It’s hilarious, because my guitar has what’s known as a tremolo bar or a whammy bar. And the whammy bar is probably the most alien thing on my guitar that could possibly relate to a classical guitar. – Steve Vai
I think every artist subconsciously wants to evolve themselves. Sometimes they get stuck in ruts because of pop culture, peer pressure, stuff like that. But what excites me most is exploring my own musical insights and expanding upon them. – Steve Vai
Reps once took chances on art, History’s most treasured musicians were believed in and cultivated to reach their potential. Today, it would be difficult for those musicians to get deals. – Steve Vai
I loved the guitar, and I had all of this music in my head. My passion for the guitar and the ideas for what I could create musically were equal. So that’s where I was. – Steve Vai
I have an independent record label called Favored Nations on which I released an album by an artist called Johnny A, who plays an arch top Gibson through a Marshall, but the tone is all in his fingers. – Steve Vai
Ray and I do not draw salaries, Any profits will be re-invested into marketing the music we believe in. – Steve Vai
I was always one of those guys who was a seeker after truth. I want to know what’s going on. – Steve Vai
What I look for in music is artistry, sincerity, and simplicity, and Tom Waits has all of that. I want to make a connection to the creator. – Steve Vai
I have a deep love for life and my fellow human beings. I try to understand everything that everybody does, even if it seems wrong to me. – Steve Vai
That’s the thing about great artists: They find the thing that’s most obvious to themselves, what’s most conscious and natural, and they put it out there and the audience comes. – Steve Vai
I didn’t have any aspirations of becoming famous or successful; in fact I was scared to death of all that. I remember somebody once said that if a rock musician goes on tour, he goes insane. I was very impressionable and I carried this useless weight of fear around with me about going on tour, all because of this thing somebody said. – Steve Vai
The classical guitar has a dynamic to it unlike a regular acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. You know, there’s times when you should play and there’s times when you gotta hold back. It’s an extremely dynamic instrument. – Steve Vai
I wanted to be a composer before anything else. And my sister was listening to Led Zeppelin in the other room! When I heard that, it was a game-changer. – Steve Vai
I can count on one hand the people who are legendary in my book, and Tom Waits is certainly right at the top. It’s funny, though: When I tell people that I like Tom’s music, it surprises them. – Steve Vai
I was about seven or eight years old when I first heard West Side Story, and it had a huge impact on me. If you look at the elements of that record, it contains many of the things I enjoy doing today. – Steve Vai
We have the insight and the tools to identify and bring to fruition the dormant talent that our artists possess. Favored Nations will be branded as the home base for inspired musical talent. – Steve Vai
I could never overstate the importance of a musician’s need to develop his or her ear. Actually, I believe that developing a good ‘inner ear’ – the art of being able to decipher musical components solely through listening – is the most important element in becoming a good musician. – Steve Vai
Still to this day, I am deeply satisfied when watching a guitar player who is connected with their art and instrument. GuitarTV helps you tap into that connection, and to each other. – Steve Vai
I was a kid, 12 or something, when the Partridge Family was big on TV. I liked the curly cord running from the bass to the amps, which were real fancy. That cord looked so cool. I said, ‘Wow! I gotta play something like that!’ – Steve Vai
I designed a guitar for Ibanez and then they started manufacturing it – it’s called the Jem – it’s 26 years old and I still play it. As a kid I liked Les Pauls and Strats, but they had limitations for the kind of playing I wanted to do. – Steve Vai
When I was young, I wasn’t a misfit or anything. I had friends in all the different social groups. But I had issues – just personal issues, insecurities and other things that had happened in my life. – Steve Vai
I’ve never really heard anybody imitating anything of mine the way they do with Edward Van Halen’s stuff. – Steve Vai
I knew that I was going to have a life as a musician, because I always felt the pull. I don’t remember ever having to make a choice. – Steve Vai
The blues scale was the first thing I learned. It’s just a pentatonic scale with a flat seventh and a few notes that sound cool when you bend them. And because people have amalgamated the blues into this rock-blues scale, if you’re using it, you better sound like a real authentic blues player. – Steve Vai
I awake, I meditate, get the kids off to school, go to the gym, go to the Favored Nations office, and usually at around 1 pm I’m home and do music the rest of the day. – Steve Vai
A lot of those little things that I really like doing are just moments of cool articulation, just little moments of phrasing that probably go over everybody’s head. – Steve Vai
