'Steve
Vai' Style Lesson
By
David M. McLean
It's
always difficult to write a guitar lesson that covers a player's
stylistic tendencies. 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.
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, 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
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).
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
achieve 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.
Roller-coaster
Tab
Roller-coaster
Audio
(midi file)
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.
Tazmanian
Devil Tab
Tazmanian
Devil Audio (midi file)
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.
Breath
of an Angel Tab
Breath
of an Angel Audio (midi file)
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.
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.
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