Comments on: The Anti-Clapton

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:41:05 +0000

I’ve been listening on/off to Steve since his first second LP and I think even then, he was bored with everything conventional guitarists do. I think his fast stuff gets a lot of attention from youngsters today, but he has just as much off-the-wall stuff as well which doesn’t get media play or the like.

For my taste, I like Satriani more (I like the melodical stuff), but some of Steve’s stuff is just jaw dropping.

By: Rory Harper

Rory Harper — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:22:51 +0000

Yeah, ‘Tender Surrender’ showed up in the KVR thread, Dave, as an example of Vai playing with feeling. He has touch and taste out the ass when he wants it. The only thing I’m left with is that can play any damn thing he chooses to, and mostly chooses to play Real Fast.

This clip also argues that he has the skills to have played the slide in ‘Crossroads’, but I think you’re right that Ry did it.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 05:05:29 +0000

I’m a guitar player as well and can’t say Vai is a shredder. I think he’s just transcended the normal techniques of playing that limit the rest of us.

If you want emotion in a piece, check out his song “Tender Surrender”. Absolutely incredible:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1VjwciFLAg

Oh, and the slide on Crossroads was Ry Cooder.

By: Steven Gould

Steven Gould — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 15:50:34 +0000

All the above being true — I still secretly wish I could shred.

I promise I wouldn’t do it all the time.

Honest.

Trust me.

Well, I’m sure glad we don’t have to worry about that one.

By: Bradley Denton

Bradley Denton — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:49:21 +0000

Ry Cooder, I’m comin’ for ya.

By: Rory Harper

Rory Harper — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:42:36 +0000

For what it’s worth, ‘Crossroads’ was a watershed movie for me. I also saw it when it first came out.

I started playing guitar at about age 16, but had quit for around 10 years.

I picked up the ax again immediately after seeing ‘Crossroads’.

It wasn’t the Vai stuff — it was the wonderful blues songs by Ry Cooder that make up the bulk of the soundtrack.

Incidentally, I saw Ry and his band once at a little club in Houston in the 70’s. It was supposedly a blues gig, and the audience was blown away by the actual musical range of the man.

I’d never seen a blues band before that had a Cuban accordion player.

If you want to blame somebody that I’m playing still, it’s all Ry’s fault….

By: Rory Harper

Rory Harper — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:14:10 +0000

Hey, David! Yeah, basically, I agree with you. Music is primal, it’s about feelings. Pure technique is empty.

However, I still really enjoy a lot of hair-band music from the 80’s and on.

My roots are in the blues, but sometimes excellent technique allows you to rock out at a level that you couldn’t otherwise rock, IMHO.

The shredders like Vai and Satriani and Malmsteen and Petrucci and Gilbert and so on — the guys who tap and sweep-pick and play a zillion notes a second just because they can — well, I can be impressed, but I get bored after a song or two.

Beck was always emotionally distant, that was his personality, not his technique getting in the way, I think. And I always liked Van Halen. I think he knew how to rock.

All the above being true — I still secretly wish I could shred.

I promise I wouldn’t do it all the time.

Honest.

Trust me.

By: David Lee Anderson

David Lee Anderson — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 03:21:25 +0000

Rory, I saw “Crossroads” when it came out, and although I appreciate the technical wizardry of Steve Vai, I don’t feel the emotional appeal. Like the character he portrayed, there is something cold and distant in his technique, and I have felt that way about Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen as well. It’s hard to explain, but guitarists like Clapton, Page and Steve Howe (from Yes) may have less flash but more heart in their playing.

By: Rory Harper

Rory Harper — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 20:18:31 +0000

Yeah. I doubt if it could survive in the wild….

By: Morgan J. Locke

Morgan J. Locke — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 20:10:49 +0000

I feel like I’m looking at a genetic mutation.

By: Rory Harper

Rory Harper — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:37:46 +0000

Warren and I both have several three-neck guitars. Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick is the King, though, with this:

By: Steven Gould

Steven Gould — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:12:21 +0000

So, the top is a 12 string tuned to an open chord and the bottom neck is fretless (with an open chord tuning?)

I’ve seen multiple necks where one is a bass, before, but is this three neck thing common?