Steve Vai recently sat down with Wichita NPR affiliate KMUW to discuss the current Generation Axe tour, which sees him performing alongside Zakk Wylde, Yngwie Malmsteen, Nuno Bettencourt and Tosin Abasi.
In addition to talking about the tour, Vai was also asked about helping to design the Ibanez Universe, the first mass-produced seven-string guitar, which helped to kick off the extended-range craze and influenced the sound of metal bands like Korn, among many others.
Vai recalled: “When I first designed the seven-string for Ibanez, I used it a particular way. I knew, instinctively, that if young musicians saw the potential in it for their ideas, it was going to evolve into something pretty incredible. That was made very apparent to me when I first heard Korn. They had taken the seven-string and taken that low potential way, way beyond what I was doing. That was a beautiful evolution to see.
"Then there was that whole underground movement of seven-string bands and players that created a whole subculture. But then based on the way us humans like to evolve our creativity, it went from seven strings to eight strings and there's people with nine strings. I knew that eventually somebody was going to come along and that seventh string or eighth string and start doing something even more unique than conventional metal at the time.”
“You can't pantomime somebody's musicality without sounding insipid. I was lucky enough to discover my own harmonic inner voice. But keeping chops up like that your whole life is tough. It requires a lot of time and focus. I have enough chops now where I'm satisfied but I'm most interested in evolving in the realm of phrasing.”
11/30 Atlantic City, NJ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City – The Theater
12/16 Salt Lake City, UT The Complex – Rockwell
