I've been a musician for almost 60 years and I've adored Al since the 1970s. His technique is unmatched. The main problem for most people, I think, is that Al is so facile with all the modes and scales that people can't follow what's going on, they don't get what he's doing. As brilliant as people see him, he's even more brilliant than that. Watching interviews and lessons from him, it seems he's on a different plane and doesn't quite comprehend that most of us don't speak "music" as well as he does. I usually have to listen several times to anything he does in order to decipher all the changes. Once I have, then listening really becomes fun and pleasurable in the same way as listening to simpler music, where you can predict where it's going. There's nobody like Al DiMeola on guitar. There's nobody like Chick Corea on keyboards. Put them together and magic happens.
DiMeola was fire back in the days before they knew what fire was. You listen to RTF or some of his first 4-5 solo albums and he threw down moves that nobody....NOBODY has touched yet....
Jamming with someone you don't play with often has a lot of potential in every direction. Sometimes there are moments when the synergy or musical alchemy (or whatever) produces something so uniquely beautiful it gives you chills. And other times you think to yourself, "Man, both of us need to hit up some tutorial videos on youtube, cause that sounded awful..." Both these guys are the definition of technical skill and both of them play with obvious passion, inspiration, and energy. Still, sometimes things just don't click. Someone else on here said they don't listen to each other. I think that hits it just about right. It doesn't really seem like they're playing 'together'. At the very least they may be on the same stage but they're not on the same page. Also, both these guys make a living getting up on stage and jacking off on their instruments by themselves. So it's gotta be weird jacking off in collaboration with someone else.
Steve joined Al on stage on 4/26/2015 at the Canyon Club in Los Angeles... an amazing site to behold. Here, I'd say obviously Al was more comfortable and leading the show... fantastic to watch the difference of the dynamic of these two awesome guitarists!
Both are great... ss one comment had mentioned, music is not and should not be competition!! This was total improv jamming!! Has any ever heard of even the old bluegrass classic 'The Dueling Banjos?!' How about the cool jazz rock that's been around for a very long time called 'Fusion!?!?' This was a great mixture of all of this and myself as a 'Practice and Play Everyday' guitarist for 37 1/2 Years, I have done and DO All these styles all the time!! Jeez... People -- Think Out Of The Box!!
That last 5 minutes, of the video, certainly seemed like unrehearsed beauty, each carrying the baton and sometimes sharing it, with eloquent skill. 5 Stars Gents.
"ladies and gentlemen,another great Italian,Al DiMeola" Frank Zappa,the Ritz,NYC,November,1981.Steve was there and so was I.Check out Clowns on Velvet,Frank wrote it for Al's guest appearence that night.Hum,sounds like an Elegant Gypsy.
I notice that you know very little about All dI Meola because of your comment. Have you ever heard his albums? Soaring Through a Dream , Land of the midnight sun , there are plenty of remarkable songs with beautiful melodies and the sense of harmony that he has is out of this world . The guy is a genius!
They are both on the same level. The only thing Vai may not be able to do -- as far as I have witnessed -- is to play at his virtuoustic level on the acoustic guitar.
I just don't get most of the people that post....these 2 guys have forgotten more about playing that all of us know....collectively. Why not just appreciate that they got to play together instead of picking it apart as if ANYONE here could even touch what they do?
And why would it seem so alien that some of the people here could do it? You do not know the people commenting here so saying they can't do it is kinda ridiculous. This isn't a Bieber video. The people who click this kinda video often play. Out of the hundreds who have commented here there would at least a few who could easily hold their ground in a jam with Al or Vai.
I do not know what happens with those haters comments This is not a Vai vs Meola competition, they both did an amazing demostration of guitar improvisation.
As a big fan of both guys, and fan of rock and fussion, we can clearly see in this video the difference between the rock vocabulary, limited by a few scales and arpeggios and the fussion guitar out of scale sounding and limitless vocabulary. Clearly Vai can not àproach that vocabulary, nor the other rock players.
I'm not familiar with Vai but his tone is absolutely brilliant and his playing is virtuoso like! I love Al's playing he's a truly Impeccable guitarist! ☆☆☆☆☆
It's always fascinating,the real musicians,in this case Mr.Vai & Mr.DiMeola, are just having fun,don't take themselfs too serious and try to entertain people while the wannabe-critics,excuse my greek,have obviously a stick,so far up their arses that they can't even have some fun with a little,fun jam like this.
I would've to hear Al play through Steve's rig. Al's setup seems a little mucky, while Steve's is pristine. I love the attack Steve gets on his notes, absolute joy to listen to. But Al's playing is divine here too.
Fantastic, 2 great virtuosos of very different style jazz and rock and no false not, similar licks, also Al Di Meola plays more jazzy impro what is obvious. They have 1 yet in common - passion to music and guitar. Both can compose for orchestras and play with them, what is very difficult.
I can't stand to see these comments, haven't you fellow guitarist played with another lead guitarist to whom plays a different style? It clashes, but that's bedside the point, it was Vai who wanted to play with one of his Heros, and he may have been the only one to enjoy it. Find common ground?
Daniel Jerman Facts. Smh. Everybody acts like it’s a studio environment and everybody is Mozart and never played something sub par? That’s just fantasy
lots of negative comments about showing off and what not..uh..Jazz players back in the days of Charlie Parker did this all the time. I'm not saying the playing here is anywhere near the creative level of someone like Parker and Dizzy, Both players are great in their own music styles.
Just skill doesn't make a great musician.. (i thought Vai and Al would know that). Listening, understanding and responding in a creative way, respectful to the music, the other musicians (and the audience)- is much more important. Parker and Dizzy could show of, and play a thousand notes a minute, but they would never stop listening to each other. watch?v=xnhIrr4svqs
Music "competitions" usually involve Classical piano, guitar, violin, etc - which ARE primarily based on technical skill, or a battle of the bands scenario, which is usually judged on the cohesive quality of the band (which means being proficient at comping and all that other stuff), not only the technical skill displayed by specific band members. I was just making a point that music can indeed be a competition, as well as a form of expression.
And you can thank Edward he opened the door for Steve satch I could go down the list of guitar players where were you in 1977-78 back then that was a big can of whoop ass..
Most of the comments here are absurd. First of all, comparing the two is useless, a case of apples and oranges. Secondly, it is by no means a "competition". This performance amounts to nothing more or less than two gifted guitarists having a bit of fun while they jam. Both Steve and Al would be amused at the idea of "who is better"; or who is faster, or more melodic, or rocks most or swings more, or whatever. It is simply a case of two brilliant musicians "blowing" just as the jazz guys used to do, while transcending the confines of conventional popular styles. Afterwards, they probably had a laugh about it over dinner and left it at that. I am a guitarist and have seen them both live many times in various settings. I admire them both equally for what each of them provides. Genres and labels like jazz and rock are for record companies and purist snobs, not true musicians like these two masters. Carry on.
This is Vai playing Zappa fun and games. Still monster guitar playing. Check out Al DiMeola' rock solos in a Paris nightclub in 1978 with Stomu Yashimoto. KILLER.
Perfect analogy. I think if Vai was to be more “outside” with his note choices like DiMeola is…Vai wouldn’t be as successful as he is. I love everything Steve as done. And the same for Al. Music is about how each of us interpret it a I guess. Peace my friend. ✌🏻✌🏻👊🏻👊🏻
vaya dos guitarristas enormes. uno su estilo mas jazzistico pero muy bueno. el otro ya lo conocemos mas duro. pero poniendose los dos , a lo que les pongan!!
oh really. what a shame that you could just daydream playing like them. i bet you cant afford having a guitar and doing nothing all day except commenting here. and yes, you beg for your neighbors wifi password so you could surf online. you musta have a lonely life. sorry.
ben ..ya des fois c'est alimentaire...ou les conditions ne sont pas réunies...Mais c'est super d'avoir des vidéos qui expriment parfois la solitude d'artistes dans des yam sans intérêt..ça fait partie de la vie...
I am so happy that they exist, the three of them, and I would be very disappointed if they were playing just the same. Saying who's better makes no sense to me.
Al is amazing too, his old sound was better when he played a LesPaul and he would let it rip.Great on acoustic too. John Goodsall was one of the original shredders too. Guys like Satch and Vai took to it to a rock guitar level. Dimeola was a fusion jazz guitarist who was taking it up a notch.
Al doesn't seem very comfortable or interested in playing parts that bring in Vai or give it structure of a song. He's great of course they both are but it does show that it takes some humility and brain power to connect people and share a musical experience.
"You would say that because you see first hand that Vai does lot of flashy stuff." Flashy stuff like what - tapping, sweep-picking and extreme whammy bar abuse?!? Those are the only "flashy" things I could think of that Vai and most other Rock players do.
The greatest thing that could have possibly happened would be the guy singing the melody of Clowns On Velvet. Some people will get this, not very many.
Al Dimeola is so fast, he continually time warps back to age 32.
The dude does not age!
I've been a musician for almost 60 years and I've adored Al since the 1970s. His technique is unmatched. The main problem for most people, I think, is that Al is so facile with all the modes and scales that people can't follow what's going on, they don't get what he's doing. As brilliant as people see him, he's even more brilliant than that. Watching interviews and lessons from him, it seems he's on a different plane and doesn't quite comprehend that most of us don't speak "music" as well as he does. I usually have to listen several times to anything he does in order to decipher all the changes. Once I have, then listening really becomes fun and pleasurable in the same way as listening to simpler music, where you can predict where it's going.
There's nobody like Al DiMeola on guitar. There's nobody like Chick Corea on keyboards. Put them together and magic happens.
Yeah, for me Al is definitely one of the best, along with John McLaughlin 😎
I prefer Larry Coryell over di meola.
@@pleasepermitmetospeakohgre1504 Coryell is more well versed in traditional Jazz than Di Meola.
Yeah he's operating on a whole different level than 99.9% of the rest of us .
Al and Steve are absolutely amazing musicians!!!! I looooooove this!!!
DiMeola was fire back in the days before they knew what fire was.
You listen to RTF or some of his first 4-5 solo albums and he threw down moves that nobody....NOBODY has touched yet....
Jamming with someone you don't play with often has a lot of potential in every direction. Sometimes there are moments when the synergy or musical alchemy (or whatever) produces something so uniquely beautiful it gives you chills. And other times you think to yourself, "Man, both of us need to hit up some tutorial videos on youtube, cause that sounded awful..." Both these guys are the definition of technical skill and both of them play with obvious passion, inspiration, and energy. Still, sometimes things just don't click. Someone else on here said they don't listen to each other. I think that hits it just about right. It doesn't really seem like they're playing 'together'. At the very least they may be on the same stage but they're not on the same page. Also, both these guys make a living getting up on stage and jacking off on their instruments by themselves. So it's gotta be weird jacking off in collaboration with someone else.
Fantastic vid! Really enjoyed watching 2 of my favourite guitarists jamming, thanks for uploading ;-)
Thanks for posting. I enjoyed that!
2 of the greatest guitar players of all time...wow, respect!
Great to see two great guitarist on stage together, jamming and having fun. Quite enjoyable
That was fun! :) Two guitar gods lighting it up. Gotta love it! :) Thanks for sharing!!!!
2 great guitarits with 2 different styles. 1 rock, 1 jazz you can't compare that. Really cool vid. Love em both
"We both went to Berklee, so we know what an Em is" hahahaha
Steve joined Al on stage on 4/26/2015 at the Canyon Club in Los Angeles... an amazing site to behold. Here, I'd say obviously Al was more comfortable and leading the show... fantastic to watch the difference of the dynamic of these two awesome guitarists!
LOL... Steve got to take a dump in his shorts.. Great to see Al play along and make Steve's dream come true......
Both are great... ss one comment had mentioned, music is not and should not be competition!! This was total improv jamming!! Has any ever heard of even the old bluegrass classic 'The Dueling Banjos?!' How about the cool jazz rock that's been around for a very long time called 'Fusion!?!?' This was a great mixture of all of this and myself as a 'Practice and Play Everyday' guitarist for 37 1/2 Years, I have done and DO All these styles all the time!! Jeez... People -- Think Out Of The Box!!
That last 5 minutes, of the video, certainly seemed like unrehearsed beauty, each carrying the baton and sometimes sharing it, with eloquent skill. 5 Stars Gents.
I just love vai's tone.. sounds great both live and in the studio. Wish I could afford his entire rig haha.
"ladies and gentlemen,another great Italian,Al DiMeola" Frank Zappa,the Ritz,NYC,November,1981.Steve was there and so was I.Check out Clowns on Velvet,Frank wrote it for Al's guest appearence that night.Hum,sounds like an Elegant Gypsy.
P.S.. LOVE TO SEE STEVE VAI GET A GUITAR LESSON .. NEVER MESSS WITH Dimeola.
I notice that you know very little about All dI Meola because of your comment. Have you ever heard his albums? Soaring Through a Dream , Land of the midnight sun , there are plenty of remarkable songs with beautiful melodies and the sense of harmony that he has is out of this world . The guy is a genius!
They are both on the same level. The only thing Vai may not be able to do -- as far as I have witnessed -- is to play at his virtuoustic level on the acoustic guitar.
Vai is my hero but Al is my GOD!
I just don't get most of the people that post....these 2 guys have forgotten more about playing that all of us know....collectively. Why not just appreciate that they got to play together instead of picking it apart as if ANYONE here could even touch what they do?
And why would it seem so alien that some of the people here could do it? You do not know the people commenting here so saying they can't do it is kinda ridiculous. This isn't a Bieber video. The people who click this kinda video often play. Out of the hundreds who have commented here there would at least a few who could easily hold their ground in a jam with Al or Vai.
really? Are you one of those people? I'd love to see a video of you "holding your ground"
I do not know what happens with those haters comments This is not a Vai vs Meola competition, they both did an amazing demostration of guitar improvisation.
SUPERIOR!!ALDI...........
SIN DUDA DOS DE LOS MEJORES GUITARRISTAS DE TODOS LOS TIEMPOS!!
As a big fan of both guys, and fan of rock and fussion, we can clearly see in this video the difference between the rock vocabulary, limited by a few scales and arpeggios and the fussion guitar out of scale sounding and limitless vocabulary. Clearly Vai can not àproach that vocabulary, nor the other rock players.
This was enjoyable just to see them playing together.
Negative, trolling, and lame comments, are why more vids need to have comments disabled.
Love how those guys go up there and get it in.
I'm not familiar with Vai but his tone is absolutely brilliant and his playing is virtuoso like! I love Al's playing he's a truly Impeccable guitarist!
☆☆☆☆☆
Some good Steve Vai songs for you! For the Love of GOD - ua-cam.com/video/9IrWyZ0KZuk/v-deo.html
Sisters - ua-cam.com/video/vOWOPcrXMYM/v-deo.html
Great to see/hear these two masters together. It took them a while to find a common motif (around 8:10)
It's always fascinating,the real musicians,in this case Mr.Vai & Mr.DiMeola, are just having fun,don't take themselfs too serious and try to entertain people while the wannabe-critics,excuse my greek,have obviously a stick,so far up their arses that they can't even have some fun with a little,fun jam like this.
You armchair critics.... It's just a jam, 2 great players having fun.
Wow. Sure are a lot of geniuses commenting here. Two amazing musicians having fun. Get over it.
Steval is awesome, it's almost as if he's two completely different guitarists in one.
This is awsome
Let's see if any of you can play like that in your 60's...lol...no way in he'll! Vai is a lot younger but Dimeola is the master!
omfg imagine paying a ticket for Steve Vai and going there completely unaware that you're going to see him team up with Al Di Meola this is insane.
4real Al is playing the notes, Vai is rolling the frets, big difference
I would've to hear Al play through Steve's rig. Al's setup seems a little mucky, while Steve's is pristine. I love the attack Steve gets on his notes, absolute joy to listen to. But Al's playing is divine here too.
Fantastic, 2 great virtuosos of very different style jazz and rock and no false not, similar licks, also Al Di Meola plays more jazzy impro what is obvious. They have 1 yet in common - passion to music and guitar. Both can compose for orchestras and play with them, what is very difficult.
Steve vai seems so chill
Love the contrast in styles. Bitchin players right there.
Both look much younger than they are. Only virtuosos can play jam sessions with eminent Al Di Meola. Steve is.
LETS PLAY "CUTTING HEADS". I can tell you al still had his head on after this jam.
Haha Steve Vai kinda sounds like Rick : 'it has to come out and reach out into the people and lift the people and make them feel gooood"
both great guitarist how can you go wrong jamming together
Go Al!!!
Al is the man
I can't stand to see these comments, haven't you fellow guitarist played with another lead guitarist to whom plays a different style? It clashes, but that's bedside the point, it was Vai who wanted to play with one of his Heros, and he may have been the only one to enjoy it. Find common ground?
Daniel Jerman Facts. Smh. Everybody acts like it’s a studio environment and everybody is Mozart and never played something sub par? That’s just fantasy
Obviously it is a lot easier to comment here than to be able to set the air on fire with a guitar.
lots of negative comments about showing off and what not..uh..Jazz players back in the days of Charlie Parker did this all the time. I'm not saying the playing here is anywhere near the creative level of someone like Parker and Dizzy,
Both players are great in their own music styles.
Just skill doesn't make a great musician.. (i thought Vai and Al would know that). Listening, understanding and responding in a creative way, respectful to the music, the other musicians (and the audience)- is much more important. Parker and Dizzy could show of, and play a thousand notes a minute, but they would never stop listening to each other.
watch?v=xnhIrr4svqs
I agree
Just watched di meolas interview with rick beato that was released like a year ago. Funny how he literally looks the exact same after nearly a decade
They are in the same plane of guitar goddom. They just touch it different.
Music "competitions" usually involve Classical piano, guitar, violin, etc - which ARE primarily based on technical skill, or a battle of the bands scenario, which is usually judged on the cohesive quality of the band (which means being proficient at comping and all that other stuff), not only the technical skill displayed by specific band members. I was just making a point that music can indeed be a competition, as well as a form of expression.
Great guitars !
Both Al & Steve are TOP guitar 🎸 players !!! 😨😰
And you can thank Edward he opened the door for Steve satch I could go down the list of guitar players where were you in 1977-78 back then that was a big can of whoop ass..
Vai 1-Dimeola 2..jjejejeje amazing
"We both went to Berklee so we know what G minor is". Things come alive at 6:00.
Most of the comments are mindless
Al is the real deal. Still, these two together, that's a lot of ham for one stage. "I'm Steve Vai". What a .....
Al is a musical god
they r both great player wich have their own quality ... totally badass jammin
Most of the comments here are absurd. First of all, comparing the two is useless, a case of apples and oranges. Secondly, it is by no means a "competition". This performance amounts to nothing more or less than two gifted guitarists having a bit of fun while they jam. Both Steve and Al would be amused at the idea of "who is better"; or who is faster, or more melodic, or rocks most or swings more, or whatever. It is simply a case of two brilliant musicians "blowing" just as the jazz guys used to do, while transcending the confines of conventional popular styles. Afterwards, they probably had a laugh about it over dinner and left it at that. I am a guitarist and have seen them both live many times in various settings. I admire them both equally for what each of them provides. Genres and labels like jazz and rock are for record companies and purist snobs, not true musicians like these two masters. Carry on.
woot :D can't say anymore than that !
DOS GENIOS DE LA GUITARRA
This is Vai playing Zappa fun and games.
Still monster guitar playing.
Check out Al DiMeola' rock solos in
a Paris nightclub in 1978
with Stomu Yashimoto. KILLER.
The name is Stomu Yamashta
Wow....
They know the secret with that you can play till the cows come home babee!
Al plays sophisticated jazz lines with lots of chromaticism. Steve has a very fluid and expressive style but sticks to his trusty diatonic
Perfect analogy. I think if Vai was to be more “outside” with his note choices like DiMeola is…Vai wouldn’t be as successful as he is. I love everything Steve as done. And the same for Al. Music is about how each of us interpret it a I guess. Peace my friend. ✌🏻✌🏻👊🏻👊🏻
Oh come on! That lick at 6:36 is spot on!
Al needed a bit more delay & reverb on his sound imo ....
Both are amazing player's !
WOW!
vaya dos guitarristas enormes. uno su estilo mas jazzistico pero muy bueno. el otro ya lo conocemos mas duro. pero poniendose los dos , a lo que les pongan!!
why all the hate? cant we just enjoy al and vai here?
wxyzxdll No. you are shit and cant play like they do. moron
oh really. what a shame that you could just daydream playing like them. i bet you cant afford having a guitar and doing nothing all day except commenting here. and yes, you beg for your neighbors wifi password so you could surf online. you musta have a lonely life. sorry.
Resuteru Kaitano how much do you want to bet, you dumb dog?
vai's sound is ike violin :)
ben ..ya des fois c'est alimentaire...ou les conditions ne sont pas réunies...Mais c'est super d'avoir des vidéos qui expriment parfois la solitude d'artistes dans des yam sans intérêt..ça fait partie de la vie...
All you critics please post your videos here also so we can see where you're coming from.
My sentiments exactly......cmon all these BS talking virtuosos let see your OWN Original composition videos
CJ Vanston Being a guitar virtuouso is not a prerequisite to having an opinion, ass.
Look who's talking. :)
What's wrong with the volume of DiMeola.??
I like Al's 'stops'
I am so happy that they exist, the three of them, and I would be very disappointed if they were playing just the same. Saying who's better makes no sense to me.
Steve and Al just need to make a goddamn Al-bum together for f#$k sake!!
... 5 minutes and still waiting....
WTF? I'm just..............speechless.
steve is so humble , to say he is going to shit in his pants in front of al lol
i might be crazy, but i enjoyed Vai's playing immensely more
Al is amazing too, his old sound was better when he played a LesPaul and he would let it rip.Great on acoustic too. John Goodsall was one of the original shredders too. Guys like Satch and Vai took to it to a rock guitar level. Dimeola was a fusion jazz guitarist who was taking it up a notch.
Nice to see someone calling out Goodsall.
God's galaxy adventure notes.
Al doesn't seem very comfortable or interested in playing parts that bring in Vai or give it structure of a song. He's great of course they both are but it does show that it takes some humility and brain power to connect people and share a musical experience.
+Blues4Winter I thought I was the only one who noticed that, too. Al seemed very uncomfortable, like out of his zone.
Totally agree . Steve plays so on the beat ,it's hard to believe he has no other feel for playing around the beat like Al
You pulled the trigger on my Love Gun.
Wow
and this is music :i
"You would say that because you see first hand that Vai does lot of flashy stuff."
Flashy stuff like what - tapping, sweep-picking and extreme whammy bar abuse?!? Those are the only "flashy" things I could think of that Vai and most other Rock players do.
But i still hold vai up there with the recent best.
good rips from both gents
Man, even KISS jams better
They sure do know their scales ...
Al picking every note, no hammering or pulling off, with greater speed!
ディメオラはピッキングが正確過ぎますわ。
The greatest thing that could have possibly happened would be the guy singing the melody of Clowns On Velvet. Some people will get this, not very many.
Mark Darling stupid