Steve Vai - Tantric Widdle Master Class

The Saturday of the London Guitar show weekend saw Steve Vai perform twice in what was advertised as a master class, but was really an informal question and answer session with a wee bit of playing.

Mark Robinson and myself managed to sneak away from the (very busy) alloutguitar stand and escape to the 45 min Vaiquiz, which was opened unofficially with one of the guitar techs coming onstage and playing a chord, which produced a warm and enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. Roadies! Play one chord, then get all the best crowd response with none of the hassle about practising 23 hours a day and using protein enhanced hair products!

There was a good mixture of age groups in the audience and it was good to see the various generations of guitarists there. There were the 35+ folk who remember him from his Zappa days, the 29-very early 30’s generation (my generation) who were made aware of him through an up and coming singer called David Lee Roth, the lost 90’s generation who heard about him from aggressive guitar teachers and people with beards and big coats standing in dark corners of guitar shops round the world. There were also lots of wee bairns who think he has just come on to the scene. One of who asked if Steve would like to have his own signature guitar! Very sweet.

Anyway the show opened with Phil Hilbourn introducing Steve Vai as a ‘Beekeeper’ that I think should read ‘B’ keeper, and out came Mr Vai.

As he had no band or backing tracks, it took a minute to get going. He was using what sounded like a Korg Pandora. And had a few problems in finding a suitable groove to play over. He then noodled over the backing track playing a few signature licks and getting the crowd going.

After about 5 mins of fret yarn, he took his place in the ‘hot seat’ next to Phil and the questions began!

As with any kind of Q+A with a well known star, you would expect to get the odd question that you think is a bit naff like, “what kind of picks do you use? or “when you recorded ‘For the Love of God’, what underpants were you wearing that day? but both the questions that people had sent in and the those from the roving microphone were all well composed and interesting. I think Mr Hilbourn did a good job of milking Mr Vai the correct way! As it were!

If you have been a bit of a Vai fan for more than 10 years then you would know the answers to most if not all of the questions, but Steve answered them with wit and humour that made all the answers fresh again. Bit like watching your favourite movie!

The first question: What kind of harmony and modes do you use? And a later questions about or how Steve approaches composing all prompted answers which included demonstrations of how Steve thinks/works.

To demonstrate his harmonic approach he played different chords over a drone note. He also played different mode sounds over his backing track like Lydian, MixoLydian Major, Dorian, Locrian, and Harmonic min. For a later question about getting his playing up to speed for touring he advised, “start slow, pick a concept, and try to get an emotional connection.“ He illustrated this idea by soloing over a vamp and using ideas based on some Indian mandolin which inspiring was one of his recent sources of inspiration.

Some would say (and did) it was a bit ropey, but you could see what he was playing off the cuff and genuinely searching for new things. I found it very interesting to see someone else’s thought process. He then said, “you might come up with just one riff, but it is a reflection of a long study.”

In demonstrating how he composes some melodies he explained that ‘For the Love of God’ was composed by physically singing the melody and then experimenting with different chords to get the harmony. He also mentioned that Lotus Feet was composed the same way, but shelved for a while until he could finish it.

Steve made a very good point that you should use phrases that sound like sentences and try to play as if using inflections in your voice. Something that I have heard many musicians talk about from Victor Wooten to Beethoven (although I was too young at the time to speak to him personally!) and something to always remember as a musician.

He gave some valuable advice on practising also, “Be careful with time when practising. Work to eliminate your weaknesses and exaggerate your strengths.”

So what else did we learn from the ‘Zen master of the Tantric widdle’? He has to work hard at guitar its not all natural talent. He likes to work alone so his music doesn’t become diluted with other people’s ideas. He can write for every instrument, but not play anything other than guitar and accordion (he went off on one about being forced to play the accordion as a child).

He advised a father to make his 8-year-old son practise 23 hours a day however! When he started playing guitar he wanted to be able to do everything, but now has taken one style approach i.e. doesn’t want to be jazz or classical player also. In fact he Steve said he hated jazz several times. Now there’s a boy with issues!!!

On the issue of producing and mixing he advises to work with people who know what they are doing, watch and learn. Also to get your guitar (or any other instrument) to sit in the mix- listen to it quietly or in another room.

One of the other things that was discussed was how he chooses his band members and how much rehearsal do they do? One of the things Vai mentioned which rings so true and all younger potential super groups could take note from is that, in a band you have to get along first and foremost. He explained using the musician algebraic formulae, “little jerk+tour=Big jerk…

His band (who do all get along) is now preparing themselves to learn Steve’s music and go out on tour. Steve has booked 5, 12-hour days to rehearse before they ‘go live’. I’m sure that will be enough!

Of course you can’t think of Steve Vai and not think ‘Awesome Technique’. When asked, “how do you come up with all that weird whammy stuff“, He replied that he lies in bed thinking about playing with his whammy!!!!!! Some of us new what he meant, the younger members of the audience just thought that that he lays in bed thinking about playing with his whammy!!!!!!

The final question was about his his killer tapping technique, legato playing etc so he performed a 5 min guitar magic show over a slow sparse backing with all the usual Vai’isms like some great harmonics and Jeff Beck style whammy harmonics. I was particularly impressed by his timing and phrasing over such a slow open groove. Very tricky to get right!

Oh! What would he say to Jimi Hendrix if he ever met him?

Hey! You wanna go bowling?

There are a lot of people there who enjoy putting down players like Vai. If they listened with their ears and weren’t so quick to judge and racked with jealousy then they would find that throughout the performance, Vai played with grace, control and tremendous feel. The man himself is full of personality and humour and is very likable. Also, he knows exactly what he wants and gets it through hard work and more than a wee bit natural talent. You can’t help but admire the guy for that. If not, go and take up knitting!

One young fan remarked during the questions, “I can’t believe I’m talking to Steve Vai, Steve replied, “I can’t believe I am Steve Vai…”

Lucky Bar Steward!