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My analysis of the Steve Vai 10 hour workout

32K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  Satriana 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

Last week I ran into a kid at the music store who had heard about Vai's 10 hour workout, but wondered how the hell vai found the time to do all that everday :)

He told me that he wished he could do that, and of course, I told him he could, but that it would require discipline, willpower, and stamina. The thought of 10 hours was just to much for him though. :eek:

I went home, and got thinking how everyone thinks it is soooooo cool that vai did a 10 hour workout everyday, and how that in itself has made him a legend of sorts within the guitar community. Its like an urban legend or something, a disney tale of things that are above and beyond most of our wild dreams :wink: That's the problem in a nutshell. hardly anyone can/will do it themselves. They're too busy being awestruck as to how vai had that much discipline etc....
admit it, you probably wondered how vai did all that yourself :wink: I know I have.

So for the last week, I said f@ck it, I'm going to do the 10 hour workout, just like steve did, but not for an hour a section, but 10 minutes a section. Who the hell really has 10 hours a day to practice anyway?? Not me, that's for sure, and I'm a certified bum. :wink: Let me tell you, after a week of following steve's guidlines for 10 minutes a peice, there is NOTICEABLE improvment in my playing, chords, scales, and sense of melody. 10 hours narrowed down to 1 hour and 40 minutes did wonders. While there's still much to learn, I never thought so few minutes a day could help.

Where the heck did that kid from the music store go, there's something I need to tell him!

The moral of this seemingly pointless ramble is, for all you kids out there (as the famous canadian don cherry would say), YOU DON'T NEED TO DO THE 10 hour workout for 10 hours to get better. Don't be afraid of it, tackle it, do what you can, and believe me, it helps...a few minutes each day does some great things.
Just cover all the ground Dr. Vai reccomends, and push yourself...don't get stuck doing the same stuff over and over again, and you'll be flying.

Anyhow, I hope that my expriences with shortening this rather crazycool method will inspire a few of you to try it on your own, and not be intimidated by it. I really wanted to share this, although its nothing more than common sense. I bet if i see that kid in the music store next week, he'd like to hear it :)

Bottom line is, the hour 40 minute workout is WAY more manageable than the 10 hour workout to the average joe (no, not satriani :wink: ) and thus, he's more likely to do it. So I hope you do, because it still works well.

Would you be more inclined to do it? I know I am

Peace out to y'all.
Dave
 
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#7 ·
Hmm.Atm i have a 4 hour technical workout and i havnt been noticing any improvments. Would you suggest i try your way of a simplefied Vai workout for a bit and see if i get better results? If so how should i go about it, should i maybe do my workout one day, then vais the next etc?
 
#8 ·
Personally, I think anything helps....that sounds like a good idea...try it, and see if it works :)

If not, then mix things up a bit. I think that one of the reasons I'm having success is that I'm consistently trying new things...different chords, different picking excecises. The weirder the better really, as it challenges you to new levels.

And don't think about the improvements, they'll just come on there own :)
 
#13 ·
yup.

I'm glad you guys are feeling me here. It's very difficult for people to do the amount they'd like...either they can't physically, or they can't due to other commitments.

The look on that kids face at the music store was troubling when he was giving up just because he could never do 10 hrs a day like Vai. It was like he thought he was a failure, or not good enough to do what vai was doing. That's why I felt so strongly about posting this.

A few minutes a day in key areas really can help if your consistent, innovative, and keep things fresh and challenging.
How can't it when you think about it?

Personally speaking, I've benefitted most from doing 10-20 minutes soloing over a chord progression...but avoiding patterns I'm used to, or that I feel confortable with. before you know it, your mind is opened, your prospective is fresh, and your fingers are doing things you wouldn't have thought of otherwise :)
 
#14 ·
I think that the 10 hour thing Steve has mentioned was on and off, he'd take a break for 30 minutes, and go back to playing. Even my first guitar teacher said "don't practice more than 20 minutes at a time at first", but I think that pyramid style would be a good approach too... starting super, SUPER slowly, hence making your workouts longer, and obtaining finger memory, then slowly increasing, so your workouts take less time but the memory is still retained.

Just wish I had time to practice these days... a baby boy on the way and crunch mode at work don't make things easy for guitar playing. :)

-Alex
 
#16 ·
Sry777

You should be able to right click your mouse once you are in each lesson scan, and blow it up.

Thats what I do..... it actually looks better than if I had the magazine right in front of me.

Oh yeah.... Steve did not just sit down for 10 straight hours... no food, no drink, no pud spank.

It wasn't like that.... he may take hour break here, 2 hours there.... or sometimes be 5 hours in.... and then go do something... and continue the next day. I have an old video of a Vai clinic from 1986 where he states this.

Remember, this isn't the military folks..... I am as disaplined as anyone, but lets use our heads here. NO ONE really has 70 hours a week to practice. Professional bands touring 3 nights a week.... who don't do anything but music....don't have guitarists getting in 30 hrs playing a week... let alone 70.

I get the impression from Vai, that in his younger years of woodshedding, he would do the 10 hour thing starting Friday afternoon when he got home from high school, and continued through to the next morning ......while others were out practicing alcoholism and weed.... he was taking care of business in his room.

Alot of time, after he and Joe Satriani were both at the same level, they use to sit back to back to each other on Vai's bed, guitars in hand, and just play off each other for hours. (I would like to have this footage on tape).

Folks, you will become what , and how much you practice.

I hear people all the time say "Vai's so lucky to play like that"

B ullshi t , Vai created his own luck.... if you study guitar as much as Vai ...you will play at his level. If you studied medicine as long as your family doctor ....you could be a doctor.

I'm not saying its not ok to admre these folks .... I do too!! But realize that you can do it to.
 
#17 ·
GuitarWizard said:
Folks, you will become what , and how much you practice.

I hear people all the time say "Vai's so lucky to play like that"

B ullshi t , Vai created his own luck.... if you study guitar as much as Vai ...you will play at his level. If you studied medicine as long as your family doctor ....you could be a doctor.
While I believe that practicing can make any one improve leaps and bounds, I think that musicality is also a gift...some people have a ton of raw talent to develop, and others do not. That does not mean that some shouldn't practice, but I really believe that people who reach an ungodly status in something are of a special breed. A gift if you will. There are in fact people out there who could practice for decades, and achieve far less than steve did in his first year of playing.

Honestly, It's like dance, or whatever....some people are just ABLE and some aren't. But that should never stop anyone from trying to self-improve. Music is to make you happy, not to compete, so it doesn't matter anyway. No one should ever be intimidated of someone who's achieve greatness, just learn from them.
 
#18 ·
Dave

I just went through the workout and jotted down all the ex's in each catorgory and heres what i got.

Liner picking exercises
Fig 1
Fig 2
Fig 3
Fig 4
Fig 5
Fig 6
Fig 7
Fig 8

Stretching exercises
Fig 9
Fig 10

Angular Exercises
Fig 11
Fig 12
Fig 13

Chord Studies
Fig 14
Fig 15
Fig 16
Fig 17
Fig 18

Scale Modal studies
Fig 19
Fig 20
Fig 21
Fig 22
Fig 23
Fig 24
Fig 25
Fig 26
Fig 27
Fig 28
Fig 29

Other Realms
Fig 30 - Say something and translate into music


Origanally I worked out steve would of done about each excersise for 20 minutes as that all adds up to ten hours. So for you two do everything in about 140/150 minutes you must of spent about 5 minutes on each excersise yeah?

That to me seems like a kick ass workout, be it only a couple of hours it owns.
 
#23 ·
Hey Dave,

Since the days of Steve Vai, there are guys that put in an insane 16 hours a day and even spend every waking moment to get 18 (ex. Tiago Della Vega, Randall Padilla). I myself have practiced 10 regularly and have even got as many as 15.

It's a gradual process that starts from when you're a kid noodling on the guitar for 20 minutes give or take. After a couple of years, you're up to 1-2. You start jamming with people and your up to 3. You join a band performing band 5-6. It becomes a profession 8-10. You aspire to virtuosity 10+.

Steve Vai does music for a living and he went to Berklee. He has to perform technical passages flawlessly night after night, plus he's a perfectionist.

Tips on how to do it:
1. Have a clear PURPOSE in mind, strong enough to overcome foreseeable obstacles.
2. Have each minute accounted for, don't just **** it for 8 hours.
3. Maintain your health by getting enough sleep, food, water and exercise.
4. Make small modifications to your practice to make it more effective next time.
5. Write songs and learn those (don't just work on exercises the whole time, it's boring)
6. Focus on the difficult passages (slow to fast using a metronome)
7. Divide your practice into segments (10,20, or 30 minutes per passage)
8. BE CONSISTENT- If you can't do it with a metronome, relearn it.
9. DON'T JUST **** IT! (a pitfall that needs a second reminder)

Not everyone has the time, or even needs to do 10 hours. Figure out the WHY, before you worry about the WHAT and HOW. If you just want to do 30 minutes or 6 hours, it makes no difference as long as it matches your goals. Just know that if you want to practice as much as Vai, the info is out there and you can do it.
 
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