That is my favorite WL tune. One of the best rock solos ever. Perfect melodies and phrasing. Cool hearing just his guitar tracks
The track without the vocals has a weird vibe to it in a good way, I love it. Itās like something youād hear in your dream.
I have a new found appreciation for his Brattaās playing. Many people talk about the Wait solo in highly revered terms.
I was watching a WL song recently and Vito was playing beautifully of course - but I was struck by how many guitar parts there was to the song! One after the other! I got exhausted just watching it and thinking that is why he is Vito Bratta and I am interestedoz! LOL
Similar when I listened to the isolated guitar tracks to Iām the One by VH. there is just so much amazing stuff going on in one song!
Back to the Wait solo - people LOVE the melodicism of it. I have read so many posts by people utterly raving about it! Keen to see how this thread resonates here!
I acually prefer the solo guitar work, I think the lyrics take the song down, most people remember when the song was just guitar lol Perhaps in future with AI we can acually change the lyrics Iām sure many people acually love the song for what it is so perhaps thats my own perverted idea.
Vito Bratta was one of the few guitarists from the 80s with a truly unique style and feel. He shied away from traditional power chords in a way clearly influenced by EVHā¦but he never sounds like an imitation.
Always dug his stuff.
Truth. Iām sure there are other EVH inspired players that rose above the rest and also had their own amazing style, but the first 2 names that pop into my head are Vito Bratta and (wait for itā¦) Nuno Bettencourt. You can hear the Eddie āinfluenceā but they arenāt outright ripping him off.
Yep. Nuno is definitely another. I do hear more Eddie in Nunoās playing than I do Vitoās. But Nunoās playing contains more āhumorā (if that makes any sense).
Eddieās playing always had that. Perhaps a better term would be playfulness.
That something Guthrie Govan does a lot, add humor n playfulness to his playing, after all, you canāt be to serious slapping a bunch of strings. It definitely has a serious aspect, legit music and hardcore emotion.
Vito Bratta is deeply musical, so he just sounds amazing. My favorite White Lion song is actually a cover, but they own it, IMHO:
I remember when this came out, a very good friend scoffed at the idea of a cover being better than the original.
One listen and he admitted he was wrong. They killed it on this one.
Ha yeah I didnāt wanna go there cuz the original is pretty awesome. WL version kind of is ābetterā though. At the very least, itās a viable alternative.
Iāve seen some recent videos of Mike Tramp and his latest Vito replacement doing a 2 man show (bass and drums are pre recorded). For what it is, even thatās pretty good. Their vocals are always on point and the new guy nails a lot of Vitoās parts. I remember their version of Radar Love being nowhere near as cool as this.
And actually I donāt think Iāve ever heard the studio versionā¦the WL disc I used to spin had a live version of Radar Love, which was still awesome. I love this studio version though, so good!!!
How did he play his power chords?
Thatās a really good question. I meanā¦power chords are power chords.
I should clarify. He didnāt not play power chords. He tended to not base his riffs on big blocks of them. As the only guitar player in the band and no keyboard, he had to fill a LOT of space.
Whatās really interesting is how, like EVH, he used fewer big chords and instead added harmonic content with two note groupings. Partial chords with just the 5th and 3rd, or 5th and a 4th, 3rd and 7th etc.
One example is the verse riff to Tell Me. Lots of movement and interest but rarely more than two notes at a time. The bass player, James LoMenzo, doesnāt get nearly enough credit for making this possible. Heās right there and locked-in with Vito.
Also, the verse riff to Wait is mostly single-notes, while at the same time being a bit more active than Tell Me.
A huge sound seemingly straight out of the EVH playbook, without sounding anything like him. The older I get, the more I appreciate what Vito was doing. It gets slung around a lot about various players, but he really had a unique voice on guitar.
Itās a real shame Vito wasnāt able to continue. I believe his father got sick and he decided to take care of him. Makes me like him even more.
To me, itās the lack of drums that makes it sound odd. I like it though.
I think itās his mother heās looking after currently? And apparently had a hand injury?
I like this interview with him, Iāve not seen any recent stuff unfortunately.
I like his point about being young and able to do a tour for a year, and as heās older heās got actual real shit to deal with lol
He says āI used to play 14 hours a dayā¦.ā
Manā¦I havenāt been that young and without responsibilities for a very long time.
You also sacrifice most relationships. Family, friends, significant otherā¦ā¦