Steve Vai calls one of his BEAT tour bandmates a “marvel”, explains why he’s “underrated in the echelons of guitar”
Steve Vai is currently on the road with the BEAT tour, a project that brings together a powerhouse lineup of musicians to celebrate the ‘80s era of King Crimson. The tour features two former Crimson members – guitarist Adrian Belew and bassist Tony Levin — along with Tool drummer Danny Carey and Vai himself.
In a new interview with MusicRadar, Vai shares that performing alongside Belew has given him a newfound appreciation for the guitarist’s immense talent. And though the two share a connection through their mutual history with Frank Zappa, the virtuoso admits he didn’t fully grasp the depth of Belew’s abilities until now.
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“I can’t say enough about Adrian. I knew about his work with Zappa, but that didn’t show me all of his brilliance,” he explains.
“You need to hear him flexing his muscles in different situations to discover the breadth of the man’s abilities. There are his contributions to David Bowie and Talking Heads, but what he did on those ‘80s King Crimson records was monumental.”
Reflecting on their time together on tour, Vai praises Belew’s distinctive style, and notes how “together we’ve merged our sounds in a way that creates a really dynamic show.”
“I would say Adrian is underrated in the echelons of guitar,” he says. “Nobody plays like anybody else, nobody can play like me, but they can get sort of close. Honestly, there’s no one close to Adrian.”
Vai continues: “There’s a special way he’s crafted his own dimension of sounds. To see him play this complex polymetric music while singing at 75 is unbelievable. He still hits the notes with that silky voice. He’ll talk and joke around while I have to keep my head down. The man is a marvel!”
The guitarist — who’s no stranger to intricate, demanding tunes – also opens up about the difficulties of playing King Crimson music, saying: “If you come to see Steve Vai in BEAT, you get to see Steve Vai working! You come to my solo shows, it’s another thing entirely.”
“Robert wrote beautiful parts, but the techniques didn’t come naturally [to me]. It’s different [from] what I do.”
“There was a time in Zappa’s band when I was a heavy picker,” Vai explains. “That stuff was hard because Frank didn’t write on guitar, he would write on piano and then give it to you. His parts were so un-guitaristic! I had the chops and focus back then. Some of this BEAT stuff took months to get under my fingers.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
