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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
Mark McStea

“There isn’t much guitar at all for the first three tracks. Nobody gave me the memo about what a record should sound like”: How Steve Vai revolutionized guitar with his debut album, Flex-Able

Steve Vai live onstage in 1986.

The appearance of Flex-Able, the self-financed debut album by Steve Vai, tore up the rulebook for what could be achieved by an electric guitar wielded with deadly intent. 

Unleashed in 1984, it heralded the arrival of the most important new figure in rock guitar since Eddie Van Halen. The record served as a calling card for the mind-blowing array of Vai’s unearthly gifts.

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