How To Torture Drummers

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Originally posted by Digital Man:
1 - He has gone through Bozz, Bissonette, Mangini, Virg etc. and now has Jeremey Colson playing for him, sorry quite a step down.

2 - Vai compositionally writes fairly difficult material for the guitar but stunts the expression of the drummer within that framework.
I sure cannot make comment's about Vai personally but it seem's he is fairly easy to get along with on a personal level from what I have read...

3 - just makes it hard on the drummer's musically speaking. Steve Vai live and on record is pretty much ABOUT Steve Vai.

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree with the JC statement, altho he does the job well & is rock solid.

2 - I don't think Vai's rock composing for gtr is that difficult...I hear stronger C abilies with him charting the Zappa stuff. Altho Passn & Warf had some very cool breaks in a rock-fusion context...in certain words he himself has intimated that Tony M can shred his arse.

3 - I don't think his music itself is necessarily excessively hard on those calibre of drummers either. It's the other factors, the long rehearsals, touring hours, awa a bit of note-for-noteyness, tediousness in studio, whatnot. I don't find many of his songs themselves that difficult in concept, save for maybe something like Incantation, in which you'd better know your odd-time. But he def let da Virg stretch during his drum solo tho... [img]wink.gif[/img]
I think hjis being in Zappa is the more of the tell-tale-all, strictly music theory speaking. Which can get quite boring for most peeps. ;cp.

And altho sometimes the whole "80s metal, primadonna, 'metrosxl' [img]wink.gif[/img] rock image" thing [fan blowing the long dyed hair out away from face & all over the place, eyebrow pencil or mascara, blk nail polish, leather & lace clothing fashion style, etc] has long been a bit outdated... ;cP
But I'll stop talking [a little dab a'] smack now.

I've enjoyed SV over the years, he's def a cool rock cat, w advanced comp skills, no doubt. He's def made his mark. At least he's had & continues to have a decent thriving career for...SOLELY PLAYING THE GTR / MUSIC. [img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 17, 2005 01:56 PM: Message edited by: got_a_matchgrip? ]</font>

When I said he made it hard on the drummer musically, I was speaking of the fact that he severely limit's the drummer's expression within the song. Comp wise the drum parts are not that difficult like you said Match Grip(aka Fuse)which combined with the first statement is not too alluring for certain drummers. The gig is good to get your name out there if it is not already along with fairly good money.

Dig

Word. [img]cool.gif[/img]
[I actually gotcha da foist time broeski...me just "sounding off"...runnin' m' mouth...] [img]wink.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ April 16, 2005 04:40 PM: Message edited by: got_a_matchgrip? ]</font>

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 22, 2005 06:59 AM: Message edited by: ELECTROVISION ]</font>

Steve Vai has changed guitar playing with his approach and I think it unfair to criticize such a player because he is not Scofield or Holdsworth.

Steve Vai is also a composer first. So what if he wants his drummers to play what he has written. He's paying the bills.

I don't listen to much Vai anymore but he was a big influence on my generation of musicians so I thought I'd stick up for the guy.

Check out 'Call it Sleep' off Flexable. I think that is very emotional playing.

Passion and Warfare are an INCREDIBLE disc... I?m not a fan, but i can say that the guy recorded amazing stuff on late 80s/early 90s...

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ October 22, 2005 06:59 AM: Message edited by: ELECTROVISION ]</font>

Dean!!??

Is that you!!??

I just saw Vai and well... i am not a negative guy but whether it was Jeremy Colson or what Steve had him play... dude, i might as well been at a Guns N' Roses concert as far as the drums go... he didn't use an ounce of touch on the skins either. Too bad, i think it would have made the (Three) guitar parts sound so much more interesting instead of someone shredding over a programmed rock beat. Sorry.