Joe Satriani and Steve Vai perform at Fox Theater on April 4 in Oakland, Calif. The pair will play the Palace Theatre in Albany on May 21.
Steve Jennings/Getty Images
My youngest son is 10 years old now, and since November, he’s been taking guitar lessons. With a love of Metallica in his heart and a Squier Strat over his shoulder, I bring him to Blue Sky Studios in Delmar every week for a lesson with local legend Mitch Elrod.
Seven months into learning, my son is definitely into it and steadily improving, particularly when it comes to playing pentatonic scales. He and Mitch have established a strong rapport, and their lessons are positive, entertaining and informative. But he’s still very much in the early stages of guitar playing, and it takes time to go from beginning student to, say, Steve Vai on the axe.
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SatchVai Band featuring Joe Satriani and Steve Vai
with Animals as Leaders
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Where: Palace Theatre, 19 Clinton Ave.
Tickets: $53-$198
More info: palacealbany.org
It even took Steve Vai a long time — and a good teacher — to become Steve Vai. I know this because I asked him about it during a conversation a few weeks ago.
On Thursday, May 21, the guitar god will be at the Palace Theatre with SatchVai Band, a group featuring fellow six-string virtuoso Joe Satriani. Touring and playing in this format is a bit of a full-circle moment, as Satriani was Vai’s guitar teacher as a kid.
Vai remembers being drawn to the guitar at an early age; he recalls how “time stood still” when, around the age of 7, he saw an older elementary school student playing the instrument. But at the time, playing it himself seemed “out of reach.”
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“I admired it from a distance,” he said.
Then at the age of 12, he heard Jimmy Page’s monstrous solo on the Led Zeppelin song “Heartbreaker,” and Vai knew the time for sitting on the sidelines was over.
“I said, ‘To Hell with this sh__, I’m playing the guitar,’” he recalled.
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For instruction, Vai went to the best guitar player he knew, a 16-year-old prodigy who lived a few blocks up the street from him.
“I had Joe as a teacher for three years. He was my go-to guy, and he helped steer me towards the theory and sounds I was interested in,” Vai said. “Those lessons with Joe were sacred. He was an incredibly effective teacher, and to me, he held the keys to the kingdom. He made me feel very inspired.”
That inspiration hasn’t faded, and Vai notes that throughout the decades he’s “always looked up” to Satriani.
“Joe reopened the door to instrumental guitar music in a sense and had an impactful guitar record,” Vai noted, referencing Satriani’s 1987 breakthrough “Surfing with the Alien” LP. “I can count on one crippled hand how many of those there are.”
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The pair have been on-and-off collaborators, playing together in the long-running guitar hero touring ensemble G3. But SatchVai is the first time the two have toured behind material they’ve co-written together.
Vai describes their respective styles as “playing in the same playground, but in different corners.” Working together on “co-mingling melodies and harmonies” has been a way to weave those stylistic differences together in a new, dynamic way. While both have 40-plus years of bodies of work they’re each proud of, Vai has found creating with Satriani to be a natural, easy process.
“I very much enjoy co-creating with Joe,” Vai enthused. “We used to sit in his backyard for hours, back-to-back as teenagers, just hours together honing our creativity. And boy, that feeling hasn’t matured.”
Those times of playing with a respected mentor and experimenting are crucial in the education process of a burgeoning guitar player. After his time with Satriani as a teacher wrapped up, Vai studied jazz and classical guitar with various teachers, “just to see what it was like.”
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Having Satriani as someone to bounce ideas off of served as a motivator, something crucial to a kid just starting out with “an intention of being a really great guitar player.”
I’ve seen this play out watching my youngest son during lessons. When he improvises a scale into a rudimentary solo or executes a pretty nifty hammer-on or chord progression, Mitch’s excitement shows. And it’s evident in the way my son beams at the encouragement that he realizes he’s on the right track.
I mentioned this to Vai during our conversation; After all, given the opportunity, I had to ask Steve f___ng Vai (the guy’s played with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Public Image Ltd, for God’s sake!) for tips on my own progeny’s musical journey.
Vai noted that a “built-in desire” to learn is essential, and while he himself practiced eight-12 hours a day growing up, my son’s “path may be very different.”
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He recommended practicing against a backing track to learn more about rhythm and melody. Even better, though, was “getting in a room with a couple of other guys and just playing.” But with that concept much further in the future, having a trusted teacher now to bounce ideas off of and play with is crucial.
“Communicating with another musician in real time (and) learning how to communicate, that’s the best education,” he stated.
As I scroll through my phone now, looking at recent videos of my youngest son practicing the intro to The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and the A pentatonic scale before sending them to Mitch for feedback, it feels like there’s a lot of truth to Vai’s words when it comes to learning about both the guitar and the human condition.
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