Steve Vai joins lineup of Red Sea Guitar Festival

American guitar legend Steve Vai is returning to Israel to reveal more alien guitar secrets.

JANUARY 21, 2020 06:01

STEVE VAI (photo credit: LARRY DIMARZIO) — STEVE VAI

(photo credit: LARRY DIMARZIO)

American guitar legend Steve Vai is returning to Israel to reveal more alien guitar secrets. That’s the name of the masterclass that he’s been giving around to world to music students and guitar enthusiasts.

The good-humored Vai enthralls the audience with music theory, guitar techniques, the music business and most importantly, techniques on how to discover and unlock a musician’s personal musical identity. It also includes a question-and-answer session, and a few attendees will be chosen to jam with Vai.

A prototype lead guitarist – boasting a thin, yet chiseled frame, with long, flowing hair – the 59-year-old Vai has lived the rock & roll dream from an early age since attending the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Whether honing his chops as accompanist for Frank Zappa, Whitesnake, David Lee Roth or one-time teacher Joe Satriani, or exploring expansive musical avenues over a diverse 30-year solo career, Vai has built a rock-solid reputation as a guitarist’s guitarist.

“I’m pretty fortunate doing the kind of thing I do, because people love guitars all around the world,” the multi-platinum three-time Grammy Award-winning musician told The Jerusalem Post before an appearance in Israel in 2014. “In almost every country, there’s a contingent of people that love the guitar – like to see people play it and love to hear it. As a result, I can pretty much go anywhere in the world and there will be some kind of audience who will come out and see me.

“Occasionally through the years, I would hold a seminar or clinic. There are so many things I learned through the years from experience, and I enjoy the process of teaching and speaking. So I put together a curriculum for an hour class. It ended up being a five-hour class, but I eventually compressed it down to two hours. Once I got it down, it started becoming wildly successful and I started getting offers from around the world.”

Vai’s Alien Guitar Secrets masterclass takes place on February 15 at 2 p.m. at Eilat’s Isrohall (Sports Hotel) and will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the three-day Red Sea Guitar Festival (February 13-15). Among the talent gathering in Eilat will be Beri Sacharoff, “King of Mizrahi guitar” Yehuda Keisar, Shlihei Hablues (The Blues Messengers) and Singolda and Friends.

Tickets are available at *9066 oreventim.co.il.

Barry Davis contributed to this report.