On The Record: Steve Vai on Korn, Satriani & 7-string guitars

Shortly after hearing heavy music on the radio, Steve Vai discusses his upcoming projects, including recording with Joe, the Sea of Emotion tour, and his own acoustic record. He also talks about the challenge of learning someone else's parts for a different band and the importance of putting his own spin on them. Despite a busy schedule, he hopes to find time to finish his acoustic record and continues to teach at the Academy. And sure enough, not long after that I'm driving down the street and I hear this incredible heavy music on the radio and I knew it was a seven string. And I pulled the car over and I listened and it was what I was expecting in a way, you know, and it was Korn and it was brilliant. It was like, yeah, that's the use of the seven string that I didn't do that I was hoping somebody would do, you know, and they certainly did. And then from there, it just. Hey, folks, this is Steve Vai and you're watching On The Record with Ultimate Guitar. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. I know you're a busy guy. The last 12 months for you has been insane. What do you got going on right now? Well, it's nice to be active, you know, and I'm in that kind of crunch phase, which is pretty common. And right now I've got a week before we leave for G3 and I'm feverishly working on these tracks that I'm recording with Joe and they're just fantastic. You know, Joe sent me two tracks. It's kind of an interesting story. You know, when we were when we were young, as you know, I started taking lessons with him when I was 12 and for about five or six years on and off that that was my main source of inspiration and, you know, go to prayer book, so to speak. And we've kind of been joined at the hips all the way through. But back then we both lived in the same town. Actually, he lived on the border of the next town. But we went to the same school and our school had this. Well, there was the three schools, there was the kindergarten and grade school, and then there was the junior or second grade through whatever, and then the big high school. So these were all put on. It must have been like, I don't know, 100 acres or something, you know, and there was this big field and so much happened in that field. That's where we went every weekend and hung out and did our nefarious kind of teenage things. Sometimes after a lesson, we would drive to the parking lot that overlooked this tremendous space and we would just sit and talk for hours and hours. And we'd pull up in Joe's little Volkswagen bug and I couldn't drive. He had just gotten his permit or something. And we would sit and just overlook this and talk. And it was coined the Sea of Emotion. When Joe and I decided to do this tour, one of the ideas was to record some new music together because we really never done that. You know, we've recorded a lot together, but it was always like a G3 or whatever, but we'd never really co-created. And traditionally, you sit in a room with somebody and you work out some stuff. But for this first batch of songs, we couldn't really do that because he lives in San Francisco and I was on tour. So Joe wrote a couple of tracks and he sent them to me and they're just fantastic. They're very Satriani. And I wrote a track. And the interesting thing, it's called the Sea of... Well, I don't know how much I should be giving out, but it's called the Sea of Emotion. And it's part one, two and part three, which is a track that I put together. And the interesting thing about the track I did was when I was taking lessons from Joe, he had the coolest teenage bedroom. You know, I had all the great posters and records and vinyl and all this stuff. And he had a little sound on sound recorder, a two track tape recorder that you can record sound on sound. And we were experimenting one time and we started recording. And this was the first time I've ever recorded. And it was just fantastic. And Joe had sent me the tape like maybe 10 years after that. And it was just this little reel to reel, you know, and I transferred it to digital and I thought I'm going to make a song out of this what we were playing, which was a riff that Joe had written. It's kind of a really tricky little riff for a teenager, you know, but so that's kind of what this week entails. And then we're off on tour and that's going to be great. The G3 tours, they're always just really nice, very relaxed, very professional. I don't have to do anything, you know, it's just I get up there and play and I get to play with these fantastic players. I always love playing with Eric and Joe. And then we got a little break and then Joe and I are going out for like, I think, eight weeks, six to eight weeks. And that's when we'll probably premiere the new music. And then he's doing something, he's doing like this, the Sammy thing, I think. And I've got something I'm doing in the fall that I can't really announce yet, but it'll be a great show also. So that's really cool. So these new recordings are going to have kind of a seed of the first time that you ever recorded and it was with Joe. Not just the seed, it's going to have the recording. Okay. So did you have to retool that? Was there kind of some studio magic that went into bringing this to life and the new streaming formats and things? Well, it was what it was, you know. It was just a little, back then there was no digital or anything, so it was captured on a little tape. The only thing I needed to do was pitch it a little bit, because the tape was running a little slow, so it was a little flat, so I just brought it up like Well, that's really cool. And, you know, excited to see you on the road again. You're always so much fun to watch live. And you mentioned this thing you're doing in the fall. Normally, I'd be trying to brainstorm ways in to trick you into telling me what the band is. I'm not going to do that. But that's something that's going to take a while for you to kind of rehearse for, I would imagine. It's going to take me all summer. It's going to take me all summer to get this music under my fingers, because the guitar player that played in this band is a complete beast, an absolute animal, and very difficult parts. I would imagine it's a bit of a different thing to rehearse for doing your own tours, to where you're rehearsing parts that were done by somebody else that they expected to be played this way. We kind of talked about this with Satriani, of course, stepping into that issue. Is it a different mindset, and do you have a different mindset going into learning those parts? Oh, absolutely. Obviously, when you're doing your own music, anything goes, whatever you, however you want to shape it, distort it, mangle it, upside down and reverse. But when you're given music, and I don't usually do this, I did it in the early days, but I've been touring solo for so long, and I've just completely mined the entire planet on this last tour, 194 shows in 51 countries, and then all these other ones coming up. So, when this opportunity came along, it was just too good to let go. It's a very musically oriented ensemble. It just has these monstrous musicians. When you approach that kind of a situation, which I'm looking forward to, because it's a different dimension altogether than when you're doing your own stuff. So, when I approach something like that, I want to respect the original parts the best I can. Of course, doing something like Van Halen, all that fit well on the hands. It's not going to sound like Edward. It's going to sound like you. But in a situation like this, the parts I'll be playing, they're treacherous, and I'm going to do my best to honor them, but like when I was doing Alcatraz or Dave Roth or Whitesnake, it's got to be you. If I start trying to sound like somebody else, or anybody, you don't want Joe trying to sound like Edward. You want him to sound like Joe playing those parts. It'll inevitably have Edward overtones, and what I'm doing will inevitably have the overtones of any guitar player that I'm playing for. But you want to honor the parts, and you want to put your spin on them. Are you going to be able to carve out some time to do your own stuff? I know you were working on an acoustic record and some orchestral music. Are you going to find some time to do your own stuff as well? Yeah, I was hoping the acoustic record would be out by now, but the Satche Vi tour and the new music and all has got this particular break that I'm on right now completely slammed. So I'm hoping during the next break I might be able to finish that. Every artist has their core following, usually except whatever the artist does, because they just like the DNA, the musical DNA. So on the acoustic record, there's nothing virtuosic about it, and I'm singing. So there'll be a few people that enjoy it, I believe. Yeah, how was that experience, the jump from an electric to an acoustic? For me, I know when I switch, it's a different animal. My brain works different. Did it feel like you were stepping out of your comfort zone into a different area that maybe you're not as comfortable with? Well, it's according to what kind of acoustic guitar music you're playing. If you're approaching the acoustic guitar and you want to be a virtuoso, that's a whole different way of approaching it. I don't know if you've seen that young Polish player, Marcin. What he's doing on an acoustic guitar is obscene. I mean, it's just... But for me, switching to the acoustic, it wasn't so much of a challenge because what I'm playing on the acoustic is just chords, you know? And I've spent precious little time on an acoustic. I have to admit, I've never really sat and focused and played a lot of acoustic unless I was using it for textures, for songs. And this acoustic record is no different. The guitar is really just the background. So I saw you did the Academy quite recently as well. So you're still finding time to teach in there and do that. How was that experience for you? I thought the videos were really cool to watch. It's really great because you've got this environment that's all guitar lovers, you know? There's a breadth of people that some of them want to make a career out of playing the guitar. Some of them just love the guitar and they just play it. And some people are fascinated with it and they've just started and they just want to be in that environment. The guitar is such a great collective. It attracts a collective of people that are just fun to be around because they're ogling something they really love that touches them, which is the guitar. And you know what that's like. The guitar is like a gift for life when it resonates with you. And if you're really doing well, you don't mind what happens in the future. You just love playing now. You're embracing your now and you're just enjoying that. And then when you're with a huge group of people doing it and you're all learning and then they're all bearing witness to these new players that are doing absolutely extraordinary things, you know? And then one of my favorite parts is we get to jam. I jam with every camper that wants to. And it's really a great environment because I got my band and now this takes about four hours a night every night. It's so nice because they come up and of course a lot of times they're a little nervous or whatever. I try to put them at ease and they just start playing. It doesn't matter what they play. Sometimes they have some simple chords. I mean A minor blues. I've done enough of that over the course of the camp. But what's so interesting is once they start playing and then the band kicks in because it's just simple riff. And then I let them solo for a while while I play rhythm and then we trade. And the trading is the fun part because I get right on them, you know? And I adjust my responses to things that would make sense to them. Because some guys are going, you know, people are going. And to them, they're playing and that's great, you know? And we encourage that. So I'm not going to get up there and go, you know, I play right along with them. And it's just really nice. Are there some specific younger guitar players that you find particularly inspiring these days? I'm inspired in different ways. Most of the time if I see a guitar player that just loves what they're doing, you know, they're really into it, I enjoy that. And second, I'm fascinated by the evolution of technique, you know? That's been happening and it's pretty obvious. A couple of guys are venturing out. One of them is Tosin. I really love what Tosin is doing. I like Daniele Gattardo, the Italian guitar player, because he just, his notes are unexpected, you know? Technique-wise, Matteo Mancuso, the Italian kid, he has a technique that creates a whole different kind of clarity. Guthrie is probably one of the most technically advanced. He's almost like a bottomless well of inspired playing, you know? It's fascinating. I watch him play sometimes and it's just magnificent. Oh, you know what else? Ron Fall, he's just, yeah, Bumblefoot, he's just amazing player. And I've heard some of his stuff where I've really responded to the melodies. Moving around chords that are exotic and unexpected and making melodies work, that to me is a good time. And Ron does that. Yeah, I think one area where you and Ron really inspire me is in the realm of instrument design, because of course he plays a lot of fretless stuff, you know? He thinks outside of this box of six strings and 22 frets, as you did, you know? Adding a string, making a seven string, like who would have thought about that back in the day? Yeah, we both have a little bit of a quirky disposition. I mean, how did it feel for you years after developing that seven string universe and then seeing what it did to the music industry? I mean, it created whole new genres. Yeah, well, it's really nice to be a part of that, to be able to make a contribution that grew legs and ran, you know? When I originally designed it, it was really, it took 30 seconds, you know? I was sitting with an Ibanez rep and we were talking about multi-stringed instruments and he said, I have an eight string guitar. And I said, eight string? I'm trying to wrap my brain around that. And I said, I would like a seven string because I know if I tune that low string down, it's going to start chugging. Now at the time, tuning down wasn't even a thing, you know? Tuning down a six string was rare, you know, as far as I know, you know? So I just thought, add another string, you know? And in my mind's eye, the moment I thought of it, well, the first thing that came to me was, you know, this is something you're interested in, you want to play around with, so here, get it for you, you know? But then in the back of my mind, of course, there was the thought of the potential. And what ran through my mind was, I know there's going to be kids that are listening to this and they're not popular yet. And it's going to inspire them and they're going to see the potential for the heaviness, for the use of the heaviness. Now, I used it on the Whitesnake record, but I'm not a djent type player, you know? I'm not like heavy, heavy, you know, Meshuggah. I love that stuff. I love heavy stuff, but, you know, I'm an older guy, you know? And sure enough, the seven string came out and it was a bit of a novelty and it was selling and then it started to die down because it had its push. And Ibanez was considering discontinuing it. And I said, just wait a little while, give it another few years, just even if you have to make 10 a year or something, you know, because somebody's going to get it, you know? And sure enough, not long after that, I'm driving down the street and I hear this incredible heavy music on the radio. And I knew it was a seven string. And I pulled the car over and I listened and it was what I was expecting in a way, you know? And it was corn and it was brilliant. It was like, yeah, that's the use of the seven string that I didn't do that I was hoping somebody would do, you know? And they certainly did. And then from there, it just, you know? So, I mean, I may be the the godfather of the production model seven string because they existed before I, you know, did that. But bands like Korn, Fear Factory, I think they used a bunch of those bands from that period. They gave it the kick that it needed to start the subculture. Now, you and Ibanez have been together longer than I've been alive. Why have you been with Ibanez for so long? I would imagine there's other companies that have offered to build you stuff or tried to entice you to do an endorsement with them. What's made you stick with Ibanez for so long? Well, when you find good people to work with, there's no need to go anyplace else, you know? And plus, I'm kind of a specialized player, you know? I'm not very authentic in any particular genre. I'm very authentic at being me. And when I designed the gem, it was based around my idiosyncrasies as a player, you know? It's like... This is a Pia, but similar, you know? The 24 frets at the time, you know, that was rare, virtually non-existent with humbuckers. I think Jackson had a neck through body that had humbuckers that was sort of stratish. But it's just, I want, personally, I wanted 24 frets, and I wanted a big cutaway that fits my hand perfectly. No other cutaways on any of those guitars. I don't know why they give you the frets if you can't play them, you know? And the pickup configuration was exactly what I wanted. I wanted the humbuckers in these two positions, you know, so you get that. I didn't want single coils, you know? I didn't like them. They didn't seem rock and roll to me. Of course, now I appreciate the value in them, but still, I'm a double coil humbucker guy. But I do like to have the single coil for certain things, and also for that in-between sound. And this was a very unique development at the time. I was told later, you know, the pickup configuration, because what it does is, and this is very common these days, but back then, I was told this was the first of its kind where you go into this position, it splits the coil, so you get two single coils, and that's that tubey strat sound that I just love. And it's the same thing in this position, you know, where it splits the coil in this, so you get two single coils. And I use those a lot. So when I designed the Jem, it was really very specific to my idiosyncrasies, so it's like me. So another company would have to make a guitar that's more me than the Jem, and I just don't see it. Ibanez had a history, they had a foundation, they were substantial, and they were creative, very creative. And they respect, and they support, and they build whatever I want. You know, it's just amazing. Who would have built the Hydra? So that's why I stick with them. I have no reason to move, because it's worked so great. Very creative. And I heard when you were originally designing the Jem, some other companies may have made their version of what they thought you wanted in Jem. Do you remember some of those designs? Did anyone get anywhere close, or were they all just kind of their own stuff with the signature on the headstock? There was one guitar that was made for me that I liked, and that was Tom Anderson. He made a brilliant guitar. I still have it, and I use it on most of Passion and Warfare. And he put a handle in it, so you could say, I sent out the directive, I'd like this, this, this, this, to all the companies. And I said, oh, by the way, it has to have a monkey grip handle. And of course, that's like, so quirky and bizarre. A lot of them were just like, no way. I was just crazy. You know, I was like, yeah, why not? I didn't have any preconceived idea that anything that I was doing was gonna have a future. I just knew what I wanted now, to do what I wanted to do. And the guitars that I got from the other companies, they weren't that. Even Ibanez, the first guitar they sent me was hideous. It was nothing like my guitar. You know, it was a weird shaped, weird colored, totally nothing like what I had sent out. Nobody gave me anything. Tom Anderson was the closest, but it still wasn't that. I mean, I had four completed gems. They weren't called gems, but they were the prototypes. I had them hand built. So, I knew exactly what I wanted. But most of them sent back their instrument with a couple of, because most signature guitars, like if you play a signature Les Paul by Slash, just like Slash, or just like me, there's certain things he likes. Particular pickups, neck, frets, but it's in the body of a Les Paul. So, most signature guitars are the company's model with accoutrements chosen by the artist. Gem is a complete rebuild. And there's some other new signature guitars that I've seen that I thought were really good. I don't know if I'd play them because they're not the gem, but they're great instruments. Petrucci guitar. That's a beautiful instrument. And the Abbasi. The Abbasi is like an evolution because it has new players in mind. And Devin Townsend's signature guitar. I don't know if it's still available, probably, but the look is changing. The look of guitars these days, the mean machines. When did you make the jump to modeling amps? You seem like someone who's always embraced the new technology and what's coming next. For a lot of people, that's a scary jump to make from tubes to this digital world. Yeah, well, I haven't. I haven't made that jump. In the studio, I do use certain modeling, you know, textures and things like that. And as modeling plugins get better, like NeuroDSP is doing some pretty good stuff, really great stuff. I might shift more to using them. But yeah, no, I'm an analog guy. When I'm on the stage, especially, I just have not heard any modeling that has really convinced me. There's certain anomalies in it, like there's a latency. Even I could feel like three milliseconds, you know, so that's always a problem. Also, I don't know what it is, but usually, if I'm sitting in my studio, if you're sitting in your bedroom and you're playing these modeling amps, you can make them sound great. You know, they can sound like, you know, a big arena or whatever. But once you, I've discovered it, once you bring them into the live environment, you put them on the battlefield, they have a tendency to be compromised by all the other frequencies going on, like, you know, the overheads, especially if you've got someone like Jeremy Coulson, my drummer, just be aware, you know, beware. And bass, other guitar players, the size of the room, the size of the room, what the floor is made out of, you know, all these things go into competing frequencies. And I just feel that the modeling soul can't compete. It becomes a little pain. So what are you using in the studio for amps? Do you have one specific amp that you've used consistently? Well, it's according to the part, you know, if I'm doing a rhythm part that requires a Deluxe or a Bassman or something like that, I'll pull it out. But mostly I'm using my Synergy module. That just is, it's it for me right now. But I changed, it's like the seven year itch. You know, I like to change it up a bit. So I don't know where I'll be going. But it's hard not to use the Synergy because the modules are actual preamp sections of amplifiers, tubes and all. And they've got an array of these that's just staggering. I mean, I've got all these Friedman and Diesel and Bassman and Plexies and they're the amps, basically. Yeah. I don't know why I was thinking they were digital, but they have tubes in them, huh? Yeah. Wow. That's cool. Yeah, they're great. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. I really appreciate it. It's always such a joy. I would come away after talking to you being really inspired to go pick up a guitar and play. Oh, wonderful. That's my work. All right, buddy. See you next time.