So why do people put Vai and Satch in the same league?

[mystixboi]

OK… I know this has probably been discussed a million times, but I was thinking about it this morning as I was listening to Crystal Planet by Satch. It’s a great song(and album), but I don’t get how people think he and Vai are in the same league… put it to you this way, on an entire Satch cd, there might be one or two things that he does that makes me say, “wow, that was cool… how did he do that?”
 
But whenever I listen to a Vai cd, I’m blown away… in every song, there are multiple times where I just say, “what the frig was that?!?!?!”.
 
I just find Vai more as a more dynamic and creative player. He seems like an overall composer vs Joe he seems like a really elite guitarist that can write great tunes. Satch seems more straight ahead and rock/pop driven. There’s nothing wrong that with that… I’m the same way.
 
Vai seems like he could orchestrate an entire movie score… strings, horns, everything.
 
Kind of like comparing Mozart to Saliari…
 
IMHO, Vai seems to push himself more and more with each cd. Satch, not so much.
 
Thoughts?
 

 

[Rødskjegg]

Maybe because at some point Satriani was Vai's teacher?

 

[spirit7]

I find Vai far less pleasurable to listen to, but I'll admit he's the more technically accomplished guitarist. I'd rather listen to a Satch album, though!

-C

 

[spanny]

I find Vai far less pleasurable to listen to, but I'll admit he's the more technically accomplished guitarist. I'd rather listen to a Satch album, though!

-C

Same goes with me

 

[dfrattaroli]

I totally get your question but if you consider it for these two players, then you have to do the same for every player who ever played. I don't think Jimmy Page had 10% of the technical ability that Vai has. Hendrix's technique was not stellar either. But there's no denying their positions in music. The same is true for Satch. He may be the father of instrumental guitar rock. Can he alternate pick like Petrucci? No. But that's not the point. The guitar is such a complex instrument and so is what people produce with it. When it's in the hands of a great player, it's all valuable.

 

[thegame]

I like both players but I don't really follow either of their solo careers. Though I do think Vai is light years beyond Satch, as a guitarist and composer.

 

[rcm78]

The two will always be associated and compared to one another. Satch was Via's teacher and Satch kinda sorta got a record deal from Via's popularity...

I can listen to Satch for an entire record. Five minutes of Via and I'm done... Via is much better live!!!

 

[rupe]

They're both incredible players with very different approaches. Vai definitely has better chops but his "weird for the sake of being weird" material can leave me scratching my head whereas Satch typically has a better/more accessible sense of melody and structure IMO. For me Vai has higher highs and lower lows whereas Satch is much more consistent.

As was mentioned, I think the constant comparisons are born out of Satch being Vai's teacher, along with their long running G3 tours together.

 

[carlygtr]

I'll tell you what Vai and Satch have in common. When they did G3 with Yngwie they were reduced to JR High School Prom Band players.

 

[Tone Zone]

I don't think many people think of them as being in the same league. It's just that they both write music in the same genre (instrumental rock), so they both generally share the same audience. I personally like both myself. Most people realize that Vai is by far, the more technical player.....but, Satch has had a long reputation for being able to connect to more listeners as a whole. He has a style of writing more catchy melodies/riffs (that are often times, more simple) that have greater appeal to the masses. I really think both are great at what they do.

 

[mystixboi]

I'll tell you what Vai and Satch have in common. When they did G3 with Yngwie they were reduced to JR High School Prom Band players.

Ick... So many notes from that guy. Like a fly that buzzes around your head

 

[Heritage Softail]

They are in the same league. The listening public that buys music put them there.

When I hear a player that feels the need to put every guitar gymnastic trick he knows in a song, it is tiring to my ears. It feels like they are creating a song that is basically a backing track to speed wank to.

I like songs, and if crazy licks fit well, then it is awesome and serves the song. Otherwise it is just a fretboard dick swinging contest.

Satch wins. Starry Night, listened to that on the way in to work.

 

[Superunknown]

I'll tell you what Vai and Satch have in common. When they did G3 with Yngwie they were reduced to JR High School Prom Band players.

+1...Amen!

 

[Rogue]

I think Vai is a more technically efficient, and perhaps more musically knowledgeable than Satch. However, there is more to being an artist than technique and knowledge. I used to be in the Vai is better camp, but now I appreciate Satch a lot more.

As far as being a composer goes, he might be able to notate a score and fill it with instruments, but what I've heard from him doing that doesn't do anything for me. James Horner would smoke him any day of the week. I suspect if Satch were to write some sort of orchestration, it'd would do more what an orchestration is supposed to do...strike an emotional response because he has a better melodic sense (my opinion of course).

I find Satch's writings more appealing than Vai's. Particularly the later stuff. I also find Satch's "strange" stuff more fluid and less contrived.

Different strokes for different folks. I still respect Vai, but I'm a bigger fan of Satch these days. It seemingly corresponded to the time I put less emphasis on technique and more how something makes me feel.

 

[Rogue]

I'll tell you what Vai and Satch have in common. When they did G3 with Yngwie they were reduced to JR High School Prom Band players.

Only because they were playing something different than the same 4 licks over and over infinitely.

 

[ratter]

When I read the title, I thought to myself, "yeah, I agree. Satch is way better."

So maybe that answers your question...personal taste...I don't really judge by who has the faster time in the 40-yard dash...

 

[carlygtr]

I'll tell you what Vai and Satch have in common. When they did G3 with Yngwie they were reduced to JR High School Prom Band players.

Only because they were playing something different than the same 4 licks over and over infinitely.

We much have watched 2 different shows. Satch and Vai, thrown into a situation that called for improvisation, wound up holding their dicks.

Same as when Neal Schon sat in on the G3 encores and smoked both. Satch and Vai are great at writing tunes that showcase their licks and tricks. That gets tiring real quick. Thrown into real world jamming, they both fold like a cheap suit.

 

[Superunknown]

Check it out...

 

[SouthernShred]

I'm with the OP. To me, Satch sounds the same after a while...Same song, different arrangement...plus, I can't forgive him for playing with Sammy Hagar. For shame Joe, for shame.

Vai, on the other hand, never fails to amaze me...I base this a lot on seeing him live, often with G3 when I can compare him and Satch...I remember seeing Joe on the '03 G3 tour with Vai and Yngwie and if I hadn't had backstage passes from the Vai camp, I wouldn't have stuck around after Yngwie and Steve...Joe started playing and to a letter, the first 4 songs were identical to the set I'd seen him play 9 months prior.

I saw Satch with King's X and Dream Theater and he just bored me after watching those two bands.

I hate that...I genuinely love Satch's music and playing and some of my first "technical" songs I tried to play were his...but sometime in the late 90's / early 2000's, he started to repeat himself, IMHO.

Anyway, just my .02

 

[Rogue]

We much have watched 2 different shows. Satch and Vai, thrown into a situation that called for improvisation, wound up holding their dicks.

Same as when Neal Schon sat in on the G3 encores and smoked both. Satch and Vai are great at writing tunes that showcase their licks and tricks. That gets tiring real quick. Thrown into real world jamming, they both fold like a cheap suit.

Interestingly enough, I feel the same about Yngwie. Funny how that is.

In truth, those G3 shred fests are kind of boring and they just hash out their old licks as opposed to going to anything melodic, but Vai and Satch tend to be more interesting.