We were smoking weed and drinking and going out and going to bars and clubs when we were 16, playing all the clubs in Long Island, and it was just really great, it was great fun.
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And when I say greaser, I just mean like we were partiers. The group that I mainly socialized with was, and this is high school, was because I was in a rock band and the rock band was from the other side of the tracks, I mean, they were from our school but they were more of the greaser type. I would have ridden a motorcycle but I couldn't afford one, but all my friends that I hung out with did, my brother. I always felt sorry for those kids that were just misfits, and I hung out with them. I mean, in high school, I might say it'd be best to talk to people I went to high school with but I was a nice guy and I had friends in all of the different social groups: the brainiacs, the smart kids, the jocks. But I enjoyed, I didn't like getting up in the morning and necessarily going to school, but I liked being at school because I had a lot of friends. So by the time my two brothers and my sister had gotten through high school and I got in there, the high school environment for me amongst the teachers was they were very cautious. Loved, he was loved, but he was really tough and really kind of mischievous. My old brother Roger was pretty notorious. High school, were you social? Did you play sports? Or was your passion for music all consuming? What was your high school experience like? Steve Vai: Well, I had older brothers and sisters, and they had carved a hole in the high school. Well, lots to talk about, lots to cover, past, present and future. In this episode we cover many topics, including how Steve learned to play guitar from Joe Satriani, why Steve is so good at what he does, the evolution of guitar playing, how his showmanship developed especially while performing with David Lee Roth, discipline versus passion, and the story behind his monumental song For The Love Of God. Steve Vai is of course way up there in the pantheon of guitar gods, playing with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, all that before releasing the landmark instrumental rock guitar album, Passion and Warfare. On this episode we welcome the one and the only, Steve Vai. Evan Ball: Hello, and welcome to Ernie Ball's Striking A Chord podcast.