VAI.COM

Did you attend the FIRST Alien Guitar Secrets Master Class?

Please post your review in this thread.

Thanks,

Mikey
vai.com

p.s. Photos from the Jam will be posted in the coming days.

I did attend this class last night and Steve talked on issues that you could use in anything you want to persue in life. Even though he was of course directing the class to all musical abillities. For example, out in Colorado I work for a machine shop/ assembly type job and at times I know that I don't really work my full 100% at all times but some of the things that Steve talked about were about focusing and keeping your mind back into the center spot to where you can keep the focus. Maybe this isn't the best example to give but this is what I got out of the class and I don't want to give too much information on it because I don't want to give it away for the other people that will be attending the class today. Bottom line is that everything that Steve talked about was very useful information and I was glad to come out to California from Colorado to take part in this event. No, I'm not here for the Namm show, Steve!

At the end of the event Steve did the autographs and he autographed my Cameleon Ibanez guitar and I also got a photo.

Joshua Melton

THIS EVENT WAS THE MOST EXCITING 3 HOURS I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. BEING IN SUCH CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE BEST GUITARIST ON THE PLANET PERFORMING SEVERAL SONGS IN SUCH AN INTIMATE ENVIRONMENT WAS GREAT. LISTENING TO STEVE SPEAK FROM HIS HEART WITH ALL HIS KEEN INSIGHT AND EXPERIENCE ABOUT A VARIETY OF FACINATING SUBJECTS WAS AMAZING. BUT AT THE END OF THE SHOW BEING PICKED TO BE ONE OF THE 4 GUITARISTS TO JAM ON STAGE WITH STEVE WAS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING I HAVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFETIME. I'M STILL SHOOK UP AND WILL NEVER FORGET THIS DAY. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THERE IS ANY WAY TO VIEW THE PHOTO'S MIKEY TOOK OF US JAMMING OR THE VIDEO. THANKS, RON

Hi Ron - yes - will be posting photos in the coming days.

Mikey

[quote="Mikey"]Did you attend the FIRST Alien Guitar Secrets Master Class?

Please post your review in this thread.

Thanks,

Mikey
vai.com

p.s. Photos from the Jam will be posted in the coming days.[/ NO, I ATTENDED THE SATURDAY CLASS. I WAS THE LAST PLAYER TO JAM WITH STEVE THAT DAY. IN FACT, MIKEY, I SPOKE TO YOU BRIEFLY AND SHOOK YOUR HAND, REMEMBER? THANKS ,,RON

It would be difficult to overstate the freaking awesomeness of the Steve Vai Alien Guitar Secrets Master Class.

This was so much more than a “guitar” workshop. Though the playing and technical demonstrations were astounding, Steve’s explanations of his mental approach were the Holy Grail in my opinion. People with Steve’s level of mastery can’t always communicate the deep insights their experience has given them. Steve however brings it all up to the surface to share with warmth, humor, and sincerity. He is a great teacher.

My 13 year old son Travis and I traveled from Portland Oregon to attend the workshop.
Travis has been an enthusiastic student of the guitar for over five years and has been inspired by Steve’s music for much of that time. Kids tend to find their own role models, and with all the drug crazed musicians and bad behaving athletes out there to choose from I am beyond pleased that Travis found Steve Vai to look up to. It was remarkable to watch Travis deeply absorb this experience; one which I believe will have a profound effect on his approach to music going forward.

So a huge thanks to Steve and all the wonderful support staff for putting this on. You guys really hit it out of the park. Our fellow attendees were amazing in their own right, and their enthusiasm created the perfect atmosphere for this event to take place.

Best regards to all,

Sam

P.S. Here’s a shameless parental promotion of Travis playing his JEM:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw97nlxfjr8

Mikey,

I drove up from Camp Pendleton because I'm stationed down in Oceanside with the Marines. I thought it was a fantastic work shop. I've studied from George Lynch through his online guitar dojo and gotten a lot of good things from that, but the way Steve went about teaching to me seemed to be much better. His teaching offered the right kind of guidance. Instead of focusing on things that will actually kind of trap you in to certain habits and ways of thinking about music his approach to me seemed more about personal exploration and letting what you have learned become useful in your own unique way, instead of just learning for learnings sake. He went so far as to say that the school work side, theory, composition and so on were important, but wasn't really the point, but encouraged us to learn what we felt was important to learn, and to learn as much of that as possible. It was more about how to apply yourself to your knowledge, than apply knowledge to music - which I found to be a very refreshing attitude on the subject.

I also noticed that along with the self realization aspects as they were presented to music, had what I would term an inherent spiritual overtone to the teaching which made music sit in the foreground of the focus. It let spirituality remain in the background with out being neglected, and placed the student directly in the middle to feel free to find a way to realize and express both music and spirituality simultaneously in an integrated way. That really shocked me, and it'd been something I'd been struggling to find a balance with in my own music.

That class was easily the best 325 bucks I've ever spent on music in my life. Plus at the end instead of signing my guitar I asked Steve an honest question about his spiritual journey over the years and to my amazement he answered me very directly and very honestly which I appreciate more than I can express because the answer he gave me helped me understand something else in my personal life I'd been struggling with too. I didn't have a camera with me, and his staff offered to take a picture of me and Steve together and emailed it to me which is a courtesy I'd have never imagined! I can't thank him enough for the help he gave me in that class. It was easily the best experience of my life so far and I would recommend his classes to anyone seriously interested in making music a deeper part of their life, regardless of how music is going to fit into their life.

With Gratitude,
Cpl. Gray
US Marines

Folks,

Here are photos from the Jan 16th Jam. Clicking on a photo will give you the original high resolution version. To download this version just right-click the photo to save to your desktop.

Mikey
vai.com

cool pics, thank you Micky

Sooo, since I posted earlier I mentioned the fact of how I can apply the master class in my work environment. Well, in musical terms it has made a great difference in my music. Today I recorded all guitar solos tracks, rythme guitars tracks and bass line tracks for a song. Currently I have a simple rock groove in BFD and my plan is to spend 3 to 4 hours for the next 3 days to work on the drum track by adding fills where needed. Then I plan to add some keyboard tracks to finish it up. This song I'm working on is 4 minutes and 15 seconds and I am very happy with how everything sounds right now. It's amazing on how much can get done in the studio by focusing and putting on those Niki shoes and just do it!

Joshua Melton

Carvin Showcase . . . should be a much better venue than the noisy bar in Fullerton. Bass pounding thru the walls and the highs thru the curtains over the doors. Great class . . . just a lot of competition for my ears . . . and at $325 per head . . . not expected.

I could do without the jam . . .eats a lot of time for info and questions . . .

Steve . . . write a book using the outline of the Fullerton Class . . . your points of presentation, ie.: color of chords, sounds, meditation, etc. should not be lost to thin air and the passage of time.

A million seller without question . . .

"Music . . . . art painted on the tapestry of time" . . . Steve . . put your knowledge in print . . . please!

Thank you Steve, Mikey, and crew . . . great job

A happy attendee
Jb

ps: Wish there had been time for "Stories of the Road" and "Band management" while on the road . . .

Here is a pic from the this event. Thanks Mikey for taking this photo of me and Steve. Sometimes pictures don't come out well from my Razor phone but this one did.

nice pic

Is the guy in the last 3 pics trying to be a Steve Vai lookalike or something?....just scary..

no lol Steve is looking much better.