Vai or Satriani

These polls need a place for us fence sitters ... but I'm gonna cast my vote for Vai becuaue I found myself playing more Vai on radio than Satriani.

Sorry, but the only major projects that Vai participated in and which involved original songs (not covers) were:

Zappa
Alcatraz
David Lee Roth
Whitesnake

and here we basically have a 50:50 situation - Vai co-wrote most of the songs of Alcatraz and David Lee Roth, but he didn't write any song for Zappa or Whitesnake.

If you don't believe me - take a look at the liner notes.

So would you prefer the Whitesnake album over the DLR albums - just because Vai didn't write the music?

LOL ... 3 things:

1. I mentioned that comparison (Slip of the Tongue - DLR) just to wind you up - mission accomplished.
2. Satriani admits that Vai could play him "against the wall", Vai has nothing but the utmost respect for Satriani. Do you realise that YOU are the guy that is consistently implying that Vai is inferior and Satriani is better? All I said is that Vai is more progressive than most other shred guitarists. All you do is applying the student/master pattern - Vai became a fully fledged musician in the 80s, more than 20 years ago. They are peers in the same domain.
3. Please don't patronize me - I know Jason Becker and MANY more obscure artists. I'm not a Vai fanboy who thinks that Vai is the best technical guitarist, many guys from the classical domain p0wn most rock musicians, and there are also some showcase technical guitarists like Batio who can do certain techniques better than any allround guitarist (and some guys from the Jazz domain like Shawn Lane or Scott Henderson can improvise much better etc. etc.). Neither do I think that Vai is the best songwriter in the world - that title belongs to Mike Keneally. But I am allowed to say that Vai is my favorite guitar based musician, and I say that with pride and confidence.

Ok ... can we all be friends now? Do it like Vai & Satriani!


Edited by MikeEnRegalia - May 22 2006 at 13:00

Jason Becker is "obscure" in comparison to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. It's really sad and of course to a great part because of his illness. BTW: I won't mention any other guitarists here if your only motivation is to ridicule people.

About Eat 'Em And Smile: It's a fantastic album and generally rated higher than Skyscraper. And SOTT is generally rated much, much lower than the fantastic 1987.

About the next paragraph of yours: OF course I could answer to that, but I don#t want to descend to bitching level.

And about this:

A year ago I would have responded to this type of prejudiced and objectively wrong post with a ton of arguments. Today - I just let it go, smile and listen to some great music by Steve Vai...

Well, I'm passionate about Vai (and Zappa). And I was bored last night ;-)

And about that last paragraph: No offense, but I'd rather jam with peaceful and constructive persons.



Edited by MikeEnRegalia - May 22 2006 at 14:00

^ the voice of reason ... of course you're right. But I enjoy a good argument!

wolf0621 wrote:     My motivation is not to ridicule, remember that you fired first ridicule-wise (always happy to quote you): I guess I'll never understand how fans of progressive music might choose to prefer Satriani over Vai. Maybe I just have to accept the fact that even among prog fans most people don't pay much attention to the actual music...Hey, I've got a right to be bored too! And passionate!! Note the frequent use of exclamation points!!! You must also be bored today, not just yesterday!!!!! I also enjoy a good argument!!!!!!!!!!

Then why don't you present a few arguments why Satriani is better than Vai from a progressive standpoint? Or do you agree with me on that?

wolf0621 wrote:   I don't like or dislike music based on "general ratings", whatever that means. Presumably you're referring to the music press at large. I'm not so sure that Skyscraper wasn't thought of pretty highly ("generally"), but it's not really worth the time to find out 'cause it ultimately doesn't matter. I do know that it wasn't a big hit commercially, so maybe you're basing your "general ratings" on sales. If so, you got me there...

I'm not talking about sales. I'm talking about the combined information that's publicly available - magazines, interviews, ratings (amazon etc.), reviews, my own impression, my guitar teacher's impression etc.

wolf0621 wrote: About the "bitching" paragraph, that's what this whole thread really comes down to doesn't it? I think we all acknowledge that Vai can play the pants off Satch technically, but there's obviously more to it 'cause some folks (like me & at least 28 others in this thread) who grant the technical superiority still vote Satriani (Satch is still up 29 to 23 at last count)...Just tried voting for him again but no dice. Damn those web cookies are good...Damn Good!...Why is this suddenly "bitching" when up to now it was a "good argument"? Surely you're not conceding the songwriting point, are you?

Vai is also a better songwriter than Satriani IN MY OPINION. If you know as much about Vai as you claim you do, you must admit that songs like Tender Surrender, Sisters, Die to Live, Call it Sleep, Fire Garden Suite, Pig, Lucky Charms, Brother, are good songs. So while I don't demand that you agree with me here, you must at least be able to to admit that my opinion is valid too.

Visitor13 wrote: Don't make Empathy bring out Mr Flanders again... anyway, the most important thing Satch and Vai have in common is that Allan Holdsworth owns 'em both.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: BTW: Allan Holdsworth now releases his album on Steve's label ... they seem to get along fine. Which brings me to ... the other great guitarists on Steve's label. Ever heard of Greg Koch? Another damn fine musician - and totally different from those that have so far been mentioned in this thread.

wolf0621 ... why are you always questioning my posts? I say "Koch is on Vai's label", you return "I couldn't find any evidence for that".