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" The blues scale was the first thing I learned. It's just a pentatonic scale with a flat seventh and a few notes that sound cool when you bend them. And because people have amalgamated the blues into this rock-blues scale, if you're using it, you better sound like a real authentic blues player. "

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" Along with its enchanting and exquisite melodies, West Side Story has attitude and a tremendous amount of frenetic energy. It's emotional, theatrical and technical. It's everything. "

Steve Vai

Story

Everything

Energy

" Still to this day, I am deeply satisfied when watching a guitar player who is connected with their art and instrument. GuitarTV helps you tap into that connection, and to each other. "

" Criticism can be devastating. When push comes to shove, we are all very sensitive. "

" It just happens in life, where you resonate with a particular artist. Or it can be a kind of food or a fashion - you discover it and it gives you a whole new lease on life. "

" If I remain true to what's in my heart, that's all the success I need. "

" I've never really heard anybody imitating anything of mine the way they do with Edward Van Halen's stuff. "

" When I was young, I wasn't a misfit or anything. I had friends in all the different social groups. But I had issues - just personal issues, insecurities and other things that had happened in my life. "

" A lot of those little things that I really like doing are just moments of cool articulation, just little moments of phrasing that probably go over everybody's head. "

Steve Vai

Moments

Little Things

" We have the insight and the tools to identify and bring to fruition the dormant talent that our artists possess. Favored Nations will be branded as the home base for inspired musical talent. "

" I designed a guitar for Ibanez and then they started manufacturing it - it's called the Jem - it's 26 years old and I still play it. As a kid I liked Les Pauls and Strats, but they had limitations for the kind of playing I wanted to do. "

" I don't believe in 'greatest'. I believe in favorites. "

" I know it is common nowadays for artists to start labels but this is a thoroughly constructed vehicle for inspired talent. This is a market that we've been living, breathing and eating for our entire lives - one where a huge void currently exists. Favored Nations is a long-term commitment. "

" I was about seven or eight years old when I first heard West Side Story, and it had a huge impact on me. If you look at the elements of that record, it contains many of the things I enjoy doing today. "

Steve Vai

Today

Story

" I awake, I meditate, get the kids off to school, go to the gym, go to the Favored Nations office, and usually at around 1 pm I'm home and do music the rest of the day. "

" I created this picture of this character who would play the guitar effortlessly, who had no limitations, performing beautiful music, and he moved around with great acrobatic skills, just capturing the audience and being a great entertainer. "

" I have an independent record label called Favored Nations on which I released an album by an artist called Johnny A, who plays an arch top Gibson through a Marshall, but the tone is all in his fingers. "

" All musicians practice ear training constantly, whether or not they are cognizant of it. If, when listening to a piece of music, a musician is envisioning how to play it or is trying to play along, that musician is using his or her 'ear' - the understanding and recognition of musical elements - for guidance. "

" It's hilarious, because my guitar has what's known as a tremolo bar or a whammy bar. And the whammy bar is probably the most alien thing on my guitar that could possibly relate to a classical guitar. "

" When I was a teenager in the '70s, I was really into those great bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen and Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper. "

Steve Vai

Deep

Purple

" I could never overstate the importance of a musician's need to develop his or her ear. Actually, I believe that developing a good 'inner ear' - the art of being able to decipher musical components solely through listening - is the most important element in becoming a good musician. "

" I can count on one hand the people who are legendary in my book, and Tom Waits is certainly right at the top. It's funny, though: When I tell people that I like Tom's music, it surprises them. "

" I'm a big fan of cultural music, and that's how I try to expand my playing, by listening to music that is not conventionally American. "

" If you're feeling emotional when you're creating something, it'll sound that way. "

" My main calling in life is to seek and achieve spiritual balance, and to express that through my instrument. Everything else is here today, gone later today. "

" I can tell you this: I'm an extremely passionate individual. I try to be careful how I display it because you never know how people are going to take it. "

" Besides being a guitar player, I'm a big fan of the guitar. I love that damn instrument. "

" The only time I'm miserable is when I can't keep an instrument in tune. "

" I've learned over the years that you're going to be most successful at the things you're most excited to do. Every artist has a special set of tools. When you really use those tools, and you make yourself feel really good about the product you create, I think you'll find an audience for it. I've been very fortunate in that respect. "

" It's very hard to come across as a passionate human being in print. People can't hear the inflections in your voice. "

" The classical guitar has a dynamic to it unlike a regular acoustic guitar or an electric guitar. You know, there's times when you should play and there's times when you gotta hold back. It's an extremely dynamic instrument. "