Our song begins as a I, IV, V Steve Vai style guitar riff and chord progression based around a heavy 16^th note swing groove, and concludes with a straight half time ethereal progression, that mixes Aeolian, Lydian, and Lydian Augmented scales.

Bars 1-6:

Kick things off with an A minor pentatonic riff that uses a sixteenth note groove. This riff has a harmony added a 5^th lower, courtesy of an original Digitech Whammy pedal, which adds extra weight to the riff. As the riff concludes the Whammy pedal is turned off and we exit the riff with a whammy bar dive on the open 3^rd string.

Bars 7-10: 

Introduce the solo over the A riff, chord I, and is based around the A minor pentatonic scale, using bluesy bends and sliding phrasing. The first solo section concludes with another whammy bar dive and a tapping and bending style lick similar to something you would hear in The Attitude Song.

Bars 11-12: 

Are performed over the D riff, chord IV of our riff progression, and kick off with a signature A Dorian string skipping tapping lick. This lick uses two tapping fingers, so be sure to study the instruction portion of the video. Also take care with the open strings when string skipping. Bar 12 features an ascending tapping arpeggio figure based around G major 7^th and A minor 7^th arpeggio’s, performed on the 1^st and 2^nd strings.

Bars 13-14: 

See us heading back to the chord I riff, and kick off with a wide interval sliding lick, and a tapping lick, that borrow ideas from the track Juice. The interval lick produces a very effective sound, but again take care when jumping strings.

Bars 15-16: 

Conclude our first solo with a wide stretch picking/pull off lick that uses the E minor pentatonic with an added 2^nd. This is followed by a descending legato and tapping lick based around the E Aeolian mode.

Bars 17-18: 

Conclude the first half of our track with some 4^th intervals and some whammy bar “gargles” produce by flicking a floating bridge.

Bars 19-20: 

Demonstrate Vai’s use of metric modulation, with the feel of our track shifting from a swing 16^th groove, to a straight half time feel. Wekick off with an extended B minor 9^th arpeggio, performed with sweep picking. This arpeggio covers a very large portion of the neck, and appears to flow across the beats. The lick concludes with some whammy bar slurs and scoops, and a descending A minor pentatonic run.

Bars 21-22: 

Features a bending phrase performed over the Em9 chord that concludes with a descending E Dorian string-skipping lick, reminiscent of a lick heard in Die to Live.

Bars 22-24: 

Include a signature ascending 5^th interval run that covers a large area of the neck, and concludes with a slurring C Lydian figure.

Bar 25-27: 

Conclude our Vai style track with some classic licks, and kick off with a descending sweeping figure based on stacked 4^th and 5^th intervals, reminiscent to a lick heard in the solo to Ladies Night in Buffalo. Our final lick is performed over the F# augmented chord, and is based on shifting augmented arpeggios, implying the Lydian Augmented scale, the third mode of the Melodic minor scale.

The Gear

For this lesson I used a Sterling by Musicman John Petrucci signature guitar, fitted with DiMarzio pickups. This was plugged into an MXR 5150 pedal, for some extra crunch, and then into a Mesa Boogie combo. For the verse harmony I used a Digitech Whammy pedal. For this track I would aim for a fairly high gain sound, with a thick low end, but some boosted upper mid range to aid pinched harmonics when on the bridge pickup, but retains a warm rich tone when switched to the neck pickup.