Steve Vai 1990 Network Television Debut

[TrickyE]

@malagueta1986 I'm not sure what you're talking about. I love Steve Vai but the video quality is lousy that's all. Also I was trying to tell someone else that he's not playing a Jem in this video

[malagueta1986]

@TrickyE I mean that i like Steve Vai in every way... HD or not...

[Catfishrich]

I have this on VHS tape too in my archive and is just as grainy.

[ratoss1715]

the band missed the 6:05

Aos 6:05 a banda errou

[dphidt]

You can find original H3000 units on eBay. They were the newest thing in 1990. Eventide has the H8000, H7600, and eclipse units now. These rack units are not cheap, but are some of the best out there.

[nzSkitzo]

I wish vai would use his atd universes live there are very few videos of him playing them.

[shredmaster100]

guitar sounds like a harp at the beginning of the song how does he do it

[dphidt]

@shredmaster100 The harp sound is courtesy of an Eventide H3000 harmonizer.

[shredmaster100]

cool can you buy it online or is it only availible to steve

[dphidt]

@shredmaster100 You may also find the effect in the more affordable Eventide Pitch Factor pedal. They list for about $500.

[shredmaster100]

cool still expensive but a very cool effect to have in your arsenal

[aaronbergAPB]

He crushed here. What a triumph.

[NeverBeMackin]

QUIT LOOKIN AT MY DICK

[Liverofrobbo]

Whilst there is no denying how talented Vai is,& I love his work with Roth & Passion & Warfare,give me Randy Rhoads & Gary Moore ANYDAY!

[ZeroFrillsMan]

i loved when he was the true reincarnation of Niccolò Paganini. it's always italian blood, after all...

[kevycanavan]

fuck me these ads make a great backing band!

[kevycanavan]

forgot to mention Joe Walsh song in the description

[Voicecolors]

Man thanks so much for this!Rare and great video!

[wseeback]

I wonder if that's a record, or a laser disc? Anyone remember laser discs? Before "compact" discs? You know, CD's?

[spakattack]

what effect did he use to do the clean bit at 3:28 and on? It doesn't sound like a whammy, well it would be hard to believe it's just a whammy.

[francisco444]

@spakattack is a harmonizer. I think Eventide makes one.

[manonmagiccarpet]

passion and warfare is such a good album! i love the sound production on older albums like that. Its almost as if the sound production is too good nowadays. Like with Jason Becker's 'Perpetual Burn', you can imagine him sat there playing it straight up with nothing done to it.

[PeterHBne1]

I saw Steve Vai live in a a horrible hot sweaty room in Brisbane about 14 years ago. MY GOD HE ROCKED.

[ChadBurk4420]

Cool CLIP THIS IS AWESOME!!!

[CAP1997FURACAO]

1:47 ROCKY MOUNTAINWAY aint it ? 14 year old (;

[STORYTASTIC]

ahhh this was when he actually could play

[salasvalor01]

@STORYTASTIC Always could. I call bs on you.

[STORYTASTIC]

@salasvalor01 thats what I said..this is when he was a GIANT...nowwww ahhh a midget...all the best!!

[lightspeed79]

Personally I think he played better back in 1990 than he does now, I dont know if it was it that he was more metal but I just liked his music and style better.

[XciteD18]

hey i want to know how to play tapping from 4:31 to 4:34. it's really fast

[bugietube]

He played with Dave Roth but sounds like he really wanted to rip it up with Uli Roth; ala @4:23.

[wolfdemon99]

whats the song at 3:25

[ConklinTa]

@wolfdemon99 Ballerina 12/24, it's on the Passion and Warfare album.

[Alejandro4891]

steve's jem is fucking awesome

[TrickyE]

@Alejandro4891 it's such a sweet guitar, but that's actually a Universe, the 7 string model with some other variations in it as well :)

[Diege29]

How many fingers does he have?

[BlackBeltNumber3]

I'm not sure why someone got upset at me stating that I really like David Gilmour's playing. I removed my other post because I spelled David Gilmour incorrectly. Oh well.

[nobnobnobnob]

can we have the whole episode?

[darren0512341]

music nowadays is fucking shit compare to the 80's......

[TrickyE]

1:10, Nobody has ever made chewing gum look so cool

[malagueta1986]

@TrickyE so what do you mean? i love steve vai... and the quality of the video doesn't afect my apreciation for him... and i also have a ibanez jem my friend...

[chiba131]

Plus Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)

[Chris741113]

Enjoyed hearing the fast alternate picking again, he is never doing that these days. And his bending has never been his strong point but those awful bends at 6.27 almost broke my dinner plate. Not good..

[vaiman7777]

@Chris741113 haha at "broke my dinner plate" :) Agree with you, miss the alternate picking.

[billmeedog]

@Chris741113,

First of all, Steve Vai is AWESOME! I have a ton of respect for the guy: He's brilliant, he's talented, he worked his ASS off to get where he is, and he is a unique-voice on guitar (NO ONE is quite like Vai!)

That said, I totally agree with you! I remember watching this Letterman-performance live 21-years ago, and most of it was great, but I distinctly remember how POORLY INTONATED those bends were from (6:27 - 6:30!) I guess that shows how much we expect of Steve Vai!

[guitarse]

You know that guitarist on the left is good, but you also know he's thinking "bastard" lol

[TrickyE]

@guitarse haha yeah, on any given night the band's guitarist gets to strut his stuff and no doubt he's probably wicked, but on this night, little Stevie Vai showed up and made him look like he's never touched the instrument.

[hellsSG]

@guitarse haha yeah xD

[sbtoolman12123]

anything vai plays is freaking gold,that man could play mary had a little lamb and i record it and listen to it 100 times! VAI ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lStefanIacob]

He could do video games on his guitar :)

[malagueta1986]

fuck HD i love this quality...

[ANOTHERHOLEINYOHEAD]

@malagueta1986 it says alot about you then doesnt it.

[RockNanok]

Wtf: Sound? and?

[TheStaticage01]

I only like Paul Shaffer when he is portrayed by Beavis!

[mqmqmwmw]

7:01 " Hey Come on! Im not ready yet !

[mqmqmwmw]

2:50 Steven ????? WTF ?

[llellin2l]

i remember when this aired

[rockhurstalum09]

EPIC

[nusdorfer]

shafer's keyboard is tooo fkn loud! what a bonehead....

[DenPay]

15 people are Boneheads!!

[dreamwever87]

man, ccr, jimi, joe walsh, led zeppelin, steppen wolf?!? you think steve helped in deciding what they played to go to commercial ha awesome!

[dreamwever87]

man spanish castle magic sounded great!

[adolfo21]

Drummer fucked up voodoo child

[drawlbag]

His fingers are longer than my penises!!!

[Chris741113]

@drawlbag

You got more than one?

[scottfree6]

@drawlbag HOW MANY YOU GOT LMAO!!

[DenPay]

Like, Steve Vai man, he's too much man, Steve Vai! I love it. Thanks for posting this.

[Ranklescher]

@BlackBeltNumber3 . . . okay to each his own I guess: go away and learn to appreciate music in its purest form of beauty and then come back and people won't look at you like a strange weird person

[BlackBeltNumber3]

@Ranklescher Huh? I'm not sure what you're talking about. So, since you brought it up, what is music in its purest form?

[kklocket2]

@BlackBeltNumber3 Ahh the power of Youtube.

[BlackBeltNumber3]

@kklocket2 Ahh the power of an overdriven tube amp :)

[scottfree6]

@BlackBeltNumber3 i guess to each his own but it is interesting that invariablely, its always someone that doesn't play the guitar that makes a comment like this. i would imagine because unless you play the instrument most steve vai stuff just doesnt make sense lol....my wife is like the same way, to her it's just like a bunch of randoms squeals, shrills, and thrills that just dont seem to make any musical sense whatsoever lol!! Vai's a guitarist's guitarist&BTW GLIMOUR ROCKS!! NO DOUBT!CHEERS!

[BlackBeltNumber3]

@scottfree6 - I have no idea what you're talking about. I LOVE Steve Vai and David Gilmour is friggin' awsome - I personally think he has the best tone on the planet! I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and we've played all over. I even got to play at Red Rocks in Colorado once back when I was in the Angie Stevens band :)  Anyway.... you must have me confused with someone else. Keep on rockin'!

[scottfree6]

@BlackBeltNumber3 yeah sorry bout that brother lol...wrong button, or somethin, thanks for your patience, no offense intended..ROCK ON!!

[rascalferret]

why is that CD so big...and..what's a record?

[irockyouroll]

BALLERINA !!!! YESSS

[imrhyswatson]

is that rocky mountain way at 1:41?

[deltaforce2024]

4:07 wath song?

[natapitapeta]

the other guitar player on the show voted "thumbs downs" 14 times

[corkskrewclubhouse93]

I hate Letterman's dickheaded comedy

[paulinhoagu]

what song is when he play at 0:48 ? tks

[tychonaut]

@paulinhoagu Please tell me you are not a guitar player who doesn't know "Whole Lotta Love" by Zeppelin!

Aaaaaaahhhhhh...... am I that old?

[TheCaseman777]

Did anyone else see the constant color change? Thats what happens when too much pure awesomeness in one room.

[AlonzoMartinez11]

thats awesome

[beefcake0354]

even playing 5 seconds of whole lotta love, Vai still managed to use a bit of whammy bar .. :D

[SouthOCmixdown]

Respect Vai as a player &a tone freak. But 2call him an innovator is a bit much. He was definitely derivative of guys like Micheal Schencker &other Euro proto-metal guitar gods. Vai is very image-driven but he definitely has the chops 2back it up. Me personally, Id rather listen2 "Into the Arena" by MSG or maybe some older Robert Fripp. But whoever calls guys like this 'wankers', is missing the point. Rock/Metal is supposed 2b flashy, showy &fashion/expo driven. Always has been. Always will be.

[TheAppieJj]

WHOLE LOTTA LOVE

[brando18guitarplyr]

The older Music Steve made is a lot more awesome then his latest album.

[octamaniac]

@julyo78 I don´t think that´s his amp because he´s been a Carvin Legacy user since a long time ago, maybe the other guitar player is using it...

[arjunkaul]

This was his best look

[icanpeeyee]

@arjunkaul yeah! now he kinda reminds me of sandra bollock or whoever it was that played the lady in The Blind Side movie

[TheVieho]

4:15

ROOOOOCK....!!  hes just awsome..!!!

[chez117]

My favorite part was when he played some Zeppelin. GO STEVE!

[youcdtube]

simply put, he's the best!

[ASMODAN116]

es todo un maestro !!!!

[fadethetrade]

I love how with ease he breaks out in a zeppelin riff!

[Aggrevaine]

@fadethetrade Its an easy riff to play.

[lamt1996]

"is the new guy to good for rifling music" haha, awsome

[newflipvideos]

thats an awful large compact disc cover........Hmmmmmm

[FeelingShred]

"a gold album can really screw up your stereo"

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH­AHA

[cameronS96]

steve vai is god

[julyo78]

05:29 .... is Steve using that little amp over there on the far left?!?!?!?!?!? :)

[duncanstpt]

Letterman is such a downer, he ruins everything he comes in contact with. What a jerk.

[gonzogriffin]

@duncanstpt wtf are you talking about??? seriously,wtf are talking about?....

[777Luth]

@duncanstpt I must have missed something. . . . Letterman was all smiley and very complimentary to Vai, particularly at the end. . . why exactly is he a "downer" who "ruins everything he comes in contact with? 

[arrackattack]

@duncanstpt even the quality video as been fucked lool

[The2secondpepod]

BERKLEE! 

[rockandroll63]

Superb tonal control.

[Alejandro4891]

"soon after this was filmed all of the band members of the david letterman show retired."

[MrStevevai13]

brilliant stuff steve

[goldenaxeband]

OMG, they were freaking out with the ballerina 12/24 thing

[moonybg]

haha 4:32 Wings of the storm :P

[feratu22]

Steve Vai has never played metal. Ever.

[joescout]

@feratu22 alcatraz

[gunnerslash]

@feratu22 Have you ever heard Bad Horsie?

Steve himself in the Astoria DVD says "Welcome to the Heavy Metal part of the Show"

[Glutonid]

@gunnerslash Yeah also on his myspace "Rock, Proggresive, Metal".

[TheCaseman777]

LETTERMAN HAD HAIR!!! O_O

[MidlanderThe]

riffling!

[FlaGuy66]

I met Steve last weekend and got a Passion and Warfare LP autographed. He's gotten even better on the guitar (if that's possible)

[MidlanderThe]

@FlaGuy66 lost a bit of speed though......

[Geeteaohh]

Simply awesome... I got this album the day it came out... I so over played this record over and over. So raw so Steve... so cool. Awesome to see this on Dave's program. Thank you for posting this video!!

[giggy5150]

Paul Shaffer must have licked some ass and balls to stay in that so called job of his right there with his manhero Letterman who kinda sucks his own cok too most times... whilst trying to degrade his guests and laugh at his own jokes. Just how much canned laughter was wasted on that show? Meanwhile Vai appeared and presented his music with impeccable TALENT.

[gorethem]

Love this vid. Vai is the master !!!

[guidoyngwie]

is that a seven string guitat?

[whammybarfreak]

@guidoyngwie yes it is

[paulwall1981]

All I can say is that this is the master at work. Mr Vai cannot put a foot worng. Brillaint work and the best was yet to come from him later on. Top marks.

[Vaislashhalen]

Awesome Show.

[progjazzfusion]

vai is such a wanker...this is just the kind of overblown widdly widdly hair metal crap that made shred guitar embarrasing the 90s

[KonkreteXXX]

Hes too much, man...^^

[noahwayne]

Vai always plays the same licks when he's jamming. He played this exact stuff at Expo 92.....I used to love him but I'd sooner watch Nuno or Jimmy Page - they just seem to have more feel.

[b0b1919]

@noahwayne I agree, Vai is an amazing composer, but he's not the world's most original improviser

[ABshookme]

@b0b1919 You go study Steve Vai some more and then you will have another opinion

[riggins25]

that was the cool old show

[ai4281]

This is great! It was cool when Zakk Wylde was on Jimmy Kimmel Live as well. They should get guitarists to do these things more often.

[PIMPZproduction]

when he played zepplin, it was actualy amazing

[zappafile]

wow thats a lot of keys in Liberty. And yes Paul is a fucking dick.

[jnnr22]

god

[blitzspeer]

Paul Shaffer is a douche and Letterman is too,but Steve is master and they saw the rating's go up having the master there.

[MaggotIam]

I thought that ballerina 12/24 had like 5 guitars in the recording and now I see this O.o. This is awesome! And Liberty gives me chills as always :)

[zappafile]

@MaggotIam this song used a popular device called an Eventide Harmonizer. Basically two delays pitched up and down and panned left and right. Cool huh.

[STorpedo]

@MaggotIam had an eventide harmonizer unit, pitch shifting with delay in stereo I think.

[ShadowLancer128]

No shit, Liberty is in B? By Ear, It sounded like C to me, then I watched this and saw him use the open B string on that guitar, and I was like: "huh! wow."

[simonsheppard92]

This video froze my computer, too much awesomeness was happenning

[vanhlnfan4life]

@ 6:43 HE'S DOING WHATS CALLED THE " i DONT KNOW WHAT i'M DOING SO i WILL DO THIS UNTIL i THINK OF SOMETHING" move

[romienomie]

I only like to hear hendrix, play hendrix, you know what I mean? But Vai is fantastic in his own right.

[dougjwhalen]

lol "NICE JOB!" haha I'm happy you can play a power chord mr. vai never mind the fact that you're one of the most amazing guitar players of ALL time play some power chords! /sigh to letterman

[mariachipr]

this show use to run at 12:30 am, nobody but hardcores watched this. I loved this I watched this way back when. Blew me away.

[ABCvitaminD]

What the hell is he doing at 6:43? that's not even a thing. It's not making any sound. Like blackmore pretending to tap. Kind of funny and a little bit odd.

[Topher19801413]

@ABCvitaminD its octaves. all the same note just all the diff places you can hit it.

[xXNeoShredderXx]

Does anyone have the whole show uploaded?

[fanqueen]

@xXNeoShredderXx Search for it, I´ve seen it on youtube

[xXNeoShredderXx]

@fanqueen I'm not trying to be rude, but I asked because I was not going to search for it. I wouldn't know what the tags were to search for, because this video title is too vague. If anyone can pm me the address, that would be great.

[TheTylerWilks]

@xXNeoShredderXx this was the whole show the guy just froze in the sight of pure awesomeness! lol

[xXNeoShredderXx]

@TheTylerWilks O, well it's fantastic! :)

[TheTylerWilks]

@xXNeoShredderXx oh wait the show didn't freeze My computer did! I guess the 'computer' couldn't handle it! lol

[VideoGameSpeed]

Is it me, or does it always seem like Steve Vai is chewing gum. 5:05

[TheTylerWilks]

@VideoGameSpeed Ya this is actually a new Stride Gum Commercial!

[dilocaster23]

lol, yea, i bet he made the other guitar player feel bad

[jesman1]

I`d feel like a 5th wheel if I was the other guitar player. He`s like in 1st grade compared to Vai`s master class playing. What a TV debut!

[inuki69]

thats too much metal for a late night show

[moondancer33]

@inuki69

no such thing as too much metal, bro. XDD

[mediblue9]

@inuki69 No way!

[igknightus]

does anyone have the tabs for castle spanish magic.

[CecilTheSeaMonster]

John Mayer slays Steve Vai.....

[Gregorypeckory]

That's like saying Jimi Hendrix slays John Williams-apples and oranges. I appreciate both, but if I had to choose, Steve's the guy. The coolest things Mayer has done were done before by his heros-the pop stuff is unremarkable. Vai, on the other hand has invented his own style, was in Zappa's band playing "impossible guitar parts" at a tender age, and has done all sorts of things nobody else could have done.

[variopintos]

With kisses

[tc0nk]

Hard to compare.  Mayer is all about blues. They're both amazing in their own genres.

But, Vai can play blues. Listen to The Boy From Seattle. Can Mayer play metal? No.

[gnargnargnar]

wow lol... and Rosie O'Donnell slays John Mayer.