Steve Vai London Mastercall Reviews

Batchimp RG · #1 04-28-2007, 01:53 PM

Well, I've just got back from the London Guitar Show...heaving with people!

I thought to start a thread for us folks who went down to the masterclasses, to share our thoughts.

It was the first time I have ever seen Vai in person or heard him play live.

The masterclass was more of an interview Q & A type thing with Steve occassionally picking up the guitar to do some shredding.

When asked about the Jem 20th he said it would be too heavy to play on tour but might bring it along with with him...he wasn't quite clear on that

He spoke about how hard he worked on achieving something close to perfect pitch by (amonst other things) recording certain notes on a tape recorder and hearing it back during the night, with headphones, while he slept!

I always knew he was an incredibly dedicated guitarist but what I didn't realise was how fanatical he was about the guitar pretty much since he picked it up!

He spoke frankly about when he lost alot of popularity in the early 90s when the shredding trend subsided, after he was such an "entity" in the 80s, which I found very dignified and unegotistical.

All in all, definitely worth the 17 quid, just wish I was a tad nearer the stage. There were about 1000 people there, I reckon.

Saw Johnny Hiland ripping it up on the PRS stand too, which was cool.

I'm sure somebody can do better than me at the review so please chime in.

funkdubious · #2 04-28-2007, 02:01 PM

Thanks for the review,wish I was there...Bargain at £17 too!

Rekuss · #3 04-28-2007, 02:02 PM

Hey,

I tried to keep an eye for you but I never saw you, it was chocka.

Hmmm, Vai was a real let down in my opinion. I think he spoke/philosophised far to much and didn't do enough playing. Now I know what he was saying is smart and can help you but was I the only one looking forward to hearing him shred?

But yeah, the show was quite good, I think last years was better. But did anyone see the Viger demos? The guy playing was simply amazing! Them guitars are beautiful. Oh and the Jem 20th! It was funky looking but I wasn't that impressed.

Did anyone get any good bargins? I got myself a Vox DA5 for £70. It has a real good tone for what it is.

Batchimp RG · #4 04-28-2007, 02:05 PM

Somebody please please fix that spelling error in the title...it's killing me

Batchimp RG · #5 04-28-2007, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rekuss

Hey,

I tried to keep an eye for you but I never saw you, it was chocka.

Hmmm, Vai was a real let down in my opinion. I think he spoke/philosophised far to much and didn't do enough playing. Now I know what he was saying is smart and can help you but was I the only one looking forward to hearing him shred?

But yeah, the show was quite good, I think last years was better. But did anyone see the Viger demos? The guy playing was simply amazing! Them guitars are beautiful. Oh and the Jem 20th! It was funky looking but I wasn't that impressed.

Did anyone get any good bargins? I got myself a Vox DA5 for £70. It has a real good tone for what it is.

I must say the crowds and the noise were getting to me but yeah, seeing the 20th was cool...tried the PGM too ,which was nice...didn't set my world on fire, though.

Vai did do a bit of chin-wagging...I thought the 2nd masterclass crowd would've seen more guitar action. Some of the questions were also a bit pathetic and Phil Hilbourne's accent (and diction) were not exactly easy to comprehend....~culture shock~

Rekuss · #6 04-28-2007, 02:13 PM

Yeah, it was pretty loud. Is it just me or was this year's LGS very similar to last year's?

Did you the LGS guitar? You know logo there was an actual guitar, it was in some office for reporters.

Batchimp RG · #7 04-28-2007, 02:14 PM

Yeah, caught a glimpse of that...but it was my first LGS (and last, unless they pull another big name....)

Rekuss · #8 04-28-2007, 02:18 PM

Yeah, I feel kinda let down buy the whole event. Last year's was far greater, I don't know why, I guess there was more audience activity. Like there was jams and such which I was really looking forward to doing but I couldn't find any.....

Hikey Mikey · #9 04-28-2007, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimp

He spoke frankly about when he lost alot of popularity in the early 90s when the shredding trend subsided, after he was such an "entity" in the 80s, which I found very dignified and unegotistical.

I'm not clear on this and interested to know, what exactly was he dignified and unegotistical about?

Pox · #10 04-28-2007, 03:20 PM

Masterclass was amazing but steve didn't really talk much about technique which I guess most people was there for. On the other hand it was really interesting about the stuff he was talking about which made it different from other masterclasses. Anyway, do you guys think steve would make an instructional video??

funkdubious · #11 04-28-2007, 03:47 PM

I think maybe he would have already done one if he was going to.He's kind of already reached his pinnacle of popularity,and in interviews he talks about playing one note for hours,imagine that in a video!

Batchimp RG · #12 04-28-2007, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hikey Mikey

I'm not clear on this and interested to know, what exactly was he dignified and unegotistical about?

HikeyMikey: He was just answering a question about if his contempories at Berklee (and around the early Zappa time) insulted him because of his style (daft question, I thought).

He replied saying that he "is the most criticized guitarist in the world" and that in the 90s there wasn't a time that he picked up a guitar magazine and "read hate mail" about him.

I do remember around the grunge period that even I had forgotten about Satriani and Vai...had no idea that they were still recording

The fact that he mentioned it, and the fact that he also mentioned that he had had some hard times in his life, I found quite endearing and dignified.

andy7jem · #13 04-28-2007, 08:13 PM

DAMN Chimp. Sounds like you must have have been in the first masterclass??? Don't recall some of those questions!!!
I looked out for ya but didn't see ya

Did everyone else in the second masterclass CRINGE when that stupid bird asked him if one day he'd like his own signature guitar???

Plenty of people around me did!!! LOL

I enjoyed it,worth seeing and paying the money for. I was seriously disappointed with the Ibanez stand though. Apart from the Jem20th there wasn't much to look at

Batchimp RG · #14 04-29-2007, 03:53 AM

WHAT!!?? Somebody asked him that??? Jezzz

We had a few clangers too but not that bad

There were 2 kids that lifted up a painting to him during the masterclass, which was a bit weird.... and after the 2nd time they did it he looked over and said "cool, thanks" in a way that meant "alright, alright I get the message

".

Andy, I nearly asked the bloke next to me if he was you but then I heard a slight northern accent....

Headstock stand was a bit poor but I spent alot of time on the EBMM stand where there were demos etc etc. Watching the Jamiroquai bassist was awesome too.