Vai's Big Trouble sound

[moro]

At about 2:19 in the Big Trouble solo, Vai hits this harmonic that's the single weirdest sounding note I've ever heard come out of a guitar. Is there some effect he's using there?

You can hear a similar squeaky pick attack during the fast run at 2:23 but the harmonic I'm talking about is just off-the-charts bizarre.

Am I the only one who thinks that's a strange sounding note?

(Both his lead and rhythm sound on that track are unbelievably cool, imo.)

[jem7vwh]

if you want a good note for note transcription, look for this book: Steve Vai's Guitar Extravaganza. It's often hard to find, but has great details there.

He's using his guitar, probably the Jackson soloist, into a Marshall JCM800, with a Boss DS-1 to beef up the signal. Throughout the whole song, there's a very quick reverb, maybe 15 ms. During the solo there's another delay that follows a bit behind that.

The harmonics are all typical vai stuff, artificial and pinch harmonics. If you just want a solid tab of the song with the solo etc, check out this powertab. You'll need to download the powertab program to view it.

http://www.powertabs.net/pta.php?page=song,12142

[steve]

BTW; one of my favorite of all of Vai's solos... =]

I think that a piece of the recipe for creating this sound is a medium-gain type of sound... not over-the wall drive.
That, and the right pinches give you something closer to those sounds.

Back at the time, though, I had no real comprehension of that, I'd say.

Before commenting on this just now, I brought up that song and listened to it to find exactly the sounds you were referring to... and once again, was struck by, in particular, the opening phrase of that solo. Just very very nice stuff...

[moro]

Originally Posted by steve

I think that a piece of the recipe for creating this sound is a medium-gain type of sound... not over-the wall drive.
That, and the right pinches give you something closer to those sounds.

It does sound like a fairly clean sound. I guess the part that gets me is that the pick attack is very loud (and distinctive), which I associate more with a very overdriven sound.

[Petie]

The trick there is to hit the pinch harmonic then quickly slide to another note. There's some weird harmonic movement as the string's vibration is altered first by the harmonic, then the sliding, then the final note you land on. When done right it almost sounds like you're playing through a wah.

[frozenthought]

I'm sitting in Vai's dressing room, talking with Vai & Billy Sheehan about touring with David Lee Roth, I'm Sitting there listening to them tell stories and joke around about there DLR days, That's a memory I will take to the other side with me. During this DLR discussion, I asked Steve how he played the riff to "Big Trouble", he stands up & grabs EVO and plays it for me in his dressing room!!!!!!!!!!! He goes on to say it was odd that I mentioned that particular song because he had just been recently thinking about how much fun it was to play that tune Live with DLR, and it was one of his favorites from that band.

Again, I kinda felt like I was dreaming and on an episode of Fantasy Island or something.

[Batchimp RG]

Resurrected thread...great solo, great song for anyone who's interested

peace out

[jemplayer55]

Some fresh conversation???? You're right though, I don't think there was really a bad song on either DLR album.

[crevis]

Originally Posted by jemplayer55

Some fresh conversation???? You're right though, I don't think there was really a bad song on either DLR album.

Two of the best albums to come out of the 80's

[Amy]

I think he is stepping on something when he does that...

[andy7jem]

Originally Posted by Amy

I think he is stepping on something when he does that...

Like a small rodent or something??

[andy7jem]

Originally Posted by jemplayer55

Some fresh conversation???? You're right though, I don't think there was really a bad song on either DLR album.

I soooo much preferred Eat 'em and Smile though out of the two

[rickcard71]

Great song.

[moro]

Wow, I haven't been around for a while--it's funny to see this thread resurrected.

I'm really crazy about Vai's sound on this track.

Originally Posted by andy7jem

Like a small rodent or something??

Heh. This made me laugh.

[fettouhi]

Originally Posted by andy7jem

Like a small rodent or something??

Regards

André