Steve Vai-The Riddle

[shredmaster100]

wow steve kicks ass in my opinion he was always better than malmsteen and is one of the best guitarists in the world

[Sebastianodelarada]

take this kind of playing as an inspiration !!!!

[MrStevelah]

7 people is gay..

[avilakaj]

@MrStevelah No,,,,8

[TheMetalGuy852]

i don't dislike vai, but personally i prefer yngwies neo-classical sound to vai's prog-rock style

[3daysfighters]

@TheMetalGuy852 I agree but really i wouldnt even compare them because they are both different styles of music

[VaiRendy]

I just dont understant. how come people dislike Vai..? RETARDED..

[Jaggijughurtti]

@VaiRendy No "retarded" People also like steve vai =D

[matrags]

Wish he still played like this.

[zeppelin25101980]

At least the video is available in 360p not that shitty 240p

[quanah]

genius

[Zebula77]

Awesome. I don't know if he ever includes this song live any longer. One of my P&W favourites.

[XxicruffesionalxX]

has anyone notice this?? his playing hasnt inproved much since this.... no seriously... .. not that hes still good but..if he could solo like that and make songs like that so early.. what do u think would happen if he kept practicin consistently..

[TheTyrynir]

only steve vai could make fender sound good

[rigby333]

@TheTyrynir Are you retarded?

[XxicruffesionalxX]

@TheTyrynir YE ARE U RETARDED.. DO U KNOW YNGWIE MALMSTEEN... HE MAKES FENDER SOUND GOOD...

[XxicruffesionalxX]

@VaiRendy lol obviously u are retarded 2



[VaiRendy]

@XxicruffesionalxX only retarded people who say that others are retarded... why was my comment deleted.. because i said about ygwie? i think everybody agree. the only one i can say about yngwie is that his playing is fast i agree about that, but not great.. his fans always say about speed,, oh come one, is this about racing?? lol go to petrucci if u wanna see speed, or michael schumacher hahaha,,trolololol and sound? hes mega suck

[MrShredtilldead]

@TheTyrynir You have to be the biggest retard on earth! Ever heard of Eric Johnson, David Gilmour, Robin Trower, Ritchie Blackmore, Billy Corgan, Dave Murray, John 5, just to name a few!? I think you need to seriously open your mind to a hell of a lot of other musicians.

[85skateboarding]

steve vai play a fender guitar!!!

[belleroby]

era già avanti!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GuillermoSmyser]

Even though he does some crazy stuff with the noises and whammying there is still a lot of small detail to every little bit, even just how he goes about melody. Besides maybe Cesar Huesca, I don't think anyone I've seen on youtube can cover his songs with the same attention to detail.

[funkeemon]

Steve played at Musician Institute 1984.

[theoldstylecrew]

only Steve Vai could make a strat sound like an Ibanez....

[resington]

woooow, how does sumone get hold of this stuff

[wolf2161]

wow...steve vai with a real guitar !

GREAT !!

[craneo2099]

the backing band is Stu hamm on bass... and who's on drums??

[Dweller777]

@craneo2099 Probably Chris Frazier..

[elixergtarist]

@craneo2099 They're busy playin with people. Stu Hamm plays with Joe Satriani.

[believin13]

wonder how those guys playing back up for him feel rite abut now?

[elixergtarist]

@believin13 They're busy playin with people. Stu Hamm plays with Joe Satriani.

[believin13]

@elixergtarist gotcha. well i was actually meaning like " look @ him now, we used to play for him yrs ago". wow. can u imagine that?

[HillaryHitler]

I have this entire clinic at GIT on VHS

[LvnAction]

Vai is still growing as an artist. Listen to Where The Wild Things Are. Everything doesn't have to be an obvious "shred-fest" followed by the obligatory anthem/durge, or vice versa.

[Farahaziq]

fender ?

[jemoholic1983]

passion and warfare was in 1990 but this is from 84 so that song wait a lot to come out, i also hear some of answers to the end.. does any body know anything about this show???

[JohnJamesMaloney]

I love seeing the genesis of awesome talent. Steve is a guitar magican!! Its not just because he can be a flash bastard - but when Steve puts in the time & effort, he can play any transidental melody that his mind can conjure up. He is a genius that deserves all the praise layed at his feet. I'm going to put my neck out there & say Steve Vai is an natural evolution of Jeff Beck & Allan Holdworth (2 superb geniuses).

[00sven00sven00]

@JohnJamesMaloney ill second that:)

[JohnJamesMaloney]

Its great to see this early rare footage. To see Steve improvise with an early version of the Riddle with his mid-70s Strat is a real treat.

[DrummerBoyfm]

seeing Vai play on a Fender seems kinda weird despite the fact that he used then all the time with Zappa. i guess im just used to seeing him with Ibanez

[blitzspeer]

I'm sorry I was wrong about the brand of guitar I was getting tired when I posted;what I meant when refering to Gibson and Fender is ; that he chose to go with a different brand than most everybody else at the time.I've spent my life wishing I could hear Malmsteen playing a Washburn or Ibanez or even a PRS so not to have any ping or pang.The 2 biggest are the cliche of the typical rocker and that's why a lot of great musician's play other brands.

[blitzspeer]

It's a Charvel not much older than this video with Floyd Rose.He has always been a great player and my guitar hero;I would be stoked to just sit and jam with him before I pass someday.I've always enjoyed how he's great but not typical like other's and plays a Fender or Gibson he always knew there was other great manufacturer's out there so he thought for himself.

[IbanezMS1995]

@blitzspeer Actually its a Fender, if you look at the headstock at 0:22 you can kinda get a glimpse at it, and on some other parts

[guidoyngwie]

hey cotwo30 where in the world did u get this footage..

[pingpongpin]

Now, this is old school!

[alexguitar41]

DE QUE AÑO ES ESE VIDEO???

[paindeer]

3:02 on to 3:14 -

I find this the most meaningful part of this performance - YET ?

it's LEFT OUT

THAT is the MEAT - THAT is where he hits spiritual rapture - at least I do.

I visit this place often - that segment of the music - I've carried it on how "I" want to carry it - and it's private I suppose - thanks Steve for planting the seed.

724-464-4419 - I'm ALWAYS AWAKE -

[hmm2112]

@paindeer you realise that riff is a major part of Answers, right?

[IbanezMS1995]

@paindeer yeah thats like my favorite part from the song Answers from Passion and Warfare

[hottjbazaz]

fuck he sounds so good with a strat, the jem sounds way too elasticy compared to that , any more of the gig around?

[deepislandboy]

@hottjbazaz exactly, I bet he doesn't even play his jems at home, he's probably wailing away on a good ol' strat

[thesethreekings]

@hottjbazaz Just search for 'steve vai GIT', if you haven't already found it.

[TOWLIBAN32123]

west

[bennolanman]

How did you get this video?

[deepislandboy]

He's using the rihgt guitar!, a Strat!

[jeffreycollins]

I have an old VHS copy of this and when I first got it I used to watch it a few times a week. What an amazing concert. Wish it would come out on DVD.

[Topher19801413]

he even had odd taste then lol..

[chapkoark]

thanks for posting, its always cool to see huge guitar icons before they became famous

[CavefishX]

Its kinda wierd seeing Vai without his signature Jems...

[tumpitumpi]

A lot better then the "actual" Vai. Thanx

[IbanezMS1995]

What if the riddle was on Flexable instead of Passion and Warfare? hmm I wonder

[Nevigo]

He had already made it,but it didnt appear in Flexable.This is way before Passion and wafare.

[IbanezMS1995]

Yeah i know

[RNRDOLL]

well the guitar part was recorded about the same time....so on PAW you're hearing guitars recorded from 1984/1985. Of course, with the addition to updated production and drums and extra guitar dubs.

[encguitarist]

awesome!

[paindeer]

I SWEAR TO GOD

Frame 0:05

FREEZE it

Steve IS Frank

I SWEAR TO GOD

I've put this on a t-shirt

It's FRANK man

Telling you.

[woodros]

he wishes he was frank

[paindeer]

All happens at 3:03

Can live there forever.

Been there, AM there, never will LEAVE there

3:03 in this video.

Check it out.

My god

Mantra - yes

[IbanezMS1995]

Jesus Christ Paindeer stop leaving spaces between comments and leaving shit responses like on Nickstermc's channel

[kennooNL]

yeah man, thats a weird moment!

[Gaston1325]

Where are the 20 nps???????????

[devolve42]

You are insane. In this vid, Steve is barely 24 years old. And for the record, Steve's "best" album is "Flex-able". So there!

[outofsense]

Woa, compared to what ended up on the Passion and Warfare record, this stuff sounds REALLY bad! But nevertheless very interesting to watch. Thanks a lot for posting it!

[gasfervis]

Is this steve'band 777?

[Changer01]

you deserve the thumb down, dood! ;D

[IbanezMS1995]

1990 was his best with passion and warfare

[yngwiemalmsteen8]

yes, is true

[fuckyouhackett]

its not that its boring its just not flashy rock n roll. this seminar was meant for guitar players and is interesting for guitar players

[nec550]

GIT

[SteVeTurchin22]

This is so amazing!

I'd love to be there.. =P

Answers @ 3:02 hehe

[m11gtr]

Freaking Rad! Video quality is shit but this is a true jem from the past. Thank you for posting this! I would love to see the rest of this show.

[bigbigsound]

thats some amazing footage-is there anymore?

flexable-era vai does it for me :--) :--) :--)

thanks for posting!!!!!!!!!

[Aurelius27x]

who knew this would be the prelude of such great things to come.

[Zarag0d]

84'....this was the year vai release his first album. Flex-able. That year marked history.

[Gungfuwarrior]

AHH this is one of my favorites, I wish he's do it live, but damn, that be one tap dance of the pedalboard to sound like the record.

[NOCOPYSARAH]

haha you're right about the pedalboard dance

[ice9001]

This is so cool this is before jem wow didn`t know hehad writen this then good version

[ilovecommunism]

i respect steve vai's dedication to learning and playing frank zappa's music, thats enough for me

[pwertogalero]

lol he even has the primitive floyd rose

[xtreme2ya]

its actually a fender standart non-locking bridge with a locking nut attached to prevent it from detuning.

[pwertogalero]

the bridge looks just like one of the the early models or prototypes of the floyd rose, back then it kinda looked like the one here. well, that's what i think, but whatever.

[IbanezMS1995]

That guitar was actually steves first electric guitar which he got when he was 14

[MrMeist]

@IbanezMS1995 except for the fact that HSS guitars with floating trems didn't exist when he was 14...

[IbanezMS1995]

@MrMeist But he added it on when he was with Zappa around that time

[devingrdnr]

@IbanezMS1995 thirteen not fourteen. i recall hearing him say in an interview with someone about carvin that he got his first guitar from a friend when he was thirteen

[IbanezMS1995]

@devingrdnr well I knew he got that guitar before this one but I think it might have been an Acoustic guitar because I remember he sold it to him for a very low price, I read on his site in the guitar section that this was his first "Electric"

[MrAngel999]

@IbanezMS1995

And modified it, like, 14 times till '84 (:

[guitarherozezao]

@IbanezMS1995 not steve's first guitar, his first guitar was a green one with a mini humbucker in the midle

[IbanezMS1995]

@guitarherozezao Well Actually thats not true, Charvel Wasn't around back then, It would have been just making products around the time this video was taken, Steve had a Green Charvel called "The Green Meanie" If that's what you're talking about

[DALE97DSM]

@IbanezMS1995 this is the meanie this was before he swapped the necks. It was frankstein version. and plus his green meanie was founddation for the Inbanez RG guitar/jem. Little history for you guys \m/

[318825768]

@IbanezMS1995 how u know?

[IbanezMS1995]

@318825768 History My friend

[davidlgm77]

you are in this shoow no?thanks for this video is a exelent material

[Phrygian12]

lol the answers!! at  3:01

Vai is an insane musician

and the fished piece of this is just crazy

[Gungfuwarrior]

He really seems to like that phrase, he uses it on Flex-Able as well.

[Jemm77x]

hahah his phrasing is so outta this world! i love it hah

[djosephj]

I saw him play that guitar once and he had it covered in harcore porn chick pics! What a road to travel!? An all-American Badass!

[Gungfuwarrior]

Where are you getting all these old Vai vids?

[afrotension]

hes yet to play this live, recently...

[BunBeeJazz]

I had this on VHS once a long time ago and some asshole stole it from me. I bet this tape was copied so many times from just one master.

I love his Martian Jazz and the fact that he is still just as freaky and zany today.

[zakkattack99]

WOW. this is so awesome. th etechnology and amps n stuff are so old and primitive in terms of vais sound. but the insane-ness and amazing ideas are there. vai is god, i seriously wouldnt be surprised if he was an alien or some shit

[giggy5150]

That was really cool. Good thing we have moved on from tape though! I hope someone has this stuff stored on higher quality tape and has archived it to digital.

[SteVeTurchin22]

Wow! I can't believe he only put this song into his albums 6 years later. :(

Incredible song! Thanks a lot for posting.

[playguitar7]

Thank you so, so much for this! Just spectacular that this even exists. Thank you for posting.

[OwnedRL]

thank you so much.

[polcamara]

UAuh!!! I´ve got this video in VHS, it´s from around 1985, that´s Stu Hamm on Bass and Chris Frazier on drums. Steve´s playing a Fender Stratocaster! That clinic was awsome cause you could learn a lot about his life and his early trainning and playing!! Great vid!!