shut the fuck up before I get sick."
This one is also good: (he's doing an interview in a hotel room, the camera is rolling and it's being broadcast live on TV🙂
The first question was, "so, how does Mexico differ from the rest of the world?" Now, I get asked this question in almost every interview and as usual I had to try to make it seem like, "Oh, what an interesting question." I start to speak with this very philosophical look of interest on my face. I bring my huge hands up to display my deep inner thoughts in gesture form when all of a sudden there is this huge SPLLLAAATTTT!!! type explosion sound that emanated from the fire sprinkler that was situated over the camera and right above the extremely high heat giving light. What had happened was the light that they were using to light me was too close to the sprinkler head that was in the ceiling and it caused the sprinkler to go off by first exploding a powdery like fire extinguishing chemical throughout the whole room, and then violently spraying water as if the Hoover Dam had just burst and the flood gates had blown!
The second I heard The Explosion I knew what happened. All hell broke loose. The TV crew was stunned and started to dash about in a frantic display of confusion and terror. The way they were all of a sudden running around, it looked like someone had kicked a beehive. I started laughing hysterically while clumsily trying to make my way off the chair and out of the range of the water flow. Dave Weiner and I were tremendously amused at all this. The crew tried desperately to save the camera from the waterfall that was filling the room. It was impossible to get out the door without going through the spraying water and I figured that I had better make a dash for the side door that led to the adjoining room. So there I was, laughing hysterically and trying to make my way through the water to the door. The door was already opened a crack and as I grabbed it and pulled, it slammed into my own face. After the stun of the impact from the door, the whole Keystone Cop activities made me laugh even harder. I go through the door soaking wet busting into Joe's interview. (Joe was in the next room, doing an interview too)🙂 )