LESSON } SHRED!
SHRED!
This month Charlie Griffiths enters the ultra zone, where he aims to decode some of Steve Vai’s alien guitar secrets.
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Steve Vai: one of the greatest of all instrumental rock guitar players
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ABILITY RATING
✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate
Info
Key:
Various
Tempo: Various
Will improve your
Vibrato and whammy use
Odd-time playing
Fretting-hand tapping
Steve Vai’s otherworldly playing and unique musical voice has been both astounding and inspiring guitarists since 1990, when he released his landmark album Passion And Warfare. It’s arguably one of the most important guitar instrumental albums ever recorded, and here we examine some of Steve’s best known techniques.
Example 1 is all about finger tone and giving life to the notes. Steve’s unique circular vibrato is a huge part of the DNA of his playing. The concept is to combine the classical push-pull vibrato with the more bluesy string-bending style. For classical vibrato, the hand moves side to side in the direction of the string, in order to stretch and slacken it. This makes the note subtly bend above and below the pitch being fretted. For blues-rock vibrato, anchor the side of your first finger knuckle to the underside of the neck and use your forearm and wrist to lever the string up and down. By combining these two techniques the result is the finger moving in a circular motion on the fret which gives the note a liquid sound, showcased in songs like