Steve Vai
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Steven Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 on Long Island , New York ) is an American guitarist , composer and producer . He first gained greater fame in the early 1980s in Frank Zappa's band - who, because of his virtuosity, referred to him as a “ stunt guitarist”. Vai has been a solo artist and a three-time Grammy Award winner for years .
life and work
Steve Vai started playing the guitar at an early age and, from the age of 13, received lessons from Joe Satriani , who lived in the neighborhood and is only four years older than Vai, for a few years . He formed his first band at the age of seven.
Vai is distinguished by its technique, speed and virtuosity in the guitar playing from - Frank Zappa called him, referring to it as "Stunt Player" and "Little Italian Virtuoso" and made the then twenty years old in his ensemble responsible for "Strat Abuse" German ( " Strat -Missuse ”) and “ Impossible Guitar Parts ” (“ impossible guitar parts [to be played] ”). Zappa became aware of Vai because of his ability to transcribe : Vai sent Zappa transcriptions of Zappa's guitar solos, which are extremely complex, especially in terms of rhythm. Not least because of his extraordinary playing skills and willingness to experiment, he discovered the secret of Eddie Van Halen's solos , which were played with the so-called tapping . Vai worked as a transcriber for the American magazine Guitarplayer . Among other things, he wrote down the notation of Allan Holdsworth's solo in Devil take the Hindmost .
Vai's typical stylistic devices include his expressive slides and his distinctive vibrato play , which he also calls circle vibrato due to the circular movements. In doing so, he creates sometimes bizarre effects as well as unprecedented timbres and combines them with soulful phrasing. In terms of composition, Vai relies on elements from rock , fusion , blues as well as classical , modal sounds and intricate rhythms . Over the years, Steve Vai has become increasingly mainstream .
Steve Vai attended the Berklee College Of Music in 1979 and was particularly concerned with the transcription of Frank Zappa pieces. He consciously pursued the goal of one day playing in the band Frank Zappas and convincing Zappa of his skills. He received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College Of Music in 2000 . Two innovative electric guitar models that he developed in collaboration with the Ibanez company can be traced back to him : the Ibanez JEM model presented in 1987 and the seven-string Universe model presented in 1989 , which was provided with an additional low B-string. In doing so, he transferred a concept that was previously mainly used by jazz guitarist George Van Eps to the modern rock guitar. His signature models are fundamentally modern variants of the Fender Stratocaster , which are provided with two humbuckers and a single coil and enable many sound variants by means of special interconnection of the pickups (also known as " superstrat "). In addition, Vai is at least involved in some details of the external design of the Ibanez JEM guitar models. Ibanez published several special editions of the model designed by him.
From 1986 Vai belonged to Billy Sheehan and Gregg Bissonette in the band around David Lee Roth , with whom he recorded the albums Eat 'Em and Smile and Skyscraper . He gained special attention with the title Yankee Rose , in whose intro Steve Vai lets his guitar lead a "dialogue" with the singer. From the way Vai phrased the notes, Roth's “answers” can be used to understand with a little imagination what the guitar “says” in dialogue. The guitarist left the band in 1989 and was brought to Whitesnake to replace Vivian Campbell , with whom he recorded the album Slip of the Tongue . Since Adrian Vandenberg, who was also involved in the songwriting, could not play due to an arm injury, Vai recorded all of the guitar parts for the album.
In February 2000 he founded his own music label called Favored Nations Entertainment .
From 2005 Vai worked twice with Dutch orchestras, the Holland Metropole Orkest in July 2005 (recorded for the DVD Visual Sound Theories ) and with the Noord Nederlands Orkest in October 2010 (broadcast on Dutch radio in March 2011). "Writing this opportunity for a large orchestra, which Vai has used in recent years, closes the circle at the beginning of his solo career, his years with Frank Zappa and the first track on his debut album flex-able (1984)."
Vai influenced a whole generation of musicians and was nominated seven times for the Grammy , which he won for the first time in 1993 as an artist for the best rock instrumental performance for the title Sofa (heard on Zappa's Universe ) and in 2002 as a producer in the category “Best Pop instrumental album " for at Favored Nations published No substitution of Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather was one more time. He has also received numerous awards from well-known specialist journals. In the organization on which the Grammy is based, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences , Vai also serves on the board of directors.
In 2012, after seven years, his eighth studio album The Story of Light was released , which he advanced with the The Story of Light World Tour .
Vai is socially committed and helps children and young people who normally could not afford musical instruments and lessons with the "Make A Noise Foundation" he founded with Richard Pike in 1988 .
He is married to Pia Maiocco , a former bassist in the band Vixen . The father of two sons runs a beekeeping as a hobby .
Discography
Studio albums as a solo artist
- Flex-Able (1984)
- Passion and Warfare (1990)
- Sex & Religion (1993)
- Alien Love Secrets (1995)
- Fire Garden (1996)
- Flex-Able Leftovers ( Rerelease , 1998)
- The Ultra Zone (1999)
- Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
- The Story of Light (2012)
- Modern Primitive (2016)
Live DVDs
- Live at the Astoria London (2001)
- Visual Sound Theories (2005)
- Where the wild things are (2009)
- The Story of Light (2012)
- Stillnes in Motion: Live in LA (2015)
Awards (selection)
Steve Vai has received the following prizes and awards for his musical publications and innovative contributions:
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Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frank Zappa: You Can't do that on Stage Anymore, Vol. 6 , insert of the audio CD. Rykodisc RCD 10571/72, 1992.
- ↑ Vai.com - The Official Steve Vai Website. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
- ^ Frank Zappa: You Are What You Is (1981). Insert of the audio CD, Rykodisc RCD 10536, 1993.
- ^ Frank Zappa: The Man from Utopia (1983). Insert of the audio CD, Rykodisc RCD 10538, 1993.
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↑ Tony Bacon, Dave Hunter: Totally Guitar - the definitive Guide, p. 492
Guitar Encyclopedia, English. Backbeat Books, London 2004. ISBN 1-871547-81-4 . - ↑ Michael Custodis : The Guitar Virtuoso and Composer Steve Vai , Online-Publication Muenster 2011.
- ↑ Vai.com - The Official Steve Vai Website. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vai, Steve |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Vai, Steven Siro (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American guitarist, composer and producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 6, 1960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Long Island , New York |