Last year marked the half-century mark from the moment a young Steve Vai started taking guitar lessons from Joe Satriani.
For the first time, the Long Island natives are teaming up for a co-headlining “Satch Vai US Tour,” which includes a show April 13 at the MGM Northfield Park Center Stage.
“We always had opportunities to go out together, but it was always in a G3 format, which was a particular type of entity (with another guitarist) that worked really well,” said Vai, calling from Jacksonville, Florida. “Other than that, we were always out promoting our own records. We did that for decades.”
Speaking of decades, Vai’s resume includes, in addition to his solo career, numerous high-profile gigs while performing with David Lee Roth and Whitesnake.
However, the guitarist extraordinaire — viewed early on as an Eddie Van Halen 2.0 — credits another musical genius, Frank Zappa, with giving him not only his start in the business but also an education from which he still draws.
“It was the launching pad,” he said. “I was 20 years old when I joined his band. I was like a sponge. I just watched everything Frank did. I learned about business. I learned how to survive the road, record, engineer, how to just conduct yourself on stage. It was so much. He was Frank Zappa, so I just absorbed everything I could, and I worked with him for a long time.”
Actually, prior to joining Zappa’s band, he was enlisted as the future Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s transcriptionist. Beginning at age 18, Vai spent two years listening to and transcribing Zappa’s eclectic catalog.
There’s no doubt such an exercise opened up creative gateways that were evident in Vai’s playing and solo career.
“It’s a great exercise because I was forced to enter a different kind of dimension in my head,” he said. “It was an incredible practice.”
The other impact Zappa had on the young guitarist’s career was the power of autonomy. While Vai could have spent the majority of his career jumping from one hard rock act to the next, he had other plans.
“I did my first solo record right (after finishing with) Frank in 1983, so I always knew that there were musical ideas going on in my head that were kind of personal to me,” he said. “I knew I was going to need to at some point start manifesting, but these other opportunities were so great.
“I’m a rock musician at heart, so bands like Alcatraz and Dave Roth and Whitesnake — they were fantastic. I played every arena in this country multiple times. There was just great economics in it, too. But I always knew at some point I was going to have to jump ship on all that and start doing my own music.”
That’s what fans attending the upcoming Northeast Ohio show can expect, with Vai performing before Satriani. Vai returns at the end of the set to perform the new track “The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1,” which he hinted may appear on a full-length album — which would be the first ever from Satriani and Vai together — that could be released next year.
Considering history and similar styles, the notion of having Vai and Satriani sharing the stage means it’s an opportunity to compare their talents. However, it appears as though Vai is fine with continuing the student-teacher dynamic.
“Joe is such a solid player,” he said. “In all the years that I’ve known him, there’s just this classic excellence every time he puts his hands on that instrument. He never makes mistakes. I’m a lot more visceral — I can be sloppy.
“I can have senior moments where I miss a note, but Joe is just really solid. His phrasing is so gorgeous. I’ve learned from him my whole life. It’s so nice to have these people in your life that lift you up. They’re always inspiring you.”
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai
When: 7:30 p.m. April 13.
Where: MGM Northfield Park Center Stage, 10777 Northfield Road, Northfield.
Tickets: $37 to $149.
Info: ticketmaster.com.
