Steve Vai

I was 18. I had for Christmas a lot of music, all the Metallica CD's were a start, I was all excited. I clearly remember while I shut down the lights in my house's living room to just listen over and over again the three first cd's, which are my favourite ones. I could remember going nuts while hearing the Call of Ktulu, Orion, and Seek and Destroy... All of sudden, I found that particular band which encouraged me to took guitar seriously...

At the same time, I met the guitar-shredding master Yngwie Malmsteen, and I was a bit intricated by two other guys, who were labeled as Guitar Virtuosos as well: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

So I decided to order two cd's from this guys. The best albums of each one. So, I had Steve Vai's ''Passion and Warfare'' and Joe Satriani's ''The Extremist''.

Steve Vai, to make things weirder, was Joe Satriani's guitar alumni. After that, he went to the infamous Berklee College of Music *Hosting house of three Dream Theater guys, and Al Di Meola, among others* and after that, he went to play with nothing less than Frank Zappa. And he was 19 while he had the gig...

I'm gonna be damn honest. At first I didn't liked any of his songs. Or well, I didn't like their slowest tunes. I got used to the fast speed tempo music... so while I heard a slow tune I changed it. Yes folks, I was ignorant back then, and I still am in some areas of life... but that's another story.

So after a few times hearing Vai's music, I got used to it, and I even liked it. He had some sort of demonic edge on his music, he didn't fast as much as Yngwie, but while he did? Jeez, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. For instance, the track that made me reconsider my view 'bout Steve was his famous ''For the Love of God''.



RUN FOR YOUR LIFE FELLAS :D... RUN

I thought that was the ultimate guitar sound... In fact, every time I heard that song, I felt like I was talking with God himself... I felt some sort of peace, and my friends, feeling peace for me was at the time, very hard.

There were so many sides of music that were still unknown for your humble narrator back then, such as blues, jazz, and all sorts. Later on I'll tell you how I continued my journey through music.

So Steve, thanks a lot for sharing your music with all of us guitar entepreneurs. You made a mark in my music back then, teaching me the value of visualizing what I wanted to play, and then play it in the guitar... And overall, thanks for showing me the peaceful side of music. You're awesome.