“I didn’t tell anybody when I started playing the guitar. Then I entered a talent contest and I played The Star-Spangled Banner with my teeth – and I won”: Why Steve Vai kept his guitar playing a secret when he first started

Steve Vai has accomplished more than most on the electric guitar, but when he first started playing the instrument, he didn't tell anyone about it because he was too shy.

In a new conversation with Positive Grid to promote the release of his new signature Spark Mini amp, the virtuoso reflected on his early playing days, and revealed he didn’t tell anyone he’d started to learn the instrument.

When he did let everyone know he’d been secretly learning the six-string, though, he announced his new-found abilities onstage in quite spectacular fashion.

“I didn't tell anybody when I started playing the guitar, because I was kind of shy that way,” he remembers. “The guitar was such a cool instrument, if you played it, you thought you were really cool. And I didn't think I was really cool. So I never told anybody.

“But I did enter a talent contest, and it was the first time I'd played in front of my classmates,” Vai goes on. “It was a big auditorium, and I played The Star-Spangled Banner with my teeth… and I won.

“It was the first time I won anything like that, and the prize was $50. That was so much money. Me and all my friends took that money and we bought cases of quality beer.”

Steve Vai Talks Guitar Technology, Spark MINI Vai, and Discovering Your Calling - YouTube

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While he was busy working away in the shadows and refining his craft ahead of the big reveal, Vai was beginning to piece together one of the biggest lessons he’d ever take away from the fretboard – an approach to unlocking his creativity that he still uses to this day.

“Your imagination is infinite, and it’s your greatest tool,” he says when asked about advice he’d give to aspiring players.

“Your greatest tool for developing anything is your ability to imagine it. Once a person realizes this, the most powerful tool that you have is the ability to visualize. It’s the only thing holding you back: when you visualize something, you actually visualize it.

“That’s how I’ve developed my technique. I’ll bring it to the guitar. My favorite thing to do is try to imagine something that I couldn’t do – which there was plenty of – and then do it. That was the greatest payoff. It still is for me, every time.”

For more information on the Spark Mini Vai, head to Positive Grid.