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DARK SECRETS: Steve vai - The Real Truth

“This might be the last time the Hydra comes out on tour”: Steve Vai might be retiring his monstrous triple-neck Ibanez

The 36-string, gadget-loaded instrument is nearing the end of a long and illustrious career

Guitar World

“I snapped, flipped him off, grabbed my coat, and stormed out of the studio. I told him to ‘get Steve Vai’”: Kim Thayil reveals his battles over Soundgarden’s Superunknown and Black Hole Sun

The Seattle guitar icon recalls the tensions behind the making of Soundgarden’s masterpiece in this exclusive excerpt from his memoir A Screaming Life

Guitar World

“You have no excuses to have bad technique nowadays”: Has Matteo Mancuso arrived as the world’s greatest guitar player?

The fusion maestro says we might be living in golden age of guitar virtuosity but this is not time for “guitar battles”

MusicRadar

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"I thought: 'Can I even play this stuff?' Y'know, a sixty-five-year-old Steve Vai taking on Robert Fripp at thirty-five." Steve Vai on the challenge of playing King Crimson with BEAT – and the one change he's made

In 2024, four monster instrumentalists teamed up to play music from three killer King Crimson albums – and they're finally coming to Europe

Louder

“I wanted to have the most Steve Vai song possible on the record”: Matteo Mancuso reveals the advice his hero gave him – after they ended up working together

The two virtuosos trade licks on Mancuso’s new song, Solar Wind

Guitar World

“I wanted to have the most Steve Vai song possible on the record – but I didn’t want it to be the classic guitar battle”: Matteo Mancuso on his blockbuster Steve Vai collaboration – and the advice the guitar icon gave him

The Sicilian guitar maestro wrote the breathtaking Solar Wind to be the most Steve Vai song he could possibly write – and for the man himself to guest on

MusicRadar

Nuno Bettencourt and Rick Beato form unlikely partnership to rip through a Thin Lizzy Classic at the Six-String Sanctuary

The two guitarists were joined at the Las Vegas guitar camp by Steve Vai, Eric Gales and Mateus Asato

Guitar World

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“It was a whole library of tapes. It was such great stuff”: Steve Vai on the time Eddie Van Halen played him never-before-released material – at the guitar legend’s house

Vai has also had his say on Steve Lukather's involvement in the much-anticipated new Van Halen record, which will revive old material

Guitar World

Shakira teases new song for the FIFA World Cup 2026 with Afrobeats star Burna Boy called 'Dai Dai'

Shakira is back

The Independent UK

“Yngwie was replaced for becoming difficult. We auditioned Steve Vai in secret”: Gary Shea’s never-say-never approach to Alcatrazz, New England… and maybe even Vinnie Vincent

The left-handed bassist discusses the pitfalls of being with Kiss’ management, selling his Ampeg gear to Malmsteen’s band, and releasing a record that shows what might have been with Vincent

Guitar World

“The original idea was Steve Stevens, but he was busy with Billy Idol”: How Steve Vai ended up joining David Lee Roth's post-Van Halen band – thanks to Billy Sheehan

While Vai wasn’t his original choice, the Sheehan-Vai dynamic proved strong enough to outlast Roth’s project

Guitar World

“The poor guy died out there and wasn’t discovered for 2 weeks. A perfect place to make beautiful music, right?” Steve Vai’s LA property – and his Harmony Hut guitar sanctuary – has been listed for $11.7 million

Despite a slightly chilling past, Vai used the space as a functioning studio and a home for his guitar collection, which included guitars personally gifted to him by Yngwie Malmsteen and Joe Satriani

Guitar World

“I had a two-neck guitar, then Steve Vai came out with his three-neck guitar. My label wanted me to challenge Steve to a duel”: Michael Angelo Batio on the origin of his four-neck guitar

The Quad was designed to go toe-to-toe with Steve Vai's three-neck creation

Guitar World

“Evidently not content with redefining what was technically possible on the guitar, he also managed to rewrite pretty much the whole of music theory”: How Allan Holdsworth blew Eddie Van Halen’s mind and inspired the next generation of virtuosos

We unpack the brilliance of jazz-fusion trailblazer Allan Holdsworth, with some help from Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan, Paul Gilbert and Eddie Van Halen

MusicRadar

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Guitar World

Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Pete Thorn trade solos over Led Zeppelin classic at recent SatchVai Band show

Huge tunes from Led Zep and Steppenwolf, and three shredders brought the house down in Portland

Guitar World

“I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t play this thing’”: Why Steve Vai struggled to play Brian May’s iconic Red Special

Vai was just a youngster when May invited him to a Queen rehearsal – and offered him the chance to play the legendary six-string

Guitar World

“I loved the band with Hillel so much – all I could think about was trying to match that energy”: John Frusciante on the challenge of replacing Hillel Slovak in the Red Hot Chili Peppers – and why he’s still at the core of his guitar style today

The funk-rock guitar icon joined his favorite band at 18 years old, but finding his groove took time. He explains how studying Slovak helped him find his own voice – and ultimately made the Chili Peppers one of the biggest bands on the planet

Guitar World

“I discovered that it would be harder to try to replicate his tone than anybody else”: Steve Vai has followed in the footsteps of many guitar greats – this was the hardest one to nail

He’s filled the shoes of Eddie Van Halen and Robert Fripp, but Vai says this particular gig was even harder

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Guitar World

“I would go by John’s room and he’d be working on alternate picking to a metronome. I’d never seen anyone do that before”: He arrived on the shred scene with Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and John Petrucci… then he vanished

After starting a family and his own company, Darren Housholder's priorities changed – but he’s gradually brought music-making back into his world

Guitar World

“I never know what might come across my desk, but this was a taker”: Steve Vai has recorded a new solo over Van Halen’s Jump – which has been crowned the official World Cup 2026 anthem

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker also features on the track

The Independent UK

J Balvin remade Van Halen's 'Jump' as Coca-Cola's World Cup anthem. He says it was 'a puzzle'

In need of a global superstar for a sports anthem

Guitar World

“I was using my Line 6 POD. He said, ‘I’ve got something that may work better.’ He sent me two things in the mail…” When Joe Satriani volunteered to help Dethklok mastermind Brendon Small with his home recording

Small's appearance in the new SatchVai music video isn't his first collaboration with the two virtuosos. They cropped up on his cult animated TV series, Metalocalypse, and have since become mentors

MusicRadar

“I’m watching this sort of genius develop right in front of me, and he seems he has no physical barriers”: Joe Satriani on what it was like to teach a teenage Steve Vai

Here's this "goofy" Ace Frehley fan with big hands and he keeps coming back for more... Satch says it wasn't long before he recognised Vai's potential

Guitar World

“He is truly one of the best players in the new generation”: Matteo Mancuso names the emerging virtuoso that you need to know about

This emerging Italian guitarist has become one of Mancuso and Steve Vai's favorite shredders

Guitar World

“It was the most coveted guitar chair in rock. I adored Edward’s playing, so I understood that people would be skeptical”: How Steve Vai lived his ultimate guitar rockstar fantasy on David Lee Roth’s Eat ’Em and Smile

Working with David Lee Roth was like "being strapped to a rocket made of charisma and fueled by tequila” – and the music was pretty fun, too

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