Steve Vai Essentials

Steve Vai is one of instrumental hard rock's most technically dazzling axemen, but what ultimately sets him apart is his ability to bridge brainy eccentricity with passionate songwriting. His early-'80s stint with Frank Zappa taught him how to elegantly navigate writhing art-rockers (“Bad Horsie”) and he can also do angelically crying ballads steeped in mysticism (“For the Love of God”). Vai has a silly streak too, best captured in the talking opening of “The Audience Is Listening,” a trick he perfected during his tenure with pop-metal gymnast David Lee Roth.