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Vai songs - hardest to date?

5K views 30 replies 15 participants last post by  Devo 
#1 ·
Some you you guys must try and play vai tunes if so what ones and what do you find hardest of all?
:shoot: :bash: :shoot:
 
#4 ·
Vai songs

Painted Love

from Alcatrazz

I have to edit this!! I chose this cuz the last time i messed with this song was like 5 years ago! OOPS!!!
I forgot that i have improved much over that time:biggrin:

I just picked up the tab to it and played it almost effortlessly... WITHOUT a short scale guitar (on my GMC)

So, right now, i dont know what the hardest to play to date is???
I dont spend a whole lot of time playing other peoples music, mostly my own:)

scott

(Edited by vwall at 1:07 am on Sep. 11, 2001)
 
#7 ·
Vai songs

all of em really!

I dont like to play Vai though, I like everyone else Ive ever heard play Vai, sounds like a bad midi file. totally expressionless trying to nail the technique, Its tricky to do both and its not enough to do just one of em well.

just my .02

Steve
 
#8 ·
Vai songs

Hear hear Devo! I have a penchant for noodling around with FTLOG on my Les Paul during spurts of inactivity during band rehearsal, but I suck....no one sounds like Steve, but that's the point...he once told me personally, and I quote: "Listen closely to the quiet realms of your inner ear, and your own creativity will tell you what to do".....so basically, innovate, don't imitate....

Abe
 
#11 ·
Vai songs

Not trying to start a big arguement here I find juice easy, well I can do it, and I think well. If you want real hard on the Vai frount try 'Kill the guy with the ball' that gives me nightmares and I have spent a lot of time trying to do it. However thats just me......
 
#12 ·
Vai songs

Talking about difficulties...
The Audience is Listening sounds rather hard to grasp to me. Although SV's newer albums have lots of unimaginable blazin' shockin' ear-tearin' songs (aka solos - :cool: I've always considered the song very exquisitely f@#&in` my ears - yeah, I wanna break me ears and fingers every time I listen to it, and I still can't get enough of it. (Sorry for the language - I love SV so much :cool:
Jibboom is rather hard to reproduce too...
 
#13 ·
Vai songs

Hey Carlos, I said the same exact thing about juice on a topic a long time ago. I can't play it either! It seems everyone here can but me! The hardest one I've came across is probably Fire Garden Suite (because of that end sweeping part) and Juice. But then again, I've never tried anything from P&W except FTLOG and Blue Powder.
 
#14 ·
Vai songs

Quote: from Big Job on 6:17 am on Aug. 2, 2001
Not trying to start a big arguement here I find juice easy, well I can do it, and I think well. If you want real hard on the Vai frount try 'Kill the guy with the ball' that gives me nightmares and I have spent a lot of time trying to do it. However thats just me......
i think I play this song very well now, however just being able to do something doesn't make it easy. The things that Michael Jordan seemed effortless when he did them, but I doubt even he would say that he's athletic performances were easy. He had just trained enough so that his skill made his performances possible.
 
#15 ·
Vai songs

I don't attempt many of his songs to be honest, I seem to have more joy with Joe's work.

But one I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on (so much so that it's now starting to annoy me) is Tender Surrender, basically because it is just the greatest tune I've ever heard.

I can sorta' do a passable job, but have to substitute some of the whammy work with other things as I find it way too difficult to nail i.e. bar 51 - 3min 6secs...(the pinched A and open G (beautiful bar work!)) I just cannot get it at all.

The legato virtually immediately following it I totally love and it's not too difficult if you put the practice in.
Bars 58 - 61 - 3min 32secs also invariably end with me tying my fingers up in knots, but I've ditched a few notes to ease it up a bit and it aint "too" noticeable"

So actually, come to think of it, I pretty much do a hatchet job...but it keeps me happy :biggrin:

It's quite strange how some people can find a certain piece difficult and others easy/vice versa.
I get so far in Juice, but then my head sort of say's "No Steve...don't even think about it you foolish man!"

I would never try "Kill the guy" to be honest.
I can hear how difficult it would be for me, but I also hate the damn thing, personally I'd have to say it's his worst tune to date, but that's a different topic :)

Steve

(Edited by ripl3y at 5:54 pm on Aug. 3, 2001)
 
#16 ·
Vai songs

Quote: from Cory Bottone on 2:30 pm on Aug. 3, 2001
Hey Carlos, I said the same exact thing about juice on a topic a long time ago. I can't play it either! It seems everyone here can but me! The hardest one I've came across is probably Fire Garden Suite (because of that end sweeping part) and Juice. But then again, I've never tried anything from P&W except FTLOG and Blue Powder.
Yes... "Juice" just kills me! But I won't try to figure it (again!) for a while...

From P&W, I can play "FTLOG", "Answers", "Sisters" (just some licks missing) and "I Would Love To".

Quote: from ripl3y on 7:47 pm on Aug. 3, 2001
I don't attempt many of his songs to be honest, I seem to have more joy with Joe's work.

But one I have spent a ridiculous amount of time on (so much so that it's now starting to annoy me) is Tender Surrender, basically because it is just the greatest tune I've ever heard.
Hey... I've also spent a lot of time on "Tender Surrender". But it does worth all the work... it's the greatest Vai song, in my opinion!
 
#17 ·
Vai songs

'i think I play this song very well now, however just being able to do something doesn't make it easy'(jem7vwh)

You can play kill the guy with the ball? Yeah but you are right its different for everyone although once you've got a tune down it gets easier no matter what it is......One thing thats for sure its harder to play when you've just woken up....
 
#18 ·
Vai songs

how do you guys have the patience to go through a whole vai song and try to work out the rhythms???

trying to play 11 notes evenly over two beats just wrecks my head completely so I keep giving up?

I think this is because where my guitars are I cant play the cd so Im trying to imagine the song in my head.

does everyone here work from tab and cd simultaneously??

Steve
 
#19 ·
Vai songs

This is not 'golden rule' to go by, but take it line by line and keep at it! It took me four hours to get the rythm to the intro of the 'attitude song' and a whole *******
lot longer to get the more complex rythms to 'kill the guy with the ball', in this instance it was a case of learning the notes down and then playing to cd untill the rythm was nailed.......which for some parts was harder that learning the single notes that make up the song. Thats why I found this the hardest piece to date - although the riddle is ment to be tough.....
 
#20 ·
Vai songs

Quote: from Devo on 3:10 pm on Aug. 4, 2001
how do you guys have the patience to go through a whole vai song and try to work out the rhythms???

trying to play 11 notes evenly over two beats just wrecks my head completely so I keep giving up?

I think this is because where my guitars are I cant play the cd so Im trying to imagine the song in my head.

does everyone here work from tab and cd simultaneously??

Steve
If you think Vai is hard,try playing some Dream Theater.Their songs are so complex(how on earth do they play A Change Of Season Live???) and it requires a lot of memory power to remember them.Try playing this small solo from Just Let Me Breathe-(copy and paste in notepad)

E||------------------|----11-13-9-------11-7--------14----------11-|
B||------------------|------------10-------------------------------|
G||------------------|---------------11------10-8------10-13-14----|
D||------------------|--9-------------------------9----------------|
A||------------------|---------------------------------------------|
E||------------------|---------------------------------------------|

--17-13----------19-14----13------------------|
----------------------------------------------|
--------16-14-------------------16/10-8-----8-|
--------------15-------16---------------9-7---|
-----------------------------14---------------|
----------------------------------------------|

----11-13-9-------11-7--------14----------11-|
------------10-------------------------------|
---------------11------10-8------10-13-14----|
--9-------------------------9----------------|
---------------------------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|

--------------------------------------------14-12-|
--15-14-12----------14-12-------17-12-------------|
-----------14-------------14-12-------14-12-------|
--------------16-14-------------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|

--------15-12-------17-12-------19-15-------21-17-|--19-21-19-17-17-19-17-15-|
--14-12-------14-12-------14-12-------17-15-------|--------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------|

--15-17-15-14-------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------16-18-16-14-|--14-16-14-12-12-14-12-11-|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------|--------------------------|

--------------------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------------------|
--14-13-12-11-------------------------------------|
--------------14-13-12-11-------------12-13-14-15-|
--------------------------12-13-14-15-------------|
--------------------------------------------------|

--------------------------------|----------||
--------------------------------|----------||
--11----------------11-12-13----|----------||
-----15-14-13-14-15-------------|----------||
--------------------------------|----------||
--------------------------------|----------||

(Edited by rosskoss at 5:19 pm on Aug. 12, 2001)
 
#21 ·
Vai songs

i suppose that's all well and good, but I do have two issues here.

1. if you are goin to post tab, please format it with courier font, it looks much prettier then.

2. there's plenty more complex music than Vai in terms of number of notes and the archaic form of the notes played. The challenge for me is becoming as fluid and smooth as Vai. Mastering 600 bars of robotic alternate picked hexatonic scales is not my idea of learning, it's memorization.
 
#22 ·
Vai songs

ahh yes DT is quite simple, all they use is 16ths and the odd 16th triplet hence everything is a sinch to learn if you got the picking.

I totally agree with 7vwh its all about the smoothness and what you can conjur out of the music.

I love DT though!!!! I just find it much much easier relative to SV
 
#23 ·
Vai songs

Quote: from Devo on 4:12 am on Aug. 13, 2001
ahh yes DT is quite simple, all they use is 16ths and the odd 16th triplet hence everything is a sinch to learn if you got the picking.

I totally agree with 7vwh its all about the smoothness and what you can conjur out of the music.

I love DT though!!!! I just find it much much easier relative to SV
Devo try playing that solo above.
 
#24 ·
Vai songs

No one has mentioned Eugene's Trick Bag. I guess if you practice 5 - 6 hours a day for 4 or 5 days it gets pretty easy. That's what I had to do. It worked! Now all I have to do is play 20 minutes or so every day and it gets closer and closer to perfection. If I REALLY wanted to NAIL it cold ASAP then i'd just do one more 5 hour practice on it.
 
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