Steve Vai blows my socks off again!

axisus

OK, so Steve Vai is not everyone's cup of tea, I get that. He's even been too 'out there' for me at times in his career. I do think that he's right at the top of the tree (not saying there aren't others there) as a guitarist though. His combination of technical ability, composition, nuance in playing etc are incredible.

Anyway, I've had quite a few years when I lost a bit of interest. I wasn't so keen on Real Illusions: Reflections or the Sound theories live albums, so I kind of dropped off of listening to new releases since 2007.

Roll on to the last year or so and I was blown away by his Knappsack video, bloody loved it, then I saw his solo on Jonah Nilsson's song (posted it here), fabulous stuff, and now I have just found this video which as the title says 'blows my socks off!'

To me this is just beautiful, both compositionally and also the effortless of his playing plus all the nuance we expect from Steve. I particularly like the soloing that kicks in from around 3 minutes. He also looks so cool to me, partly because he is playing a different type of guitar - that fraction of a second at 4.27 so frikkin cool!!!. As I said before, this won't be for everyone but it is right up my street for sure, I think I need to buy the album!

relic245

I really tried to like that but it doesn’t quite Do it for me.

I was bored after about 2 minutes. I stayed with it until almost 5 mins but couldn’t quite hold my attention.

his playing is so tasteful. No doubt that his skill level is as high as anybody’s so from that perspective I really admire him. He is pushing boundaries.

I think I’d enjoy him more in a band situation where he was adding something to the mix and not being the main attraction.

to me it’s like a chef giving me lots of plates of top quality ingredients, all cooked to perfection but being left with the feeling that I hadn’t eaten a meal.

Thanks for sharing, it’s good to keep some understanding of what is going on in the world outside of my personal preference.

robinbowes

I told him to only blow the doors off.

stratman3142

Superb. Fascinating composition - melodic dissonance.

RocknRollDave

Sounds like Mastodon.

viz

relic245 said:

I really tried to like that but it doesn’t quite Do it for me.

I was bored after about 2 minutes. I stayed with it until almost 5 mins but couldn’t quite hold my attention.
 

There’s a lovely bit at 5:09-5:11

Hootsmon

He's like Yngwie insomuch as his intonation and ability to look totally in control......he's masterfull and not entirely my bag but he delivers BIG TIME...respect 

dindude

I like it but I find the production on it strangely anemic sounding, and the drums dont quite sit in the mix right 

Philtre

NIce one.

darthed1981

Not my thing but can certainly play.

mudslide73

Very much enjoyed that, thanks for posting. He's still being super inventive when he could rest on his laurels a bit. Something that's as challenging to listen to as this usually rewards you further down the line. I was left a little dazed hearing P&W for the first time all those years ago but now it's part of my firmware

ICBM

Very good . I do definitely prefer the more melodic stuff to the more riffy stuff, but it’s all very much ‘him’ despite the very different guitar.

Also shows how little difference there is in tone between a solidbody superstrat and a hollowbody archtop when you put a large amount of gain and compression on it. It wouldn’t actually have surprised me if he’d done some neck-bending trem-like effects either.

Winny_Pooh

I'm not conviced this is live. At 3:22 & 4:00 amd many other spots there are trem sounding noises and the pinch harmonics are not pinched. Plus, only Steve Vai could mime this perfectly to a long complex piece  

Philtre

Winny_Pooh said:

I'm not conviced this is live. At 3:22 & 4:00 amd many other spots there are trem sounding noises and the pinch harmonics are not pinched. Plus, only Steve Vai could mime this perfectly to a long complex piece  

And the tuner appears and disappears on the headstock. 2 takes?

axisus

Winny_Pooh said:

I'm not conviced this is live. At 3:22 & 4:00 amd many other spots there are trem sounding noises and the pinch harmonics are not pinched. Plus, only Steve Vai could mime this perfectly to a long complex piece  

Who said anything about it being live? It's a video showing him play it and how he plays it, but I don't see why any pro would produce a video and insist on doing it in one take. It's about music and entertainment. I loved the music and I was entertained!

robinbowes

Winny_Pooh said:

I'm not conviced this is live. At 3:22 & 4:00 amd many other spots there are trem sounding noises and the pinch harmonics are not pinched. Plus, only Steve Vai could mime this perfectly to a long complex piece  

"I decided to do a simple studio performance vid of the track"

It's not live, and he did not claim it was.

R.

Winny_Pooh

Hey couch potatos, let me clarify. I dont have a problem with it not being live, I'm impressed anyway.

Schmo

My favourite era of Vai started around '84 with Flex-Able through to '95 ALS - what a period that was, still unsurpassed in my eyes/ears ! As for everything else since, no thanks I'll just keep to my memories...yes, I'm a dinosaur !

hollywoodrox

axisus said:

OK, so Steve Vai is not everyone's cup of tea, I get that. He's even been too 'out there' for me at times in his career. I do think that he's right at the top of the tree (not saying there aren't others there) as a guitarist though. His combination of technical ability, composition, nuance in playing etc are incredible.

Anyway, I've had quite a few years when I lost a bit of interest. I wasn't so keen on Real Illusions: Reflections or the Sound theories live albums, so I kind of dropped off of listening to new releases since 2007.

Roll on to the last year or so and I was blown away by his Knappsack video, bloody loved it, then I saw his solo on Jonah Nilsson's song (posted it here), fabulous stuff, and now I have just found this video which as the title says 'blows my socks off!'

To me this is just beautiful, both compositionally and also the effortless of his playing plus all the nuance we expect from Steve. I particularly like the soloing that kicks in from around 3 minutes. He also looks so cool to me, partly because he is playing a different type of guitar - that fraction of a second at 4.27 so frikkin cool!!!. As I said before, this won't be for everyone but it is right up my street for sure, I think I need to buy the album!

Astonishingly brilliant, thanks for sharing , good start to Christmas

LastMantra

He looks like a mixture of Frank Zappa and Snoop dog.

digitalkettle

LastMantra said:

He looks like a mixture of Frank Zappa and Snoop dog.

Frank and a dog…could be wurst!