Steve Vai Talks About Zappa Audition

Frank... hehe, what an ass. Miss ya, you fuxx. lol! (Linda Ronstadt?) LOL!

incredible!!

Great!

Vai is a really good dude...you can see it. Clearly Frank saw it too...

Thanks for putting this up :) Love it !

Vai is amazing! Great artist!

Thanks so much for posting this. New respect for Vai.

".......he was always cool, he was always great!" nothin left to say.

What would reggae 7/8 time amount to? Doesn't reggae have to be in 4/4 or something even like that?

If you think he was a fool(Zappa) just listen to this interview...

this is one of the sweetest interviews I've ever watched .. wow, sweet guy, Steve .. and sweet Zappa .. oh my <3

Great story.

incredible

just an awesome story, Frank loved to goof on people

u're in da band

Pretty funny story.  Thanks for posting.

I wonder what the impossible note was.

Frank Zappa, the musician's musician. Died way too young.

Zappa called Vai "My little Italian virtuoso"

Good for Steve for not shitting himself at that audition.

Funny ! got to love Frank .
Thanks Steve Vai.

Great clip props to Columbus Ohio!

"by the time i got to texas i turned yellow" -steve vai

from the story I heard from Tommy Mars, Zappa was very hard on Vai when he first joined.

Love how he mentions "Ask Vinnie".

I really want to know how that unpossible lick Vai had to play sounded like

I bet Vai was sweating bullets during this Audition, funny story, Zappa was a one of a kind man

Great story.  Vai strikes the perfect blend of annoyance, wonder, and self-deprecation here.  He obviously has good memories of this time in his life and career.  This is a pleasure to watch.

Wonder what he asked him to do that was physically impossible..

Why hasn't anyone liked this?

this guy tries so hard...always did...

Absolutely a great story...  I was a huge Zappa fan, and remember when Steve Vai came to the band.
Also remember when drummer great Terry Bozzio (name -? spelling?) came to Zappa too!
Zappa was a true musical Genius.
 

never knew steve played for and with zappa.

great story.  life can be hard, zappa was testing steve's mettle and i'm guessing he got a valuable lesson in what it takes to succeed.

Steve Vai is so cool...

Funny!

"OK, now play it in 7/8 raegee" :D

Zappa - always great.

That was lovely. Thank you. He was a taskmaster, hey, why not, most composers/conductors do just the same thing.

Zappa helped discover Adrian Belew and Alice Cooper.

Frank Zappa was a cool dude..Wasn't a fan of the music but certainly a fan of the Man..Big Loss that no once since has come close to his Honesty.. Miss you Frank..

"I hear Linda Ronstadt is looking for a guitarist" Now that's the best! I'm pretty sure Vai was already hired at that point. Frank just had to have some fun with him.

Great line : 'By the time we got to Texas I was Yellow'!!

Steve vai is legit. He has paid his dues.

"I'm gonna go home now" "You're in the band" I have some of those early tapes where Steve had to duplicate Frank's vocals not for note - with the same inflections and phrasings. Absolutely insane.

When I feel down I listen to Steve's rendition of Sofa. Never misses.

The music industry NEEDS the voice and ideals of Frank Zappa right now. Can you imagine Frank talking about NAPSTER???

I think there is a huge misconception of Vai's personality. Most think he's arrogant as hell. Arrogance is simply needed at times....kind of like Patton saying "lead, follow, or get out of the way!".

But, Vai is much more complex than that. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Steve twice, over all these years now. He's a very humble and "down to Earth" guy, taking nothing for granted. He's very unlike other "guitar gods" like Yngwie, EVH, Vivian Campbell, Ritchie Blackmore...the list goes on and on. Satriani is very similar to Vai...easy to approach and willing to discuss music (or anything really) with a light-hearted view on life.

I simply didn't care for much of Zappa's work. But it's amazing how under-rated he truly was/is as a guitarist and musician. Like many others that have gone before and after you...rest in peace. 

"I hear Linda Ronstadt is looking for a guitar player" lol.