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Never content to churn out rock \u2018n\u2019 roll chords in 4\/4 time, or to play short, punchy solos as some lead singer paused between verses, Steve Vai is among a handful of fleet-fingered electric guitarists who virtually re-wired what the instrument could do in the hands of a virtuoso.<\/p>\n
Vai and his fellow master musician, Joe Satriani, will play together, as the SatchVai Band, Friday at the BayCare Sound.<\/p>\n
Trained at the Berklee School of Music, Vai was blessed with unlimited curiosity about music, and the ins and outs of the creative process. One of his first jobs was as Frank Zappa\u2019s transcriptionist; he wrote notations for many of the composer\u2019s complex, orchestrated guitar pieces. Then Zappa hired him as the \u201cLittle Italian Virtuoso\u201d for his band. Vai stayed for four years before taking the plunge into a solo career.<\/p>\n
A three-time Grammy winner, Vai has made 11 albums under his own name; 1990\u2019s gold Passion and Warfare is considered by many one of the best instrumental rock albums of all time. His storied CV includes full-time gigs with Whitesnake, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper and others.<\/p>\n
Mostly, though, Vai\u2019s name is associated with that of Satriani. The two guitar wizards began touring together in the mid \u201890s as G3 (Satriani, Vai and a third guitarist, which changed for each tour).<\/p>\n
Their bond was forged long ago on Long Island, New York, where teenaged Satriani was the local hot-shot guitar slinger and the younger Vai became his star pupil.<\/p>\n
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St. Pete Catalyst: Not too many musicians, as adults, are still close with their early teachers. How did that happen for you and Joe?<\/p>\n
Steve Vai: Well, you can blame it on the guitar. The allure of the guitar! We were just two kids growing up on Long Island, in the same town, going to the same school. Joe was a generation older because he was three or four years older than me, and that\u2019s like a million years when you\u2019re 12.<\/p>\n
But Joe always had the goods. He was renowned in our town, and he was a guitar teacher but he was like rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, you know? And he was cool. He just had a coolness to him. And he could really play.<\/p>\n
Our relationship started there; it was more teacher-student, and he was an unbelievable teacher. I was taking lessons from various teachers. I wanted to know jazz, I wanted to learn a little bit about classical, so I had two other teachers, rotating. But Joe was my weekly teacher for all the good stuff for probably three years.<\/p>\n
To say we\u2019re friends \u2026 it\u2019s a different dynamic, because he\u2019s always been like a mentor. So is a mentor a friend? Yeah. But there\u2019s a level of admiration that\u2019s different from a friendship.<\/p>\n
Remember, I was 12 and I didn\u2019t know how to change strings, and he had the keys to the kingdom, you know? And he gave them to me. Slowly. But I got them, and he was generous, and interested.<\/p>\n
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You held him in high esteem.<\/p>\n
High esteem, yes, and that\u2019s never changed. \u2018Cause he\u2019s never changed.<\/p>\n
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Teenage guitar-playing friends set up their gear in the garage and blast away at each other. It\u2019s hard to picture you and Satriani doing that.<\/p>\n
Oh my God, we did that so much. My lessons started out relatively structured, and then later on it got to the point where he really wanted to expose me to the goods. And the goods are always the development of your inner ear, your ability to hear your own melodies and your ability to respond in an improvisational setting, instantly and in an inspired way.<\/p>\n
So our lessons turned into hours just jamming. And I remember, on a couple of occasions, sitting in his back yard, back to back, for six hours, and just playing. We had electric guitars that weren\u2019t even plugged in.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re back to back, and your only communication is through your notes.<\/p>\n
Through doing that for months and even years, maybe, especially with somebody with such gigantic ears, you learn to enter that very intimate space of call and response with another. And Joe and I just did it incessantly.<\/p>\n
When you started playing, who did you want to be?<\/p>\n
Jimmy Page. I heard Led Zeppelin II, and that was the eye-opener. That\u2019s when I really woke up. That\u2019s when I decided to pick up the guitar. Before that, I was into the music that my brothers and sisters had \u2013 Alice Cooper, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly & the Family Stone. Top 40.<\/p>\n
I was a teenager in the \u201870s, and that\u2019s when my explosion of interest (began) in Led Zeppelin, Queen, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Kiss, those kinds of rock bands. That led to an interest in all sorts of guitar players, and I think my first foray was Al DiMeola. When I heard him play, I was just like \u201cWhaaaaaa?\u201d And I was listening to John McLaughlin as well. That kind of fusion was interesting to me. And of course, Jeff Beck. And Carlos Santana.<\/p>\n
John Sergio lived two houses over. I\u2019ve known him since I was born. He had an older brother who turned me on to all this progressive music that I didn\u2019t even know existed. Like Jethro Tull, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Traffic \u2026 my interest has always been in guitar players that are doing something unique.<\/p>\n
I was able to get into this 12th grade music theory class when I was in the 7th grade. I took it all through high school every day. And I learned everything about composition. I loved the concept of hearing something in your head, writing it down and then having people play it.<\/p>\n
But at the same time, I wanted to play the solo to \u201cHeartbreaker\u201d on Led Zeppelin II.<\/p>\n
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It sounds like you\u2019re about to join Team Zappa.<\/p>\n
I heard \u201cElectric Aunt Jemima,\u201d and I\u2019ll never forget, the tears rolled down my face because here was an artist that there was comedy \u2013 surprise, surprise \u2013 there was amazing musicianship, there was crazy guitar playing, there was a complete disregard for convention. Frank was an explosion of freedom so for me, it was like, oh there it is. So I just dove into that, along with all the other stuff I was expressing.<\/p>\n
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What\u2019s the deal with the SatchVai Band? Do you play separate sets with the same guys?<\/p>\n
Well, in the past when we would do G3, or even G2, everybody brought their own band. And that creates some logistic challenges, obviously. You gotta wait while the stage changes for the next guy.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re doing now is very different. It\u2019s one band, we\u2019ve got Kenny Aaronoff on drums, which is an amazing thing to have, Marco Medoza on bass and singing, and he\u2019s just fabulous. Pete Thorn on guitar, a treasure.<\/p>\n
With being in one band, and having our own music, we start the show and Joe and I both come out. And we play through three of our new songs. These are integrated now; now you have guitar players playing these intricate melodies, and harmonies, and soloing together. So that\u2019s very different than anything we\u2019ve done in the past.<\/p>\n
Then Joe will leave the stage, I\u2019ll do a couple of my songs; Joe will come out, we\u2019ll play a song together, then I\u2019ll leave. It\u2019s kind of like tag-team.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s really great. It\u2019s the easiest tour I\u2019ve ever been on. It\u2019s so much fun. Everybody\u2019s great.<\/p>\n