PROFILE STEVE VAI

Steve Vai (lahir: Carle Place, New York, 6 Juni 1960) adalah gitaris, penulis lagu, penyanyi dan produser yang berasal dari Amerika Serikat.

Karir

* Group Band Saat Ini: Steve Vai
* Group Band Sebelumnya: Hot Chocolate, The Ohio Express, Circus, Rayge, Bold As Love, Axis, Morning Thunder, Frank Zappa, The Out Band, The Classified, 777, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake
* Pengaruh: Joe Satriani, Frank Zappa
* Gitar: Ibanez Universe, Ibanez JEM

Permainannya mulai dari blues, jazz, rock sampai klasik dan ethnic music. Permainan gitarnya pun tidak terbatas pada komunitas gitar saja tetapi juga bagi orang-orang awam yang tidak mendalami gitar.

Pada umur 6 tahun, Steve mulai belajar piano. Pada umur 10 tahun, Steve mulai belajar bermain akordeon. Pada umur 13 tahun barulah Steve mulai mendalami gitar dan sejak saat itu lahirlah seorang dewa gitar yang baru.

Steve Vai mengawali karirnya dengan album debutnya Flex-Able Leftovers pada tahun 1984. Pada tahun 1990, Steve merilis album keduanya yang berjudul Passion and Warfare. Album ini mendapat pengakuan internasional dan Steve memenangkan polling pembaca majalah Guitar Player dalam 4 kategori yang berbeda. Album Steve yang ketiga berjudul Sex & Religion dirilis tahun 1993 dan album keempatnya Alien Love Secrets dirilis tahun 1995. Pada tahun 1996 album kelima Steve Fire Garden dirilis.

Tahun 1999, Steve meluncurkan album keenamnya yang berjudul Ultra Zone. Dalam album ini Steve lebih banyak memfokuskan dirinya dalam komposisi lagu dan bereksperimen dengan gitarnya. Tahun 2001 album The Seventh Song dirilis dan album ini berisi lagu-lagu slow/ballad yang pernah dirilis Steve dengan ditambah beberapa lagu baru. Dan di tahun 2001 Alive in an Ultra World pun dirilis.

Steve Vai juga pernah memproduksi 2 album Natal yang berjudul Merry Axemas Vol.1 dan Merry Axemas Vol.2, juga konser G3 bersama Joe Satriani dan Eric Johnson/Kenny Wayne Shepherd dan terakhir John Petrucci turut juga bergabung dalam G3.

Belakangan ini Steve Vai lebih memfokuskan diri bereksperimen pada permainan gitarnya dan sekarang ini band Steve Vai ditambah seorang pemain bass yang sudah tidak asing lagi buat fans-fans rock tahun 80-an, Billy Sheehan.

profile joe satriani

Joe "Satch" Satriani (born on July 15, 1956, in Westbury, New York and brought up in Carle Place, New York, USA) is an instrumental rock guitarist and teacher, and a recognized virtuoso of the rock guitar.

Biography and playing history

Satriani was inspired to play guitar at age 14, after hearing Jimi Hendrix had died (A "legend" says that the news was given to him by his football coach at the end of a training). During the 1970s, Satriani moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a music career. When his friend and former student Steve Vai gained fame playing with David Lee Roth in 1986, Vai raved about Satriani in several interviews with guitar magazines. In 1988, Satriani's album Surfing With the Alien (and its title track) were radio hits, the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. Satriani also toured with Mick Jagger in support of the Rolling Stones singer's solo album.

In 1989, Satriani's song "One Big Rush" (originally released on Flying in a Blue Dream) was featured on the soundtrack to Say Anything. In 1994, Satriani joined the band Deep Purple to replace guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's tour. In 1996, Satriani formed G3, a concert tour featuring three instrumental rock guitarists -- originally Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson.
Interestingly, Satriani is also credited for singing background vocals (but not playing guitar) on the 1986 debut album by Crowded House.

Technique and influence

Satriani is recognized as one of the most technically proficient guitarists in rock. He has mastered nearly every performance technique on the instrument, including two-handed tapping, sweep picking, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy-bar effects. Compositionally, amongst his trademark traits are the use of pitch axis theory and Lydian mode. He is also a renowned guitar teacher, whose students have included Steve Vai, David Bryson (Counting Crows), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Larry LaLonde (Primus), Charlie Hunter, and Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind) among others.
Satriani (like Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci and other guitarists who emphasize technical command and precision in their playing) has been criticized by those who prefer simpler compositional styles. Occasionally some of his contemporaries have been known to take pot-shots at the earnest Satriani. For example, Gary Moore once said that he found Satriani's music "cerebral", saying "it leaves me cold". Although his more flamboyant student, Steve Vai, has garnered more attention, most writers and musicians respect Satriani's musicianship as well as his modest and personable demeanor.
Fans of instrumental electric guitar music widely laud him as the most lyrical and soulful of contemporary rock virtuosos, with an ear for a good tune and, more recently, an emphasis on emotion over technique. Since 1998 his albums have been, stylistically speaking, a departure from his earlier style, delving into simpler, more widely accessible genres, such as blues, rock and roll, and even techno. Nonetheless Satriani has maintained a large fan base throughout the world, buoyed on by the lasting influence of his earlier albums.
His success is notable in a genre typically unfriendly to instrumental musicians. Satriani has received 13 Grammy nominations, and he has sold more than 7 million albums worldwide. It is notable that while his fans tend to call him "Satch", other guitarists sometimes refer to him as "Saint Joe"; there are numerous t-shirts to this effect.
Satriani has endorsed Ibanez's JS Series guitars, and Peavey's JSX amplifier. Both lines were designed specifically as signature products for Satriani.

Discography

• Not of This Earth (1986)
• Surfing With the Alien (1987)
• Dreaming #11 (1988)
• Flying in a Blue Dream (1989)
• The Extremist (1992)
• Time Machine (1993)
• The Beautiful Guitar (European compilation album) (1993)
• Joe Satriani (1995)
• G3: Live in Concert (1997)
• Crystal Planet (1998)
• Engines of Creation (2000)
• Additional Creations (Bonus CD with limited "Engines of Creation") (2000)
• Live in San Francisco (Previously recorded material) (2001)
• Strange Beautiful Music (2002)
• The Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology (2003)
• G3 Live: Rockin' in the Free World (2004)
• Is There Love in Space? (2004)

External link

• Official Website
• World's Greatest Guitarist - Joe Satriani
• Ibanez JS site