Steve Vai is such a compelling speaker. The two of them just chatting here is so honest and real that it's striking. Dweezil is the lone child to really carry on Frank's work and as a real uphill battle with much of the family. I commend and applaud him.
DWEEZIL ZAPPA - I love your music ... all what you are doing. Thanks for this beautiful movie. I am happy to see you with your friend STEVE VAI... and I was born in 1950 in Germany - Bavaria - Burghausen and all the time of my life... I LOVE THE MUSIC OF YOUR FATHER FRANK ZAPPA... He is a great heroes of music-history.
It was so relieving to hear y’all talk about “locking in” and playing on beat. I remember when I was 21 fresh out of music school playing with a respected musician in my town and realizing after all these fancy techniques I’ve been learning that playing with a good rhythm section... It was sort of difficult to do and keep a good feel on top of that. I used to practice to the 16th and 32nd note on my metronome playing whatever fast run I could come up with, but still feeling the quarter note was kind of lost on me. It’s as if I needed the BPM to be the notes that I’m playing. Being able to feel it with just the quarter note or even half note was essentially like losing the “training wheels.” I gained a lot of freedom when I could finally lock in tight with everyone and let the BPM be loose with me. Man, it is nice to hear two “Guitar Gods” make mention of that. Thank you.
I feel you, brother. Never found and actual aplication of the mayor scale, the way it was thaugth to mee 100 times during my life. It was very frustrating. Dorian is so musical and fun to play, instead.
Guys, so great to see you happy and enjoying stuff like that. NO GUITARS, just dudes in their natural habitats doing the mundane. Is a real joy to watch. Thanks for capturing the moment and sharing👍
Can't help but glean knowledge from guys like Steve. Inspiring people to pick up the instrument and pass on their knowledge, thats the good stuff. The friends you make along the way, thats priceless. much luv
cool video. Dweezil has turned into one of the best guitarists of our generation. I remember seeing him on the broadway the hard way tour. Frank introduces him and has him play a solo over stairway to heaven. I couldn't believe a kid, younger than me, could play so well for so long. it blew my mind and made me question my abilities on guitar. he has only gotten better with age.
I just took a few stills with my camera. Then got my pencil&ruler and wrote out a variation on the theme! The dreaded Barre chord F FIRST LESSON- Hard Core =)
oh yeah that makes perfect sense. Yeah that would be amazing if they did a reprint of it somehow, like printing it on notebook paper and binding it in an old notebook looking thing. OR a pdf, too. I get it. :)
And I thought Frank taught Dweez all he knows! What a great education you had! So pleased to see you and Steve perform in the UK at Manchester a few years back. I never knew you and Steve had that strong of a connection. Thanks for sharing. x
dweezil is such an amazing keeper of the Zappa way, and music I think. Like could you ask for anything more than what he has done? He is a treasure. Such a bummer that they have that whole trust battle going on. Why get in his way at all? Don't understand why G did it that way.
I'm so happy that Dweezil still has this legendary note pad with lessons from a greenhorn Steve Via ,If his brother Ahmet would have gotten hold of it he would have auctioned it off along with Moon Units baby teeth and the green bathrobe Frank wore on his death bed ,I worked myself into a frenzy trying to decide on attending the auction of all of Frank zappas possessions because I desperately wanted to add another piece of his hand written anything to my extensive collection ,I nearly retained a proxy bidder to aquire something hand penned by Frank until I sat and looked at all the wonderful things frank either gave me as gifts included with my purchase from 818-pumpkin ,or the collection of 47 albums frank took the time to personally autograph over 2 decades ,looking at the collectors case for the You can't do that on stage cd box set I had never unwrapped ,and seeing that pristine autograph on the wooden faux anvil case that FZ hand penned and the dozens of autographed publicity photos he sent us I couldn't bring myself to become ghoulish and bid on frank zappas personal items that hurt Dweezil & Moon so much ,one day I will unwrap the collectors sets of original masters just to see all the autographed albums and to take out the heavily used LP of Overnight Sensation that I stalked every musician on the album to sign with FZ being the last .
Get the book published, looking just like it does, very tongue in cheek guitar lesson book that would be a cool collectible, concert swag table seller and actually help struggling players as well, You and Steve have the magic together, what a wonderful friendship to share with all of us who admire your works
I love all.of the stories of how Dweezil got started playing... WoW! To have Steve Via, EVH, and Papa Frank as his mentors... No wonder Dweezil is one of my favovorite guitarists!!
Fantastic! I wish i´d kept my first guitar lesson book of hand written clases from my teacher John Francis =) !! I see that Steve made you learn an F on your first lesson! HARD CORE. I have a ticket for the Masterclass in Madrid. So i had better get my metronome OUT . Thanks for sharing. PS. We loved the Zappa Plays Zappa show in Dublín a few years ago. Had a GREAT time afterwards with from your band in BRUXELLES PUB afterwards, AWESOME people. xx
That’s awesome thanks for sharing this, it’s fun to watch. I could relate if I looked back at my early guitar learning note book. Steve needs to name everything lol.
I remember picking up practice tips from Vai back in the day, he talked about in columns of either GW or GP, possibly both. One in particular was taking a couple of random strings off of your guitar and playing your scales/solos. Do that for a week and then take a couple of different ones off etc. It was crazy and slightly tedious, but it forces you to rethink and learn the entire neck, while creating muscle memory. A big help and a great tip. Thank you Steve! This book Dweezil has is quite a treasure, what a great story.👍🎸
Wow, this is amazing! You have to be about the luckiest man alive in my book. It surely shows with your playing that you were molded by two of the finest musicians of our time! Thank you so much for sharing such a cherished possession with us all!
That’s cool. Glad I came across this clip. Cool to read through some of these comments. It gives me ideas, always like to put a new or different twist on things. Especially the Dorian fascination! 😝🎸👍🏻 But I never thought of Dorian as the faster scale to jam. I always seem to visualize and start with Aeolian first. I used to always like to practice in, and build around A minor (mode), and Box I. But luckily, I did make sure to move them all around in different keys, always practicing each scale and mode-and even tying them all together in one long scale. You know how it is. Like Steve said, if you know one mode, you know them all. And then the major modes. The Aeolian shape always seemed like the coolest, the natural minor. Ionian was always fun, and I kind of thought that as one of the faster modes. But Dorian and Phrygian are awesome, of course. I had a legendary guitar teacher too (not as well-known as Steve, as most aren’t), and kept all my notes from the mid-80s. I still reference them from time to time. Great stuff! 🎸👍🏻😎
Awesome. I hope you do have a digital scan of it. Not for anyone else but for your own archival purposes incase something were to happen to the original. That is something quite special and doesn't need to be shared all over the internet. This video alone was plenty. Thank you.
I'm loving this so much because I have the same notebook from my teacher when I started 2 years ago. I'm still horrible though but still trying. How cool that the two of you have this.. Thanks a bunch for sharing ... very cool.
Great video - the modesty of both of these great musicians is an important reminder that the best teachers are always learning. Also, it’s funny to discover that other players (and great ones) see the entire guitar in A Dorian. I thought it was just me!
BTW Dweezil please ask Steve to do another video with you and him explaining and showing the Satriani notebook. We love these details! Peace, love and all that happiness stuff.
Man. I would love a pdf or book written about Steve’s approach to guitar playing and music theory. I have dreamed of having a definitive text book written by the man himself for years. I would be the first to buy it. If he even did a instructional dvd or 2, I would truly be in heaven. Yay :)
Very positive message and explains something I always wondered about which was how did Dweezil get started with his playing. After the transcription work this is Steve's biggest gift to Frank.
There's a few notebooks worth of study in between that one and the 'Gotta Get To You' solo though! (still one of my favourite guitar solos of all time!)
Dweezil, you and Steve are awesome, looking forward to seeing you at KC Knuckleheads in April, your friends at Disgruntled Gnome Production Group and Gnometown Heros Band
Dweezil, please please please you should scan or photograph the pages of that amazing notebook and put them online for us so we can have personal lessons from Steve!!!!!
Dorian rules! I attended Vai Academy 4.0, (my 3rd) which qualified me for a copy of that PDF. But what was even more everlasting fun was Mr. Vai held 3, 2hr classes discussing the entire PDF. I had to pinch myself, attending Steves Music Theory 101 class. I've had high school, and college level courses, but they weren't taught by Mr. Steve Vai...Good Times!!
Steve Vai is such a compelling speaker. The two of them just chatting here is so honest and real that it's striking. Dweezil is the lone child to really carry on Frank's work and as a real uphill battle with much of the family. I commend and applaud him.
He really is articulated.
How lucky we are ! Thank you , gentlemen .
DWEEZIL ZAPPA - I love your music ... all what you are doing. Thanks for this beautiful movie. I am happy to see you with your friend STEVE VAI... and I was born in 1950 in Germany - Bavaria - Burghausen and all the time of my life... I LOVE THE MUSIC OF YOUR FATHER FRANK ZAPPA... He is a great heroes of music-history.
It was so relieving to hear y’all talk about “locking in” and playing on beat. I remember when I was 21 fresh out of music school playing with a respected musician in my town and realizing after all these fancy techniques I’ve been learning that playing with a good rhythm section... It was sort of difficult to do and keep a good feel on top of that. I used to practice to the 16th and 32nd note on my metronome playing whatever fast run I could come up with, but still feeling the quarter note was kind of lost on me. It’s as if I needed the BPM to be the notes that I’m playing. Being able to feel it with just the quarter note or even half note was essentially like losing the “training wheels.” I gained a lot of freedom when I could finally lock in tight with everyone and let the BPM be loose with me. Man, it is nice to hear two “Guitar Gods” make mention of that. Thank you.
I used to feel guilty about thinking the whole guitar was A Dorian until now, thank you guitar greats for setting me free!
I feel you, brother. Never found and actual aplication of the mayor scale, the way it was thaugth to mee 100 times during my life. It was very frustrating. Dorian is so musical and fun to play, instead.
I know what concept you’re talking about, but it’s hard for me to visualize.
Haha I know you
Guys, so great to see you happy and enjoying stuff like that. NO GUITARS, just dudes in their natural habitats doing the mundane. Is a real joy to watch.
Thanks for capturing the moment and sharing👍
I think it's fascinating they are willing to share this personal moment with us. Thank you.
Dweezil, you and the band KILLED it on the first ZPZ tour. Best display of musicality I've ever seen.
And every tour since, BTW. I Saw ZPZ 7-8 times and they always slayed.
What a couple of cool guys. They make the universe way better.
Can't help but glean knowledge from guys like Steve. Inspiring people to pick up the instrument and pass on their knowledge, thats the good stuff. The friends you make along the way, thats priceless. much luv
Two monstrously talented and humble guys with a lot of good things to share. Loved this video!
cool video. Dweezil has turned into one of the best guitarists of our generation. I remember seeing him on the broadway the hard way tour. Frank introduces him and has him play a solo over stairway to heaven. I couldn't believe a kid, younger than me, could play so well for so long. it blew my mind and made me question my abilities on guitar. he has only gotten better with age.
Please scan this as a PDF and put it out to the world!!
I know I would be SUPER GRATEFUL if a PDF was made available. So nice to see stuff BY HAND.
I just took a few stills with my camera. Then got my pencil&ruler and wrote out a variation on the theme!
The dreaded Barre chord F FIRST LESSON- Hard Core =)
There are versions of Steve Vai's workout that have been printed in the guitar mags. Steve did a book based on this stuff too.
I like the look of it in the original handwriting. THAT is why I’d want it, not the methods.
oh yeah that makes perfect sense. Yeah that would be amazing if they did a reprint of it somehow, like printing it on notebook paper and binding it in an old notebook looking thing. OR a pdf, too. I get it. :)
And I thought Frank taught Dweez all he knows! What a great education you had! So pleased to see you and Steve perform in the UK at Manchester a few years back. I never knew you and Steve had that strong of a connection. Thanks for sharing. x
Frank would also have EVH come & show Drweezil gtr stuff🤘
I love this stuff. I'm such a sucker for nostalgia.
So much love on that note pad. All those notes mean so much to a child. Bravo!
The joy on your faces is a defining moment of the evolution of your playing. May this last a lifetime.
Revelation mother earth! I loved that song as a teen
I'm surprised The Zappa Family Trust didn't get ahold of that notebook & auction it off!
the great gavonne was about to say the same..
Ain't that the frick'in truth !!
dweezil is such an amazing keeper of the Zappa way, and music I think. Like could you ask for anything more than what he has done? He is a treasure. Such a bummer that they have that whole trust battle going on. Why get in his way at all? Don't understand why G did it that way.
the great gavonne Haha, so true and so unfortunate..
good point
Two giants of music and really lovely guys.
This is fantastic. Super cool to see the handwritten notes. Thanks for sharing.
I agree. :-) and Great Channel --> Make Weird Music. [Unsolicited . . . Really] :-)
It's been several days bingeing on Zappa videos on youtube... words cannot express how profoundly I appreciate your being Frank's progeny!
I just love these two guys for being the kind of people they are.
The best guitar lesson I have ever had! Thanks Steve and Dweezil!
I'm so happy that Dweezil still has this legendary note pad with lessons from a greenhorn Steve Via ,If his brother Ahmet would have gotten hold of it he would have auctioned it off along with Moon Units baby teeth and the green bathrobe Frank wore on his death bed ,I worked myself into a frenzy trying to decide on attending the auction of all of Frank zappas possessions because I desperately wanted to add another piece of his hand written anything to my extensive collection ,I nearly retained a proxy bidder to aquire something hand penned by Frank until I sat and looked at all the wonderful things frank either gave me as gifts included with my purchase from 818-pumpkin ,or the collection of 47 albums frank took the time to personally autograph over 2 decades ,looking at the collectors case for the You can't do that on stage cd box set I had never unwrapped ,and seeing that pristine autograph on the wooden faux anvil case that FZ hand penned and the dozens of autographed publicity photos he sent us I couldn't bring myself to become ghoulish and bid on frank zappas personal items that hurt Dweezil & Moon so much ,one day I will unwrap the collectors sets of original masters just to see all the autographed albums and to take out the heavily used LP of Overnight Sensation that I stalked every musician on the album to sign with FZ being the last .
I LOVE YOUR CONCERSATION ... both ...you are very great with your music -so good very very good.
Would love to hang out with these two guys. They are very cool people.
8:00 Holy CRAP the outro music level compared to the vocal level right before it. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Was fun to watch.
Get the book published, looking just like it does, very tongue in cheek guitar lesson book that would be a cool collectible, concert swag table seller and actually help struggling players as well, You and Steve have the magic together, what a wonderful friendship to share with all of us who admire your works
They should publish it together
I love all.of the stories of how Dweezil got started playing... WoW! To have Steve Via, EVH, and Papa Frank as his mentors... No wonder Dweezil is one of my favovorite guitarists!!
Who in the world would give this a thumbs down 🤦♂️
Love it. Love both of you gentlemen, and love your dad, Dweezil.
Fantastic! I wish i´d kept my first guitar lesson book of hand written clases from my teacher John Francis =) !!
I see that Steve made you learn an F on your first lesson! HARD CORE. I have a ticket for the Masterclass in Madrid. So i had better get my metronome OUT . Thanks for sharing.
PS. We loved the Zappa Plays Zappa show in Dublín a few years ago. Had a GREAT time afterwards with from your band in BRUXELLES PUB afterwards, AWESOME people. xx
I still have my first sheet from 30 years ago with 5 modes Circle of 5ths...and all this time later I find new things every day🤘
That’s awesome thanks for sharing this, it’s fun to watch. I could relate if I looked back at my early guitar learning note book. Steve needs to name everything lol.
I simply love these guys
This...... scratches my happy itch.
This is the best format. Me in my restroom enjoying the dialogue without being in situation to interact with great players. Nice
Very cool. I'm gonna zoom in and practice a few of those lessons.
Very to cool to see. Love the camaraderie and seeing the old notes. Thanks for sharing.
Dweezil play so so good, ZPZ show actually based on Dweezil guitar and guitar was perfect! Thanx Dweezil!
Glorious!!! I could watch this for hours man!!
Cool. Thanks Dweezil and Steve for sharing!
I remember picking up practice tips from Vai back in the day, he talked about in columns of either GW or GP, possibly both. One in particular was taking a couple of random strings off of your guitar and playing your scales/solos. Do that for a week and then take a couple of different ones off etc. It was crazy and slightly tedious, but it forces you to rethink and learn the entire neck, while creating muscle memory. A big help and a great tip. Thank you Steve!
This book Dweezil has is quite a treasure, what a great story.👍🎸
Wow, this is amazing! You have to be about the luckiest man alive in my book. It surely shows with your playing that you were molded by two of the finest musicians of our time! Thank you so much for sharing such a cherished possession with us all!
Actually three, because Steve learned from Satriani.
don't forget Eddie Van Halen used to show up at his house and actually give Dweezil lessons as well
Can you imagine the pressure he put on himself?
yep in the shadows of giants!
"It's all A Dorian" - I thought I was the only person to see it like that.. Haha.
dorian is just the fastest scale so its awesome to use and move it around. yea, I always saw it that way also but knew I wasn't "the only one" haha
That’s cool. Glad I came across this clip. Cool to read through some of these comments. It gives me ideas, always like to put a new or different twist on things. Especially the Dorian fascination! 😝🎸👍🏻
But I never thought of Dorian as the faster scale to jam. I always seem to visualize and start with Aeolian first. I used to always like to practice in, and build around A minor (mode), and Box I. But luckily, I did make sure to move them all around in different keys, always practicing each scale and mode-and even tying them all together in one long scale. You know how it is.
Like Steve said, if you know one mode, you know them all. And then the major modes. The Aeolian shape always seemed like the coolest, the natural minor. Ionian was always fun, and I kind of thought that as one of the faster modes. But Dorian and Phrygian are awesome, of course.
I had a legendary guitar teacher too (not as well-known as Steve, as most aren’t), and kept all my notes from the mid-80s. I still reference them from time to time.
Great stuff! 🎸👍🏻😎
Too cool! Two great guys and guitarists!
LUV IT.... 2 Piasano's!!😁👍🏻👍🏻
Down to earth and delectable share, you love birds!
I am fortunate to have used the Steve Vai 12hour guitar work out for.yearz to practice. 🤘✌️🙏🇦🇺
Truly uplifting! You can't imagine these legendary musical icons having and living normal lives. Check the toaster!
So cool two of my favorite guitarist..besides Frank..of course.i have a notebook simular from my guitar teacher 🎸🤘
Awesome. I hope you do have a digital scan of it. Not for anyone else but for your own archival purposes incase something were to happen to the original. That is something quite special and doesn't need to be shared all over the internet. This video alone was plenty. Thank you.
Very cool stuff. What great times being young and obsessed with the guitar nowadays it's hard to find time. Smh
I remember Steve Lukather saying. You’re only ever a semi Tone away from a right note.
niptodstan lukather is amazing
True! Loved that advice for decades lol
in other cultural environments you might only be a quarter note away...
it's funny of course but totally incorrect: )
I'f you're on a bad note you've got a 50/50 chance of going to an even bigger stinker!!
I think is better to call them "tension" or "transitory" notes.
great stuff as a teacher and a lad who has met steve i dig this.. great see some pdfs-
Three years ago today!🥰
Need more of this
That notebook is priceless.
That intro cracked me up 🤣. This was really cool to watch
His name is Stevie Vai. Just another great italian. :-D
I love the word "Exorsise". Great.
Thank you.
I'm loving this so much because I have the same notebook from my teacher when I started 2 years ago. I'm still horrible though but still trying. How cool that the two of you have this.. Thanks a bunch for sharing ... very cool.
Great video - the modesty of both of these great musicians is an important reminder that the best teachers are always learning. Also, it’s funny to discover that other players (and great ones) see the entire guitar in A Dorian. I thought it was just me!
Would love to have Satch there too see what he passed on to Vai. This is priceless.
Like to say Hendrix there what he passed on to Santorini
How are you Sir? Thanks for the share. The beginning. Hi Steve...
Priceless
BTW Dweezil please ask Steve to do another video with you and him explaining and showing the Satriani notebook. We love these details! Peace, love and all that happiness stuff.
If you published that I would buy it... twice. One for each eyeball.
That was really cool, thanks for sharing Dweezil.
Awesome guys happy Time’s 🎶🎶🎶
Kolb’s learning cycle elevated!
Genial verlos Juntos !! Saludos desde México...
6:36 Dog's like I am out of here. I'll never be able to play like these guys... bailing out.
Man. I would love a pdf or book written about Steve’s approach to guitar playing and music theory. I have dreamed of having a definitive text book written by the man himself for years. I would be the first to buy it. If he even did a instructional dvd or 2, I would truly be in heaven. Yay :)
Very positive message and explains something I always wondered about which was how did Dweezil get started with his playing. After the transcription work this is Steve's biggest gift to Frank.
You can definitely see the genius of Cloris Leachman's involvement in this production.
I love those troll edits and quotes in the beginning!
This made my day, lovely stuff guys.
Funny how we keep all our lesson books....I wish Steve was my teacher back then. Cool !
There's a few notebooks worth of study in between that one and the 'Gotta Get To You' solo though! (still one of my favourite guitar solos of all time!)
Dweezil, you and Steve are awesome, looking forward to seeing you at KC Knuckleheads in April, your friends at Disgruntled Gnome Production Group and Gnometown Heros Band
Love Dweezil! Can't get enough dweezil!
awesome ... thanks for sharing !!
This is just awesome 👏🏽
Amazing story,thank you!
thanks for sharing!!!!!!! simple honest artist!!!!
Nice and neat handwritings you have there mr Vai
Dweezil, please please please you should scan or photograph the pages of that amazing notebook and put them online for us so we can have personal lessons from Steve!!!!!
Wow. For one to do that, tidily and systematically arrange that note book, for me showing 2 things: an excellent mind and a caring heart.
This is PURE GOLD!
Cool, can't wait to see you in NZ next month. Play Bad Girl or Gotta Get to You!
This is AMAZING!
Dorian rules! I attended Vai Academy 4.0, (my 3rd) which qualified me for a copy of that PDF. But what was even more everlasting fun was Mr. Vai held 3, 2hr classes discussing the entire PDF. I had to pinch myself, attending Steves Music Theory 101 class. I've had high school, and college level courses, but they weren't taught by Mr. Steve Vai...Good Times!!
Hi. May you please share the pdf?
Please scan this as a PDF and put it out to the world!! (again)
Love this! thanks for sharing!
Those testimonials at the beginning (from Steve and Dweezil) had me laughing out loud.
Dweez, You look so much like your father. Amazing
Its wonderful! Now all I need is to see Frank's "Uncle Meat and the Grunt People" (someone please post it)
Awesome! Would love to see Joe's lessons for Steve as well!
This is really great.