During a recent conversation with AXS TV, Alice Cooper’s touring guitarist Nita Strauss indicated that Steve Vai was the reason for her starting to play guitar.
Steve Vai, who began his music career as a transcriptionist of Frank Zappa at a very young age in 1978, has influenced many musicians. He worked with many impactful names like Alcatrazz, Whitesnake, and David Lee Roth. The guitarist improved himself throughout his appearance in the music scene and became a huge inspiration.
Nita Strauss has been among the names that Vai’s playing style has influenced. Strauss revealed in a past conversation that she was first impressed by Vai when she watched the 1986 movie ‘Crossroads.’ According to her, Vai was playing so comfortably that she wanted to be like him in the future.
Recently, Nita Strauss was displaying some of the guitars from her collection. While Strauss showed Steve Vai’s signature Ibanez Jem, she stated that she began playing guitar thanks to Vai. The guitarist recalled when she bought a mini keychain of this guitar while in Dallas for a guitar performance to watch. As Strauss mentioned, she never thought she would have the original Ibanez Jem one day.
Strauss displayed the Ibanez Jem and explained:
“This is a really special one. This is Faith, my floral pattern Jem. I don’t always name my guitars, but sometimes a name will jump out at me. And this one jumped out at me. I started playing guitar because of Steve Vai, and this is one of Steve Vai’s signature guitars, the Jem. I was at the Dallas guitar show. We had a gig in Dallas that day.
I wasn’t even doing anything at the show; I was just like, ‘Oh, we’ll go and check out the entire show since we’re in town.’ And then I bought a little keychain of this exact guitar. When we walked in, they had these little mini guitar displays, and I bought the keychain of a floral Jem; I thought, ‘I’ll probably never have one, or not anytime soon, so I’m gonna get a little keychain.'”
You can watch the entire conversation below.
