Mitch... you are a GREAT interviewer !!! You’re engaged, interested, non-intrusive...just a great balance if everything that makes a fantastic interview !!! Thanks 🙏 Ps Love ya Steve 🤩🎶🍻

i love how this guy presents himself. super humble, super talented, constantly sharing his mind.

Think for a moment that this could be the TV, Tv could be this: intelligent conversations with intelligent people, artists, philosophers, etc. But that would educate people, make them smarter, and of course they don't want that. Anyways, thank you both for this very enjoyable moment.

@dan7735

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, but we dont need TV anymore lmao

It’s important to archive what’s in Steve Val’s head........Excellent interview Mitch! Steve is so much more than just a guitar virtuoso. He is a composer, music philosopher, spiritual philosopher, intense music transcriber, & metaphysical psychologist....lol. The 17 year old kid in me remembers when live interviews like these.....didn’t exist for the masses. Guitar magazines were the only connection.....

@669rd

4 жыл бұрын

Auen73 I wish I have the intellect to understand what Steve Vai is all about. But I’m just an average rock guitarist.

@timotot123

4 жыл бұрын

You left out Beekeeper 😂

@RandyWillcox

4 жыл бұрын

If you haven't seen this, it's not only the best Steve Vai interview I've ever seen, it's the best interview PERIOD! kzread.info/dash/bejne/dnd_rqOpltSbl8Y.html

@endtyme1345

4 жыл бұрын

Excellent comment!

@Auen73

4 жыл бұрын

@@timotot123 Haha...right? Forgot about that one.😄

Vai is probably the smartest guitarist.

@xdreampcs8554

3 жыл бұрын

i would add Guthrie Govan as well.

@caysonjaxson1575

2 жыл бұрын

I dont mean to be so off topic but does any of you know a way to get back into an instagram account?? I was dumb forgot the password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me.

@treyzaire5713

2 жыл бұрын

@Cayson Jaxson instablaster ;)

@Jmilillo

2 жыл бұрын

@@xdreampcs8554 and Satriani

@xdreampcs8554

2 жыл бұрын

@@Jmilillo Satch taught Vai and Hammett. I agree, he is brilliant.

No matter what instrument you play this interview as a whole (ignoring the guitar stuff) is very inspirational.

Steve's point at about 17:00 thru 20:00 is probably the best advice on playing guitar I've heard. Vai interviews never disappoint!

@dianakurkov6011

4 жыл бұрын

He's demon possessed, that's his secret and that's what plays for him...

This guy asked like three questions, Steve talked for a half hour. I love you Steve Vai!

Never saw a Vai interview i didnt like. The man is a true inspiration

I wish I had a whole week with Steve to cram as much knowledge from his brain as I could get, what an amazing player.

I wonder who are those people who press the dislike button on excellent,serious videos like this.Thanks Mr. Vai!

Excellent interview Mitch. I had the privilege of playing an original composition with Steve a couple of years ago at his Academy 5.0 in Asilomar, Ca. Steve and his band were incredibly gracious and supportive of my nerve wracking 5 minutes on stage. It was the best 50th birthday present a wife ever gave a husband, and I'll never forget it. Thank you Steve for all of the wonderful music you have given the world. Thank you too Mitch~

" listening for the melody to tell you what to play." Couldn't word it better. And wow steve vai and jacob collier working together is unbelievable

An absolute living legend....Sir Steve Vai much respect and love from Darjeeling, India....

Thank you, Steve and Mitch! Great interview.

All my guitar heroes are getting old and I am getting older with them...

@uriel884

4 жыл бұрын

You're never too old to rock!

@endezeichengrimm

4 жыл бұрын

Yes. That is how the passage of time works.

@gameroftheyear1000

4 жыл бұрын

irmasil3 I’m 21 and I grew up on the greats like Vai, Satch, Malmsteen, Moore, McAlpine, Bettencourt, Rhoads, Jake E Lee, George Lynch, DeMartini, Van Halen, Gilbert, Frehley, Sykes, Frampton, Becker, Friedman, Batio, Brian May, Townsend, Zappa, Both of the Young brothers, Eric Johnson, Buckethead, Scholz, Page, Harrison, and the Duo of Perry and Whitford. So for me an aspiring guitarist, who’s been playing half his life already and has had all of this variety of influence, makes me sad to see I got here too late and a little less than half of them have sadly passed already. By the time I’m in my 40s and 50s most of them probably won’t be here. Past my prime and they’ll be long gone. Crazy to think about.

This video was absolutely beautiful. Steve is really opening up his ingenious mind and spirit, and sharing something with us that few other musicians have the experience or emotional awareness to share. What he said about understanding your own ego, and being conscious of your limitations to the point that you can be confident in your awareness of them, in order to truly express your uninhibited, unique and individual voice, really resonated with me. I've been in a rut for ages, and hearing these words has really moved me in a hugely positive way. Also, lovely to see a nod to Jacob and Jonah. The track Jacob released with Steve on Djesse Vol. 2 was just incredible. What a wonderful fusion of musicianship. I'm off to rewatch this interview. Thanks also to Sweetwater for recording and elucidating so much wisdom from Steve, for us all to absorb and learn from.

Steve puts all his soul and his personality in the guitar. To me, it seems like the guitar is an extension of his body and he speaks through it

It's always great to hear him because he touches those subjects in his talks that are important for becoming not just a musician or player but also a better disciplined person. Great interview by Mitch.

One of the best Via interviews I've listened to. TY

Never gets tired of listening to this man! Great interview!

thank you Mitch. you are one of my favorite 'interviewer'. if not top of the list. here's my why. you ask questions and then, so to say, you step background and listen. that's high level communication and shows the needed respect to your guests. not so many can have that these days. so again, thx for your work.

Every time Steve Vai says “you know” we all get a dollar!

@dumpygoodness4086

4 жыл бұрын

he's not half as bad as EVERYONE ELSE from the West Coast. (Drives me bonkers. Listen to interviews with Anthrax [yeah, EAST coast] and they say "y'know' 5 times per sentence, as do many. Vai rarely says it. I never ever ever say "y'know".)

@PaulT08

4 жыл бұрын

@Bruce A B No, he's from an east coaster from Long Island, NY - the same as Joe Satriani.

@PaulT08

4 жыл бұрын

@Bruce A B The dude above you compared him to everyone else from the West Coast and you said he's from LA. You can still hear his Long Island accent.

@shahrukh7447

4 жыл бұрын

i've just finished this video and was gonna comment on "you know" but then i saw your comment lol xD

@bthompson1767

4 жыл бұрын

He wants you to know what he knows

Great interview. Talented man and a true artist.

I love watching/ listening to any interview with Steve. Mitch and Sweetwater kick ass too!

Great Interview Mitch..much Respect to the both of you..Steve Vai you’re the best🤙

"When I play, I quickly put myself into a light hypnotic trance and compose while playing, drawing directly from the emotions." - John Fahey

Love this interview!!Thanks for this moment! Music+

Steve's connection to his guitar is amazing.

Wow, such deep and spiritual lessons that go way beyound playing guitar. Vai is a great gift to me!

Steve, you're so absolutely right about the listening aspect of playing. Thank you so much. For emphasizing that wisdom

Great interview, not the typical questions usually asked. I really dug when they started talking about music composition. Outstanding job Mitch.

Such a class act. Triple down on your strengths, ignore your weaknesses.

Vai is just a great human communicator. I love listening to him speak...every word means something,,,no fluff.

Glad to see Steve's hair back again.

I subscribed specifically for this interview! Please have more with the guitar legends!

For The Love of God is the first solo guitar instrumental song I've listened to when I started learning the electric guitar. The awe and shock I got that day is still engraved in my brain even after 11 years. Mad respect for you Steve and thanks for being awesome.

Great Interview - Thanks Sweetwater

@sweetwater

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for checking it out! 👍

Steve is so awesome that even his goofy flamboyance is charming

I love everything Vai but I have to say hats off to Mitch for asking such excellent questions. The Michael Aspell of Music interviewers. You gave Vai questions to really think about. Loved this.

Great, great interview!!!

Thank you for being a knowledgeable interviewer that can provide a little more depth and insight for players with more experience. Really appreciated!

Time to hit that bell sweetwater coming with the good stuff lately

Truly great interview ! Both of you guys are awesome !

He is so important to us Vai fans he's a leader of his own. Your a living legend Steve! \m/

Yes Sweetwater yesssssss loved it loved it. this is great

Great interview. Great guitarist/musician. Great people.

Well done Gentlemen! I loved the questions and deeply thought out answers. Very insightful and thought provoking.

Damn. Sweetwater is killing it lately with awesome content. Thank you so much for the Ken Shepherd and Steve Vai interviews guys. Cheers!

Always inspiring to listen to Mr Vai 🔥

It's always a treat to hear him talk, an intelligent and inspiring guy - and what I love about his Guitar playing apart from the virtuosity it that he always has these wonderful quirky ideas that really catches your ear.

Great interview.

I loved the description of stage confusion.

Great interview Mitch. Keep up the great work that separates the Sweetwater channel. Would love to see another session like this with Vai.

Always an interesting conversation with Vai.

Great interview MITCH! Can’t get enough of STEVE VAI 🎸👍🎸

Best interview ever

Great video, thank You.

First time I saw Steve was with Frank Zappa !!!! The second time was also with Frank and I was pretty close to the stage and Steve Was flying around the stage like a maniac !!!!!!! It was insane !!!!!! The third time was with David Lee Roth and that show was ridiculous !!!!!! The fourth time was with the Jimi Hendrix tribute tour !!!!!!! I'm glad I got to see him play live !!!!!!!

I love Steve Vai's personality and his style of music.

Really interesting interview. You actually managed to ask very original questions. Learned a lot! Thank you!

Steve presents as a very intelligent, knowledgeable and aware individual. I'm 63 and I started playing guitar a year ago. I started out by teaching myself the diatonic chord pentatonic scales. I listen to and play along with every style of music I can find. I do nothing but create solos and improvise. It gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction knowing that involved in the creative process. But my real passion or talent is really in writing screenplays. Now, just like songwriting, there are several models or formulas for writing screenplays. Like many artists, I don't like having to adhere to any specific structure or formula. I feel that it inhibits my creativity or spontaneity in general. And yet I'm told that if I don't adhere to some type of structure or outline, that I risk writing screenplays that will only appeal to a very limited audience. I'm trying to find a balance between understanding or utilizing "story structure" and at the same time keep my spontaneity and do something original. I suppose many creative people struggle with this. This interview reminded me that a lot of self analysis can be quite negative and detrimental to the whole creative process. I also understand that in order to be successful you have to "produce." I've written 10 feature length scripts and have had seven of them "selected" by different contests. I have to remember to keep producing and hopefully my work will be appreciated by a larger audience.

Steve is a real treasure, and so gracious with his ability. He comes across on stage as being absolutely full of himself, and he certainly has a lot to say about his mental processes, but those insights are so valuable. The idea of allowing the music to flow is a kind of Zen or Taoistic idea to me. My "career" is also 40 years old this year, and I too have learned to trust the wellspring, and not to dam it or try to attach plumbing. I just let the waters of inspiration find their own level, and I always end up surprised and delighted by what happens. So interesting and inspirational to hear a luminary like Steve resonating with my own thoughts.

Amazing seeing someone who is so talented also be so humble and down to earth. Nice change from all the big egos in music.

you gotta love this guy

this man is responsible for many divorces... between frustrated players and their guitars

@BillDerBerg

4 жыл бұрын

I'm single I wouldn't spend a nickel on a Jem or Universe or a Legacy why would anyone else? Honestly you'd be better of building one from parts

@brandonthompson8413

4 жыл бұрын

@@BillDerBerg not my cup of tea. But the Made in Japan Jems are some of the best guitars on the planet.

@GrooveDuude

4 жыл бұрын

John J. Sanchez no worries, because I will never sell you or anyone else my Legacy 1. 😉

@bentertainment6932

4 жыл бұрын

Agreed but he also teaches and inspires more. Actively too

@BillLarkinmusic

4 жыл бұрын

One is responsible for his/her own actions. ;)

plz Steve Vai, plz come back and play Ireland! I'd love to see stteve live.

Steve Vai. What an authentic human being

Love steve he play with talent frome heaven. Fc thailand

Steve's talk never bores me. I am sure many people feel the same way.

Great interview

you may not like his style. Steve vai is a true musical genius.... you have to speak or somewhat understand musical language to appreciate his musical palette.

@Les537

4 жыл бұрын

I don't know about that. You like it or you don't. Art shouldn't require explanations and education and I don't think any is required for Steve.

@jasevt1476

4 жыл бұрын

I think it sounds pretty damn, i dont have a better word for it then, elitist. to say that to appreciate Steve Vai you need to somewhat understand musical language. like @crush537 said, You like it or you don't. Art shouldn't require explanations and education.

@rockybalboa2526

4 жыл бұрын

No, steve is steve.. And thinks everything is metaphysics, and subconscience... . Its not. we are all part, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. And we are all created uniquely individual with different gifts and purposes, by God our heavenly fathers hand! but the rest is a bit tough to take because we are all being conditioned here on earth from the moment we are born! LIFE IS A TEST FOR EACH ANF EVERYONE OF US IN HIS OR HER OWN LIFETIME! thats it! ........ the rest is all about the people who control our lives through society, laws, schools, and various other things.. they set the flow of things and most of us just learn to live in and among it.. its all fucked up, because the people running things are fucked up too! nothing super intellectual or scientific about it! ........... WE ALL NEED JESUS TO UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND TO BE SAVED ESSENTIALLY FROM OURSELVES! and others..........

@Kaz999998

3 жыл бұрын

You have to have a high IQ to understand Steve Vai's music

This interview is a wealth of knowledge.

What a great interview, the riffing that vai goes off with his stream of consciousness is awesome. Really dig what he says here

Now, this was a nice interview as you are hearing stuff close to the man's thinking. Good job..

A Genius of a Musician and Totally Down to Earth - Steve Vai you are Phenomenal 👍👍👌👌🤘🤘

Always dug Steve!! Amazing dude hot guy still,timeless!!!

He is a master. Period!

Steve Vai manages to be so stinkin' smart and still is able to be humble. That's quite a feat. Great interview Mitch!

Its always be placer to listen and see the God of Guitar....Thanxs Master.....:) :)

I love how he describes her as "Fiercely Talented". Nott only accurate with her, but a great way to describe the amazing skill of the musicians at that level of skill.

Steve Vai is so underrated even as a person. I hope he gets more recognition.

@HueyMaxSucks

4 жыл бұрын

Under-rated by whom? He's one of the most respected musicians in the world.

@dakotamorgan6594

4 жыл бұрын

Steve vain isn’t underrated at all.... if anything I think people just don’t understand how genuine he is

Another good job, Mitch.

Great gifted musician giving it away for everyone to understand some mystical aspects of the creative process many people shy away from talking about openly and so eloquently...Thank you very much. Very enlightning indeed... ^^

Love the fact my reminder notifications didn’t go off, thanks KZread

Steve Vai is so expressive, his philosophical train of thought reminds me Jordan Peterson but revolving around music instead, yet could easily be applied to any aspect of life.

Steve's always been super cool.

Listening to Vai, Satriani or Petrucci is just mindblowing, it’s Everything in life what they are talking about, it’s more than scales, notes etc these guys feel , they are truly todays greats with there own sound and that’s what seperate them from the rest

Steve Vai = growth and development in several ways/depths...:)

Wow, I enjoyed this very much, and I am not even a Steve Vai fan! But he said many interesting, inspiring and nice things, with great humility. Great musician. And congratulations to Mitch for providing the space for Steve to tell us all this, while trying to protect his wallet. ;-)

So, love Steve Vai as a person and artist, never really got into any of his solo stuff, not sure why, it just doesn't seem to move me, however I find myself enjoying listening to him talk and for some reason a lot more than I do listening to him play. That's not a dig on him! So don't freak out guys and gals. I have total respect for this man. I just realized this though. Anyway...carry on Steve. I'm listening intently.

@damagedbyus

4 жыл бұрын

E K agreed

@jamisonc7500

4 жыл бұрын

Same. He’s more of a motivational speaker for guitarists

How amazing would it be to just sit with Steve Vai and play a little crazy cool song Sooooooo lucky

Mitch is looking great!

“Evolution of creative music awareness”, sounds the title of a book

The legend

that Jem behind Steve

ik right!!! CAN:T wait #sweetwaterrocks

The King of electric sound. The Best Ever.

so spiritual

7:54 Steve your songs are always melodic. Nobody can reach your solo albums, the bar you set there!