Steve Vai has named his favorite Joe Satriani song, and it’s a choice that took his fellow electric guitar hero by surprise. Chatting together on Satch’s YouTube channel ahead of their upcoming US co-headline run together, Vai singled out 2010 deep cut Wind in the Trees.
“Oh wow,” Satriani replied when Vai named his pick of an illustrious bunch.
“I don't know where to start with songs of yours that I love,” Vai had pondered at first, before settling on a song that has surprisingly close ties with the 63-year-old himself.
“It's a very simple song, but the approach and innovation had me locked,” Vai explains of his affection for Wind in the Trees. “The way you bring together the emotional intent into the melody and sonic structure of the song, I got so lost in it I kept repeating it.
“It's such a great example of something that you do all the time, that's part of your DNA,” he adds. “Your songs are complete packages – it's not about technique, it's the story you apply to the song. It comes out in the structure, the technique, and the tone.
“It all serves the emotional intent that the piece of music is directing and that's what artists do. It's not the magnification of a technique for the technique's sake. Your tracks are well seasoned with the absolute perfect balance; they're all like that.”
The song features on the 2010 album, Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards. Speaking to Guitar World shortly after its release, Satriani called it his “most heartfelt album” and discussed how the track itself features an uncanny use of Auto-Tune.
It had started with a discussion between Satriani and his late manager, Mick Brigden, about the rising prominence of Auto-Tune in the music industry.
“But that got me thinking,” he said at the time, “What if I really went nuts with Auto-Tune? It’s like a contrarian view – because so many people have a negative view of Auto-Tune, I decided to embrace it. So I put the guitar through the most radical, full-on setting, and I used it as an effect.
“As I played the song I used the vibrato bar, the Auto-Tune, which was tuned to Eb, was 'fixing' what I was playing, so I got this incredible effect, which really does sound like tree branches scraping against a house or windows. It’s wild!
“It’s a very personal song, too,” he expanded. “I remember when I was growing up how I used to love to look out my window in my bedroom in Long Island. It’s such a wistful memory, but I always loved watching the trees blow around in the wind and the sounds they would make.”
During his recent conversation with Vai, Satrinai reflected on a time he used to give guitar lessons to the former Zappa guitarist at his Long Island home. It was a particular tree, in view during those lessons, that Satriani based the song’s emotion around.
“I don't know if you remember the room where I used to give you lessons,” Satriani returns. “It had three windows, and the one that faced the backyard had this gigantic silver maple tree. That's the memory I have for Wind in the Trees. Staring out that window.”
It may be a hard concept to wrap your head around in 2024, but at one point in his life, Steve Vai needed guitar lessons. Starting in 1973, when Vai was still a teenager in high school, Satriani's lessons played a key role in his student's growth as a player.
As Satriani mentions the room in which he helped Vai hone his craft, he says, “I’m there right now.” He added that the pair would “sit under that tree when we played in your backyard”.
Satriani, meanwhile, picked 1990’s For the Love of God, arguably Vai’s most iconic track, as his favorite.
“What a tour de force that is,” he smiles. “It's a relentless piece of work for a guitar player, and that's just the physical part. The sustained amount of emotion that goes into making it a beautiful piece of music is something you can't measure.
“I've seen you play it a million times and you always give 100 percent to your audience, but man you just keep playing,” he continues. “I see you surrendering yourself to your performance – it's a beautiful thing.”
Today, the apprentice is very much the master. Earlier this year, Vai helped shine a light on a new generation of guitarists during the seventh edition of his Vai Academy, which saw Vai, Mateus Asato, and Marcin Patrzalek share the stage for an incredible jam session.
Now Vai is preparing for his second run of shows with Satriani in recent months, following on from the return of the “better than ever” original G3 lineup earlier this year.
The Satriani/Vai tour kicks off at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL, 22 March. The pair wrap up the 38-date run in Santa Rosa, CA, at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts on 12 May.
For more information and tickets, head to Vai.com.
