Steve Vai Quotes

79 quotes in 1239 categories

• I dedicated all the time I had to it. The 10 hour workout was just what I put in the magazine at the time, but…
• Lenny Breau was a genius - inspired and really loose. I loved how he used the guitar as an extension of his inner freedom, because,…
• ... there is still a very strong subculture of people who want to do great things on an instrument, and who are stimulated by hearing…
• ... you watch Jimi Hendrix literally reinvent the instrument. He was playing from somewhere else. He was really a kind of hybrid, and I can't…
• Jeff Beck is compelled by his inner artistic drive to keep evolving the instrument. He'll use the whammy bar with the volume knob and the…
• In the physical universe, there are objects that include suns, planets, all life, and all matter in all dimensions. And then there is the space…
• The level of achievement that we have at anything, is a reflection, of how well, we were able to focus on it. Because the only…
• It is only the most elite of elite musicians whose unconventional approach becomes convention.
• It's always funny to me when people use the phrase 'Best guitar player in the world'. There are too many variables such as technique, uniqueness,…
• If you want to be a virtuoso then you have to set your sights above me. You have to go beyond what I'm doing. And…
• The tone is in your fingers, not in your amp or effects.
• Play slow and perfect - that’s the way to becoming a virtuoso.
• The cool thing about playing is that the more you do it, the better you get.
• If you want to play something that you hear, you need to listen with your mind's eye. You've heard of the mind's eye, right? Your…
• Find what you're best at and exaggerate it.
• All musicians practice ear training constantly, whether or not they are cognizant of it. If, when listening to a piece of music, a musician is…
• A lot of those little things that I really like doing are just moments of cool articulation, just little moments of phrasing that probably go…
• If you want to play something that you can't, you need to see and hear yourself doing it in your minds eye. It will start…
• A good solo is like a book. It will start out in a phrase, it will go on in paragraphs, and then it will have…
• So that's the challenge for me and that has always been the challenge - finding that melody, that riff, that thing that just lights me…

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