“Do not try to play them like Edward – because you can’t”: Steve Vai says this is the secret to nailing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar parts in front of a live audience

Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen.

Steve Vai has discussed the secret to nailing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar parts onstage, reflecting on his time as guitarist in David Lee Roth’s solo band at the height of the ’80s.

Between 1985 and 1989, the electric guitar virtuoso spent four years on the road and in the studio with Roth (while somehow also recording his solo debut Passion and Warfare) and faced the nightly challenge of trying to win over crowds while playing EVH lines.