Steve Vai
4,529,825 plays (204,026 listeners)
Listening now: b_habbe, rahulm
Carle Place, New York, United States (1960 – present)
When growing up, the young Vai became interested in rock giants such as Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper (guitarist Glen Buxton), and Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page), leading him to take up 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, fusion guitarist Allan Holdsworth and, of course, Zappa.
Steve’s career was launched by his fascination with Zappa’s music. A persistent rumour at Berklee tells how Steve would skip classes, 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 Zappa was so impressed with the abilities of the young musician, he hired him to transcribe 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, Vai 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; Steve Vai is also known to have perfect pitch. Zappa referred to Steve as his “little Italian virtuoso”; he was listed in liner notes as “stunt guitarist”. Steve’s transcription skills can be seen in ‘The Frank Zappa Guitar Book’, a collection of transcribed solos released in 1983.
Top Albums
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Passion and Warfare
Steve Vai
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Alien Love Secrets
Steve Vai
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Fire Garden
Steve Vai
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Sex & Religion
Steve Vai
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Top Tracks
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For the Love of God
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Tender Surrender
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Bad Horsie
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Erotic Nightmares
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Liberty
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Building The Church
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The Audience Is Listening
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The Animal
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Answers
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Die To Live
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Blue Powder
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The Riddle
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I Would Love To
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Sisters
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Juice
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Videos
See moreNews
Vai Charity Auction Items Up For Grabs!
6 Nov 2009 | from www.vai.com
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A New Postcard from Steve!
5 Nov 2009 | from www.vai.com -
Reminder: Steve Vai provides guest voice for Metalocalypse Season 3 Premiere!
5 Nov 2009 | from www.vai.com -
Reminder: Steve to appear on VH1 Classic's That Metal Show this Saturday!
5 Nov 2009 | from www.vai.com
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Slayer1
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myeternalautumn
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Recent Activity
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tryptech, JuniorAndrade4, morfeusz875 and 5 other people added Steve Vai to their libraries. 30 minutes ago
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PascaGabi tagged Steve Vai with ‘hard rock’. 5 hours ago
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innersightmusic, PrestigeSoul, fistacorps and 38 other people added Steve Vai to their libraries. 8 hours ago
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Rlyr tagged Steve Vai with ‘guitar virtuoso’. yesterday morning
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filipihawerroth, CristiAriton, Anton-axel and 8 other people added Steve Vai to their libraries. yesterday morning
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Funkafonik wrote about Steve Vai in Favorite Albums Project (1970-2009) - Part I (2000-2009). yesterday morning
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Funkafonik wrote about Steve Vai – Alive in an Ultra World in Favorite Albums Project (1970-2009) - Part I (2000-2009). yesterday morning
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O71W, Jason913, neto8 and 8 other people added Steve Vai to their libraries. yesterday morning
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EightSecondGod tagged Steve Vai with rock and instrumental rock. Monday evening
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DaviAthayde added Steve Vai to DaviAthayde’s library. Monday evening
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Groups (193)
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Satrianism
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Steve Vai
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Virtuosos Guitarristas
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Instrumental Rock
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G3
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