Steve Vai Never Endows What His Life Will Be Without Joe Satriani

Steve Vai (Instagram @stevevaihimself)

JAKARTA - In an interview with LifeMinute, Steve Vai recalled learning guitar to Joe Satriani as a teenager and how the lesson inspired him in music from the early stages.

Vai, known as one of Satriani's most genius students. At the age of 12, after buying his first guitar, he began taking his first lesson from fellow New York native, Satriani. Since then, Vai has been obsessed with training discipline.

"I can't even imagine what my life would be like without him (Satriani). When I was 12 years old, a friend of mine, John Sergio, introduced me to all the music I didn't know - progressive rock from the 70s," Vai recalled. quoted from Blabbermouth, Monday.

"He took me to my first Queen concert. He took me to his band; it was my first band. When I was 12 years old. He was a good friend. [He has] an extraordinary musical taste. And he was playing guitar when I was 12 years old, and I couldn't trust him, because he lived two places away.

"And then he said, 'If you think I'm great, you have to meet my guitar teacher, Joe Satriani.' So he gave me Joe's number, and I started taking lessons, and my lessons with Joe were the most important for me.

Vai's training routine, which consists of rigid and structured regimens from a ten to fifteen hours a day training schedule, became the basis for his work ethic for the rest of his career.

"Joe is always cool," Vai continued. "He's always solid, sharing, and firm. And that's the best thing because he's great, and that's what you want from a teacher; you're inspired to see him play."

"To this day, the thing I got the most... There are so many things. And we are so lucky that over the years we have performed together (on the G3 tour)," added Steve.

"When I saw him playing, when I was 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, everything he touched sounded like music. When he came out of his finger, it sounded cool; it sounded like there was a soul in it. He's been an inspiration all my life."

Meanwhile, while working with Frank Zappa, Vai copied and played rhythmically very complicated music. He believes, if it starts slowly and is refined, any music can be played. It was done at the age of 18, after taking knowledge from Satriani.