Ed & Steve Vai

[Mr. G]

Yes Satch gave Steve lessons in the old days but Steve surpased him years ago. Steve would never say that as they are great friends. I had always pictured ED getting better and better as he got older and seeing a bunch of new stuff from him until he was too old to play. Maybe he will get his shit together. May never happen but I wouldn't mind seeing ED as part of the line up for G3. Can you imagine ED, Satch and Vai jamming together? Damn.

[BenJammin]

Originally posted by Redballjets88
nah ill take steve over eddie any day the stuff eddie does can be done people all over the place play his stuff no problem ...bc he is one trick pony man....he is alright with other things but tapping is all he is great at....vai can do it all he is amazing

I've heard that same argument before (saying just about everyone can imitate Ed) and I say this... is there anyone out there that cannot be imitated? I don't think so. Some say Malmsteen's stuff is hard... yeah, it is, and it's hard to listen to for more than 5 minutes. So what's the point. Does music have to be hard to copy to be good? Not at all. I'd say the more you are copied, the better you are! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

About him being a 'one-trick pony'??? Yeah, he may tap a lot, but he does it better than anyone, and then his fills and rhythm guitar playing (remember, he does it all in that band), his tone, his innovative blues-turned-heavy metal licks. The man took so many styles out there and turned them upside down and inside out. He is so inventive and original, I cannot believe anyone could listen to the six-pack and then say he is a one-trick pony. Maybe only inexperienced audiophiles.

People want to knock others off their pedestal, and they use that lame-ass shit to knock Ed down. Mozart was one of the greatest composers ever. How many people play his stuff today? And how many notes does it take to recognize a Mozart piece? There's your answer and that is how you define 'good'. So there you go.

Also, some people can listen to someone attempt to copy Ed (like so many try with Eruption) and think it's good. In my experience, most suck at it, and very few even approach nailing that solo, but I have heard many, many attempts and some people get so close, but no one, I repeat, no one I've heard has ever come close to the timing and feel that Ed has, much less getting all the notes right. But 90% of the people out there will ooh-and-ahh over someone that can kind of sound like Ed yet who don't know what the difference is between Joe Amatuer's half assed, error filled attempt and the real deal.

[Mr. G]

Back when Steve first joined Dave I saw them at the Forum in LA. Durring his solo he played part of eruption. The crowd went wild. Of course he CAN play it easily and perfectly but I think he did it in tribute.

[hollywood5150]

I wouldnt say he played it perfect..........the only part I remember he played well was the little classical violin bit..........I heard bootlegs here on this particular site.........I could be mistaken..........maybe it wasnt the same show.......but it was in Los Angeles

I am PRO-EVH.......and a DLR fan...........I dont agree with alot he has done but he is the second greatest guitarist of all time OUR time....2nd only to Jimi Hendrix........most innovative, influential, and recognized, commercially succesfull, and TALENTED musician, NOT guitarist BUT musician....

what alot of people dont realize is that EVH is just as good if not almost as good on other instrauments as he is on guitar....

article in GW 1999........stated he played guitar, piano, cello, sax among other instruments..........mostly BY EAR.........

LIKE MOZART in most cases he only has to hear the song once, to pick it up.......

EVH begat 99% of the guitarist that came after him.........

Look at whathe has done to the actual structure, and design of guitars,
he has inovated even that........

Humbucker in strat??? who thought of that? d-tuna, he was making the guitar stay in tune before floyd,

i could go on.............and on..............and on.........

face it, he is a drunken piece of shit, lieing money hungry, poor , decision making dutch bastard with more talent and ability than any
other guitarist of his or any other generation..........

PERIOD!

[jero]

ed rules! Period!!!!

[BenJammin]

Yeah, he's drunk most of the time and a difficult human being by most accounts, but you cannot deny his greatness.

I just don't get it when people suddenly lose respect for Ed (or any other guitarist) when they hear somone copy them? WTF?

He may be imitated [albeit poorly in many cases] but he came up with the shit first.

[classicdude]

Originally posted by VHdamaco
if knowledge serves me right, wasn't satch vai's mentor?

You're right! I got it bass-ackwards. At least you understood what I meant. Musta been drunk that post.

[SNIPER]

If Vai & Edward were to sit down today and cut heads Ed's drunk ass would loose hands down.

[madraoul]

Funny, it seems like both of these fuckers lost their appeal to me once they severed their ties with Dave. If push comes to shove, I gotta go with Vai. He played with the master Zappa.

[TwoFoolsAMinute]

Vai is amazin, but he can't do a Van Halen song justice. I would imagine Ed would have a hard time doing a Vai song justice. Technically vai is probably the better musician, but Ed has his own style often imitated never duplicated. Apples and Oranges.

[Casemeister]

Originally posted by hollywood5150
... but he is the second greatest guitarist of all time OUR time....2nd only to Jimi Hendrix........most innovative, influential, and recognized, commercially succesfull, and TALENTED musician, NOT guitarist BUT musician....

what alot of people dont realize is that EVH is just as good if not almost as good on other instrauments as he is on guitar....

article in GW 1999........stated he played guitar, piano, cello, sax among other instruments..........mostly BY EAR.........

LIKE MOZART in most cases he only has to hear the song once, to pick it up.......

I love Ed's playing. He's easily my favourite rock guitarist. As a pianist, though, most great pianists would laugh at you if you said EVH was great. I know one or two who have. As for being second only to Hendrix, well, there are plenty of non-rock players who could outplay both of them in pretty much every category mentioned in this thread. Chet Atkins, Mr Guitar, is a prime example.

[CelticFrost]

OF course Steve

Hendrix WAS great, Eddie WAS great, Steve IS great.

[VonHalen]

i like em both

[mike sanchez]

now i love evh playing, arguing whether he's better than vai is a joke, compare him to stevie ray vaughn or carlos santana and now your talking about players at the top