Steve Vai

It's always difficult to write a guitar lesson that covers a player's stylistic tendencies. Often it is extremely difficult and other times, when a player has a firm grasp on so many elements of music and technique, it is nearly impossible. Steve Vai, who I am sure needs no introduction, is definitely one of those players where the task of distilling stylistic elements into a cohesive study is so daunting that I am tempted to write nothing at all.

However, I got so many requests for a Vai-style guitar lesson that I just couldn't let y'all down. So I contacted Steve in mid-2005 for his input, and he graciously took a few minutes out of his extremely busy schedule to say a few words (with luck, he'll be able to take a few more minutes to become part of the "Guitar Gods" interview series), which made the task much simpler by providing a framework. When I asked "What are three elements that make up the Steve Vai guitar style?", Steve responded:

"A roller-coaster, the Tazmanian Devil, and the breath of an angel."

Our study, then, will revolve all too briefly around these headings. The study will leave out much of what makes Steve great, but you can check out the Hendrix series (with extra focus on installment #1) for insight into Steve's clean rhythm styles and use of blues-based licks (which is very similar in several regards to Hendrix, who Steve cites as a major influence on his stylistic development), as well as the Jennifer Batten lesson for a look at touchstyle/tapping technique (which Steve uses very effectively). Depending on the reaction to this piece, I may expand this into a series (more on that below).

Roller-coaster

As an example of Steve's "roller-coaster" mentality, let's take a look at his sweeped arpeggio work. Unlike the straight triads employed by most speed-demons, Steve often utilizes complex extended chords and rapid movement from one chord voicing to another, combined with legato scale fragments, slides, and the like, to achive stellar effects.

Here is an example from "Shy Boy", originally released by Billy Sheehan's band Talas, later released when Billy & Steve teamed up with David Lee Roth ("Eat 'em & Smile" 1986), and finally featured on "Steve Vai: Live at the Astoria" DVD (2003). Be sure to employ sweep picking (rake the pick across the strings in one direction) and keep the timing tight. This is moving quite fast, so you'll want to get the hang of it at slower speeds first.



Listen!

Tazmanian Devil

Barring bizarre works like "Alien Water Kiss" (from "Passion & Warfare"), "Chronic Insomnia" (from "Flex-able Leftovers), and the like, how does one demonstrate the Tazmanian Devil (hahaha!!!)? Well, let's take a look at this excerpt from the song "Lighter Shade of Green" from his work with Alcatrazz (1985). Again, this is moving very fast, so try it out at slower speeds first. Get it perfect, then increase speed until you can match this.



Listen!

Breath of an Angel

I asked several people what songs they felt epitomized this heading. Titles like "For the Love of God", "Blue Powder" (from "Passion & Warfare"), and "Touching Tongues" (from "Sex & Religion") came up immediately, but then I was swamped with loads of other examples too numerous to cite. So, let's take a look at "Ballerina 12/24" from his break-through solo release "Passion & Warfare" (1990). A quick note on the notation/tab: I intended at first to just post the guitar Steve played (GTR-2 of the transcription) and explain his use of delay & harmonizing effects, but was directed by a reader to this transcription (available at the Power-Tab Archives). This amazing transcription was done by a guy called "Doetje2". It's so fabulous that I couldn't use my original transcription, because his lays it all out nice & neat. My hat is off the Doetje2 for his incredible work on this piece!

Remember that Steve used his Eventide harmonizer with a stereo delay to achieve this cool, multi-part effect. So you'll want to practice the GTR-2 part with either fingers or pick.



Listen!

What can I add about Steve Vai that hasn't already been said? Probably nothing - the man is a living legend among guitarists and will probably be viewed as the most influental guitar player since Jimi Hendrix. So, let the music do the talking! If you are new to Vai's music, go visit his web-site and listen to the free clips made available for your listening pleasure. You will be astonished. For those not new to his playing...well, I hope you enjoyed this all-too-brief exploration into his style. Check out Steve's "Guitar Gods" interview (hopefully coming soon) at the "Guitar Gods Index" - which includes interviews with over 40 fantasic players, as well as reviews of their work.

Finally, these artist style lessons result from requests, so if you like what you see (or even if you don't), please feel free to drop me a line with comments, critiques, and suggestions. Given enough response, I'll attempt to expand this lesson into a series so that we can take more time to properly explore Steve's playing.