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Carle Place, New York, United States (1960 – present)
Steven Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York, United States) is a Grammy Award winning guitarist, composer and record producer.
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.
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.
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Top Albums
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Passion And Warfare
Steve Vai
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Alien Love Secrets
Steve Vai Buy- Download Album
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Fire Garden
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SEX & RELIGION
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Shoutbox
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aandelope wrote:
my favorite song tender surrender like a human talking about world
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eterarnial wrote:
Tender Surrender!!!
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DennisRicley wrote:
King!
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restinagony wrote:
Does he keep a fan in the studio?
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erikob wrote:
Firewall!!!! :3
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Zoltanrah wrote:
Tender Surrender.. ooohhh soo smooth :)
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satanistrue2you wrote:
All of passion and warfare is sooo good but sex and religion was FUCKING TERRIBLE. i am very hesitant to check out fire garden.
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ClassicRock290 wrote:
For the Love of God is just...incredible.
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F-NEMESIS wrote:
For the love of god...more than awesomeness
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tonialouwho wrote:
is it true,, he died? I never knew...whoa
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weemies wrote:
When is he making a new album??!
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kolesere wrote:
pour ma fille...
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Scream-Machine wrote:
@slaughterfish ROFL...! Took a few seconds before I got it.
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slaughterfish wrote:
R.I.P Steve1955-2011
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eterarnial wrote:
The Audience Is Listening!!
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Re-Kramer wrote:
The best guitar player ever!
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Bergenbeats wrote:
the only guitarist with the exception of Holdsworth to effectively communicate emotion in a manner that is on par with the human voice. Legendary.
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Narcoser wrote:
................Satriani is my god!
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hyxshare wrote:
Very nice guitarist ! but not as good as Eric Johnson
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cesarjavier1103 wrote:
.
Videos
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Play
The Moon And I (Vai Tunes #2)
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Play
Live In Minneapolis
2 shouts
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Play
"The Crying Machine" (Full…
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Play
"Now We Run" (Full song) - New…
3 shouts
Events
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Mar
22
G3 Live in New Zealand
Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand
7 going
1 shout
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Mar
25
G3 Live in New Zealand
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
7 going
2 shouts
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Mar
30
G3 Tour: 2012
Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia
3 going
News
Steve’s “Where The Wild Things Are” 20th Anniversary JEM Charity Auction
6 Jul 2011 | from www.vai.com/News
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xxQj35vNYk Steve is generously
donating his 20th Anniversary JEM (the exact same one used on the
“Where The Wild Things Are” DVD) to raise money for friend &
…
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2 Jul 2011 | from www.vai.com/News -
24 Jun 2011 | from www.vai.com/News -
16 Jun 2011 | from www.vai.com/News
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