16-Year-Old Guitarist Tina S. Plays Steve Vai's "For the Love of God" — Video
Sixteen-year-old French guitarist Tina S. is back with a new video (her fourth of 2015), which she posted to YouTube Saturday, December 12.
This time, Tina—who has covered everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Eddie Van Halen to Gary Moore—tackles Steve Vai's classic 1990 instrumental, "For the Love of God."
"Steve Vai is one of the guitarists I admire most," Tina told GuitarWorld.com. "This beautiful song is close to my heart."
"The song is about how far people will go for the love of their god,” said Vai of the standout Passion and Warfare track.
“When you discipline yourself to quit smoking, to run faster or to play better, you have to reach deep down into a part of you. That is a profoundly spiritual event. That’s when you come into contact with that little piece of God within you. That’s what I was trying to achieve with ‘For the Love of God’—I was trying to find that spot.”
As always, Tina is playing her Vigier Excalibur Custom guitar. She was taught and filmed by her guitar instructor, Renaud Louis-Servais.
Be sure to check out Tina's effortless covers of Jason Becker's "Altitudes," Van Halen's "Eruption," Vai's version of Paganini's 5th Caprice, Dream Theater's "The Best of Times" and her shred tribute to Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi.
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You also might want to check out her take on Yngwie Malmsteen's "Arpeggios from Hell," which she performed and posted in 2014.
For more about Tina, check out the links above (and under RELATED CONTENT), and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
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