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Feel like doing a Steve Vai aesthetics thread. Steve and I share the same birthday (06/06), and while I've never been a ~huge~ fan of his music personally, I admire his embodiment of his own aesthetics. At his peak (IMO), he had this interesting xeno-magick-conjurer vibe going on https://t.co/TDVFsf0tKb
First thing I would start with re: Vai is not to talk about his music, or his clothes, or his bands, or his onstage persona I'd start by talking about the guitar he co-designed: the Ibanez JEM. It's what you might call a "super-strat", designed for pretty serious abusing https://t.co/Pdfp6lObbP
The JEM: - 24 frets (other guitars had 22, 21 frets) - cutaways to make it easier to reach those frets - more pickup options - more whammy options watch/listen Steve talk about his thinking β he has a hacker's mindset, modifying his tools to suit him. "I really wanted..." https://t.co/gPBm1ZO6So
a thing that people argue about is the point of the Monkey Grip. It doesn't help you play the guitar any better. What's the point? I like to think it has the same point as the handle on the iMac. It makes it more approachable. It *invites* you to pick it up. It's about intimacy https://t.co/GILBVDY6NI
here are a couple of cute bits β first talking about the claw β the scallops under the bridge that allow the player to pull the whammy bar up (for those wild squeal guitar sounds), and then the monkey grip. Love hearing how Rich translated Vai's vision into reality https://t.co/g7bP3V5EoS
Now let's talk about inlays! Most guitar necks have either dot inlays or block inlays. These help you visually orient yourself on the neck, to find your position. (Some cool kids play guitars with *no* inlays, maybe to show off how well they know their way around π) https://t.co/UyvBRUQF65
now check out the JEM inlays! rather than use a series of discrete dots or blocks, Vai's design has a continuous "Tree Of Life" vine that runs fluidly through the whole neck. Call me overdramatic but I find the Tree of Life inlay inspiring! question your assumptions and priors https://t.co/8Zqr8aDLlp
switching up a bit β here's the story behind the multi-ring necklace that Vai wears I remember seeing it multiple times and vaguely thinking "there's something about that", and I think it may have informed my thinking about talismans https://t.co/qXG8j5wy19
some of Vai's aesthetics over the years I think it's interesting that he started out with a sort of "traditional" psychadelic and hard glam rock aesthetic before evolving over time to his more "alien willy wonka" vibe https://t.co/1RZQJf5jjZ
since this is my steve vai thread I should also add that this 11 year old video "how to be successful" was a very strong influence on me, you can notice multiple of my talking points are directly remixed from his here https://t.co/jK93w4xSkx
^ 1. know what u really want 2. focus on your strengths not weaknesses 3. our achievement is a reflection of how well we focused 4. only thing holding u back is the way you're thinking 5. vision: picture yourself playing a song you want to play, imagine it sounding perfect
6. set aside dedicated practice time, shut off everything else and focus on your goal 7. when u get discouraged, go to the big picture, your place of excitement, see yourself doing what you currently cant 8. put the work in β its all a joy, bc you know you're reaching your goal
9. break it down piece by piece, one bar at a time 10. once you can play the whole thing through technically, then you focus on becoming the music it's all fairly straightforward yet very potent. i revisited this maybe every year or so and it's part of how i'm good at what i do
it's interesting to re-read a sentence like "the only thing holding you back is the way you're thinking". now i find myself redteaming it with, "of course that's not the only thing." but it's powerful even in its wrongness. I might maybe rephrase to "the critical variable is"
@visakanv yeah, it's similar to this one: https://t.co/U7fqiB2Px3
@visakanv https://t.co/s8a99wzFG5