The iconic guitarist Steve Vai recently spoke about his G3 touring friends Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson and stated that they saved him from his ‘pretentious rock star’ image.
Highly individualistic guitar player Steve Vai has built a career filled with success, awards, and nominations. He has been in the music scene since 1978 and has influenced the guitar players in the industry. He is known as an icon when it comes to guitar playing.
Even though he is a solo artist for his music, Vai has been touring with other guitar players on the G3 tour. Initially set up and organized by Joe Satriani, who is known to be a guitar teacher in the industry, the tour consisted of many other guitarists. However, the leading performers were Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson.
Vai was a former student of Satriani, and their time got them connected even more during the G3 performances. Vai admitted that the two guitarists helped him save his image in a recent interview. They stripped him of the appearance of a ‘pretentious rock star’ and made him aware of himself. He loved getting his ‘ass kicked’ by these guitarists and believed it was positively educational.
Here is what he said about his former teacher and touring friends:
“When I see these guys do what they do, I could be depressed, or I could be inspired. And they always inspired me. I knew how they could perform. But what was interesting for me was putting a microscope on myself.
If anything, I’ve always been a bit of a pretentious rock star. It’s true; you guys know it. And that was exorcized out of me a bit. When you work with guys like this because they’re humble, and they’re excellent. It’s fun and educational to get your ass kicked.”
The trio was friends before they were members of a tour together. Hence, they are having a lot of fun and learning from each other. G3 toured 13 times over 22 years, and many guitarists, including Yngwie Malmsteen, Phil Collen, and Steve Morse, had joined.
