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DARK SECRETS: 5 | Vintage Vibes

“Jesus, that was hard! But I got it. I welcome the challenges”: Guitar hero Steve Vai reveals the difficulties of playing King Crimson music - and how he gets by with a little help from Robert Fripp

“I’m a fan and want to play the exact notes,” Vai says

MusicRadar

“Joe is on fire! What better inspiration can you get?”: Steve Vai describes the “craziness” of his new music with Joe Satriani

“I’ve never done anything like this,” Vai says

MusicRadar

"We all appeared on stage wearing robes and holding candles:" Joe Satriani on G3 pranking, handling Yngwie Malmsteen and the Halloween costume he'd rather forget

After three decades of changing line-ups, the original G3 – Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson – returned to the stage

Louder

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“I had no idea how he was getting his guitar to sound like that”: Joe Walsh called him one of most underrated guitarists of the '70s and Hendrix said he was a better guitar player than he was – yet this Telecaster icon often remains overlooked

Had he not died tragically at 31, there's no telling what virtuoso Chicago guitarist Terry Kath would have gone on to do with the instrument

Guitar World

“If you’re on stage with Steve Vai, you have to find a way through all the emotions to enjoy the moment”: How Lari Basilio became one of today’s foremost instrumental virtuosos – sharing stages with Joe Satriani, John Petrucci and Lee Sklar along the way

The Ibanez signature artist explains why she makes instrumental music but hardly ever listens to any, where Brazilian music fits in her inspiration, what she loves about her signature pedal and how to develop skills without even knowing it

Guitar World

“It was so close to happening. Then Jeff bailed at the last moment”: Joe Satriani was days away from signing Jeff Beck for G3 – before the Yardbird dropped out and suggested Prince as a replacement

Satriani discusses how Beck may have overlooked him due to their generational differences as guitarists

Guitar World

“I was completely blown away... He’d only just joined the band! He was the same age as me but he totally left me choking in his dust”: Remembering John Sykes, the powerhouse rock journeyman who breathed new life into Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy

A personal tribute to the Tygers of Pan Tang and Blue Murder guitarist, who passed in January at 65

Guitar World

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“They’ve achieved so much in their careers. I love hearing their stories. Every time we plug in together, I grow as a player”: Lari Basilio reveals what she learned from playing side by side with all-time guitar and session greats

From sharing the stage with Steve Vai to having Joe Satriani shred on one of her tracks, Basilio knows a thing or two about playing alongside some of the most established names in the biz

Guitar World

“There was no way we would cancel the gig, but there were no guitars, amps, pedals, or anything. How am I going to make the show work for Steve Vai?” When Steve Vai’s gear got lost in transit, his tech stepped in to save the day

Incredibly, Doug MacArthur sourced a full live rig in just four hours so the show could go on

Guitar World

“Try playing Three Of A Perfect Pair without feeling your fingertips!”: Adrian Belew has carpal tunnel surgery following tour with prog supergroup BEAT

The former King Crimson guitarist was operated on by the surgeon responsible for the first successful human hand transplant in America

MusicRadar

“Throughout the Beat tour, my left hand kept going numb and burning like fire”: Adrian Belew recovering after undergoing carpal tunnel surgery

The “world-renowned” surgeon who took charge of the surgery is a King Crimson fan

Guitar World

“I'd lost a close friend and a hero of mine took the time to console me”: Guitar mainstay Pete Thorn tells how Steve Vai comforted him following Chris Cornell’s death

And there’s a happy ending. Thorn and Vai are now band members in SatchVai Band, alongside Joe Satriani

MusicRadar

“It was two days after Chris Cornell passed. Steve said, ‘I know you lost your friend – it's too soon now, but the time will come where you think of him, and it'll be happy memories’”: Once just a hero and mentor, Steve Vai is now Pete Thorn's bandmate

“Here, I'd lost a close friend and collaborator; and a hero of mine, from the time I was 11 years old or so, took the time to console me,” the newly appointed SatchVai Band guitarist tells GW

Guitar World

“His thumbprint is an indelible part of the Whitesnake record he did. The fatness of that record and the rock integrity it had was all him”: Steve Vai followed John Sykes in Whitesnake – and he quickly decided what not to do when playing his parts

Of course, it wasn't a chops issue so much as it was the late guitarist's unique six-string footprint

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“His rhythm playing is tight and in tune in a way that’s rare, and his intonation is stunning”: Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have detailed the full SatchVai Band lineup – and Pete Thorn is handling rhythm guitar

The six-string dream team will also be rounded out by an equally formidable rhythm section

Guitar World

“It was very simplistic compared to my later compositions”: It may have been inspired by the Kinks, but Al Di Meola's Race with Devil on Spanish Highway is one of the great virtuoso displays in guitar history. Watch the maestro play it with Steve Vai

This intimate rehearsal clip shows the fretwork of both guitar legends up-close

Guitar World

“We get past our second show and I get an email from Robert. At the end, he said, ‘Can I make a suggestion?’” How Robert Fripp helped Steve Vai tailor his King Crimson playing on the BEAT tour with one piece of advice

After watching clips of one of the early BEAT shows, the King Crimson guitarist had some words of wisdom for his stand-in regarding an especially tricky track

Louder

“They said, ‘Uh, okay!’ They didn’t know what I was talking about – and in a way, neither did I”: How William Shatner learned to love prog and make an all-star album with all the humanity of classic Star Trek

Knowing some people would never get over the novelty, Billy Sherwood decided to go for broke with Ponder The Mystery, featuring Steve Vai, Rick Wakeman, Nik Turner, Edgar Froese and others

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Guitar World

“Imagine performing a Green Day song to Billie Joe Armstrong”: Guitarist plays Green Day classic at Liverpool's Cavern Club – only to discover Billie Joe Armstrong was filming his set

Resident performer Callum McMorran thought it was just another Tuesday – turns out Billie Joe Armstrong had been watching his performance

Guitar World

“We’re going to release an end-all-be-all amplifier with his name on it”: Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Metallica are among the rock royalty who used José Arredondo’s legendary amps. Now Dave Friedman is honoring his legacy with a definitive model

With the blessing of Arredondo’s family, Friedman will build a highly limited amp that encompasses most of the late amp guru’s elusive mods

Guitar World

“For me to be so appreciated, I think I can start to feel guilty and pressured. But I guess it’s a good problem to have”: From playing Steve Vai's guitars to playing with him onstage, Tosin Abasi's rapid ascent made him one of the biggest names in guitar

Speaking to Guitar World in 2014, the Animals As Leaders maestro recalls the grueling salmon cannery and poop-scooping dog kennel jobs that helped him save for his first Vai signature model, and discusses how to adapt to seven- and eight-string models

MusicRadar

“A lot of the guitar parts were totally within my ability, but there were a couple that I just couldn’t navigate”: Steve Vai reveals the King Crimson riff that had him beat and the tip from Robert Fripp that helped him nail it

Celebrating the ‘80s material of prog trailblazers King Crimson, the BEAT Tour gave Vai a welcome fix of “high-information music” but some of Fripp’s material pushed him to the limit

MusicRadar

“He was a great guitar player. He’s not looking at what he’s playing, so obviously he really knows the instrument”: Which grunge icon could Joe Satriani be talking about?

Plus, he highlights the “only problem” with Yngwie Malmsteen

Guitar World

“This is a guy who worked for Frank Zappa. Frank said to him, ‘Whatever you do, don’t learn how to read music.’ He's all-creative –he's a miracle, really”: Steve Vai on BEAT, being a virtuoso in his 60s – and the Fripp riff he just couldn’t master

He reflects on how Frank Zappa helped him and Adrian Belew, the value of learning from rather than competing with other players and changing rig for his tour with Joe Satriani. But who’s going to be in the SatchVai band?

Louder

“He was a great guitar player. He’s not looking at what he’s playing, he really knows the instrument”: Joe Satriani says Kurt Cobain was an underrated guitar hero

Joe Satriani knows a thing or two about great guitarists –and he says the Nirvana frontman was one of them

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