On Finding Your Own Voice: Steve Vai's Wise Words

Many who ask me about my influences are surprised to know that Steve Vai is among the greatest of any. As much as Eddie Van Halen originally inspired me to play the guitar, Vai's style and voice resonated with me immediately. I spent a lot of time studying his playing on the albums Eat 'Em and Smile and Skyscraper with David Lee Roth and his seminal solo album Flexable. Without realizing it at the time, I was trying to transform myself into a mini-Steve Vai.

Around the time Skyscraper was released in 1988, MTV aired an interview with Steve Vai. What he said created an epiphany and has resounded ever since. Teaching was the topic.

What happens when you teach is you learn a lot about yourself and your relationship with your instrument. The important thing—if you are going to teach—is to get them to realize that their own expression on the instrument is the most important thing and not being able to do the same lick I did in "Big Trouble."

Though I did not want to admit it initially, I was much more interested in the licks he played than in finding my voice. In fact, I had not even considered such an exploration. So at that moment, I stopped imitating Vai's playing.

This realization also coincided with my first experience hearing live jazz. My then-teacher, Mark Burkert, took me to hear Jimmy Bruno's trio at a venue in downtown Philadelphia. Before this introduction to jazz, music improvisation was utterly foreign to me. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by how musicians could make up accompaniments and solos on the spot.

Learning musical improvisation forced me to develop my voice as a guitarist, among many other things. Fortunately, I heeded his words and avoided becoming a second-rate Steve Vai. Little did I know that the same message that had such a substantial impact on a 12-year-old kid would be the same one I say to students today.

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