There are many reasons why Steve Vai is widely considered the greatest living guitar player on earth: his ferocious alternate picking, liquid legato and seamless sweeps to name but a few.
There’s also plenty to be said of his unrivaled musicianship and control over his instrument, the kind that can only come from years of intensely devoted scholarship, though in many ways it’s his sheer inventiveness that separated him from every other shredder to arrive in the '80s.
Much like his own heroes Brian May and Jimmy Page, Vai is the kind of guitarist who thinks way beyond the fretboard - embracing effects and production techniques as well as harmonics and divebombs to create sounds that had truly never been heard before.
“I always think, ‘What can I do that’s different?’” he told this writer in 2017. “That’s an important place to go in your head when you want to create something new. When it starts getting dangerous is when you think, ‘What can I create that everyone will love or is better than everything else!’ Then you are limiting yourself. You will never be able to create something that everybody loves, so stick with what you really love.”
Wise words indeed. If you’re looking to get a bit Bad Horsie yourself, saddle up and check out this Guitar World guide to sounding like one of the greatest visionaries to pick up the instrument…
Ibanez 6-string
Guitars are very rarely as tied to an artist as the RG is with Steve Vai. The series was launched in 1987 alongside his original signature JEM, with many similarities between the two instruments. “My career with Ibanez has been extraordinary... I still can’t believe it,” Vai commented, in the same interview.
“Looking back I think, ‘Holy mackerel, how did that happen?’ The JEM has been so consistent and successful for over three decades. Its sister guitar, the RG, is one of the biggest-selling guitars in the world. The Strat is first and then it’s neck and neck between RGs and Les Pauls. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving, but most importantly it’s the guitar I love playing. It has this personality virtually shaped like my mind and body.”
Ultimately, if you’re looking to recreate these sounds and tones - you’re going to need some sort of Superstrat with 24 frets, a five-way selector for an HSH pickup configuration and a double locking tremolo system that can handle extreme whammy bar abuse. Which, thankfully, is the exact kind of thing Ibanez are masters of...
No expense spared
On a budget
7-string
The first ever mass-produced seven-string arrived in 1990 and was in fact Vai’s UV7, which he co-designed with Ibanez with hopes of tapping into new dimensions and ranges. And he most certainly did - from using an early prototype on stage with Whitesnake to, perhaps most notably of all, his Grammy-winning masterpiece Passion And Warfare. Three decades on, it still towers as the quintessential instrumental guitar album, with a creative fearlessness that remains virtually unrivaled.
No expense spared
On a budget
High-gain amp
No expense spared
On a budget
Effects
Strings
Steve Vai has traditionally used Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings, though has been known to go up to the 10-46 Regular Slinkys, too…
“The gauges haven’t really changed,” he commented in a 2017 Ernie Ball String Theory interview. “I’m basically a nine through 42 guy. Sometimes I go heavier on the low end. It’s based on how long I’ve been on tour because you can sit and play in your room all day, but when you get hit the deck, everything changes, just the way you play. So after a little while, my fingers get real strong, they get more powerful when I’m on tour. So I like to have a little more fight. So I might move to some heavier, lower ends but I usually stay at the nines on the top.”
