Ibanez Universe and Steve Vai

[Bigredjm15]

Ok, this is a weird topic and weird question but... I've been playing my ibanez uv7pwh lately and I thought to myself, hmm since I have the time, lemme find some Steve Vai videos of him playing a 7 string to maybe learn new techniques, styles, progressions, whatever... So I started searching, and searching, and searching. I CAN'T FIND HARDLY ANYTHING OF STEVE VAI PLAYING THE UNIVERSE! Of course, other than the 7th heaven video from ibanez, an interview from 2012 guitar interactive, and him introducing the UV70P and JEM7V7. I know his main axe will and always will be the JEM (PIA now), but I am really surprised of how little material is out there of Steve playing his universes. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction or have good 'tutorial' style videos for 7 string they would like to share? Thanks and stay safe!

 

[Leviathus]

Youtube "Weeping China Doll", he always busts out Bruno for that one live. A few others to check out are Steve playing "Roots" with Sepultura, and "Supercrush" with Devin Townsend (where he uses a uv7pwh). Video quality may vary.

EDIT: and this one....

 

[MaxOfMetal]

He really hasn't been into 7s in a significant way since the mid/late 90's, so there's not a lot of videos of him using them outside some one-offs.

 

[jaxadam]

Great time to throw Passion and Warfare on.

 

[jaxadam]

EDIT: and this one....

I don't think anybody there was prepared for that one!

 

[Leviathus]

I don't think anybody there was prepared for that one!

The whammy bar/volume swells part cracks me up every time.

 

[Bigredjm15]

Well even with passion and warfare, isn't only one song technically using the 7th string?

 

[cardinal]

Vai used a UV a ton with Whitesnake. It's been a while since I listened to Slip of the Tongue, but he's said that the 7th string is apparent in 'Slow Poke Music,' 'Judgement Day,' and 'Kittens Got Claws.'

 

[Leviathus]

Vai used a UV a ton with Whitesnake. It's been a while since I listened to Slip of the Tongue, but he's said that the 7th string is apparent in 'Slow Poke Music,' 'Judgement Day,' and 'Kittens Got Claws.'

Good call. Always dug this rendition of "Judgement Day" (UV included)...

 

[Dayn]

Well even with passion and warfare, isn't only one song technically using the 7th string?

Going by memory, there's For the Love of God, The Audience is Listening, The Riddle, and I Would Love To.

 

[Bloody_Inferno]

Well even with passion and warfare, isn't only one song technically using the 7th string?

4 songs. The Riddle, For The Love Of God, The Audience is Listening and I Would Love To. Forgot whether he used it on Love Secrets.

Agreed with everyone else. After the Whitesnake tours (which is Vai's 7 string exhibition really), the 7 has taken the backburner. It still shows up at least once on every Vai album sans Flexable. Off the top of my head:

Sex And Religion:
Touching Tongues, Deep Down Into The Pain

Alien Love Secrets:
Ya Yo Gakk (also on the vid)

Fire Garden:
The Mysterious Murder of Christian Tiera's Mother

The Ultra Zone:
Asian Sky

Real Illusions:
Under It All

The Story Of Light:
The Story Of Light, Velorium, Weeping China Doll

Anyone who knows more, whack it on the list.

 

[_MonSTeR_]

and this one....

Came here expecting to see this. Was not disappointed.

 

[Louis Cypher]

Little bit of Steve using Bruno

Vai used a UV a ton with Whitesnake. It's been a while since I listened to Slip of the Tongue, but he's said that the 7th string is apparent in 'Slow Poke Music,' 'Judgement Day,' and 'Kittens Got Claws.'

From Vai's recent interview with Guitar World
https://www.guitarworld.com/feature...r-thinking-it-was-never-good-enough-back-then

You tracked the guitar parts for Slip of the Tongue at your own recording studio. Do you recall your core signal path for the album?
Tons of guitars made appearances, but the majority of the tracks were done with the first prototype of the Ibanez Universe seven-string. I got that guitar right before we started tracking that record, and that’s what I used for the main parts. You can really hear it there, but there’s also all sorts of decorations and auxiliary guitar parts that were done with a lot of different guitars.

"As far as the effects at the time, multi-effects were just coming out, so we were still stacking various rack-based choruses, delays and phase shifters. With the exception of the distortions and wah-wahs, everything was in rack units.

"There was a myriad of amps being used, but for the most part I was into Soldanos at the time - early SLO-100s. I also had some older modded non-master volume Marshalls that had been modified by Jose Arredondo who was the guy at the time and had done all of Edward Van Halen’s amps. I was introduced to him through the Roth camp and he did a bunch of amps for me. The Carvin amps were out of the picture at that point."

Could you give some examples of how and where you incorporated the extended range?

"It’s all over the record. It’s hard to hear because it’s not utilized the way contemporary seven-string players use it. Whenever there were low notes between B and E, I used them. The seven-string is really apparent on Slow Poke Music, Judgement Day and Kittens Got Claws.

"Obviously this is well before the djent thing, but when I was doing that stuff with the seven-string, I instinctively knew there was going to be kids that saw the seven-string and recognized a completely different potential for it."

 

[MIL8]

Sometimes his rhythm parts use a 7, live Dave takes care of those parts, he is usually always playing a 7.

 

[devastone]

There is a little bit in this

 

[Bigredjm15]

Well I'm glad there are some more videos, but am I wrong, for the person who more or less pioneered the Ibanez 7 string to a production model, very rarely used it publicly lol.

 

[D-Nasty]

As stated above. He plays a Universe on For The Love Of God.

 

[Shawn]

There are some videos out there. He does play them from time to time. What I find odd is that he does not seem to own a PWH and that the one listed on his site is labeled as a UV71 Premium and although it is a pic of a PWH it’s labeled wrong? The other one was a prototype which is pictured in the foldout of Passion and Warfare which he gave to the Artist formerly known as Prince. Also there’s not one in sight in his guitar vault video(s). He seems to always give his PWHs away it seems. There is one on reverb that’s was supposedly owned by him with pictures and all. He must not like holding onto them....Just thought it was strange lol.

 

[Louis Cypher]

Cant remember where I read it I think it was on Jemsite a while back but Dave Weiner was asked about a number of Vai models and he confirmed that he had never seen Steve plav certain models or once or twice but not since year blah blah. The one that stuck in my head was the Blue Floral Jem, Dave said he has never seen Steve play one live or on an album.... guess its the same with the PWH, Steve is all about the multi coloured swirl UV's. I am prob wrong but I can only think of him having a UK7BK in his hands in photo shoots actually.... if Im wrong id love to see the video if anyone knows of one

 

[ThomasUV777]

There is one on reverb that’s was supposedly owned by him with pictures and all. He must not like holding onto them....Just thought it was strange lol.

That one was never owned by Vai, just played by Vai for one show. I find it a bit strange as well tbh. No UV777bk or UV777gr in his vault either.