When you think of Steve Vai, you think guitars. Words like “genius,” “expert,” and “savant” come to mind. Frank Zappa, a genius himself (albeit a discerning, cranky one), hired Vai to do his guitar transcriptions when Vai was just 18, and later drafted him into a late-’80s version of his band. He liked to refer to him as “my little Italian virtuoso,” which is a bit of a misnomer, given that Vai is over six feet tall.

Since that time, Vai has bedazzled fans with the timeand speed-defying manipulation of his instrument and sound, causing former Guitar World editor Brad Tolinski to declare: “Steve Vai’s guitar wizardry is so profound that in earlier times, he would have been burned as a witch.”