Of course, Vai’s technical prowess surpasses most, but it leaves me cold. On the other hand, very obvious, but so true, Reinhardt makes me shiver, and makes me really sad that I wasn’t born later in life.
Crap, that didn’t work. My friend isn’t Steve Vai, but Guitar Center liked him enough to crown him Blues Guitarist of 2007 or whatever. That’s a cheap 30 dollar junk guitar from Wal-Mart that he put different pickups and whatnot on, and schooled the guys with $3k guitars. And he’s super nice.
That was very cool. I feel the same way as this guy about rhythms – the shred stuff leaves me cold sometimes – inject some silence into that scale/arpeggio pattern, and it speaks to me, much more strongly than infinite speed picking. I’ve said this about Al DiMeola, but it applies here – listening to infinitely fast guitar is like listening to a sewing machine, and about as interesting. That said, I love pieces from Satriani, Vai, etc, but the number of pieces I really like are few; it does indeed blend together quickly.
Satriani is capable of writing effective melodic hooks at least. His songs sound like songs most of the time instead of just solos.
I’m not particularly impressed with Vai’s playing either. Compare that video with another noted “guitar god” noted for fast playing, John McLaughlin. Notice the differences? McLaughlin’s tone is raunchier and he’s playing much looser than Vai. He’s also giving a bigger role to his backing musicians, letting them playing inspired solos that help develop the melody. In contrast Vai’s band sounds pretty anonymous; it’s like they’re just a backdrop for his fancy solos.
Also check out how Vai’s mentor, Frank Zappa had a more viscerally exciting playing style.
Yeah, I don’t really feel like getting into a pissing contest about who’s the best - besides, I thought I firmly established it is Jeff Beck in this thread;).
Bottom line is that with shredding or any form of hyper-fast playing. It is just so much easier to “fake it” once you play fast - meaning to put your brain on auto-pilot and go through the motions. I remember reading a bio of SRV where he stated that when he was strung out on drugs, he would fake it with his audience just by playing fast and that was part of what felt awful about his addictions - selling his fans short. That makes sense to me.
**Euth **- I checked out the Gilbert vid (all of them actually - thanks for sharing). But his main point - get a rhythm going, build a riff and then build your solos, regardless of how fast or slow, into that rhythm - I mean, that’s the WHOLE point, innit? Obviously, as I state above, songs come first, but when you are just noodling on guitar for fun or practice, finding that groove is what it is all about. And the greatest players - Jimi, SRV, EVH and many others listed in this thread - THAT is what is so impressive about them: their fluid movement between rhythm and lead work, all within the context of a song.
I guess I was a bit surprised at the need to focus on that - but it is the most basic of truths that a guitar player needs to keep front of mind…
Vai’s good and he’s got talent. But he can’t hold a cancel to the late Micheal Hedges.
Chalk and cheese - Hedges was brilliant at what Hedges did: acoustic, unorthodox tunings, playing techniques and even guitar prep (leaving big tangles of used strings on the guitar to evoke sympathetic vibrations is NOT standard practice, for instance! ;)). Vai plays electric primarily and fits much more neatly in the shredder category, although his study and skills range far beyond that one box.
Aerial Boundaries is a great, great CD of Hedges’ and I am sure there are many others…truly a tragic loss (he died in a car accident, what, maybe 10+ years ago…)
I agree with a lot that has been said here. Vai, Johnson, Satriani, Malmsteen, et al are great, but BORING.
I’m gonna fanwank for SRV. I may have heard Pride and Joy or Lovestruck Baby a few times on the radio growing up, but it wasn’t until a friend of mine played Texas Flood for me that I really understood what great guitar playing was. Within a month of hearing Texas Flood (unfortunately a couple years after he died) I had all his CDs and a shiny new Fender Strat copy.
I’m not sure if he could be considered a Guitar God, but Gary Hoey is quite amazing. He plays quite fast and only has a couple of songs that have words. He’s mostly known for his Ho, Ho, Hoey Christmas albums which are pretty cool. I especially like his Mister Grinch rendition. But he has done remakes of other famous songs like Wipeout, Linus and Lucy, Frankenstein, and Hocus Pocus. He favors a more “from the heart” approach. More like SRV than Vai. At least on his remakes. His originals tend more towards the Vai side of the spectrum.
No need to call it fanwanking - SRV’s in the Pantheon. I tried to capture some thoughts on his playing in Post #21 in this thread…
Nothing to add here other than to say that if you ever get a chance to see Vai in concert, you absolutely have to go. His facial expressions and such look kinda silly on video, but in real life, he can work a crowd like no one I’ve ever seen. Best concert experience(s) I’ve had. I’m sure it’s put on, but he really makes you feel like, “Oh! Hi! This riff is for you - I’m happy to see you again and glad you could make it out. OH MY GOD MY FINGERS ARE ON FIRE I CAN’T BELIEVE I CAN PLAY THIS FAST!”
Exactly, and my point was that it seems to me that players like Vai craft their solos first and then try to fit a rhythm around that, or worse, that it’s all about the showmanship and even their rhythms are so complex and dynamic that it’s like listening to one long solo.
There has to be some reason why I can’t get through a complete song of his without feeling wrung out and numb. And it’s funny how watching Paul Gilbert teach something so basic, so fundamental, seems refreshing and new in contrast to that.
I want to quote you in that thread here, and say that I found your views spot on regarding SRV. It always seemed to me like he was working between the frequencies of two worlds and somehow we were getting the stereo effect of that. For someone that knew dick about what key he was in or even the basics of music theory (or hell, much at all about the fretboard beyond the most basic of chords—I suspect he may even have been borderline retarded), he discovered some wormhole, perhaps by accident, into another dimension of sound, and when he played it was as if he was holding it open for us to peer inside. It was the one thing I always felt that no one else could quite reach.
Great analysis.
Hey - that’s cool to hear coming from you; thanks.