Recently Composed Music News and Reviews plus articles to inspire the musician in all of us!

Favorite Musicians and Bands - Steve Vai and Joe Satriani rule my iTunes. Since I migrated to iTunes from Sonic Foundry Siren (sad to see you go!) I have had to adapt my rating style to fit the parameters. Siren allowed between 1 and 5 with 1/2 star increments. That was much better than iTunes restrictive rating of 1 to 5 with no in betweens.

What would life be like without Steve Vai and Frank Zappa - Steve left the Zappa band to be on his own he released some albums starting around 84 or so. The first one was Flexible and I will never forget seeing Steve and band playing those songs live at local L.A. venues like FM Machine. Some of the gigs even featured Zappa alumni like Tommy Mars playing with Steve. Man those were the days! I look back fondly and remember what a great impact those live shows had on me.

Steve Vai and Joe Satriani (Satch) play Ibanez Guitars - Ibanez is more than simply the cheap knockoff axe clone maker of it's infamous guitar past! Steve and Joe know, and so do I! Ibanez guitars are the bomb!

Watch music videos and dvds - it's amazing how much great stuff you can find on video these days. From youtube to dvds there is a ton of red hot music on video!

Learning Music Symbols - Is learning music theory just for kids?

Do you like vintage guitars like Les Pauls? Randy has some words for you!

Like to make noise? Why not learn how to play an axe?
Read our article on Beginner Guitar Lessons

The recording Label, as the name suggests usually owns the music recording.
Read our article on Music Licensing!

If you plan on buying yourself a good beginners guitar course, meaning it's not a gift for someone else, then I think a good online guitar lessons site with downloadable video lessons and ebooks is the way to go. You can always burn your own guitar lessons DVD or CD set later when you feel the need. More at Online Guitar Lessons

It is hard to have much sympathy for an industry which is willing to go to such draconian lengths to protect their investments.
Read our article on Downloading Music Software

Featured article on Copyright Infringement - learn about copyright law!

Are you into Steve Vai???

Steve Vai Anthology CD is a great place to start for Steve Vai NEWBIES!

Yep! Me too! In fact I'd go so far as to say that Steve Vai is one of the few musicians for whom I have so much respect, that I would purchase absolutely every cd he ever releases. I'd even go so far as to say that I'd buy the cd's that he even appears on, as the excellent Greg Bissonette CD which features Steve on a song which is great, but that whole damn CD is a monster. You see, not only is Steve Vai a monster of a musician himself, but he keeps great company! So, if you are new to the composed works of music master Steve Vai, I say RUN don't walk and pick up a cd of Steves'! If you appreciate eclectic yet mainstreamisg guuitar music, Steve is a God for good reason! Check out his works! Oh, and if you are a guitar king wannabe - check out Steve Vai Guitar Styles and Techniques

Buy this from Amazon.com

Price: $10.98

Customer Rating 4.5

Description: The second solo album from Steve Vai shows the guitarist coming into his own as a composer, matching his prodigious talent as a performer. The result is an entertaining mix. The hilarious "Audience is Listening" complements more reflective pieces such as "For the Love of God." The high-powered "Animal" and "Greasy Kid's Stuff" are balanced by "Blue Powder" and "Alien Water Kiss." Unlike most guitar-god solo recordings, Passion & Warfare avoids the sort of technical noodling that is uninteresting to everyone except other guitarists, opting instead for a collection of high-quality music that is full of compositional experimentation without ever getting out of control. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Comments: Ok, MTV rocks, what the **** is wrong with you?? I think that Steve Vai making fun of Korn is about the funniest thing in the world, because they absolutely suck. Steve Vai plays with the hands of ten Korn guitarists and the soul of a thousand. Of course, a loser poser like you wouldn't get that. You're a friggin retard if you think Vai can't play guitar. If you say Vai can't play guitar, then you're also dissing Eddie Van Halen and Joe Satriani. So you think Steve Vai is a bad guitar player because he understands pitch and scales and plays in tune? Thats clearly because the idiots you listen to (cough KORN cough) couldn't play a scale or recognize a B flat to save thier lives. Not to mention they probably don't even know the notes on a guitar or know any open tunings. Korn are not legends. They are the posers. And you say you can't have music without words? I-D-I-O-T. The only thing you can hear in Krap is them yelling into the mic. This man (Vai) was hand-picked by Eric Clapton himself to play at the Crossroads Guitar Festival. He is an incredible virtuoso, and I dare you to go pick up a guitar and try to play half of "I'm The Hell Outta Here." Speaking of which....... STEVE VAI IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE GREATEST GUITAR PLAYER EVER!!! ALL OF HIS ALBUMS ARE INCREDIBLE AND HIS MUSICAL ABILITIES ARE ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. THIS GUY IS AMAZING. I HAVE ALL OF HIS ALBUMS AND AM EVER MORE IMPRESSED WITH EACH NEW RELEASE. IF YOU DIG SERIOUS GUITAR JAMS AND HAVE NEVER HEARD ANY OF VAI'S STUFF, PLEASE DO SO. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. First at all ... sorry for my english... ok...When i looked Mtv Rocks review... I was impressed.... I don't know how old he is.... But i wonder he's 12 or 13 years old... i don't like people who believes Avril and Good Charlotte are Punk!!!... and rating 50 cent and lindsay lohan's albums with 5 stars!!!!C'mon!!!... just grow up my friend.... and don't tell us about music here.... this is a masterpiece... all of the songs are amazing... this album is one of the best guitar albums ever....

Buy this from Amazon.com

Price: $13.98

Customer Rating 4.0

Description:

Customer Comments: I used to be a bigger fan of Joe Satriani than Steve Vai about 10 years ago. Now I quickly get bored of new Satriani albums, but Vai's music just moves me. Lotus feet for example, wow, words cannot describe what that song does to me. Thanks Steve. We don't really care if you stopped buying Steve Vai stuff for a while! The question was "Rate this item! ya' dork!" Steve Vai has, for 2 centuries now, provided a slanted and somewhat comical side to guitar playing. I say he plays "STUNT GUITAR". Anyway, his long practiced and refinded talent is SHOWCASED in all the tracks and ESPECIALLY #7. I give this (any EVERY Vai CD!) 5 stars PLUS. GET IT NOW! Steve Vai is easily one of the top five most versatile and technically gifted guitarists this country has produced. It's too bad you can't find a whole band of first rate musicians like this here. I think the problem with America not producing great "progressive" rock bands is that when a prog rock artist such as Steve Vai comes along, he wants to run the whole show and be in a band that features his name rather than simply being one of five or six permanent members of a band. In other words, there would be no Rush if Geddy Lee just wanted to be in the Geddy Lee Band, or no Yes if Rick Wakeman just wanted the Rick Wakeman band. Such is the problem with this CD. Everything goes in the direction Steve Vai wants it to go to suit his mood, whether you get it or not. You know how in movies when two people are walking side by side talking, and one of the characters is talking all the way and the other guy just keeps saying uh-huh until finally he stops in his tracks with a puzzled look on his face, silently muttering the last sentence the first guy said while that guy just keeps on walking and talking, not knowing his buddy has stopped because he was thrown for a loop at the last thing he said? That first guy is supposed to notice that his buddy has stopped keeping up with him, turn around and wait for him or wait for the guy to catch up with him and then move on together again. The problem is with Vai, he doesn't turn around - he just moves on to the next project without looking back at you to see if you get it and you wonder if he cares. Now, there is some burning and imaginative guitar work on this CD. Firewall is a great barn-burning power song even if you wish someone else were handling vocals. Building the Church is a great instrumental that is wonderfully constructed and could become a Vai classic. The rest is esoteric and you have to have a tremendous amount of patience for it. On the next album, Steve, please turn around and see if your fans are keeping up with you, otherwise you may lose a few.

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