SOLOS OF THE YEAR

John Frusciante paid tribute to EVH. David Gilmour and Buddy Guy rolled back the years. But the most extraordinary solo of 2002 came from Steve Vai's collaboration with Polyphia....

- Amit Sharma, Ellie Rogers

01 Polyphia feat. Steve Vai Ego Death

THERE were plenty of interesting collaborations over the course of 2022, but arguably none quite as sonically tantalising as Polyphia partnering up with Steve Vai on the song Ego Death. As well as packing all the genre-crossing bravado and split coil spank we’ve grown to expect from guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, the track was also representative of a changing of the guard – almost giving listeners front row seats at the passing of the torch between Ibanez-endorsing virtuosos from different generations. In the 80s and 90s, it was Steve Vai who was taking guitar music to new places and in the process redefining the very instrument in his hands. Decades later, similar things could be said about what Polyphia have managed to achieve over the course of their four albums, which explains why this partnership was a match made in heaven. As Vai himself explains to TG, hearing his own leads get severely dissected and remixed took some getting used to, but after his own initial ego death, the end result was something truly magnificent – documenting a musical conversation between great talents of different eras...

“I’ve been fortunate in being able to watch the evolution of guitar playing in various formats over the years,” Steve says. “When Polyphia came along, I guess it was probably the third generation of musicians after mine. Each time there was a change I would see different things happening in terms of how people were playing the instrument. And when I first heard Tim Henson and Scott LePage I was totally blown away! I was impressed by not only the way they were playing their guitars, but also the music itself. So I kinda kept my eye on them and started following them.