Steve Vai – HuffPost 7.11.12

Mike Ragogna: What advice do you have for new artists?

Steve Vai: Well, try to find the thing that excites you the most, and then throw yourself into it, and don’t worry about what anybody else is doing.

MR: Is that what young Steve Vai did?

SV: When I look back, yes. Actually, I should say, whenever I found myself most satisfied and most successful, that’s what I was doing because you’re going to be the most successful at the thing that excites you the most, because when you’re an artist or you’re trying to create a career, there are a lot of storms and you have to be wearing some really serious overcoats. Your overcoat, basically, is your passion for what you’re doing. If you have any reservations or any questions, you’re doomed because true artists don’t. They just do it because they have no choice. They don’t care. To them, the finished picture in their mind is the most compulsive and attractive thing, and they can’t help themselves. We all have that in different ways in different parts of our lives, but if you’re really a music lover, and you want to make a career in the music business, it now is probably a better time than any. I love the music business. It’s filled with creative people, and there’s so much opportunity. But your perspective on the music business and your career is going to be forged by the attitude you have when you go into it, so it makes really good sense to cultivate a really good, strong, positive attitude of confidence. You cannot miss them.