Quotes by Steve Vai - Page 2

Along with its enchanting and exquisite melodies, West Side Story has attitude and a tremendous amount of frenetic energy. It's emotional, theatrical and technical. It's everything.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Attitude
Amount
Emotional
Enchanting
Energy
Exquisite
Theatrical
West
West Side
West Side Story
Tremendous
Melodies
Tremendous Amount
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... you watch Jimi Hendrix literally reinvent the instrument. He was playing from somewhere else. He was really a kind of hybrid, and I can't even begin to imagine where he came from
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Music
Somewhere Else
Watches
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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 / Guitarist
Art
Connected
Guitar
Guitar Player
Player
Satisfied
Tap
Deeply
Helps
Instrument
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The level of achievement that we have at anything, is a reflection, of how well, we were able to focus on it. Because the only thing that's holding you back, is the way you're thinking.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Focus
Reflection
Thinking
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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 / Guitarist
Art
Deals
Musician
Treasured
Would Be
Believed
Chances
Cultivated
Musicians
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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 / Guitarist
Home
Artist
Branded
Dormant
Fruition
Home Base
Insight
Musical
Musical Talent
Nations
Tools
Base
Favored
Identify
Possess
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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 / Guitarist
Legendary
Funny Music People
Surprises
Count
Tom
Tom Waits
Waits
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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 / Guitarist
Groups
Insecurity
Issues
Social
Life My Life Young
Insecurities
Personal
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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 / Guitarist
Hilarious
Aliens
Bars
Classical Guitar
Guitar
Relate
Alien
Bar
Classical
Possibly
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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 / Guitarist
Eight
Elements
Impact
West Side
West Side Story
Years
Contains
Today Look Me
Huge Impact
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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 / Guitarist
Artist
Fingers
Independent
Nations
Play
Tone
Album
Arch
Favored
Gibson
Johnny
Record
Label
Marshall
Plays
Record Label
Released
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Baby don't wake me, let me take you on an endless journey. We touch and the softest kiss explodes with lust. It's real and you can't deny the heat you feel. And if I die before I wake, baby that's all right.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Baby
Kissing
Real
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Most people are fascinated to see someone play an instrument in an inspired way. We are moved by witnessing musical brilliance, and it was this notion that led me to purchase the GuitarTV domain 10 years ago.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Brilliance
Domain
Fascinated
Inspired
Moved
Musical
Notion
People
Play
Years
Me People See
Me People Way
Instrument
Led
Purchase
Witnessing
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If you want to be a virtuoso then you have to set your sights above me. You have to go beyond what I'm doing. And that's for you to figure out. Because if you can do that, then I'm going to be trying to go beyond you.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Sight
Trying
Want
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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 / Guitarist
Acoustic Guitar
Acoustics
Classical Guitar
Electric
Electric Guitar
Guitar
Play
Acoustic
Classical
Dynamic
Extremely
Gotta
Hold
Unlike
Instrument
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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 / Guitarist
Kids
Running
Cool
Bass
Fancy
Real
Wow
Tv
Cord
Curly
Liked
Gotta
Looked
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I've always considered transcribing to be an invaluable tool in the development of one's musical ear and, over the years, I have spent countless glorious hours transcribing different kinds of music, either guitar-oriented or not.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Development
Different Kinds
Glorious
Guitar
Hours
Invaluable
Musical
Years
Considered
Countless
Ear
Either
Spent
Tool
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Jeff Beck is compelled by his inner artistic drive to keep evolving the instrument. He'll use the whammy bar with the volume knob and the tone control all at the same time - creating harmonics that no human being should be able to hit.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Music
Bars
Creating
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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 / Guitarist
Kids
Guitar
Manufacturing
Years
Liked
Designed
Les
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I think the thing that I got most from working with Frank Zappa is that I was able to see someone who completely independent. The most beautiful thing about Frank was that he was completely in the moment and present and eternally creative.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Beautiful
Independent
Thinking
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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 / Guitarist
Artist
Evolve
Expanding
Exploring
Musical
My Own
Peer Pressure
Pop Culture
Pressure
Ruts
Stuck
Thinking
Insights
Peer
Subconsciously
Themselves
Wants
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I created this picture of this character who would play the guitar effortlessly, who had no limitations, performing beautiful music, and he moved around with great acrobatic skills, just capturing the audience and being a great entertainer.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Beautiful Music
Performing
Skills
Entertainer
Capturing
Music Great Beautiful
Effortlessly
Limitations
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I don't think I approach my songs differently from other artists. You get a big picture of it, and you imagine the song and hear and feel it, and that big picture is like a snapshot, and it comes to you as fast as it takes to click a camera.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Approach
Artist
Big Picture
Imagine
Song
Thinking
Picture
Artists
Camera
Click
Fast
Snapshot
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When you get down to it, the way that the music affects you individually is the most important thing, and when you let things like the location of a band get in the way or have an effect on your overview, you're cheating yourself out of a really good time.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Cheating
Important
Location
Overview
Way
Time Good Music
Affects
Effect
Important Thing
Individually
Most Important Thing
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Favored Nations is a long-term commitment. Our hope is that those who are passionate about real musicianship will want to hear and own most of our albums. We will set out to attain the same direct relationship with our customers that we have with our artists.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Commitment
Customers
Direct
Long Term
Musicianship
Nations
Passionate
Artists
Attain
Favored
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I've been approached many times to write all sorts of books about my past and my personal life. I get interest from people who want to do reality shows, and somebody just offered me a huge amount of money to write my spiritual memoirs. I'm just not interested.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Book
Not Interested
Personal Life
Reality Shows
Spiritual
Writing
Huge Amount
Memoirs
Offered
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I saw this trend happening with the proliferation of guitar clinics and schools. And I was approached to do a camp in the past, but I wanted to have a good enough idea because most of them are just about jamming and learning. I decided I wanted a theme for each camp.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Guitar
Past
School
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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. We have the insight and the tools to identify and bring to fruition the dormant talent that our artists possess.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Deals
Dormant
Fruition
Insight
Tools
Treasured
Believed
Cultivated
Identify
Musicians
Possess
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Lenny Breau was a genius - inspired and really loose. I loved how he used the guitar as an extension of his inner freedom, because, obviously, on the outside there were a lot of trainwrecks going on. But when you listen to him play, you hear what kind of guy he really is
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Music
Guitar
Play
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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 / Guitarist
Art
Believe
Components
Decipher
Developing
Importance
Musical
Musician
Art Good Believe
Ear
Element
Inner
Overstate
Solely
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I know it is common nowadays for artists to start labels but this is a thoroughly constructed vehicle for inspired talent. This is a market that we've been living, breathing and eating for our entire lives - one where a huge void currently exists. Favored Nations is a long-term commitment.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Artist
Breathing
Commitment
Eating
Inspired
Labels
Long Term
Nations
Vehicle
Void
Currently
Constructed
Entire Lives
Exists
Favored
Nowadays
Thoroughly
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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 / Guitarist
Notes
Player
Real
Rocks
Scale
Authentic
Bend
Blues
First Thing
Flat
Seventh
The First Thing
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If you want to play something that you hear, you need to listen with your mind's eye. You've heard of the mind's eye, right? Your mind has an ear too. It's a kind of listening, but it's not using your ears to listen. It's listening with your inner ear, and that's what you want to translate onto the guitar.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Music
Eye
Guitar
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As far as Deep Purple goes, I mean, they're iconic. Their contribution is unquantifiable, and as far as the politics involved in things like awards, you know, I don't think anything, because I know what they mean to me, and I know what they mean to the people who like them. Awards are very politically based.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Awards
Contribution
Deep Purple
Iconic
Involved
Mean
Purple
Thinking
Politics Me People
As Far As
Based
Goes
Politically
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All musicians practice ear training constantly, whether or not they are cognizant of it. If, when listening to a piece of music, a musician is envisioning how to play it or is trying to play along, that musician is using his or her 'ear' - the understanding and recognition of musical elements - for guidance.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Cognizant
Elements
Guidance
Musical
Play
Practice
Recognition
Training
Understanding
Constantly
Ear
Piece
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It's always funny to me when people use the phrase 'Best guitar player in the world'. There are too many variables such as technique, uniqueness, emotional investment in the notes, etc. But If I had to pick one, it would be Tommy Emmanuel. Watching him perform can be a study in artistic and virtuosic human achievement.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Emotional
Guitar
Player
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I've learned over the years that you're going to be most successful at the things you're most excited to do. Every artist has a special set of tools. When you really use those tools, and you make yourself feel really good about the product you create, I think you'll find an audience for it. I've been very fortunate in that respect.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Artist
Fortunate
Successful
Thinking
Tools
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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 / Guitarist
Insane
Musician
Rocks
Successful
Weight
Aspirations
Carried
Tour
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I loved the idea of recording. The idea of sound-on-sound-recording captured me as a young kid, and once I realized what it was I had an epiphany. Before I was even playing the guitar, I would create these lists of how I would record things and overdub them, like Led Zeppelin song, 'I could put this guitar on this track...' and so on.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Kids
Captured
Epiphany
Guitar
Ideas
Song
Track
Guitar Me Song
Led
Led Zeppelin
Young Kid
Zeppelin
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In the physical universe, there are objects that include suns, planets, all life, and all matter in all dimensions. And then there is the space where all these things exist. That space is the vital element. For virtually every kid since 1968 who picked up a guitar to find his voice on the instrument, Jimmy Page has been the space that enables all our notes to be played.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Kids
Guitar
Voice
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There is still a very strong subculture of people who want to do great things on an instrument, and who are stimulated by hearing people who can. That's reassuring. But it's gonna take a person - and I don't know who this is - to come along and reinvent the guitar as a virtuosic instrument in a completely different realm than any of us have done, or anybody else in the past. That's the clincher. Maybe that will happen and maybe it won't.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Music
Past
Strong
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There's very notable dynamics in all of the collaborations I've done. It's hard to say if one is more important than the other, but if I had to think of all situations and point to one band that I enjoyed most it would be when I was eight years old. I had a band with my little sister and the kid across the street. We sat around all day playing music and it was bliss. I didn't have any expectations or do it for anyone or worry about selling an album. That was really my favorite band. We were called Hot Chocolate.
Steve Vai / Guitarist
Kids
Eight
Thinking
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