Steve Vai struggled to play Brian May’s Red Special guitar due to its strange neck: “I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t play this thing’”
Imagine how cool it would be to walk into a bar and see one of your biggest heroes there, and have them invite you to play their most legendary guitar – this is what happened to a young Steve Vai, when he crossed paths with Queen’s Brian May.
A 20-year-old Vai had just moved to Los Angeles, and there May was in the Rainbow Bar and Grill. Not only did they chat, but May invited him to a Queen rehearsal, where Vai struggled more than anticipated with May’s famous Red Special. The guitar was built by May himself as a teenager with help from his father.
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“It was bizarre because I had just moved out to LA, I was 20 years old. Just a year before that, I was in my teenage bedroom with Queen posters and Led Zeppelin all over the walls. And I walk into the Rainbow, and there’s Brian May standing at the bar. And I just thought, ‘How is this [possible]?’” He tells Q1043 New York (via Ultimate Guitar).
“He was so kind. He actually invited me to a Queen rehearsal. And I was just this unknown kid, and there I was. I was at Zoetrope, and there’s Freddie [Mercury] and all the guys, and then there it was, the Red Special. I said, ‘Is that it?’ And he goes, ‘That’s it. You wanna play it?’ And I’m like ‘Oh my gosh!’
“I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t play this thing,’” Vai admits. “The neck is like a bat, it’s got like, what, gauge .08 strings? But it was a miracle to actually have the guitar under my fingers, and he allowed that. And Joe [Satriani] and I have had a great relationship with him since.”
In January, Vai received a custom-built reimagining of the Red Special. Made by master luthier Andrew Guyton of Guyton Guitars, the instrument channels the spirit of May’s original DIY classic with the addition of Vai-approved updates, including a quilted maple top, jumbo EVO-gold frets, a mahogany neck and a translucent green finish.
Vai shared the guitar with a post on Instagram, where he also reflected on his first encounter with May’s Red Special: “After idolising that guitar my whole youth, holding it was seismic. I thought, ‘This is it, I’m finally going to sound like Brian May.’ But much to my chagrin, I didn’t of course. I sounded like me. And between the gauge .08 strings, ultra-low action, and a neck the size of a small tree, I played it like a baby giraffe on roller skates. Still, it was heaven.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
