Musical Mood Of The Day: Steve Vai

Hello, fellow Steem users from all across the world! For today's musical mood I will be talking about American virtuoso guitarist Steve Vai. Given that I grew up with his music and that I also had the privilege to see him performing live in Bucharest when I was only 13 years old, this post will naturally be extremely personal and, in some regards, subjective as well.

Steve Vai is one of the most accomplished and distinguished guitarists alive. During his teenage years, he took guitar lessons from fellow New Yorker Joe Satriani and, at the same time, while in high school Vai played in three bands. Following his passion for this instrument, Steve Vai started out professionally as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa when he was only 18 years old, in 1978 namely. Impressed by his talent and determination, Zappa eventually offered him the position of a full-time member in his band, a position which was accepted by Vai.

After having working with Zappa throughout the early to mid 1980s, Vai would gradually change bands in the upcoming years, firstly playing with Alcatrazz (as a replacement for Yngwie Malmsteen), then with David Lee Roth (ex-Van Halen), and ultimately in Whitesnake (as a replacement for Adrian van den Berg). While he initially recorded and released solo material during the days he played with Zappa (more specifically the 'Flex-Able' studio album in 1984), Vai actually commenced his solo career during the early 1990s, just after releasing the critically-acclaimed 'Passion and Warfare' LP back in 1990.

Steve Vai performing live in 1990 on a double-neck Ibanez electric guitar. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

In the upcoming years, Vai collaborated with Devin Townsend with whom he had released his third studio album entitled 'Sex & Religion' in 1993. Occasionally during the upcoming decades, Vai performed with Zappa plays Zappa, a tribute Zappa band led by none other than one of Zappa's sons, Dweezil Zappa, but also with Ozzy Osbourne (co-writing the song 'My Little Man' on Ozzy's solo album 'Ozzmosis' released in 1995).

In total, Vai released no less than 9 studio albums, the latest one being 'Modern Primitive' from 2016. His signature guitars were made by the Japanese brand Ibanez and to date he has received three Grammy awards. Below you can listen to a personal selection of favourite songs by Steve Vai (both solo work and collaborations). Enjoy!