Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steven Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is a Grammy Award winning guitarist, composer and record producer.

Vai became interested in rock giants such as Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin which led him to take up learning the guitar. Prior to attending Berklee College of Music, Steve frequently jammed with his teacher Joe Satriani and played in numerous local bands.He has acknowledged the influence of many guitarists, including Jeff Beck and fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth.

It was also at this time that he became fascinated by the music of Frank Zappa. A persistent rumor at Berklee tells how Steve would skip classes while spending time in the school's library transcribing Zappa's works by ear. Steve mailed transcriptions of Zappa's guitar solos to him, and after meeting Vai for the first time he was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician, he hired him to do work transcribing his seemingly endless array of experimental symphonic rock. In these formative stages of his career, Vai's talent was showcased on such songs as "Moggio" and "Stevie's Spanking".

While employed by Zappa, he would at times tour with Zappa's band and engage in a friendly competition with the audience, wherein audience members could bring in musical scores and see if Vai could sight-read them on the spot. Vai is also known to have perfect pitch.

After leaving Zappa in 1982 he moved to California where he recorded his first album Flex-Able and performed in a couple of bands. In 1984 he replaced Yngwie Malmsteen as lead guitarist in Graham Bonnet's Alcatrazz with whom he recorded the album Disturbing the Peace.

Later in 1985 Vai joined former Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth's newly assembled group (which also featured acclaimed bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Gregg Bissonette) to record the multi-platinum albums Eat'em And Smile and Skyscraper. These albums, along with their accompanying videos and arena tours significantly enhanced Vai's reputation and popularity. At the time, Roth engaged in a war of words with the members of Van Halen. Many commentators favorably compared Vai's guitar-playing to Eddie Van Halen's.

Steve Vai continues to tour regularly, both with his own group and with his one time teacher and fellow guitar instrumentalist friend Joe Satriani on the G3 series of tours. Former David Lee Roth bassist Billy Sheehan also joined him for a world tour.

Steve Vai's music has been featured in a number of feature films, including Dudes and Ghosts of Mars. He appeared onscreen in the 1986 Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads, playing the demonically-inspired Jack Butler. At the film's climax, Vai engages in a guitar duel with Macchio, whose guitar parts were dubbed by Vai and Ry Cooder. The fast-paced neo-classical track entitled "Eugene's Trick Bag" with which Macchio wins the competition was also composed by Vai. The body of the piece was heavily based on Paganini's Caprice #5, and has become a favorite apprentice-piece among many guitar students.[citation needed] He later borrowed the opening riff from the track "Head Cuttin' Duel" for a song called "Bad Horsie" from his 1995 album Alien Love Secrets.

In 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey the introductory riff to Kiss' God Gave Rock 'N Roll To You, as performed by the Stallyns in the Battle of the Bands was performed by Vai. He also composed and performed the soundtrack to PCU (1994), and made contributions to the score for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, performing on the tracks "Ghosts of Mars" and "Ghost Poppin".
Vai is an accomplished studio producer (he owns two: "The Mothership" and "The Harmony Hut") and his own recordings combine his signature guitar prowess with novel compositions and considerable use of studio and recording effects, such as the Eventide H3000 ultra harmonizer and Digidesign's Pro Tools Hard Disc recording system and plug-in effects architecture.

Vai also helped design his signature Ibanez JEM series of guitars. They feature a hand grip (fondly referred to as a "monkey grip") cut into the top of the body of the guitar, a humbucker-single coil-humbucker DiMarzio pickup configuration, and Ibanez's Edge locking tremolo system, as well as an elaborate and extensive "Vine of Life" inlay down the neck. Steve also has a 7 string model designed by him named Ibanez Universe. The Universe later influenced the 7-string guitars used by Korn and other heavy metal bands to create nu-metal sounds in the late 1990s. He also has a signature Ibanez acoustic, the Euphoria.

Steve Vai has also worked with Carvin Guitars and Pro Audio to develop the Carvin Legacy line of guitar amplifiers. Vai wanted to create an amp that was unique in sound, versatility, and affordability to any guitar amp he had previously used.