Steve Vai - His First 30 Years Documentary

[FORD]

No mention of the album Vai played on just before joining the EEAS band??

[Seshmeister]

The difference with Vai compared to Hendrix and EVH is most of his music didn't gain the commercial and especially broad pop appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Technically Steve is right up there in unique playing ability with the legends... but outside of his stint with EEAS his music has been limited to smaller niche realms of rock with his time with Zappa and most of his solo work. Bottom line... he can play the strings off a guitar and compose masterful, scorching guitar wanking pieces... he just can't write catchy pop songs.

I remember watching Steve Vai play his set at the 1992 guitar Expo from Spain on the little portable TV in my girlfriends apartment and it remains one of the most amazing pieces of guitar playing ever recorded by anyone ever.

At the same time as being utterly moved and astounded part of me was still troubled by the fact that he was wearing an outfit with little segments cut out of the material where his tattoos were. Hendrix or EVH would never have even thought to do that because it's overthinking to a horrible degree.

Steve Vai is a musician not a rock star. As for the writing of catchy songs I kind of agree but it's more about writing music that Roth could add catchy melodies to which is what EVH did and Vai sort of did?

I think the biggest issue with Skyscraper is they should have kept an outside producer. There are some hidden gems in it, Hina and Two Fools may be the highlights.

[Nickdfresh]

Vai never became a legend like EVH, Hendrix or SRV. That level of uniqueness is so rare.

Because he doesn't really write songs...

[Nitro Express]

Because he doesn't really write songs...

EVH really didn't write songs either. He wrote riffs. The songs were more of a result of the whole band working things out. Wolfgang actually is more of a full spectrum song writer than his dad was but his dad just had the magic. Extremely innovative and creative to the level it grabbed people and blew them away and on top of that, the guy was great live. Some people call it stardust. Whatever it is very few people have it.

[Nitro Express]

I remember watching Steve Vai play his set at the 1992 guitar Expo from Spain on the little portable TV in my girlfriends apartment and it remains one of the most amazing pieces of guitar playing ever recorded by anyone ever.

At the same time as being utterly moved and astounded part of me was still troubled by the fact that he was wearing an outfit with little segments cut out of the material where his tattoos were. Hendrix or EVH would never have even thought to do that because it's overthinking to a horrible degree.

Steve Vai is a musician not a rock star. As for the writing of catchy songs I kind of agree but it's more about writing music that Roth could add catchy melodies to which is what EVH did and Vai sort of did?

I think the biggest issue with Skyscraper is they should have kept an outside producer. There are some hidden gems in it, Hina and Two Fools may be the highlights.

Vai is an eccentric technician. He admits he's not a rock guitar god. He's extremely good though and I think you appreciate him more if you play.

[Nitro Express]

The difference with Vai compared to Hendrix and EVH is most of his music didn't gain the commercial and especially broad pop appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Technically Steve is right up there in unique playing ability with the legends... but outside of his stint with EEAS his music has been limited to smaller niche realms of rock with his time with Zappa and most of his solo work. Bottom line... he can play the strings off a guitar and compose masterful, scorching guitar wanking pieces... he just can't write catchy pop songs.

Yup. You have to have great songs. Hendrix had a few and he could write great lyrics. Van Halen was a magical combination. What's often overlooked is David Lee Roth's lyrics. Sure some of it is about partying and T&A but they just are great lyrics. He was the man for that stuff. People need something to grab them and that's songs. Fancy guitar tricks are actually quite forgettable. You need more than that.

[Nitro Express]

Agreed. And thats a pretty remarkable thing to accomplish. Even by today's standards to still be relevant and able to draw in great crowds in theatres etc.

I know a lot of great musicians who are no longer working in music. It's hard to make a good living in it. You really do have to be willing to starve for your art. Vai was and it it worked out good for him but he took the risks, he put the effort in and he used his brain to make it happen.

[Seshmeister]

I hesitate to call Vai a 'technician' or a 'flash guitar shredder for hire' because it probably wouldn't be fair to sum up the entirety of his abilities that way, especially since I haven't heard anything he has done since 1990.

Try listening to the first 4 or 5 songs on Passion and Warfare, we usually like the same kind of stuff so you might like it. If nothing else there is a lot of music going on.

[Kristy]

This is pretty fucking ghey and retarded but Ease was the best solo Vai ever did.

And all you cretins should be thankful Ghrol hasn't corrupted Vai...yet.

[Mushroom]

And all you cretins should be thankful Ghrol hasn't corrupted Vai...yet.

I would pay to see that! A good symbiotic relationship. Grohl’s songwriting and singing skills matched up to Vai’s skills would have to be ripping. Add Taylor Hawkins’ 16 year old son Shane on the drums! That kid killed it at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert.

[Terry]

I would pay to see that! A good symbiotic relationship. Grohl’s songwriting and singing skills matched up to Vai’s skills would have to be ripping. Add Taylor Hawkins’ 16 year old son Shane on the drums! That kid killed it at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert.

Jesus, has rock music finally become another vanilla Bring Your Kid To Work Day?

[Mushroom]

Jesus, has rock music finally become another vanilla Bring Your Kid To Work Day?

Hah! It’s the Las Vegas-ification of rock and roll. Family friendly!

[Terry]

Try listening to the first 4 or 5 songs on Passion and Warfare, we usually like the same kind of stuff so you might like it. If nothing else there is a lot of music going on.

I did as you instructed.

Hadn't heard that record in...32 years.

Without a doubt a LOT of music going on! I kinda found the backing non-guitar music more interesting than much of the lead guitar over the top of it, whereas thirty years ago I probably would have been concentrating much more on what Vai was doing.

I think a lot of my attitude still reflects my general feelings of the time, which is to say by the end of the 1980's I was just burned out on Bitchin' Hard Rock Guitar Solos. The music I have the earliest memories of, much of which was supplied by hand-me-down records from older relatives, was more song-oriented even when guitar was one of the primary instruments. Someone like Jimi Hendrix excepted in terms of 'guitar hero' type stuff, most of those records I listened to in the 1970's were along the lines of The Beatles, or The Stones or The Who. Along with K.C. and the Sunshine Band, The Monkees, The Bee Gees...Blondie, The Cars. With most of those bands, the song was the thing. Even my favorite band of the 1970's, KISS, were a guitar-oriented band and Ace Frehley had the image to be sure. Even as big a Frehley fan as I was, what Ace was doing wasn't any massive detraction from that blues pentatonic based thing every other rock guitar player back then was doing. Even with Black Sabbath, to me when I listen to those early Sabbath records it is still the songs that stand out rather than the solos.

[Terry]

Hearing Van Halen in 1980, THAT was the type of playing that actually inspired me to take up the instrument. But my first few years of playing was also learning songs from all the other bands I listed above. Well, maybe not so much K.C. and the Sunshine Band, but the first couple of years were largely learning songs from start-to-finish, including solos.

Vai was sort of in the middle of the pack for me in the 1980's, mostly because I didn't hear about him until the middle of the decade. After Van Halen, after Randy Rhoads, after Yngwie Malmsteen, after Vivian Campbell, after George Lynch, after Warren DeMartini. After Vai broke big, then it was Satriani, then Paul Gilbert: a decade of shred wore me out. More than a few of those players I listed were just as flash-in-the-pan as their fretwork in the long haul. The ones that still resonate for me, it's usually the tunes that continue to do it, with a great guitar solo being icing on the cake. I can still listen to Van Halen or the first two Ozzy records or the first two Dio records and select tracks here and there from the others because the songs still hold up.

[Terry]

The thing with Vai for me...

Technical ability in spades. More technical ability 32 years ago then I have today. Fantastic ability.

Listening to those first several tracks off of Passion And Warfare...it's not for me to say what a musician should be doing in terms of expressing themselves. Once the music is created and heard, like any other art form it is going to be interpreted by whoever is experiencing it as they will.

Vai's playing STILL comes across to me largely as a technical exercise. As a player, he seems uncontrollable or lacking self-control. He starts off a solo picking a melody - he had several moments in those tracks I re-listened to where he was doing stuff that sang and cried - then almost as if he can't help himself it's yet another lightning blitz all over the fretboard. Couple this with that overdriven, plastic-sounding tone of his...it still becomes tiresome to my ears rather quickly. There's no sense of pacing or dynamics or tension. There's no sense of emotional release when he blazes fast because it's his stock, go-to move.

Again, I would hesitate to say that represents the entirety of him as a musician, because I haven't listened to him since 1990. However, by 1990, I was Steve Vai'd out. It was the same thing with Yngwie by his third solo album, in that when that came around I was Yngwie'd out: he'd already told me everything musically that he was going to.