“I discovered that it would be harder to try to replicate his tone than anybody else”: Steve Vai has followed in the footsteps of many guitar greats – this was the hardest one to nail

Steve Vai.

From playing Van Halen with David Lee Roth to replicating Robert Fripp's prog wizardry in Beat, Steve Vai has often taken on demanding gigs. But his toughest tonal challenge came during his Whitesnake days.

Roth famously singled out former Frank Zappa guitarist Steve Vai to be the lead guitarist of his new solo project, believing he could outgun the one and only Eddie Van Halen. More recently, the physicality of Fripp's playing has been a huge undertaking for Vai.