Understanding Steve Vai Music

For the first time ever Steve Vai have done a tour of Russia and the Ukraine where he conducted three evening master class clinics, and three daytime in-store autograph sessions.

The tour was a big success. This was the most helpful and emotionally pleasant guitar clinic I ever seen before. Steve was able to get that perfect balance between music and talks. The genius has developed serious topics out of simple questions. He was always in contact with the audience. Steve played both, his composed music and spontaneous improvisations too. He was able to make clear for us and illustrate how he is composing music that's coming from inside.


Very deep self-reflection: it is incredible, when the musician does not say something like "well, I just listen to radio and - ah! - create a melody." No! Steve looks deep inside himself to analyze his inner world to create his masterpieces. When you get it mixed with live sound, concert atmosphere, his words come right into your mind, into your heart. I mean, everyone can understand what he's talking about.

What can I say, it is useless to copy Steve Vai!

I wanted to make a video record of For The Love Of God, in order to get something useful for myself from it later: But then Steve told the audience how his music was created. Sometimes, he finds an image or situation and tries to "sound" like this image to imitate it. Sometimes, people around him and relationships can give birth to his music. Sometimes he just play exercises and chord progressions, trying to hear and find out something new. Sometimes he's singing along with chord progression and record himself, then finding interesting ideas.

But the most beautiful music is created, when he is listening with his "inner ear" - something, that is very personal and sounds in his mind. Combining all the above with Steve's playing For The Love Of God, Crying Machine and Lotus Feet that evening, I have suddenly realized, how useless video can be. There is only personal behind those sounds.

Steve's music will remain his music.

Another ideas was delivered to the audience is the following. We all are occupied with our problems and everyday routine. Those 24 hours isn't enough to learn everything in music and guitar, or even 50% of it.

The deeper you go, the more unexplored lands you can see. But every and each of us can and must learn how to hear and feel what's going on in our inner world, to take it out in form of sounds, music, and to express ourselves but not necessarily those speed licks or arpeggios - this is what I AM, and this is MY music. It doesn't matter sometimes, how good or bad it is. It doesn't matter if anybody else need this music. First we need it ourselves.

Yuri Nikitin
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