Tried to watch that Steve Vai Where the Whild Things Are show...

[mojocaster]

... and quit after 2 1/2 songs.

Either it's pure genius, or pure crap. I honestly can't decide. The musicianship displayed, in terms of raw technique and composition, were jaw dropping. And not just Vai's, either. The rest of the band was amazing.

But I must confess that I felt like I was watching a guy who learned the entire dictionary by heart, and then did the same with all the grammar books he could find, but he still doesn't have one original, compelling story to tell.

You could have told me that the song title was "The fox running in the woods" or "Pearl Harbor" or "A midsummer night's dream" and I would not have been able to choose one. I simply could not relate, even on the most basic level, to the music I was listening to.

The guy is just about possessed when onstage, and actually quite visually entertaining in some way - some way over the damn top, way. But still, there's value there, no doubt.

The constant onslaught of notes with no meaning that I could decipher was draining. Everything is played from 12th fret up, at breakneck speed, or with gravity-defying bends. Tapping is omni-present, guitars are changed, though the tone remains the same. The two fiddle players are kick (_!_) but at the same time don't seem to add much to the story here either.

The drummer sweated more in two tunes than any one human being should in a 24-hour period, but dang what enthusiasm he had. He was definitely hanging w/ Vai, measure after measure.

So I am at a complete loss here, because I do not want to slam the guy, yet I can't find one redeeming quality to hang on to.

He's either way ahead of his time, and I will one day have the tools to understand him, or he's just overcome with technique and has a dearth of intelligible emotions to express through his music. Either way, it left me drained, confused and quite frankly, not impressed musically.

[FFOGG]

Mojo :You really raise some good points here and I always felt so disconnected listening to him ..as opposed to other players such as Bonamassa ..Clapton..Santana .....and two other lesser known players Tyrone Shuz and Duke Levine

[jeff h]

You nailed it MOJO!!

[Stys]

I agree as well. I enjoy Vai's Alien Love Secrets CD but after that, he just way to intense for me. I think most players can relate to Satriani because he just plays cool songs with great melodies.

[darren]

I couldn't agree more. I have tremendous respect for Vai's skill, technique and composition ability, but i just can't get into what he does.

[Jimmy-Sekshun8]

So I guess I'll chime in. I took some interest in watching this after the original post. While I wasn't able to see the entire thing I watched the you tube snippets and was thoroughly enjoying it and wanting more. While I can certainly understand the inability for one to be able to sing back the melody (believe me, I couldn't if I tried after one hearing) it's certainly something I can relate to. Which again lends itself to the old argument of who is better, Clapton or Malmsteen? To which my argument always is, if you want blues, Clapton, if you want shred, Malmsteen. It's proof once again that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is no less emotion in Vai's composition than there is in the 6 note blues scale that was so dominant in SRV, Hendrix, Clapton and others. I've often laughed when hearing someone say that Paul Gilbert, Malmsteen, Satriani and others in the shred genre play with no feeling or emotion. My argument always has been and always will be "I wasn't there when they recorded it, I'm not in their soul when they play it, I'm no expert on what they feel when they play." So I don't see where playing blues makes you a more emotional player than a shredder. In my opinion it all comes down to what is it you want out of your music. Do you want a four course meal with meat, potatoes, veggies, and fruit? Or, do you want the ability to choose from a myriad of sources and have as much food available to you at one given time? Neither is right, neither is wrong, it's all in what you want. I love Vai, I love Hendrix and by golly, I think they both have made music with as much unbridled emotion as anybody ever in the music biz. So basically put, I recapped what everyone has already said, but in my terms, so as to see if I can stir the pot a little and get more feedback from everyone. I hope we can have a long discussion as Anderson lovers and maybe learn from each another.

[trikim]

Same old argument.. OLD is the key work here. And there is no "right or wrong" answer(s)... just options.... many options... thank god we have options.

No need to have long discussions on the matter. Some guitar players just need to stay close to what they feel comfortable with... others are able to venture out of the their "box". At the end we usually stick with what we feel comfortable with... I know I do.

[picnic]

I went to see Joe Sat with EJ opening. 25,000,000,000 notes in a 3 hour period. Lot of it was good, but the middle 6-8 songs of Satriani's set were a blur.
Best solo of the night came during "Surfing with the Alien" finale. Satriani held a note for about a minute. Whammied it, pushed it, pulled it and got it to do lots of weird feedback tones, but never changed it.
One note held 45 seconds. Best solo of the night.

[Jimmy-Sekshun8]

I went to see Joe Sat with EJ opening. 25,000,000,000 notes in a 3 hour period. Lot of it was good, but the middle 6-8 songs of Satriani's set were a blur.
Best solo of the night came during "Surfing with the Alien" finale. Satriani held a note for about a minute. Whammied it, pushed it, pulled it and got it to do lots of weird feedback tones, but never changed it.
One note held 45 seconds. Best solo of the night.


Sometimes I want slow and bluesy and sometimes I want as many notes crammed into one measure as possible. Thankfully, we have those choices. I was warming up prior to rehearsal last night with my laptop through the board and played some blues based stuff and felt great about it. Other times, I crank up the stuff that seems like an onslaught of notes. I like them both. Some players (the ones I tend to like the most) are able to capture both. I saw Satriani with Chickenfoot and he played VERY well. I was liking his tone because he didn't sound over processed. He got his shred on and it was fun. The opening act, can't remember the name had a guitar player that was playing blues type stuff the entire set, point being, there was a little something for everyone. My "hope" is that blues guys can appreciate shredders and shredders can appreciate blues guys.

[picnic]

When EJ goes off and starts the note blitz, there is still a lyrical sense to the music. Never too much overload on the feedback, whammy and tapping. Jeff Beck's the same way. Musicality is a good thing. Growing up in the 60's and learning play FAST was our goal. Alvin Lee was the man of a million notes. Thank the Lord, Gilmore came along and slowed us down. 8^)

I went to see Buckethead last winter. I had seen his YT stuff, the KFC schtick with hockey mask. He's a monster. So I'm expecting to be bombed with millions of shredded sound waves. I was very surprised and pleased to hear many lyrical passages mixed in with high volume shred and tap playing. Not the show I expected and I really enjoyed his talents.

Like trikim said, no right or wrong here.

[Jimmy-Sekshun8]

When EJ goes off and starts the note blitz, there is still a lyrical sense to the music. Never too much overload on the feedback, whammy and tapping. Jeff Beck's the same way. Musicality is a good thing. Growing up in the 60's and learning play FAST was our goal. Alvin Lee was the man of a million notes. Thank the Lord, Gilmore came along and slowed us down. 8^)

I went to see Buckethead last winter. I had seen his YT stuff, the KFC schtick with hockey mask. He's a monster. So I'm expecting to be bombed with millions of shredded sound waves. I was very surprised and pleased to hear many lyrical passages mixed in with high volume shred and tap playing. Not the show I expected and I really enjoyed his talents.

Like trikim said, no right or wrong here.

Exactly, no right or wrong. Back in "the day" people thought Berg, Schoenberg and Webern were genius because they invented 12 tone music. Personally I didn't see the lyricism or melody in it. To my ears it sounded like 3 guys that had some sort of drugs together and laughed at the mathematical possibilities. Where Malmsteen on the other hand is very lyrical to me. So like we say, no right or wrong, neither is more or less lyrical. It's all in your vocabulary in my opinion. Neither is better, it's all in your method of communicating.

[dugjustdug]

Great perspective from everybody contributing to this thread.

To me, a good guitar show will run you through several different emotions so that there is a proper Buffet of sounds to choose from. We try to do that in our live shows. Mind you, I am nowhere close to the alacrity of many. We shoot for the correct combo of tone and speed - at least to our ear.

While he is somewhat of a fusion guy, I can listen to Robben Ford all day. Dude can play shred-fast when he calls on it. He spends most of his time in the tone and combination of notes which - to me, at least - is very nice.

[axeman]

Regardless of the opinion you might hold regarding Via's compositions/musical expression.... I really like the fact that he's taken his financial resources and allowed other musicians that would not otherwise have a platform to record and got their music out there.

This is a guy that wrote a check to jazz guitarist Mimi Fox and allowed her to record whatever she wanted to. I've heard this has occured with several other players as well.

That.... is pretty cool in my book!