Steve Vai has a surprisingly simple formula for becoming a guitar virtuoso — though few players will enjoy hearing it. According to the former Frank Zappa and David Lee Roth guitarist, the path to elite-level technique isn’t mysterious at all. It’s just relentless discipline.
In fact, Vai says the process is so straightforward it’s essentially an “intellectual exercise” — provided you’re willing to spend hour after hour chasing perfection.
For many players, virtuosity is the ultimate goal when they first pick up an electric guitar. That’s especially true for those who came of age during the 1980s era of superstar shredders — or in today’s social media landscape, where jaw-dropping technical players seem almost as common as clouds in the sky.
Vai, who has long occupied the virtuoso bracket himself, doesn’t see the route to that level as particularly complicated — though he admits it certainly isn’t something that can be achieved overnight. And, like any morally responsible superhero, it’s not just about possessing such powers; how you use them matters just as much, if not more.
This is an intellectual exercise. When I was younger, that’s what I did. I set the clock and I set the metronome.”
— Steve Vai
“I can tell you how to become a virtuoso very easily,” he says matter-of-factly during a recent appearance on The Magnificent Others, hosted by Billy Corgan.
“Okay, tell me,” Corgan replies. “I’m still after it.”
Vai is forthcoming with his answer, though it isn’t quite the get-shredding-quick cheat sheet many guitarists might hope for.
“You have to practice nonstop and practice perfectly,” he explains. “And you have to practice fast, and you have to get bulletproof intonation. This is an intellectual exercise. When I was younger, that’s what I did. I set the clock and I set the metronome.”
The former guitarist for Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake is also sympathetic. He acknowledges that “practicing endlessly is not for everybody,” but he recalls the demanding routine he followed — likely influenced by the strict tutelage of Joe Satriani — when he was still a budding player.
“My schedule back then — I was happy if I got nine hours a day. I was very neurotic, very myopic.”
— Steve Vai
“My schedule back then — I was happy if I got nine hours a day. I was very neurotic, very myopic,” he says.
He isn’t the only high-profile guitarist to have embraced an obsessive practice routine. Randy Rhoads had a compact pedalboard custom made so he could practice in his hotel room. Meanwhile, Jack Moore, son of Gary Moore, was often sent to his room to practice his vibrato.
Then again, Marty Friedman says he never practices at home and suggest others shouldn’t do so either. In other words, there’s no single blueprint — Vai is simply describing the approach that helped transform him from a wannabe rock star into the real deal.
But his lesson doesn’t end there. Once a player can shred at Ferrari-like speeds with spotless precision, he says, the next step is learning when not to show it off.
“There wasn’t a lot of melody involved,” Vai says of those early practice sessions. “But luckily for me, I was a huge fan of ’70s Top 40. I love melody. So the ability to shred is fine and good, but without melody, there’s no shelf life in a performer’s career.”
Still, while Satriani can boast of having taught several future stars — including Vai, Alex Skolnick and Kirk Hammett — one of his former students has since criticized his rigorous methods and claims he’s done just fine without them.
