“He’s taught me a lot about the guitar, but not from showing me stuff on the neck or talking about picking”: How Steve Vai helped Jacob Collier become a better player without even touching a guitar

Jacob Collier has opened up on his relationship with one of his “dearest friends”, Steve Vai, and revealed how he helped him become a better player without even touching an electric guitar.

The prolific genre-hopping multi-instrumentalist, who has just created an innovative five-string signature guitar with Strandberg, most recently collaborated with Vai on his latest album, Djesse Vol. 4, the culmination of a quad-album epic that also features John Mayer.

Yet, while he tells Kerrang! that Vai “taught me a lot about the guitar”, the most valuable lessons were delivered away from the instrument itself. Instead, it was virtuoso’s progressive mindset that resonated most strongly with Collier.

“[With] Steve Vai, I listen [as a fan] and think, ‘How does he do that? That’s crazy!’ He’s an amazing guy,” he says. “He’s taught me a lot about the guitar, but not so much from showing me stuff on the neck or talking about picking or something like that.

“It's more about his approach to life that is quite resplendent and his philosophy for radically accepting a process and trusting the universe, which feels very big and glorious.”

Ultimately, it comes down to music and life enjoying a symbiotic relationship for Collier. He didn’t need Vai to show him a new scale or technique: he needed perspective.

“I think that any aspect of music is kind of an extension of life,” Collier continues. “A lot of the same forces that make music work are the same forces that make life work.

Jacob Collier - Box Of Stars Pt.2 (Feat. Metropole Orkest, Suzie Collier, Steve Vai & VOCES8) - YouTube

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“Music is not one of these languages where there’s an inherent right and wrong way of doing things. There are guidelines and ways forward that can help you discover who you are and what your language is within it. But ultimately, you can do whatever you want. And I think that’s such a lovely thing to realize.”

Vai returned to Collier's London studio, having previously featured on Djesse Vol. 2's Do You Feel Love, for an equally virtuosic guest spot.

This time Vai, armed with his black Ibanez PIA signature guitar and a pedalboard that saw much use during the session – his DigiTech Whammy DT in particular – helped provide a face-melting slice of celestial shred for the conclusion of Box of Stars Pt.2.

Earlier on in the album, John Mayer unleashed nearly a minute's worth of soloing on the Lizzy McAlpine-iced Gonna Be Alone. The trio teamed up to play the track at LA’s Troubadour in 2022.

Collier is also at the centre of perhaps 2024's most notable signature guitar release. Talking about how guitarists have been approaching his wild five-string Strandberg, Collier said: “The first thing they’ll try and do is make one of the six-string guitar shapes work. It's a car crash!”

The musician says the instrument's symmetry-focused D A E A D tuning “gives me a ton of fresh ideas, and enables me to cover more ground with fewer strings to cross”.