I dedicated all the time I had to it. The 10 hour workout was just what I put in the magazine at the time, but for me it was every waking moment.
Steve VaiRead
If you want to play something that you hear, you need to listen with your mind's eye. You've heard of the mind's eye, right? Your mind has an ear too. It's a kind of listening, but it's not using your ears to listen. It's listening with your inner ear, and that's what you want to translate onto the guitar.
Interpretation
What this quote means
To create music, you must listen and visualize mentally, not just physically.
Steve Vai emphasizes the importance of mental visualization and internal listening in the process of playing music. He suggests that true musicianship requires an ability to hear and interpret music within one's mind and spirit, allowing for a more authentic expression on instruments like the guitar.
Themes
MusicListeningCreativityImaginationGuitarMusicianship
In practice
Example use cases
In a music workshop, to inspire creativity, quote Steve Vai to encourage students to listen deeply.
More from Steve Vai
All quotes →I think every artist subconsciously wants to evolve themselves. Sometimes they get stuck in ruts because of pop culture, peer pressure, stuff like that. But what excites me most is exploring my own musical insights and expanding upon them.
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The tone is in your fingers, not in your amp or effects.
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I could never overstate the importance of a musician's need to develop his or her ear. Actually, I believe that developing a good 'inner ear' - the art of being able to decipher musical components solely through listening - is the most important element in becoming a good musician.
Steve VaiRead
If you want to play something that you can't, you need to see and hear yourself doing it in your minds eye. It will start to happen
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A good solo is like a book. It will start out in a phrase, it will go on in paragraphs, and then it will have a great ending.
Steve VaiRead
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