Steve Vai

A lightning fast, modern guitar god, Steve Vai took the electric guitar to new heights in the 1980s and 1990s and stands out as one of the finest virtuosos in living memory. Inspired to take up the instrument at High School in New York, Vai was given lessons by an older student who happened to be Joe Satriani - himself a future guitar legend. He got his break when he sent Frank Zappa transcriptions of his songs from the album The Black Page and a tape of him playing his own compositions. Zappa hired the 19-year-old to transcribe more tracks and asked him to join his band in 1980, before Vai went on release his debut solo album Flex-Able in 1983. He replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in hard rock band Alcatrazz and briefly played with Public Image Ltd, but really made his name when he joined David Lee Roth's band and worked on the albums Eat 'Em And Smile (1986) and Skyskraper (1988). He found solo fame in his own right with albums Passion And Warfare (1990), Sex & Religion (1993) and Fire Garden (1996) and worked with various others, including Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper and Joe Jackson. Winning three Grammy Awards along the way, Vai's hard rock style is infused with jazz, blues and metal influences and he's still regarded as the trailblazing pioneer for a generation of guitarists such as Matt Bellamy, Slash and John Petrucci.

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