Hi Troy and everyone in the community.
I’m from the UK, 40 something years old, been playing guitar since I was 13 (late 80s).
For the first 2 years of my guitar journey I was into metal. Randy, Vai, Satch, Slash, Page were my heroes especially Vai.
I had 5 or 6 guitar lessons to get started then I pretty much taught myself. With a little help from videos and guitar magazines (GFTPM) and tab books ( I am on my 2nd Passion and Warfare tab book now)
I was a dedicated player and practiced for hours every day I had no social life. It was also a great way for me to escape from the family problems going on in our house.
So in those 2 years I went thru all the things Troy went through trying to work out how my heroes were achieving their magic. It was an obsession for me.
I was lucky enough to get some money left to me after a relative died so I bought a second hand RR Jackson flying V (red with Seymour Duncans and Black scratchguard) and that was a great guitar. I finally had a Floyd rose and could reproduce those Vai whammy bar acrobatics.
September 1991 everything changed. Nirvana ! I realised that you didn’t have to be able to pick at 200 bpm to be cool.
I swapped my RR1 for a crappy beaten up Strat. A decision I always regretted.
As the years went on I started playing in bands and my training as a shredder did serve me well even in grungy bands I was able to solo in a fast bluesy way that made me stand out.
I never practiced so hard again. I never did hours of scales and exercises anymore. It was more about feeling and emotion than speed.
In the mid 90s I put my guitar away as dance music took over my life.
I didn’t pick the guitar up again until 2000 but I was just messing around playing grungy bluesy stuff. No real hard practice. In 2003 I formed a new band. This was a metal band with grunge influences. I found that my fast hammer on and pull off ability that had been drilled into me in those first 2 years was still there but not the shredding. I couldn’t seem to fast pick anymore really.
Fast forward to 2012 and the band imploded. This coincided with a big promotion at work so again I put my guitars away and for the next 8 or 9 years I hardly touched a guitar or even listened to music.
2020- lockdown and redundancy. I now had a lot of time on my hands and I picked up my acoustic and started playing. My ability and technique was very low. I struggled for weeks to get my fingers moving again and going through the chords and scales.
Anyway in January 2021 I started taking it seriously again. It was like being sent back in time to continue on from those first 2 years and to learn and improve. I started with the basics Beatles, then Led Zeppelin, then Van Halen and then Vai and Satch and Yngwie and Paul Gilbert.
I found the Cracking The Code videos on Youtube, they are great, and it all made sense to me. I never consiously knew about pick slanting before but when I started doing the slanting something clicked into place from years ago and I wonder if I was actually doing pick slanting all those years ago without being aware.
Now, I have an exercise routine that I go through, just like when I was 13, 14 15, and by working on my pick slanting techniques I can shred again.
I listen to Vai and Satch and Yngwie every day and try to reproduce their licks. It’s cool and I’m thinking about getting a band together again in the future. My first love of virtuoso guitar playing has come back into my life and it’s great.
So thanks a lot TG and your collaborators ! I have new confidence in my ability and understand the logic behind it all.
The Vai intimidation lick is funny because years ago I transcribed it exactly the same as you did. All tabs online show the laat 2 thirds using the Phrygian shape all at the 12th fret which is of course incorrect.
There’s an ascending lick in Blue Powder that is tabbed everywhere as using that Phrygian shape but that is also incorrect. It also uses the 9, 10, 12 frets on g string instead of 12, 14, 15 frets on D string so it’s a common Vai technique and also easier to play !
Thanks again.
SlyVai