For Vai, practice makes perfect

Kirk Baird

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 10:06 a.m.

Want to be a "shredder," a guitarist intense of virtuosity and devoid of any melodic or emotional value?

It's simple. "Practice for 16 hours a day, start very, very slow and never make one mistake," said guitar virtuoso Steve Vai recently from Los Angeles. "And if you make a mistake, you start over. And every time you can do it perfect 10 times in a row, just click your metronome notch up. You'll sound like an idiot, but in a few years you'll be shredding with the best of them."

In other words, take it to 11.

If you want to be like Vai, however, who's considered by some to be the best guitarist alive if not ever start with a different approach to playing the instrument: mainly balance.

"Obviously, with my music there's something there of substance," he said. "I want to have a well-balanced diet of musical tone and imagination. I really appreciate having the technical ability that my imagination cares to do."

Of course, having lightning-fast fingers that can zip along a guitar neck with pinpoint accuracy doesn't hurt.

Those fingers will be on display Sunday when Vai, along with fellow guitar gods Joe Satriani and John Petrucci of Dream Theater, play Mandalay Bay's House of Blues as the featured acts on the "G3 Tour."

The tour, in its fifth year, was the mastermind of Satriani and allows fellow axe slingers to strut their musical stuff, first with their respective bands and later in an all-star jam.

Vai has participated in most of the tours, which have featured other such prominent guitarists as Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Robert Fripp.

To the guitar-worshipping fanatics who can't get enough of the frenetic fingering up and down the frets, the "G3 Tour" is as close to nirvana as it gets.

But Vai said he gets something out of it, too.

"I really find the 'G3 Tour' fulfilling," Vai said. "And playing with Joe is always an elevating experience. He's always been a mentor and a continual source of inspiration to me. So, I also look forward to that -- it makes me better."

Although, he said, he doesn't practice as much as he used to.

"If I'm preparing for a tour, I'll put in many hours a day. It's still my sanctuary. Sitting there playing guitar alone is one of my greatest joys in life," Vai said. "Unfortunately, at this point in my life, playing the guitar has to be prioritized a certain way and there's other things that take precedent.

"But when the time comes I rise to the occasion."

Which is essentially what it took for him to complete his new album, "Alive in an Ultra World."

Entirely written, rehearsed and recorded live during a 32-country tour, including most of Eastern Europe, Japan and South America, each of the 15 songs was conceived with a particular culture in mind and often reflects the same musical style as well.

To say it was a massive project is an understatement.

"It all came to me in 30 seconds, but it took me two years to complete," Vai said. This included holing up in a studio and listening to months' worth of recorded material.

Ultimately, any obstacles he faced in getting the album released was worth the effort to overcome them, he said. And while Vai is enjoying the recognition the album is receiving, "just knowing that I accomplished something that was different and interesting, that was my reward."

But these kinds of projects are what Vai has made a reputation on, such as making nearly every seventh song on his albums a ballad, and then putting them on a compilation album of sorts, "The 7th Song," which was released last year.

"I knew instantly I wasn't going to be an album-tour, album-tour, album-tour kind of guy," Vai said. "I have ideas for things that I know haven't beem done. I would say they're quasi-revolutionary, but I'm just Steve Vai. If Sting was to do it, trust me, he'd win 10 Grammys."