Private Gear Tour: Steve Vai

[@SteveReynoldsGuitarist]

loves his gear and has a sense of humour. The fact he is an awesome guitar player and showman makes it even better.

[@billyrouse4813]

Absolutely wonderful sense of humor. You can tell he's kidding when he talks about the lighted guitars & the fan, along with the EVH Phase 90. A lot of the humor is most likely due to his time with Frank Zappa.

[@Jamesfoofighter]

I remember watching this over and over when it first came out

[@MistaHahn117]

I really like how he can make fun of himself and clearly love what he does

[@hareeshk99]

I thought he was gonna make up some bullshit excuse about it being too hot on stage about the fan. I guess he is sticking with the truth. Respect Steve!!

[@burnsZY85]

+Hareesh Kumar Shanggar Well it can get quite hot when the stage lights are on you and with a crowd of people near you, but I am going with the looking cool reason for the most part. lol

[@joshhorne]

Be on the lookout for wannabes going around Guitar Center thumping on guitars. Very good video. Vai is a legend.

[@Glockenator]

Steve is one of the most down to earth musicians out there. He's the kind of guy that would talk to you on the street. Sure, he acts cocky sometimes, but he's just joking around

[@FeelingShred]

Body and neck resonating at the same pitch? Damn, I never thought of that! wow! And at the end, perfect punchline LOL

[@JymeBale]

They do not on an electric at all, simple physics, the wood is far too thick to vibrate at all, how ever an acoustic guitar and neck vibrate completely and changing a mahogany neck for a rose wood neck will give more sustain and treble to the strings as the rose wood is far denser.

[@PAULDANIELLIPSCOMB]

@@JymeBale re: Young’s modulus. Not to mention when he tapped them - they were obv two different notes. Little embarrassing.

[@robibm2003]

Thanks for posting this. Always love these gear tours from my favorite players.

[@MiniForklift]

Interesting video. I actually really like the simplicity of the Jemini prototype, looks better IMO than the finished pedal!

[@treytolbert3310]

Mini Forklift Ⓥ thats exactly what I was going to say, the metal switchers gives it a solid look. and it just looks cool

[@Rendall81]

Gemini *

[@Archergod]

@@Rendall81 Jemini is correct.

[@ottodrone6173]

Wow, I never get enough of hearing well respected guitar players talking shop. I thought it was only me that will tune to an A chord then wonder why the D is not sounding very good. Also the 2 guitars are never the same statement is something I've learned over the years. I bought a Yamaha classical guitar and loved it so much I ordered a second one, they were not even close to sounding similar, or playing.

[@guitarboy202]

is it just me or does the neck and body of evo sound non-uniscent?

[@juanvaldez5422]

guitarboy202 lol

[@stitcha123]

you're right

[@jodydawson1936]

Yep

[@zaltonian]

I love these kind of behind the scenes yak and gawk sessions. Wish our fav players would do them monthly. Rawk on!!!!!

[@renanr6153]

Well, at least I can play that A like Steve Vai...

[@siskabobs]

wow, Steve Vai is such a cool guy. i sensed NO ego coming from him, he seemed like an every day guy that just happens to be famous. seriously, if some guy just bumped into him on the street, the guy would have NO idea that he is one of the best guitar players of all time, or even famous at all. I hope to meet him one day!

[@GameStormLPs]

01:04 Steve have a evh phaser LOL

[@Happytaco1236]

Vai is amazing. not only is he an amazing guitar player, but he has an amazing sense of humor. he also just seems like a normal guy who is very down to earth.

[@TheSandkastenverbot]

I always cringe when a well known guitarist says, he's designing an amp or a pedal or whatever. Like the most difficult work in designing music electronics is listening to how it sounds and wishing for specific alterations...

[@bleensteen9331]

Vai always says stuff like that. Basically a lot of what he says is intended to big himself up and often borderline untrue, it's a bit irritating but probably something he sees as necessary to maintain his image/mystique.

[@merrittmussorgsky2937]

acleansweep Its called having a sense of humor, he's making fun of himself. Lighten up. There's nothing wrong with poking fun at yourself, its just shows you don't take yourself so seriously. Its good for ya.

[@TheDyingScotsman]

@@bleensteen9331 completely false. He's very humble and doesn't bullshit. You don't get him, or know much about him at all, evidently

[@TheDyingScotsman]

@@davebirney you do realise he's a very busy guy and perhaps knows his talent doesn't lie in writing a book? Nonetheless he has had an amazing life and lots of stories, not to mention words of wisdom. Most of which would go completely over your head it would seem

[@AudioMasterRTrib]

The first time I saw Steve was with David Lee Roth in Lake Charles Louisiana. I remember him crawling across the stage playing his guitar during his solo. WOW do i need to say more.

[@allmetaliswelcome]

i, being a drummer, am totally amazed by all the pedals and thingy's these guitarists use... probably the same idea as a crazy big drumset

[@awesomejohnnet]

I love Steve Vai, A fellow New Yorker he has that funny karizma that makes him so entertaining. As a fellow guitarist who has admired and learned from him, as many guitarist through out the world I too have been inspired by his wonderful contributions to the art of guitar. may God protect him from the jealousy of his peers so that he may continue to grace up with his fantasic talent and non stop creative hard work. Bravo Steve! From you big fan and guitar brother "Awesome John"

[@Drubix3]

Ahhhhh.... Mr.Vai. How we love thee! Thanx for the tour. I'm glad that you get as confused about the complicated rigging as the rest of us. Reminds me of how human you are as an alien. Hahaha! "Isn't that what it's all about?" Sincerely, A Fan (Not a Honeywell mind you, but a Fan all the same.)

[@DollyzDaggerz]

saw them all play together and I am not kidding you it's an experience you will never forget! EVAH!

[@biddude]

Steve Vai seems like a really down to earth guy and has a great since of humor for such an accomplished and successful guitar and musical ubergenius I think that it was really cool of him to give us mere mortals a little glimpse into his world

[@fencore]

you're welcome! glad to help and to spreed the importance of the acoustic science regards!

[@fencore]

It also have to do with acoustics and the nature of the sound : if you have a sound source and place it somewhere in a room, it will always sound different depending of it, because of the sound reflections occurring on every surface near the source. This effect is called "Phantom Sources". The characteristics of the sound produced by these phantom sources depends of the surface's material, distance to the listener, to the original source, etc. regards!

[@sweetbilly]

That guitar with the altered frets was unbelievable!

[@chrisdahlmusic]

so cool that he also includes the fan in his rig description :D

[@Twistchawa]

It is Analogman modded (I believe), which makes it so it doesn't sound distorted on all sweeps by replacing the clipping stage with LEDs instead of diodes. This makes it sound more creamy and tube like on low gain settings. DEFINATELY worth it if you own a new DS-1.

[@JoKeRzCaRdProDucTion]

i read in a magazine, he said when he was starting guitar he wasnt a natural, he actually worked hard to get were he is. he mustve fucking worked his ass off, and because he worked for what he did he has a great personality, which is rare for amazing musicians to have

[@WoodieLarsen]

Fernandez sustainer you can buy the kit on musiciansfriend i believe..it's not just a pickup its a whole system you have to install. it basically works exactly opposite of a regular pickup. in a regular pickup the string vibrations are picked up by the pickup...the sustainer magnetically pushes the string into vibration...pretty wicked.

[@AudioMasterRTrib]

I love Steve's personalty! I would just love to meet this guy in person.

[@Preeemo]

His point about the neck and body resonating in complimentary intervals is really interesting. I've never thought about that before but it does make sense, and I'll definitely be considering it the next time I look into buying a guitar.

[@JCHaywire]

It's great to hear him trying to explain the tempered fret scheme. I take it he changed his mind before having all of his instruments overhauled in that style.

[@TechMetalRules]

DS-1 into a Fender combo is so "garage band" ...I love it!

[@Heineken1712]

wow this idea with the frets is brilliant!

[@givemeajackson]

EVO is so beautiful. no other guitar has this flair

[@swimmerforlife789]

MORE LIGHTS! You gotta admit that is awesome

[@BHAKTIBROPHY]

@Liamzuid-- Vai used a Keeley modified Boss DS-1 distortion pedal (you see the orange pedal to the left of the MXR Van Halen Phaser pedal that he has going into Fender amp? That's the DS-1). He used a TC-Electronics rack system before the floor model (if my memory serves me correct)...I don't know if he used TC Electronics distortion as well or not. But he definately used (uses) the Boss DS-1...and it was Keeley modified (at least at one point). The mod adds warmth and tonal range.

[@NisseEricsson]

Steve Vai seems like such a cool guy. It would be damn fun to hang out with him or just hear him jam. A true musical virtuoso.

[@daeman13]

his rig is pretty simple honestly he has a wah and the G system for his effects. his signal gets split to another amp on a volme pedal. put his jemeni dist. in front of his signal chain.

[@DanielGasconMusic]

the frets of that guitar are so cool i want to try in something like this

[@Songwriter4God]

Lol! 7:18 "More lights!" I love how he says it. :P And the "I wish I had my fan on!"

[@NickEdelsteinBand]

Awesome, so generous of him to take the time - and his sense of humor is great! At the very end he mentions that "Flo" has a "sustainer?" Is that one of his DiMarzio pickups? or another brand? anybody know about this?

[@ijumitzu]

man he seems like such a nice guy - would love just to hang out with him

[@phallystorm]

I just finished watching Steve and his band on the High DEF PALLADIA channel when they did the SOUND THEORIES TOUR 2007>>>. WOW!! Unbelievable!! The whole Band is the tightest most synchronized technical ensemble in the World. Yes, these Guys Rock. Steve is a genius in many, many ways. I know I would never play like him, but he is very inspirational, and a Great Guy to boot. Lets hear it for these Guys! Cheers!!

[@hellincarnate08]

one of the greatest guitar players of all time

[@stormyandcold]

Really cool knowledge and setup. Especially liked the last bit about wood resonance. Soo true. That's one million $ secret right there!

[@mrhollywood1]

This guy is great even without a guitar on him...great guitar player, great personality.

[@teystone]

Hey Steve Vai, while you were designing the lighting system for your fretboard, EVH was getting advice from his son on the pros and cons of touring with DLR.

[@slugpumper1]

I like this guy - he doesn't take himeslef too seriously - and not ashamed to use an EVH pedal - I noticed John Petrucci hid his EVH flanger on a rack drawer - interesting points on tonality as well - we should listen - he knows what he is talking about.

[@digittydog]

It's great to hear Alex's voice.

[@alphasxsignal]

Now he has AXEFX Ultra 2 box to do most of all his effects.

[@TheKogunEnjou]

That is some awesome fretwork. I hope that gets popular in the coming years, I know chords being out of tune get frustrating.

[@tomsmith051]

@RileyHaynie its technically true, even if the tuner says its in tune the guitar is not in tune all along the neck, but the differences are so small that only a trained ear would have any chance of ever hearing it

[@GusBounas]

this guy it's a hero .. this is a great guy .. a true guitar hero !!

[@darthvaderyoda]

@milesscunthorpe ok im sorry for my misspelling but im pretty sure its "Flex-Able" its not on the album you are talking about but its on the original print.

[@MichaelGrecoGuitar]

way cool. I always wondered what kind of gear he used . Viva Vai!

[@scarred2112]

@seankenny08 I'm a friend of "I'm Bryan, I play Bass" and got to hang out backstage a few shows on that tour, and what you've said is so very true. People who don't like or "get" Vai is that he's "playing the role" onstage, but also puts his all into that role. It's not about "playing the Rock Star", it's about giving the Fans all he can during those 2 hours onstage each night.

[@oooooooooorly]

@JumaruP Wood does vibrate at specific frequencies. It does not (or at least, a guitar body/neck does not) vibrate with a pitch. If you don't know the difference between the two, you don't know what you're talking about, either.

[@jamminjoe44]

OMG!! All those effects wooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!

[@BlueSkyCrystals]

I love how he uses his fan as the benchmark for all his accessories. :D

[@curiosidicas]

Drums, bass, piano, flute, keyboard, violin, guitar... he is great in every instrument. Actually on his records he does all the jobs. "Steve Vai on the guitars and everything else", check this out. Steve Vai is the biggest musician alive and for me the biggest musician ever. He is also a show man :D A God between us! :)

[@RushFanPix]

I find Steve's guitars absolutely gorgeous... sexy shape.

[@Songwriter4God]

I love how Steve says "What not" it's jsut so different. :P I wish I could spend even an hour with him, he's so knowledgeable, I would learn a whole education on guitar by just spending five minutes talking to him!

[@IHaveAPodXTLive]

You don't have to like him. You should respect his devotion to the art of music, to the precision he puts into everything he does, to the emotion he puts into everything he writes, to the sheer heart that he has for everything music. If you don't have this respect, I don't think you're a musician. You may be a guitarist without this respect, but you're not a musician.

[@misztal2112]

when the chords are in tune the sound waves constructively interfere with each other creating more sustain.

[@leonoff89]

those are some crazy frets no lie probably takes a lot of work makin em like that

[@MisterTee]

@slugpumper1 John doesnt hide anything. He keeps his standard in pedals that are programmed into loops that feed a programmed MIDI controlled floorboard. There are a lot of advantages to running loops like John is doing...the rig is less likely to get noise and interference and by not running anything between his guitar signal and the front end of the amp he has a stronger signal to the amplifier. Vai runs in a more old school way with things up front.

[@robpeter1]

vai loves evh he inspired him i heard that from his own mouth on an interview on here, i belive they are friends, he was complimenting and having fun, i never heard anyone mock eddie, some people are so thick

[@bc200bc]

You gotta love vai, he's awesome

[@Phobia017]

He's a proper sound geek. love it.

[@interstellaraxeman4468]

The staggered fretting sure explains a lot. Over the years I just chalked it up to everything from old strings,low end guitars, earwax,tone deafness,deft toneness, my imagination, or me thinking even I was my imagination. So I had written some tunes on a nylon stringed classical guitar which could more or less be described as accelerated rhythmic hypnotic arpeggio harmonics that used such an odd tuning, I felt I was really accommodating the spectrum of shortcomings the instrument and the strings had. The segue`s where the cyclical pattern of tones would meet to be played for arranged melodies were only possible by disregarding all the "normal" tunings tones and chord positions going with the tunings arrived at by harmonically tuning all the span of chords to each other. If you didnt know what it was tuned like that for or know how to play that tune,....you would be unable to use the instrument unless it was used as a wall hanging at an Applebees. This explanation and subsequent remedy described by Mr. Vai not only validates my befuddling experiences,...but it will also allow me to sleep much better at night now. Whoever invented the fretting is a GENIUS. Damn,... You have a great spirit Steve Vai.... a million thank yous.

[@juanvaldez5422]

Interstellar Axeman your intuition was right...it helped me when I was taught and learned that the guitar itself is a flawed instrument...yeah it validated a lot for me as well

[@kevyp12]

this dude is the coolest guy ever

[@9erMatthew]

Look at the Jack when he reveals the bottom of the guitar at 9:11, He even had the Jack adjusted to go up so it's less strenuois on the chord

[@flyingsquirrel73]

Tri-tones?...minor seconds?...holy shit Steve..you blow my mind with your musical knowledge.

[@Jed9133]

so the sound reflects on the surface of the room your in and the sound gets altered therefore the tone is different in different places..

[@taunokekkonen5733]

So Dave plays a 7-string acoustic sitar? Cool.

[@chreld]

On the 8th day God didn't rest nor did he create beer, but gave us the most amazing player ever, Steve Vai!!!

[@Soundillusions94xyz]

How do you set up all those pedals, it looks quite intimidating, it looks very challenging..... wow..... oh man i still got a LOOOONG way to go.....

[@PedroNecromancer]

he's Steve Vai... no more.... my idol forever

[@RobbbbCappelletto]

@Martinijos it should work with a parallel loop. you're probably using a series loop.

[@kanopiucas]

steve vai is the most perfec guitarrist on this planet... period!

[@micjuslin]

Man these rigs blow my mind, I could never keep it all straight. I guess that's why I still have a lifetime headlining gig in my garage. Check Ticketmaster!

[@rcarlton5150]

@Draugoth He designs his own stuff because he has a very specific idea of what he wants to sound like and he wants to make it easy for people to sound like that rather than buying 209850298350982 pedals and amps, you just buy a few of his signature items and you can essentially get the same tone.

[@sodazman]

It's right up there with the fan!

[@Vengeanceisourpassio]

omg steve via is the def. of a guitar nerd!! lol i still love him and hes great. and i do like the fan lol also with that sustainer pick up. i do love it!! and dave winner lol

[@seankenny08]

I'm glad he's in touch with the fact that good rock shows had some entertainment value and ridiculousness, and i'm glad he doesn't take himself very seriously.

[@GdGuitarist]

haha ya got to love vai for the things he comes out with

[@kroggwaff]

getting the right sound is awsome

[@huskvarsm]

The man is a guitarists guitarist totally awesome.

[@pointpurple]

He really comes out as a great guy here, love the poser jokes he pulls. Awesome video.

[@marxdraven]

i remember the jemini came out when i started to play guitar :'( ohh that memories now is descontinued :(

[@ctyuang]

I love that 2-in-1 distortion pedal.

[@FABIOFABIO1978]

PODERIA TRADUZIR PARA NOS BRASILEIROS FÃ DE STEVE

[@ChadVanHalen5150]

Steve uses the same fans as I do... The tonezzzz of the Honeywell!

[@1JAT1]

5:30... the most important piece of gear... is this fan. i love you steve vai

[@Happytaco1236]

he's right up there with the fan.

[@anubhavsingh8197]

'I've been using the sustainer quite a lot lately, It's right up there with the fan'

[@anthonybymallia7067]

very funny guy lots of lights effects great show man and the most important the fan infront of hes hair

[@XXFHcoversXX]

You are pure genius