Musical styles of just a couple of the world's greatest guitarist.

Steve Vai

Where Vai's contributions to others' material has been constrained by the largely rock or heavy-rock style of those bands, his own material is considerably more esoteric.

Vai's playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his superb technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. Vai has also been credited with the recent revival of the 7-string guitar. The earliest 7-string electric guitars were played by jazz guitarist George Van Epps in the 1930s and 1940s, but the concept was reintroduced to rock audiences by Vai.

An interesting point to note is Vai's commitment to practice. In several guitar magazines and texts, he is reported to practice upwards of eight hours per day, a habit he began as early as his high school days.

Satriani

Satriani is recognized as one of the most technically proficient guitarists in rock. He has mastered nearly every performance technique on the instrument, including two-handed tapping, sweep picking, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects. One of his trademark compositional traits is the use of Pitch Axis Theory which he applies with a variety of modes. He is also a renowned guitar teacher, whose students have included Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Ler LaLonde (Primus), Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind) ,David Bryson (Counting Crows), among others.

Satriani (like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci and other guitarists who emphasize technical command and precision in their playing) has been criticized by those who prefer simpler compositional styles. Some of his contemporaries have been known to take pot-shots at the earnest Satriani. For example, Gary Moore once said that he found Satriani's music "cerebral", saying, "it leaves me cold". Although his more flamboyant student, Steve Vai, has garnered more attention, most writers and musicians respect Satriani's musicianship as well as his modest and personable demeanor.

His success is notable in a genre typically unfriendly to instrumental musicians. Satriani has received 13 Grammy nominations, and he has sold more than 7 million albums worldwide. It is notable that while his fans tend to call him "Satch" ("Satch Boogie" being the title of his first hit single), other guitarists sometimes refer to him as "Saint Joe"; there are numerous t-shirts to this effect.

Zakk Wylde

Zakk Wylde's guitar-playing style is usually characterized by his use of pinch harmonics (often confused with artificial harmonics), and his guitar soloing technique is usually characterized by his use of the minor pentatonic scale, playing rapid box-pattern licks using strict alternate-picking, creating a very distinctive, choppy attack, compared to the more fluid playing styles of other rock guitarists. Another notable feature of Zakk's playing is his liberal use of "chickin pickin' ", a technique which is usually associated with country music, and which is (comparatively) rarely seen in metal; a technique he has picked up from watching Albert Lee, one of his influences. He is known for his use of Gibson Les Paul Custom model guitars with a unique "bulls-eye" graphic on them, a design he used to deliberately differentiate himself visually (despite having a similar hairdo) from Randy Rhoads - who was also frequently identified by his white Les Paul Custom (Interestingly, one of Zakk's favorite stage guitars of late is a replica of Rhoads' Flying V). The "bulls-eye" paint job was originally supposed to look like the spiral from the movie Vertigo, but when it came back incorrect from the painter, he liked the result and stuck with it.



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Crossfade, Cold
Louis XIV, God Killed The Queen
James Taylor, Brown Eyed Girl
Paul Simon, You Can Call Me Al
Nine Inch Nails, The Hand That Feeds

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