I've long been a fan of Dave Weiner's Riff Of The Week on YouTube. Dave is a very tasteful player who balances technique and melodic playing very well. He has also been Steve Vai's touring guitarist for the last decade.
In this video, his 200th Riff Of The Week, he talks about his very recent move to Los Angeles to teach at GIT and, since his guitars were still waiting to be unpacked, devotes this entire episode to sharing some gems of career information.
Dave talks about his experience studying at GIT, the importance of networking and his internship with Vai's manager as her assistant, which nearly made me fall out of my chair laughing -- "I was an office-bitch for her. For a year. For free... and I would take papers over to Vai every once in a while, and every time I showed up he would call me a different name.. "
If you've ever wondered how someone lands a plum, high-profile gig as touring guitarist with Steve Vai, here it is plain and simple.
Watch this vid -- it will be eight minutes well spent.
I've long been a fan of Riff Of The Week as well. I like your post on Mahatma Gandhi as well. Words of wisdom well repeated. Glad to see you tomorrow,then. :)
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