Andy Timmons & Steve Vai - Beat it RIP Michael Jackson

[LordBelialTheOne]

Only Steve  Can Beat It!!\m/ :)

[robertroyfellows]

This just sounds like it's been thrown together in 5 minutes backstage. Disappointing....

[psymichi73]

...am Schlagzeug "Felix" ;)

[cast390]

Love andys playing but guthrie govan smokes them both

[rotcoddam77]

Ive seen Timmons make a lot of more famous popular players look bad over the years during impromptu jams........... Satriani should do a G3 with Timmons and Govan

[carakenio]

Better than Ed !!!!

[robby188]

I love Steve Vai playing but his improvisation on this piece is very very boring to listen; Andy has many qualities that Steve has not!!! i'm sorry Vai, but Andy is a more complete guitarist than you!!!

[ricardopickman]

That's why Eddie Van Halen is better guitar player. Give me riffs! Give me small solos!

[rub800]

@ricardopickman

The riff is not even made by Van Halen. The riff was written by Steve Lukather

[LUCIOHANS]

REALLY GREAT, GREAT , R.I.P MICHAEL JACKSON, THANKYOU STEVE VAI AND BAND, THANKYOU VERY MUCH!!!

[SeerTrulth]

You "shot"? You had a camera, and that's about it. Thanks, though. I wouldn't have seen this otherwise.

[lipeguitars]

After all the BS Michael Jackson was a great artist and all our boys showed their respect, Steve Vai , Andy Timmons, Yngwie Malmsteen, Richie Kotzen , Nuno Bettancourt with Extreme all of them did MJ cover.

[krzysiekszpila1982]

beautiful song perfect guitar

[LuvMeJoice]

Fudging incredible!

[johnduss]

With my wah pedal im a god....Like Steve is ...

[baack2roots]

nobody like Eddie Van Halen. A Real musician and Master of the electric guitar.

[snezakovic]

hey guys ,it's not all about speed - Jennifer Batten could explain more... ;)

[Kanydja]

Steve Vai in his best!

[1JAT1]

its funny how theyr doing a michael jackson tribute without words

[hebertdrummer]

VERY GOOD,FELIX CONGRATULATIONS

HEBERT SHRED -BRAZIL

[garyf8966]

Petrucci is not musician he does maths in his music

[joelioes]

@garyf8966 ??? explain...

[kalapoka666]

@garyf8966 WELL SAID MY MAN!!!

[ricmgrande]

@garyf8966, as a mathematician and musician, I completely agree. Nice commment.

[espectaculardavidrcq]

De Michael Jackson, en guitarra, esta muy bien!

[elvisdustin]

steve is good but he should of done eddies solo but in his style

[ZeroCasablancas]

Andy is an awesome player;

Steve is good but he's more a showman;

Petrucci is the best ever!

[snezakovic]

@ZeroCasablancas

Buckethead can hide them all under his KFC bucket and eats them for dinner ;)

[BlckLblBUCKETSTRINGS]

@snezakovic BUCKKKKEEEETTTHHHHEEEEEAAAAAAD­DDDD owns every guitarist.. ever.. period.. he needs to do some shows with other guitarists.. a concert with bucket, gilbert, timmons, via, satriani and petrucci.. would be insane.. maybe too many guitars.. but fuck it haha... cant believe gilbert and bucket have never performed together considering bucket took some lessons from him

[StefanDLazarov]

@BlckLblBUCKETSTRINGS  me 2 m8...BUcket all da way

[jeffygmusic]

long live!!! steve Vai!!



[ermonski]

LOL if Paul Gilbert was there he would be singing haha

[leobalestrin]

VAIS IS A MONSTER!!!!

[EtchegarayDaniel]

não se comparam ao Ed

[eddievanhalen10000]

Eddie is Eddie. Born again, Steve!

[omatu1]

nice. Vai lets his guitar effing SING!

[Quilbo]

OMFG.

[Ibik]

wow thats cool!

[kilipeti]

WHERE IS EDDIE'S SOLO???

I watched it because i was fency watching that solo played by Vai or Timmons.. And they just left it out :( OMG!

[mrd1903]

@kilipeti hey, do you think that a guitarrist like Steve would copy the Van Halen solo ?

of course, the solo is awsome, but someone who plays like Steve, would like to play his own version, i guess

and sorry for my English, im Portuguese xD

[bbriiannz]

@mrd1903 there is even a video where Slash plays the solo.

[mrd1903]

@bbriiannz and what's about Slash ? He is also a guitar god.

and the video where he plays Beat It, is fucking awsome, one of my favourite performances of that song

[bbriiannz]

@mrd1903 I no, thats why I have his solo album on my COM

[DioxxCrush]

@kilipeti yeah,steve vai changed it into cheap pinch harmonics LOL

[ShadowLancer128]

I remember when this came out- just a week or two after Jackson died. It seemed like even Steve was all over his death. I wasn't but I certainly was slapped in the face with the point that those two are making up there.

That was a heavy loss to a lot of people.

[DavidEdwinCarr]

Andy Timmons main talent is B grade acting. Maybe he's a great player but he's such a cliche poser. Electric Gypsy? Ha ha ha ha ha. Perhaps he could do a song called Voodoo purple watchtower traffic.

[ShadowLancer128]

Super 70's, Carpe Diem, and Pink Champagne Sparkle sound nothing like anything that Hendrix ever did. He uses a strat style Ibanez because he likes the sound and the tone he can get from the guitar.

[flobtob]

Perhaps you could not be a retard :)

[SokSa]

hats off to this duo. brilliant.

[Bonkymonk]

What a racket. Edward's solo has soul and THE tone. This is just space invader noises.

[mallamoozoo]

@Bonkymonk

This is pure crap!

[Tommothe3rd]

HEY ITS FLOW!

[mallamoozoo]

Was the bass even plugged in - cant hear a damn thing - and the drums were very thin - so the whole thing sounded way too light for what is actually a pretty heavy song. The guitar guys did a better job - but the original was waaay better - was this just improved on the spot? - Cos im surprised how weak it all sounds.

(By the way - who is better overall - Van Halen or Vai?)

[BenDaSilva1]

4 u to even ask that u know nothing about guitar do you !

VAI by like light years ???

[mallamoozoo]

@BenDaSilva1

the fact you cant explain any basis for your OPINION shows you don't know anything either - doesn't it?

[nathan87]

van halen wasn't even the best guitarist on beat it ;)

[mallamoozoo]

@nathan87

ウェllへ和sべってrてゃん見チェアlじゃｃｋそん！

[mallamoozoo]

@nathan87

well he was better than michael jackson LOL

[mallamoozoo]

@nathan87

But seriously who else played on the original (musos)

[nathan87]

mallamoozoo: steve lukather did most of the guitar work on beat it.

[mallamoozoo]

@nathan87

what parts? intro, rhythm? The solo was eddie wasnt it?

[nathan87]

yes, the solo was by van halen. I think everything else was lukather, though. If I'm honest I don't think the solo is even that good. Loses its way a bit.

[mallamoozoo]

@nathan87

well ur honest but i think ur in a minority of 1 there - everyone else seems to rate it as one of the all time great solos.

But im interested to hear your thoughts on whats wrong with it - can you elaborate a bit?

cheers.

[nathan87]

hmm, I've never heard anybody call it one of the 'all time great solos' before. I dunno, it just doesn't seem to have the feel of a solo that wasn't planned before it was played. It just seems to be eddie doodling around on some not-very-inventive scales, then the last phrase feels cut off way too soon, like he just hastily stuck in a minor scale and had to end up sliding up to the tonic because he didn't even start it in the right place and couldn't think of a better note to finish on.

[mallamoozoo]

@nathan87

Google:

100 Greatest Guitar Solos

67th: Eddie Van Halen: Beat it

sounds like you need to unlearn some theory wank and start feeling.

[retroguy90]

Guitar World staff voted it top solo of the 1980s in the issue January 1990 i believe, which summarized guitar in the 1980's.

[nathan87]

Even right from the beginning, the end of the first phrase is a bit weak, leaving the interval of a sixth when the bass drop down a tone. But the main problem I think is more overarching - he's really just pulling out a 'bag of tricks' - look, I can play harmonics, I can tap, I can play fast, I can make my guitar squeal, I can use my whammy bar! That's all very good, but for a great solo, it needs better underlying musical content to support all these things.

[Zagalote]

You can always contact Steve to give him some lesson, on lead. Whats your curriculum vitae by the way.

[nathan87]

hey, don't bring steve into this. Steve is great. Look, this is just one solo - somebody asked me why I thought it was a weak one, I explained. That's not to say I think eddie is a bad guitarist. As for imagining my CV might somehow 'validate' my comments... I would not sink so low ;p

[Zagalote]

OK, I got it.

:)

[retroguy90]

"interval of the sixth when the bass drop down a tone" - bollocks. Those notes work perfectly over the bass and it's kind of the intuitive way of playing which, judging by your comment, you cannot for the life of you understand. As for the "bag of tricks" comment, there's far more validity in that, however part of the appeal of players like Van Halen and Jeff Beck is that they make noises musical, which to a lot of people is more interesting than appegios and classical theory.

[nathan87]

I said it was weak, not that it didn't work. You seem to be mistaking me for somebody who uses theory to determine whether I like music, as apposed to somebody who, as a matter of incidental interest, thinks retrospectively finding correlation between particular features in music and liking or disliking that music is a good way to learn. shall we just agree to disagree.

[retroguy90]

No. I actually really admire the way you can analyse why you like or dislike something based on theory. I was just offering a criticism that certain notes found intuitively often work better than "by the book" scales and appegios. Listen to Vai's early work, e.g. Stevie's Spanking -Zappa, not so linear passage scale based, with whammy bar lots of quarter tones etc, but to my ears, fantastic. Just a different perspective for you to ponder.

[nathan87]

yes, of course. I don't think I said anything to contradict that? :) In fact, my original criticism of the van halen solo was that I found it too *uninventive*! :-)

[retroguy90]

ok i can even understand what you mean by that. you can certainly tell it's Eddie unleashing his "box of tricks." Nevertheless i would still argue that he came up with or at least integrated all those techniques into a style intuitively and organically and the solo is only diminished in time by constant copying of his style.

[joelioes]

@mallamoozoo when can people stop comparing musicians ?

[wuzzzaaa]

can you hear the pick drop in 2: 26 ?

[straybullet81]

Stand next to one of your idols and see if you are acting all normal, especially knowing he is listening to all your mistakes, lol...

[fc662004]

Is it my imagination or does Timmons look terribly uncomfortable?

[GuitarManRivera]

I like this guys, but beat it just only Ed !

[SantaKalauz]

toto recorded all that album,and a branch of the other Michaels albums including guests like Eddie

[AjejeAlex]

Che Spettacolo !!!

[TechnicolorTypeA]

haha that was freaking awesome.

Andy should turned the gain up a bit for his solo but still was sweet. Especially when they started playing together specifically on the outro chorus.

The wah stuff was cool but I think the chorus could of done without the wah.

Although on the 2nd chorus it almost sounded like a real voice singing it lol.

[arg2032]

Andy rulezzz

[TheOneTrueSpLiT]

Agree with you Vaibhav8584, I have a Jem and the Zoom G7 but can I get it to "wail" like Steve does - can I heck!!! Will have to invest in the Morely Bad Horise me thinks.

[razvanciub8a]

@TheOneTrueSpLiT : Despite the fact that Vai endorses Morley, he certainly uses a Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal most of the times. As for the "wail"... it's all in the hands...

[nowonyuno]

weedly weedly weedly weedly wahhhhhh weedly wahhhhh weedly wahhhh wahhh weedly wahhh

Saw Danger Danger perform Bang Bang at the Ritz Ritz in Roseville, MI when they opened for Extreme in 91. Nuno mopped the stage with Andy

[Vaibhav8584]

Steve Vai is a monster guitar player with such an impressive command on the effects such as Wah that was used brilliantly for vocal like feel to this instrumental song. Andy Timmons is a soulful, bluesy player with amazing strat sounds but in this video he was overshadowed by Vai's playing.

I love both.

Besties

VM

[lmfap79]

Usually I don't listen to guitar heroes like S. Vai, but this gig is astonishing ;-)

[empblast]

and timmons does to

[empblast]

amazing vai makes his guitar sing

[TheProtoon]

This video makes my jaw drop to the floor..... I'm just speechless now.

[Jed9133]

did van halen created the original beat it lick?

[TechnicolorTypeA]

nope. Van Halen only recorded the solo. The rest was wrote and recorded by some other guy.

[hulldanfan]

The 'other guy' was Steve Lukather !!!!!!

[vortexcito]

no way! really? i've always thought it was a random guy...

[CartolaCola]

@hulldanfan "Other" lol... Lukather is one of the best musicians i've ever seen.

[Ibik]

the other guy was Steve Lukather of TOTO

[waitingisuseless]

beats any gay fall out boy or pierce the veil cover any day of the week

[Violinschluessel]

steve is just cool...

awesome idea to show mj andy's and steve's respect

[TJmusical]

erm to much wah2 usage hahaha

[TJmusical]

nicee... but too much wah2

[sauerkret]

there ain't such thing as to much wah ;)

[PrsFenderJackson1980]

I noticed in Andy's new, I just bought it anyway, album he uses the neck and middle pickups more than his bridge p'up. I have Vai,Timmons,Gilberts, most recent albums. Wow. Definitely talented people. Wouldn't it be interesting if EVH threw his hat in the instruemental rock arena. I would say that Gilbert and Timmons are easier to like than Vai or Satch.

[aristocrap]

Impressive, but you know what would've been even cooler? Steve Vai singing the damn song!

[Synergizerizer]

His Steve Vai, he lets the guitar to the singing for him ;) The Notes are pretty consistant with the lyrics

[roryrockssocks]

When I saw this for the first time awhile back I thought that's what'd happen.

But I love this version.

[tristank1]

jejejejej this is great, steve vai and andy timmons do it great, 'I think if Michael Jackson would died three days after, he'll be astonished with this version

[yathribe]

guitar discussion!! two amzing guitar hero, take à look at my version

[faladayzzz]

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[GeorgeLawton66]

and before you go saying im a noob or an emo kid. im not

im a musician i play guitar and piano, if you close yourself off to genres of music you are hugely limiting yourself.

fair enough cut off points like grindcore and rap

fallout boy is the band everyone hates to love

[harhaho]

"im a musician i play guitar and piano". Wooooo...How camp!

[GeorgeLawton66]

haha fallout boy are hugely successful, yes they may not be the best or most talented band out there. but what they write works as it is mainstream music.

and dbm5150

and fallout boy are completely original, thats why they are successful as no1 else sounds like them

van halen at the time was a commercial band so you're now into contradiction territorry

[biglu30]

you also have to realize that in order for a band to make it in those times YOU HAD TO BE COMMERCIAL. the rock and roll scene has exploded hundreds of times greater than it did even back then. with all the technology now a days and the larger market of people who realize that there are so many more bands more obscure bands can be successful without having to bow to the giants of mtv or mainstream radio

[dbm5150]

did this little idiot say fallout boy..christ more like bend over boy !they are your typical emo top fourty fags !they are far from being original.girls pants and and bad hair cuts.. i promise you they like most of the crap that is out now wont last a quarter of the time great bands have( like van halen steve vai ) you little shit stain

[GeorgeLawton66]

thats the worst Beat It solo i've actually heard.

Fall out Boy did a better job of it

[podropollo77]

como puede decir eso!?

[Leonardoo69]

John mayer did the solo and not Fall out boy

but Eddie's solo is better

[Bishn0zle]

thats why fall boy is shit. they had to get someone else to play the solo.

[arcticdepth]

AND THE SOLO WASN'T EVEN GOOD LOL.

[faig1958]

Then, if you hear to Fall Out Boy (almost girl I guess), Why don´t you go to listen them? As dbm5150 said, they´re not original, they are the epic commercial shit.

[netoriffvai]

amazing video, not only because of the way they play but more for the way they honor michael jackson so, masters honoring masters...

[harhaho]

No, It's not Steve.

[iBanez7rocker]

ur joking rite? of course it is

[1000asses]

No shit its steve vai

[harhaho]

You need glasses.

[guitarfreak661]

then how come his official account has favourited the video???

[harhaho]

No, it's definitely not him. See how he does his vibrato differently.

[DrArpOA]

Are you kidding XD ?? Of course it's Steve ...

I was a participant of his masterclass some hours earlier ;)

[harhaho]

Typical Kraut, always starting trouble.

[1000asses]

heas using a sustainer dude he vibrates like that when he uses his flo guitar

[harhaho]

His name is Carlos Leruthez I think. He plays in a Vai appreciation band called Stewie Vaj.

[ezpwnd]

lol then why is this on steve vais official website?

[stinnnnnn]

its steve vai himself.

[nestorlovesguitar]

I think Steve and Michael are veeery alike: they 're both slim, long hair, they both are fuckin bizarre, they both have a taste for fancy weird clothes and a little gay both of them haha and of course they both rule their style. RIP Michael and long life to whom is my best favorite guitarist ever: Steve Vai

[harhaho]

This isn't Vai. It's a Brazilian guy that looks like him and tries to copy his style and sound.

[nestorlovesguitar]

are u kidding me dude? Of course it's Vai

[Leonardoo69]

Eddie Van Halen play best then this two!

[houariguns]

yes offcours

[guitarfreak661]

vai would destroy van halen? he took eddie's awesome solo and made it better? big deal he took the tapping part out, but replaced it with raw emotion!!

[angelcitynut]

hehe AT got his head CUT.....

[HavenMac]

A dude like Steve Vai who plays with orchestras and arranges compositions for orchestras while creating music which only a few people will bother listening to, and you will call that mainstream? Vai hasn't done much that could be called mainstream since his David Lee Roth days in the 80's!

[Ritualiam]

I find it really stupid that i've seen like 3 comments on the Andy Timmons and the rest all about Vai.

All of you guys love Vai because he's all mainstream and does so much to get recognised its unbelievable.

Timmons is just as good guitarist yet he keeps himself to himself.

Shame on all of you, quit arguing over pointless things, and go check out Andy Timmons.. his tone is the best i've ever heard.

[rtfahr1]

looks like he's doin most of the work here. timmons is great too. vai is cuter.

[Aurelius27x]

lol mainstream? I ask people everyday if they've ever heard of Steve Vai and none of them have.

[adrianmer666]

they both have different style in guitar playing so "we", including you, should stop comparing either

[0ua8]

Imo the best musicians don't always make the best music,e.g,Hendrix's stuff is way more memorable than say Malmsteen.Sting plays very basic guitar ,but writes great memorable songs.

[Aurelius27x]

well I really hate to pass a critique on Steve Vai, God of Guitar, but his improv is not what it used to be. : \

[SleepyMuse24]

to be fair i was thinking that but depends on what you judge it on, if you judge it on this video then its fair, but he has done improvisations lately that i thought were amazing, i just think he strives to be even more different as a whole generation of guitar players make music trying to sound like him using HIS oddities of playing lol so he trys a bit too hard sometimes these days and sometimes it falls a bit flat on its face i guess. Vai was of those rare guitarists who changed it all though

[Aurelius27x]

I agree with you, I went to his string theories show in Anaheim in '07 and he does still have some tasteful licks... I guess I just prefer a particular era of Vai. Or maybe age has caught up to him a bit. In any case, he's always phenomenal and I have tremendous respect for all he's done in the guitar realm.

[JulianH21]

Steves Guitar: Flo II . Can somebody explain, please :) thanks.

[ryushiRj38]

its just a name he gave to one of his guitars.

[JulianH21]

yeah, i know. But I never heard of this guitar :) Evo, Flo, Pia, Bad Horsie and so on ... but I never heard of Flo II.

[RTG91]

He has a lot of guitars that he sets up simlarly to the original, so that it can be used as a back up for that particular guitar. Every now and then though they end up with tones all to themselves so he uses them for something else.

He has like 3 or 4 different Evos since his original is now out of commission, he also has several Flos that all have add ons along the lines of the original, sometimes testing new ones.

[Lemisenpoika]

they say that eddie was pretty drunk at the time when he played the solo :) so i've heard.

[carrington03]

thats the only thing vai has done even close for me to learn to play also im selling my peavey rotor exp just message me if you want to know anything

[hakanozelguitarist]

oh damn...for a moment there i thought Vai was gonna do the original VH solo...oh well

[foolio2007]

Most all star jams kinda suck. Vai always over plays. So does joe. It was funny to see Yngwie do that to them. I think Vai's best work was with Roth. Joe's best was his 1st 3 albums. Andy timmons is a great player. I love all guitar players. How can there be only 1 or the best. dig them all.

[RNRDOLL]

I agree..there is a point where someone gets so technically good that they end up losing their ability to be musical.

[paulos012456]

STEVE VAI o melhor Guitarristaa do Mundoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gamedic37054]

timmons was so much more musical and his phrasing was spot on. i was glad to see vai leave his bar alone for more than one or two minutes. not to mention timmons tone is beautiful.

[aorpete]

WAW... what a tribute - smokin!

[patli1973]

Vai Rocks regardless whay anyone says. He is as good as Jimi Hendrix, Page, Halen they all have a style any Vai certainly Wins with his. Having his own band an being in well Let see. Frank Zappa, Alcatraz, David Lee Roth, White Snake, Zappa Plays Zappa An Himself Vai Rocks

[Axeman89]

I respect your comment but please dont put Hendrix in the same sentence. Even Vai knows that no one can touch what Hendrix accomplished.

[mistybombs]

Hendrix was a drug addict. Halen was a drug addict and alcoholic.Both wasted their lives an cud have bin so much more. Without Haydyn there would be no Mozart, without Mozart there would be no beethoven. Without Hendrix-no halen, without halen-no vai.Vai is alike to Beethoven in that he is leading a long and healthy life caring more for music than drug or liquor. Who do I admire out out of all. Vai. Any man who practices 7hrs per day wants to better himself.

[mistybombs]

Pple go on abut Hendrix and Halen but they are both dead.Relax and enjoy what Vai brings to music. Depending on ghosts to keep music in the dark ages is the reason why many fools fail at playing instruments.They are knocked if they strive to be better than Vai, Halen, or Hendrix.

[mistybombs]

Without all three we wud not have the standard today in guitar virtuoso. By taking even one of them out of the equation guitar virtuosity falls to its knees! Get over Hendrix he dead. Be better than Hendrix.

[Axeman89]

lol i know what your saying but you are WRONG. Yes Hendrix is dead and I'm over that. My favourite guitarist alive by far is Vai. I like how he is trying to keep his memory alive and you can't be better than Hendrix. Consider what the great man achieved and youll hopefully you'll realise that you can't beat that no matter how technical you are, cause its revolutionary. He will always be the best guitarist ever but i think Vai is the greatest guitairist alive :-) can we agree on that? lol

[mart9012]

No doubt Vai is a masterful guitarist. Maybe a bit too out there for my taste so I might go for Satriani or even SRV.. But there are some really good guitarists from many genres and they are specialists at their own sounds...

[invertedchords]

shut the fuck up.

[punyman1234]

Van Halen is alive....