Personalities | Steve Vai | Eighties | Rock

(Guitar, b. 1960)

After learning many of his chops from Joe Satriani, New Yorker Vai became Frank Zappa’s ‘stunt guitarist’ on his albums between 1981 and 1986. He was also a hired axe for John Lydon’s PiL, Dave Lee Roth and Whitesnake. His own work shows a compositional maturity. Rather than just ‘shredding’ on Passion And Warfare (1990), Fire Garden (1996) and The Ultra Zone (1999), he experiments and develops moods. And he shreds.

Styles & Forms | Eighties | Rock
Personalities | Van Halen | Eighties | Rock

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

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