My last submission wasn't quite up to snuff (honestly, I wasn't happy with the video quality, so I'm not too disappointed), but there is no denying that Steve Vai is the supreme god of guitar. Especially when he breaks out the triple-neck. Sure, Michael Angelo Batio plays faster, but Vai writes such beautiful music, in addition to playing with such amazing skill (and he sings surprisingly well, too).

Fifteen years ago this would have had me drooling....I was all about Stevie, Satch and all the other gunslingers trying to melt our faces off (and our fingers bleed). I was a real technique-whore...had to be damned near impossible to play or it was crap. Somewhere along the line though...I realized that there were players that could touch me more with one note than a million Myxo-phrygi-doria-whatever arpeggiated scale-runs ever could. I still appreciate great technical playing for what it is and I don't think that good technique, and great "feeling" are mutually exclusive....but I'm far less interested in how many 128th notes there are or how many modes can be played in 16 bars.
For what it's worth this "almost" gets there. Still get a little too much of the old "Look what I can do!!!" vibe though. Gets my upvote though, Vai always had a much better sense of song-writing than most of his peers.

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