Before BayCare Sound show, guitarist Steve Vai checks in

Never content to churn out rock ‘n’ roll chords in 4/4 time, or to play short, punchy solos as some lead singer paused between verses, Steve Vai is among a handful of fleet-fingered electric guitarists who virtually re-wired what the instrument could do in the hands of a virtuoso.

Vai and his fellow master musician, Joe Satriani, will play together, as the SatchVai Band, Friday at the BayCare Sound.

Trained at the Berklee School of Music, Vai was blessed with unlimited curiosity about music, and the ins and outs of the creative process. One of his first jobs was as Frank Zappa’s transcriptionist; he wrote notations for many of the composer’s complex, orchestrated guitar pieces. Then Zappa hired him as the “Little Italian Virtuoso” for his band. Vai stayed for four years before taking the plunge into a solo career.

A three-time Grammy winner, Vai has made 11 albums under his own name; 1990’s gold Passion and Warfare is considered by many one of the best instrumental rock albums of all time. His storied CV includes full-time gigs with Whitesnake, David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper and others.

Mostly, though, Vai’s name is associated with that of Satriani. The two guitar wizards began touring together in the mid ‘90s as G3 (Satriani, Vai and a third guitarist, which changed for each tour).

Their bond was forged long ago on Long Island, New York, where teenaged Satriani was the local hot-shot guitar slinger and the younger Vai became his star pupil.

St. Pete Catalyst: Not too many musicians, as adults, are still close with their early teachers. How did that happen for you and Joe?

Steve Vai: Well, you can blame it on the guitar. The allure of the guitar! We were just two kids growing up on Long Island, in the same town, going to the same school. Joe was a generation older because he was three or four years older than me, and that’s like a million years when you’re 12.

But Joe always had the goods. He was renowned in our town, and he was a guitar teacher but he was like rock ‘n’ roll, you know? And he was cool. He just had a coolness to him. And he could really play.

Our relationship started there; it was more teacher-student, and he was an unbelievable teacher. I was taking lessons from various teachers. I wanted to know jazz, I wanted to learn a little bit about classical, so I had two other teachers, rotating. But Joe was my weekly teacher for all the good stuff for probably three years.

To say we’re friends … it’s a different dynamic, because he’s always been like a mentor. So is a mentor a friend? Yeah. But there’s a level of admiration that’s different from a friendship.

Remember, I was 12 and I didn’t know how to change strings, and he had the keys to the kingdom, you know? And he gave them to me. Slowly. But I got them, and he was generous, and interested.

You held him in high esteem.

High esteem, yes, and that’s never changed. ‘Cause he’s never changed.

Teenage guitar-playing friends set up their gear in the garage and blast away at each other. It’s hard to picture you and Satriani doing that.

Oh my God, we did that so much. My lessons started out relatively structured, and then later on it got to the point where he really wanted to expose me to the goods. And the goods are always the development of your inner ear, your ability to hear your own melodies and your ability to respond in an improvisational setting, instantly and in an inspired way.

So our lessons turned into hours just jamming. And I remember, on a couple of occasions, sitting in his back yard, back to back, for six hours, and just playing. We had electric guitars that weren’t even plugged in.

You’re back to back, and your only communication is through your notes.

Through doing that for months and even years, maybe, especially with somebody with such gigantic ears, you learn to enter that very intimate space of call and response with another. And Joe and I just did it incessantly.

When you started playing, who did you want to be?

Jimmy Page. I heard Led Zeppelin II, and that was the eye-opener. That’s when I really woke up. That’s when I decided to pick up the guitar. Before that, I was into the music that my brothers and sisters had – Alice Cooper, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly & the Family Stone. Top 40.

I was a teenager in the ‘70s, and that’s when my explosion of interest (began) in Led Zeppelin, Queen, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Kiss, those kinds of rock bands. That led to an interest in all sorts of guitar players, and I think my first foray was Al DiMeola. When I heard him play, I was just like “Whaaaaaa?” And I was listening to John McLaughlin as well. That kind of fusion was interesting to me. And of course, Jeff Beck. And Carlos Santana.

John Sergio lived two houses over. I’ve known him since I was born. He had an older brother who turned me on to all this progressive music that I didn’t even know existed. Like Jethro Tull, Yes, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Traffic … my interest has always been in guitar players that are doing something unique.

I was able to get into this 12^th grade music theory class when I was in the 7^th grade. I took it all through high school every day. And I learned everything about composition. I loved the concept of hearing something in your head, writing it down and then having people play it.

But at the same time, I wanted to play the solo to “Heartbreaker” on Led Zeppelin II.

It sounds like you’re about to join Team Zappa.

I heard “Electric Aunt Jemima,” and I’ll never forget, the tears rolled down my face because here was an artist that there was comedy – surprise, surprise – there was amazing musicianship, there was crazy guitar playing, there was a complete disregard for convention. Frank was an explosion of freedom so for me, it was like, oh there it is. So I just dove into that, along with all the other stuff I was expressing.

What’s the deal with the SatchVai Band? Do you play separate sets with the same guys?

Well, in the past when we would do G3, or even G2, everybody brought their own band. And that creates some logistic challenges, obviously. You gotta wait while the stage changes for the next guy.

What we’re doing now is very different. It’s one band, we’ve got Kenny Aaronoff on drums, which is an amazing thing to have, Marco Medoza on bass and singing, and he’s just fabulous. Pete Thorn on guitar, a treasure.

With being in one band, and having our own music, we start the show and Joe and I both come out. And we play through three of our new songs. These are integrated now; now you have guitar players playing these intricate melodies, and harmonies, and soloing together. So that’s very different than anything we’ve done in the past.

Then Joe will leave the stage, I’ll do a couple of my songs; Joe will come out, we’ll play a song together, then I’ll leave. It’s kind of like tag-team.

It’s really great. It’s the easiest tour I’ve ever been on. It’s so much fun. Everybody’s great.

Tickets for Friday’s 7 p.m. BayCare Sound concert are at this link.