Vai and Satch

Someone at some message board said " Satch doesn't even come close to the techinical abaillity and songwriting that Vai has, the apprentice sure did surpass the teacher in this case".

I for one am HUGE satch fan. I for one do not agree with this statement at all. I think Satriani Is a much better song writer than Vai is. It is really hard for me to pick up a Vai cd and listen to it all the way through, his songs just don't do it for me ( but he OWNS live). As for satch, i can pick up any of his cd's, because they are generally catchy and well written. And there Technabillity ( my own word) is almost the same. I also think there styles are alot different fom eachothers.

I do not agree with this statement at all.

Well, I'm not a huge fan of both. They're good musicians, but I just find them to be boring. They don't really improv all that much, just play the same stuff over and over again.

That being said, I really like Vai's improvisation (when he does do it), but its not a very common thing.

I've got to say, and I was just thinking about this earlier, that Satriani's soloing is melodic - by that I almost mean linear - compared to Vai. Satriani works the scales like they're just that, scales, in my opinion. I also think Vai composes some better tunes. I've only heard Satriani's album 'lost in space' though.

Vai is a bit more creative I guess. I hadn't heard of either before I came to this site.

Im gonna have to agree with DreamRyche2112. I own almost all of satriani's records and can listen to them the whole way through, back to back, without feeling bored, having my head want to explode, etc... On a recent car trip to NYC, i tried listening to a steve vai cd and couldn't last the whole way through. For me, the main difference is that Satriani seems to have a much better sense of whats going on melodically and harmonically in a piece- thats why its so easy to listen to. Whereas Vai demonstrates some of this ability, he seems to mainly shoe his virtuosity. It also appears that Satriani uses a great deal more structure and variety in his music, having recurring themes, and other compositional techniques that seem a little lacking in vai's music. Then again- im just a high school senior, so what do i know.

It's all a matter of personal preference.

I prefer Vai. I think he is one of the most talented songwriters around. I try listening to a lot of guitar instrumental music, but none of them (besides Shawn Lane) can keep me interested long enough.

Vai has nice melodies, tasteless shredding, and has great musicianship. To me, it's Vai, but it's really apples and oranges. :cool:

I think that on the whole I prefer Satriani as a songwriter and Vai as a performer/player. Like DreamRyche said, I can pick up just about any Satriani album and listen to it the whole way through and be entertained without losing interest, with Vai the only 2 I can do that with are "Fire Garden" and "Passion and Warfare". Vai is sometimes a bit too crazy for me :) Some of his songs like "Tender Surrender", "Bad Horsie" and "For The Love of God" (to name a few) surpass Satriani's work in my opinion. A friend of mine actually hates Satriani and thinks he's a crap player technically which I can't agree with, he says Satriani uses legato all the time and it's all he can do. I agree, he does use legato loads, but thats just his style.

I think on the whole they're both equally as good in their own right, and as you can tell by the fact they always give each other praise and do G3 together, they respect each other as players and musicians.

- J

I got turned on to Satch and Vai at roughly the same time a few years back. At first I can see where all the comparisons come from, but after listening to them for a while you can see how different they are from each other. I agree with what's already been said on this thread about how some of Vai's songs surpass Satriani's. I'd kill to be as good as either though :p As far as listening to an entire album through I gotta give it to Satch as well. He has a knack for making catchy guitar tunes, there's just no two ways about it. I think; however, that Vai pushes the limits more in terms of his songwriting though. Both were great when I saw them live. Additionally I own Vai's "Live in Astoria", and Satch's "Live in San Fransisco". Perhaps this is just because I got the Satch DVD more recently, but I think I prefer "Live in San Fransico". His songs are very personable, and I get a better glimpse into who he is as a person.

I own the Live in San Fransisco DVD.... how does the Astoria DVD compare? Im going to buy it, but what are the camera angles like? Sound quality?

- J

It's definately one for the collection. There's a few screwy post production edits that I don't like, but overall they don't detract from the DVD. The sound quality is professional. I'd recommend getting it, no doubt.