The guitar legend that Frank Zappa claimed was “a genius in ways that have yet to be discovered”
Frank Zappa once gave a rather huge compliment to a young and budding guitarist, who went on to become a guitar legend in his own right – Steve Vai.
According to Vai, who played in Zappa’s band for a brutal stint during the 1980s, the late musician usually refrained from commenting on other artists and their skills, so his one-off compliment took him by surprise.
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Speaking to the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan on his Magnificent Others podcast (via Ultimate Guitar), Vai says, “There was only one time he ever commented on my future, and I’m reluctant to mention it… We were in the studio, just him and me. We’re playing Sleep Dirt. It’s just two guitars, it’s an arpeggio, and I was brand new.
“Frank would look for special things in a musician; something that they could do that’s kind of quirky, interesting. He would find something. The great thing about Frank was, he had this intuitive ability to recognise your potential even better than you did. And then, he would pull it out of you, and use it as a colour in his palette. That’s why all of his records sound so different. And for me, I was into the weird abilities [needed] to play these hard melodies.”
He goes on to recall that very jam session with Zappa, sharing, “I remember just stopping, because I was stunned. He started playing rhythm, and I was starting to solo. And just some months before that, I was in my bedroom in Long Island, listening to his records. I had a moment of, ‘What’s going on?’ It was almost like an existential crisis or something…
“He goes, ‘You okay?’ I said, ‘Frank, I don’t know what I’m doing here. How did I get here?’ And he said, ‘Well, how many Tommy Marses [Zappa’s keyboard player], are there?’” Zappa went on to list further examples, including his drummer Vinny Colaiutas, before asking, “‘Well, how many Steve Vais do you think there are?’
“I didn’t understand that, because I didn’t see myself as anything special whatsoever. I thought about it, and then he said, ‘I think you’re a genius in ways that have yet to be discovered.’ And I just thought he was being nice,” says Vai. “I think he saw my potential to do something obscure. But everybody is a genius when they find what they love and they throw themselves into it without any excuses.”
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