For The Love Of God (6:03)

“For the Love of God” is an instrumental guitar piece by Steve Vai. Released as the flagship seventh song on Vai’s 1990 album Passion and Warfare, it is often cited as Vai’s greatest composition and was voted #29 in a readers’ poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time for the magazine Guitar World. The piece, which runs for six minutes, features a number of techniques, including legato, whammy bar tricks, harmonics and volume swells.

Vai, always one to explore new techniques for gaining spiritual balance, is also well known for the emphasis in preparation. As he has said in many interviews, Vai fasted and meditated for ten days in preparation for recording this song, which was recorded on the fourth day of the fast.

Vai has performed the piece with a substantial orchestra in the Netherlands: The Metropole Orchestra. The video for this song has become a hit on video-sharing site YouTube, gaining over 2 million views. Vai’s antics on stage are sometimes accredited to this.

It is one of the songs in the DLC Guitar Hero Virtuoso Pack, available for Guitar Hero III.