Guitar Nation is a two day music festival of performances, demonstrations, seminars and cutting edge debates for guitarists and musicians serious about music. It brings together the people who make the industry happen; world class musicians, band managers, top producers, media professionals, music industry gurus and many more. Guitar Nation will get musicians closer to music and its industry than ever before. A broad variety of master classes, tutorials, seminars, performances and forums are planned, covering a wide range of hard hitting topics in a fun, innovative and creative environment.

Steve will be presenting a master class focusing on creativity and what you need to know to move yourself forward and reach that higher plain as a musician.

Tickets are available now on the Guitar Nation website.

Please note: Steve will be conducting a master class only, and will not be performing at this event.

A limited edition, high-quality 2-page print of Steve Vai's hand-written guitar and sitar score for "For The Love Of God" is now available through Steve's official Ebay account. Each print is hand signed and numbered by Steve in red sharpie in the lower bottom right hand corner of the first page. These are UNFRAMED and will be shipped in a flat mailer. These are the second 100 prints of the edition which totals 1000. They will be sent direct from Steve's studio to you! Click here to buy the 2-page unframed print.

Note: A single page autographed, professionally framed and mounted version of this print is also still available. Each print is hand signed and numbered by Steve in the lower right hand corner, and professionally framed and matted in a beautiful 19 x 26 inch (48.25 x 66 cm) black frame with engraved title plaque. Click here to buy the single page, mounted and framed print.

The contest is on now! Visit http://www.ibanez.co.jp/JEMUV/contest.html for official rules, details and your Jem template. Three entries per person are permitted, so go crazy! Contest ends on June 6th 2010.

See Steve talk about the contest HERE.

Hey folks.
First of all, I miss you. It seems as though I have not been on tour for way too long.
Well, I'm working on that.
I was hunkering down on the new project when I got a call from a friend of mine at Universal to play guitar on "Stairway to Heaven" for Mary J Blige. I thought, hmmm, this could be dangerous but challenging. So I went into the studio and we cut a track with Travis Barker on drums, Orianthi on guitar, and Randy Jackson on bass. The track came out beautiful but perhaps the highlight for me was sitting across from MJB, just her and I doing the classic song’s intro. It was magic really. Her voice sounded like moonbeams reflecting off of a mountain lake.

Then I took the track home and started to imagine the guitar arrangement I was going to do. It's a difficult song to record. Not because the original part is hard to play but because it's so perfect as it is, but I didn't want to just play it as it is... why? But how do you build on it without being disrespectful?
The last time I played this song I was 14 years old and it was at a high school dance in the gym, and while I was doing the extended solo section the head cheerleader for the football team threw up all over my 4 inch 1974 teenage platform shoes. I'm hoping this new version doesn't have the same effect on people.

Anyway, I just felt that if I approach the guitar parts with love, respect, humility and great admiration all the right things will just happen. I started to put a guitar part together and I must say that it's coming out much better than I could have expected. I hope you like it when it's done.

Besides that I'm very excited about VaiTunes. I have so much material in the vault, this is a good way to dust off some tracks and get them out there so they don't die and go to digital heaven.

We are all so thrilled with the success and the feedback from Where the Wild Things Are DVD. It's a home run for all of us in the Vai camp. We went gold in the USA and Canada!

I'll be working on the new record until May. I have a title and a full layout of all the songs. In May I have to stop whatever I'm doing and lock myself up somewhere to start composing for the Symphony project in Holland in October 2010. I suppose it will take me 4 months of 16 hour undisturbed days to complete the compositions. This is another reason why I am working to release a VaiTunes track once a month if possible.

You'll be hearing more about this orchestra project but for now I would just like to give you some of the working titles for the compositions. And as you know, things can change.
Pastel Vignettes
Brutal Beauty
The Middle of Everywhere

I'm so thrilled about this orchestra project I can hardly contain myself. I already started to sketch out some of the compositions.

Wishing you all the best. Enjoy the coming spring.
Peace and love and good happiness stuff.
s

It's not uncommon for a musician to record more work than they release. In my case I have a digital ocean of snippets in various degrees of completion. Some are leftovers from assorted project recording sessions, projects that were never completed, sound check jams, demo snippets, etc.

There are enough lonely unreleased notes in my world to fill an "infinity shelf." VaiTunes are tracks that are culled from this melodic abyss, brushed off, sometimes severely hosed down, and released as digital singles.

These tracks may be specific to a particular project that has never had the chance to be a completed big picture, but now, with the advent of all this digital technology and distribution, it's possible to release a variety of tracks from a potential project without having to complete the whole project itself. Eventually, if there is enough tracks completed that fall into a precise endeavor, perhaps they will be compiled and released as a cohesive CD. In any event, it's a good way to release a constant stream of music.

Although the plan is to continue to create whole, full-bodied CD releases, VaiTunes can serve as temporary pacifiers for some delectable melodies to be sucked through the ears and absorbed into the soul.

VaiTunes are available from all major digital music retailers, including iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, eMusic, Amazon MP3, Lala, IMVU, Shockhound, Amie Street, LimeWire Store and the Nokia Music Store.

Visit the VaiTunes page on Vai.com to read more about the release. You can download the "Without Me" digital booklet (PDF format, 1.8MB) for free right HERE.

On April 13, Favored Nations will release Where The Other Wild Things Are on CD and digital download. The album is the official companion CD to Where The Wild Things Are and features 12 tracks from the concert that didn't appear on the first CD. The album comes in a beautiful digipak, while the download comes with a PDF booklet.

The tracklisting is:
1. The Crying Machine
2. The Audience Is Listening
3. The Murder
4. Juice
5. Whispering A Prayer
6. Apples In Paradise
7. I'm Becoming
8. Beastly Rap
9. Earthquake Sky
10. Liberty
11. Answers
12. For The Love Of God

Where The Wild Things Are is also available as a digital release worldwide through your favorite online music retailer, and comes with a digital booklet.

Guitar Nation is a two day music festival of performances, demonstrations, seminars and cutting edge debates for guitarists and musicians serious about music. It brings together the people who make the industry happen; world class musicians, band managers, top producers, media professionals, music industry gurus and many more. Guitar Nation will get musicians closer to music and its industry than ever before. A broad variety of master classes, tutorials, seminars, performances and forums are planned, covering a wide range of hard hitting topics in a fun, innovative and creative environment.

Steve will be presenting a master class focusing on creativity and what you need to know to move yourself forward and reach that higher plain as a musician.

Tickets are available now on the Guitar Nation website.

Please note: Steve will be conducting a master class only, and will not be performing at this event.

Limited edition, high-quality prints of Steve Vai's hand-written guitar and sitar score for "For The Love Of God" are still available. Each print is hand signed and numbered by Steve in the lower right hand corner, and professionally framed and matted in a beautiful 19 x 26 inch (48.25 x 66 cm) black frame with engraved title plaque. The edition is limited to 1000 signed, numbered and framed copies.

In addition, we are now pleased to announce the sale of a two-page unframed version of "For The Love Of God" which will be available beginning on Friday February 19th through Steve's official Ebay Store. The first page is signed and numbered by Steve. The unframed prints will ship rolled in a tube, and are $69.98.

A top secret recording session took place on Tuesday night involving a supergroup of sorts covering one of the most recognized songs in rock history: Led Zeppelin's classic "Stairway to Heaven." The players? Soul queen Mary J. Blige on vocals, guitar god Steve Vai and his pop protégé Orianthi on rhythm and lead guitars, respectively, Travis Barker on drums and "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson on bass, with producer Ron Fair (Christina Aguilera, Pussycat Dolls) handling piano, the arrangement and all-star recruitment. The track's destination: Blige’s 10th studio album, due out later this year.

Steve Vai is a guitar player’s guitar player. You want layered, symphonic intricacy? There’s Vai. You want shred? There’s Vai, too. Tasteful, melodic majesty? Absolutely. On his own, as a band member and studio guest, he’s vaulted to the upper strata of the six-(and seven-) string pantheon. With a combination of hard rock abandon and virtuosic precision, this Playlist celebrates a career-spanning 14 tracks.

Click here to buy/download the album.