Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Steve Vai, and Tool drummer Danny Carey join forces for the BEAT Tour, a creative reinterpretation of iconic '80s King Crimson albums.
They will come together this fall for an extensive tour across North America performing repertoire from these three King Crimson iconic albums The BEAT Tour will begin in San Jose, CA on September 12 at San Jose Civic with the final show planned for November 8 at Las Vegas, NV’s The Theater at Virgin Hotels. An artist pre-sale goes live today at Noon Eastern (Password: BEATTOUR), with the general on-sale set for Friday, April 5 at 10am local time here: www.BEAT-tour.com.
Guitarist Adrian Belew reflects, “The 1981 through 1984 King Crimson created a music all its own. Timeless. Beautiful. Complex. Fierce. For the fans who lived through it then, and the ones who never got to witness it, our aim is to bring it to life again. A monumental task but we're going for it! There are not enough exclamation points to express my excitement!”
Guitarist Steve Vai states, “Being a part of this ensemble is an extraordinary privilege and opportunity to perform some of the most beloved, timeless, and monumental music of the 80’s (and beyond) with truly inspired musicians. This music resonates deeply with me. Adrian, Tony and Danny are unique musicians with an otherworldly insight into presenting rich musical complexities in a very accessible way, and I am looking forward to searching each other’s musical minds in real time on stage. I’m sure sparks will fly.” He continues, “Father Robert Fripp is one of our historical geniuses. His highly specific and exceptionally brilliant guitar technique is studied and revered. His contribution to the quality of my musical life, and so many others is supreme. I can assure the fans of KC that I will be putting my best foot forward to respect this great music with the care and intensity it deserves. Did I say ‘sparks will fly?’”
Bassist Tony Levin offers, “This is going to be quite a tour. Revisiting some of my favorite music is a treat in itself, but in company of this stellar lineup, I expect to have my musical butt kicked! And it’s also great that we’re not just playing a few shows, we’re hitting it hard. So, Road Dogs are coming to your area soon.”
Drummer Danny Carey shares, “I am very excited to share the stage with three of my favorite musicians on the planet. Tony, Steve and Adrian have always been a source of inspiration for me since the beginning of my career, and now to be able to share a bit of my musical journey with them is a dream come true. There’s nothing better to make some sparks fly and light a fire under your ass than getting out of your musical comfort zone, and I can’t think of any other three guys I’d rather do this with. I think I can speak for all of us when I say I hope all of our fans are as excited as we are about this tour.”
The vision for this undertaking emanated from initial dialogue between Angelo Bundini aka Scrote and Adrian Belew. Tour Producer Bundini recalls, “When Adrian called me to help bring his idea to fruition, I immediately thought it best to focus on the 80s albums: Discipline, Beat, and Three Of A Perfect Pair. These three records famously marked Adrian and Tony's entry into King Crimson. Their fluid, melodic virtuosity, and Fripp's and Bruford's dramatic precision created a totally unique, dynamic push and pull that would influence nearly every rock musician and/or band going forward for years, if not decades, to come.”
The complete itinerary of planned appearances includes events in:
9/12 San Jose, CA San Jose Civic
9/13 Napa, CA Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions at Meritage Resort
9/14 Los Angeles, CA The United Theater on Broadway
9/15 Anaheim, CA City National Grove of Anaheim
9/17 San Diego, CA Humphrey’s Concerts
9/18 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
9/20 Austin, TX The Paramount Theatre
9/21 Houston, TX Bayou Music Centre
9/22 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
9/24 Atlanta, GA The Eastern
9/26 Fort Lauderdale, FL The Parker
9/27 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
9/28 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
9/29 Charleston, SC Charleston Music Hall
10/01 Charlotte, NC Knight Theater
10/02 Durham, NC Carolina Theatre of Durham / Fletcher Hall
10/04 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
10/05 New York, NY Beacon Theatre
10/06 Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
10/08 Richmond, VA Carpenter Theater in Dominion Energy Center
10/09 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie Center
10/11 Boston, MA Shubert Theatre
10/12 Hampton Beach, NH Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
10/14 Halifax, NS Rebecca Cohen Auditorium
10/15 Moncton, NB Casino New Brunswick
10/17 Montreal, QC Theatre Maisonneuve
10/18 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
10/19 Rochester, NY Kodak Center
10/21 Albany, NY The Egg
10/22 Greensburg, PA Palace Theatre
10/23 Reading, PA Santander Performing Arts Center
10/25 Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre
10/26 Cincinnati, OH Taft Theatre
10/27 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
10/28 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
10/30 Indianapolis, IN Murat Theatre
11/01 Chicago, IL Copernicus Center
11/02 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theatre
11/03 Madison, WI Orpheum Theater
11/04 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre
11/06 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
11/08 Las Vegas, NV The Theater at Virgin Hotels
For more information, please visit beat-tour.com.
A gateway into some of the most recognizable Vai-isms.
Advanced
Intermediate
·Develop a deeper sense of subdivisions.
·Learn how to combine odd groupings.
·Perfect the “Yngwie” pattern.
I had the pleasure of taking part in a project a couple of years back breaking down Steve Vai’s playing on David Lee Roth’s Eat Em and Smile album. Safe to say my fingers were fried after three months of practicing, but there were so many creative ideas to learn from. Late ’80s and early ’90s Vai is really something to behold, as he was featured in huge bands and changed the face of instrumental guitar. I want to look at some technical aspects of what he would do in terms of linear lines and expressions. My hope is that by learning them, you can take them and make them your own. Let’s dive in!
Ex. 1 is a classic Vai-ism in D minor. It’s a descending line loosely based around a series of triads with a few extra bits put in. The first beat centers on a D minor triad (D–F–A), the second beat hovers around a B diminished triad (B–D–F), and the third beat uses an A minor triad (A–C–E) to give a V-I pull back to the root note on beat 4. I love the idea of the two-note pull-off followed by a slide to transition between the cells.
Ex. 2 is similar to Ex. 1 in terms of layout, however there are a few twists. Most notably with the two-note-per-string hammer-ons shifting down two positions. This legato “smear” of notes is a trademark Vai-ism that pops up in tons of his solos and improvisations. We finish the line with a huge position shift down to a G Minor pentatonic pull-off phrase. A notable ornament of Vai’s spectacular playing.
Vai and Joe Satriani share a lot of common ground in terms of legato playing. They are known for taking three-note-per-string phrases and cramming notes into the beat for a cool washy sound. However, Vai sometimes would really focus on the odd subdivisions that these patterns would create. A sure sign of the influence Allan Holdsworth had with his angular-sounding lines. In Ex. 3 you can see how I would approach this by combining sextuplets with septuplets.
Ex. 4 is another legato run in E minor. However, this time we’re adding a tapped note at the 12th fret on each string at the top of each legato “roll.” Don’t be alarmed by the subdivisions in the transcription, these are more of a “pointer” towards the groupings. My performance note would be to practice this slowly as eighth-notes or slow 16th-notes before speeding up. Then when things are ticking along well, just go for it!
This phrase (Ex. 5) opens with a rather unique sequence for Vai: a five-note pattern played over a 16th-note rhythm. You can hear this pattern on some of his Alcatrazz material, and within the tapping runs in solos such as “Big Trouble.” The quintuplet uses notes from A minor pentatonic (A–C–D–E–G) spread out over two positions. Each pattern starts with a tapped note before pulling off to a chord tone. Then, I skip a string and play a descending three-note group. I continue this up to the top string before descending a line based around an Fmaj9 arpeggio (F–A–C–E–G).
Vai has some ferocious picking runs and when I hear Guthrie Govan go into full-on shred mode I can most notably hear the Vai influence on him. Ex. 6 features an ascending run of sextuplets in A minor. This phrase features mostly ascending notes on each string until the last two beats where we run into an Al Di Meola/Paul Gilbert-style pattern.
Ex. 7 is a flurry of notes, however there is some sense to how they are played. Keep in mind that this is phrased with three-note-per-string patterns. If we dissect the fingerings a bit, I use the classic “Yngwie” pattern of six to kick things off and then I use three groups of seven before wrapping with three groups of five. Don’t think of these in relationship to the beat, but more for just “building” the run. Practice with even 16ths or eighth-notes at first. When it comes to playing it at full speed, pick like the wind!
These unusual, almost symmetrical, patterns turn up in all kinds of places in Vai’s playing. Ex. 8 is a fun Vai phrase that outlines a series of minor 11 arpeggios. Each pattern is identical, so it’s best to play this with sweep picking and aim for an even feel. Try saying the word “hippopotamus” when playing through quintuplets to line up the syllables with the subdivisions. When Vai plays these, he lets them blur slightly, turning them into sheets of sound. Or sometimes he uses them to simply highlight the top note by sweeping so fast that it’s almost inaudible—in a cool way!
So there we have it, eight technical linear lines inspired by the amazing Steve Vai. Learning lines from your favorite artists is good, but it really starts to count when you take away the concepts and re-shape them your own way. Vai is a well of inspiration for tons of guitarists. Long may he continue!
Designed for Steve Vai’s signature Ibanez PIA guitar, the UtoPIA Neck pickup features a custom laser-cut baroque style cover over a gold patterned layer.
Using the Evolution Neck as the basic platform, the UtoPIA Neck was designed to focus more on the low-end response of the guitar while adding thickness and body to the top end. The challenge was to still deliver the harmonics for which the Evolution is known. Upper mid-range frequencies were also dialed back to produce a less aggressive attack and provide more control.
Designed to be a perfect choice for bright guitars that favor an upper mid-range peak, the UtoPIA Neck will level out uneven frequencies. Great for coil-splitting in combination with the UtoPIA Middle. The UtoPIA Neck is also a great choice for the bridge position when looking for something to balance with a lower output neck pickup.
Available in F-spacing only.
Features
- Recommended For: Neck or Bridge position for all solid body guitars.
- Quick Connect: No
- Wiring: 4 Conductor
- Magnet: Ceramic
- Resistance: 12.68 kOhm
$159.99 USD. More info at: www.dimarzio.com.