Best comment I ever saw about this scene was that Ralph Macchio should've won an Oscar for acting like he could play a guitar, and Steve Vai should've won one for acting like he couldn't.
The movie "Crossroads" is great (where this scene is from). Ralph Machio character started out taking classical guitar at Julliard but loved the blues... found this old blues man in a seniors home and they travel back to the crossroads to get his soul back from the devil. The guitar contest is for the old blues guy's soul.. (played amazingly by Joe Seneca).
You should watch the movie Crossroads NOT BRITTANY SPEARS MOVIE. After this you'll know what your looking The movie came out in 1985 or so it's a great 👍movie you'll not regret watching it CROSSROADS
Crossroads is a take on the actual Robert Johnson legend that he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to play his blues guitar the way he did. Johnson and his guitar work has influenced every blues musician and rock musician. Johnson's own recording of Crossroads was electrified by Eric Clapton and Cream and Eric often marvels how he had the audacity to take in Johnson and electrify what he considered to be a masterpiece.
And that Crossroads reference goes back to Hoodoo and Voudon myths, things often mentioned in early blues. The myth of the crossroads being a place to summon the devil or crossing between worlds goes back to both Medieval Europe and Ancient Greece as well as the Yoruba people of Africa. Hoodoo and Voudon are a mix of European and African myths.
Lot of folks don't understand how deep Clapton's musical roots are grounded in the Blues. His CD "From the Cradle " would be great listen for many to see what influence and helped possibly the best guitarist of the 20th Century - "From The Cradle" get ready for some unaltered raw Blues
worse was that Robert drank a tainted whickey bottle at a time, it took him 3 days to die of internal contamination!it is said in a documentary about him!
Ralph is playing one of the greatest guitars ever made, the classic Fender Telecaster. And, they both had distortion on. The biggest differences were that Ralph was using a slide for most of it (actually played by Ry Cooder), and Steve used a tremolo bar very heavily (also called a whammy bar, which was most likely a Floyd Rose). The classical piece Vai wrote and performed for the end was heavily influenced by Paganini.
Great reaction as always! key points. Steve vai played both guitars. they dubbed it for Ralph macchio Steve said the hardest part was learning how to mess the song up!
Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar tutor for the film and played many of his pieces. According to Roth on his website, the final duel was arranged from parts played by him, Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser, who did the classical playing throughout the film.
No he didn't Ry Cooder played all of Ralph Maccio's parts except for the final classical bit, that was Vai and it was based on Paganini's Caprice Op 1 #5.
Ray's right about Cooder. IIRC, Vai didn't know how to play slide at the time, so he couldn't have if he wanted to. But Cooder brings some realness to that blues sound of Ralph's.
Ralph Macchio play some of the guitar parts in the film. Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar instructor for the film and played many of his pieces. The advanced pieces were actually performed by Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser in the movie.
Steve Vai plays for the Devil at “the crossroads” in this 80s flick; in reality Vai composed and (with the exception of his rendition of Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice no. 5) played both parts in the film. He’s a genius guitarist who transcribed music for Frank Zappa when he was only 18! 🔥👏🏼
Hey, guys hope all is well. I'm a professional guitar player, so my nerd is coming out. Steve Vai, and guitar legend Ry Cooder did the guitar work in this movie. It is edited to look like Ralph is playing, but he isn't. The solo that Ralph beats Steve Vai's character at the end is a variation on a composition from a 19th century Italian violin virtuoso named Niccolo Paganini. Ironically enough, people in his time thought he had sold his soul to the devil to play so good, which earned him the nickname, "The Devil's Fiddler". Great video you two. Thanks a lot!
The boy didn't believe he was really talking to the devil, so he said "you get both of us if I lose"...But aside from the incredible guitar playing, the message is that his God-given talent beat what the devil could give the other guy. I've always considered this movie a must-see.
I thought the message was "you can't serve two masters," which is what his classical guitar teacher says to him at the beginning of the film about his budding interest in the blues. In the end, it was classical, his true master, that won his and Willie's souls.
The movie is centered around the lore/legend that the great Mississippi blues player Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to play well. (a common folk tale throughout history actually). and this is them battling, in front of the devil, the guy watching and laughing from the crowd. Steve Vai actually played the part in real life, with another guitarist, Ry Cooder playing all the blues stuff in the movie, and Ralph acting well to make it look like he is playing. but the part Ralph plays to win, is a variation on a classical piece of music called Paganini's 5th Caprice. And the legend around Paganini is, you guessed it, he sold his soul to play well. so it's an ironic full circle moment. that's partly why they picked that piece. in the movie Ralph is training to be a classical guitarist but he's torn because he loves the blues. so this is him thinking outside of the box pulling out a classical piece for the wiiiin!
Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar tutor for the film and played many of his pieces. According to Roth on his website, the final duel was arranged from parts played by him, Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser, who did the classical playing throughout the film.
For the movie Crossroads they hired a guitar teacher named Arlen Roth to work with Ralph Machio, and he did play some of the guitar parts in the movie. However for this particular battle Ralph’s parts were dubbed and Steve Vai actually played bits of Ralph’s guitar riffs as well as his own.
Asia, you can't quit in the middle of a battle like this - it was for Ralph Macchio's soul and to get back the soul of the old guy on the stage. The man dressed in black, with the bow tie and hat, is the Devil.
🎵I went down to the crossroads 🎵Fell down on my knees 🎵Down to the crossroads 🎵 Fell down on my knees 🎵 Asked the Lord above for mercy 🎵 Take me, if you please 😎🎸
"Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar tutor for the film and played many of his pieces. According to Roth on his website, the final duel was arranged from parts played by him, Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser, who did the classical playing throughout the film." IMDB
Yall really needed to watch the 5 minutes before this duel to watch them have a conversation with the devil that led to the duel. Love that scene more than the duel itself
My favorite bit of trivia for this scene is Steve played all the guitar parts for them both, and said it was more difficult to intentionally mess up his part at the end than it was to play the correct version for Ralph's part.
If not for Robert Johnson and other great songwriters the great classic rock music I grew up with and I still enjoy today would not be the same thing. Yardbirds, Cream, Stones and lots of others took the cords and tunings for these songs from the 1930's and made lots of 60's hits. In the movie I thought it was glaring that the recoding engineer didn't shake Robert's hand. Telling it like it was. Or the new Mississippi county sheriff " what money? " Meet the new boss same as the old boss. Great Movie
It was acting. He can't play guitar like that, but he was coached by, Arlen Roth, to look like he was doing it. The Original Score was by guitarist, Ry Cooder, who played Ralph Macchio's parts. And of course, Steve Vai played his parts. He said it took like a week, or some crazy crap just to shoot this scene!!! 🤯 I would've shot myself! Lol. Now you guy's need to watch this movie!! It's about the tale of the great Robert Johnson, who supposedly sold his soul to the Devil to become a great Blues guitarist.
Ry Cooder actually played Machio's parts but I seen this movie long after it was in the theaters but interestingly enough the movie is about a budding virtuoso who learned about the real world on his own pursuit of a lost song. When the movie came out I also was 17 and a budding lead guitarist who went on to place 2nd out of 30 guitar players in a "Hot Licks" guitar contest in 1989 in Michigan. So even though I seen the movie in the early 90s, I really liked it and eventually I had 3 sons that were musicians that also really liked the movie.
The older guy in the black suit they cut to was the devil (who Robert Johnson sold his soul to at the fabled Crossroads). Because Eugene beat the Devil's guy (Vai), Eugene bought his friend's (on harmonica) freedom as he too sold his soul to the devil at the same Crossroads 50 years before. Mere seconds after this clip ends, the devil stands up and tears up Willie Brown's (on harmonica) contract from 50 years ago. Incredible story of Mississippi blues history. Crossroads!
Good movie, been ages since I saw it. The end duel was done by 3 players. Arlen Roth, Vai and Ry Cooder. Arlen Roth was hired as Ralphs coach for the film, and all the slide parts was made by both Ry Cooder and Arlen (who never got proper credit). The classical parts earlier in the film was played by Bill Kanegiser.
Crossroads came out 2 years after The Karate Kid. This movie is hallowed ground for musicians but especially guitarists. It's always worth a watch/rewatch.
As a guitarist this was my top 5 movies of all time. I didn’t get to watch it in the 80‘s but I did in the 90‘s. I got to learn the winning classical shred which Vai based off of Violin Virtuoso, Paganini‘s Caprice no.5. It is very difficult to play but Vai plays it effortlessly. It’s funny seeing him try to mess it up🤪
This movie is one of the greatest, best scene in the movie, story line dates way back and is amazing tale of the battle for ur soul...altho did hear that Stevie had hard time trying to mess up...Thanx so much, Peace
I rented this movie back in the day on VCR and after watching it I went back to the rental shop and told him I was keeping it and asked how much he wanted for the video.
This was a fun reaction video for me - I love rock guitar, but I'm a classical guitarist by training. I loved this movie when it came out - it helped inspire my learning classical music, just because it's so much different than most music people are exposed to. But this many years later, I've heard so many incredible guitarists from all genres - it would be really cool for this kind of guitar battle to actually happen in real life, but in my experience, this kind of thing is very rare (on a professional level). I think many rock guitarists have good skills, but massive & fragile egos - like is shown in this clip. The techniques between rock, jazz, Spanish flamenco & classical are very different - but not too many rock guitarists would want to get into this type of battle with a jazz, or classical virtuoso guitarist. The legendary jazz/rock guitarist Les Paul had fun doing this - he challenged anybody to on stage battles & just dominated everyone - the same thing would happen with a classical master going against rock - their finger strength & control is unreal - and classical phrasings are more advanced. Rock relies I think too much on effects, amps, distortion, pedals - just a lot of technology to get those sounds - if you unplug Steve's guitar & he does the same playing on an acoustic - it's a very different thing all together - without the power of all the unseen equipment & studio/audio engineers helping out, this showdown loses a lot of the 'wow' factor. BTW, the Paganini sections played here are very basic compared to how it's played by an international virtuoso - for a comparison watch on YT: 'Caprice No.24 N.Paganini played by Su Meng' uploaded by 'HMFPAC07' (less video lag) - Ralph, Steve, Les ... none would challenge her to a battle for a reason -
yes, it was the great Ry Cooder. It would have been so much fun to make. Ralph was coached to do the chords we see I believe - he probably plays a bit himself anyway
The soundtrack to the movie "Crossroads" which is by Rye Cooder, doesn't include this battle between Steve Vai and Rye Cooder (Vai played the classical piece at the end on both, but the beginning had Rye Cooder playing slide guitar.) However, the soundtrack is really spectacular, if you love the sounds of delta blues. Steve Vai is an amazing guitarist, who spent a number of years touring and recording with Frank Zappa, and there's a great song, "Stevie's Spanking" on the Zappa album "Them or Us."
Ralph was playing for their souls and vai was the devils big star and Ralph was playing for his and the old man’s soul. The devil was the old man that was laughing sitting in the crowd. All the people around them were people that lost their souls! You really need to check that movie out!
Ry Cooder on Machio playing 'slide' guitar part and I had an old Rock magazine Steve Vai, voted best all around guitarist 4 yrs in a row interview (if my 66year old memory is intact) in being approached to do this movie appearance and he had to 'lose'... he was offered 2million dollars to play that part.
This is my all-time Favorite movie. Crossroads. Stevie Vai and Ry Coder {playing the Ralph Macchio parts] IS IN MY OPINION THE BEST GUITAR PLAYING EVER! I have requested this so many times. Thank You for this. In the movie Stevie is the devil's guitarist and Ralph is trying to beat him to get the soul back of his friend. YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great movie. It's been years since I'd seen this. Great reaction!
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1 - steve vai played all parts // 2 - the first SV solo is from a song called "Bad Horsie" // 3 - the last solo is a classical piece from the violinist Niccolò Paganini - 24th Capriccio
Great 80s flick for a Sunday afternoon with the kids. Y’all can argue over who played what, but to me the funniest true story was Steve Vai getting told by the Director during filming to screw up the ending worse. Steve’s such a natural that making mistakes on purpose is harder than playing it right. First couple takes he got heat for not playing it wrong enough. So finally he had to clear his mind and just flap his fingers and stare at the floor. The result sounded like someone falling down stairs, but the director was finally happy. 🤣
Great movie!!!! I didn't know Ralph played for real either , I thought someone played it for him and he just held the guitar and of course they did camera tricks?? Shoot I didn't know and I love that movie!!
Yay! So glad you played this! I still have the movie on VHS, lol, love it!! Steve Vai is a great guitarist.I saw him play when I saw David Lee Roth in concert..they have a few songs worth checking out like Yankee Rose, Just Like Paradise,Goin' Crazy,Knucklebones and Shy Boy..always loved his style.Keep On Rockin'
Don't forget their smoking cover of "Tobacco Road.' And just think...the incomparable Jason Becker(pre-ALS) replaced Steve in the DLR band. Amazing guitarists and musicians. Just listened to Becker's "Perpetual Burn" album...as I have been for three decades now. The fact that he was so incredibly advanced at 16 or 17 makes him, to my ears, a true modern prodigy. "Altitudes" is easily one of the best guitar instrumentals ever. As are Vai's "For The Love Of God" and "Tender Surrender. " I've been listening to instrumental guitar since the 80s and have amassed a huge collection of thousands of songs from hundreds of guitarists-both known and undiscovered. Anyone that doubts me listen to "Air" by Jason Becker and realize he was SIXTEEN when he developed it. Today Jason is only able to communicate with his eyes... yet through a special keyboard and computer software his dad developed, Jason is STILL able to compose music to this day. Didn't mean to hijack this thread y'all. But seriously, in addition to Vai and Becker everyone who adores outstanding instrumental guitar should not hesitate to search out incredible works by Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Marty Friedman, and Greg Howe to lesser-known guys and gals like Joe Stump, David Valdes, Rob Balducci, Andy James, Carina Alfie, Andy Timmons, John Petrucci, Buckethead, Christian Muenzner, DC Slater, Gus G, Igor Paspalj, Marco Sfogli, Martin Miller, Michael Orlando, Neil Zaza, Nick Johnston, Alexios Anest, Oziel Zinho, Paul Wardingham, Paul Gilbert, Bruce Bouillet and Rick Graham....those are just a few suggestions .... realize also that mega-huge guitarists like Neal Schon of Journey and Steve Morse from Kansas/Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs also have spectacular instrumental releases. Y'all all know about Jeff Beck of course but I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here BUT IF just one person makes a new discovery or two from this list then I've done my part! Enjoy y'all!
Great movie. The end Steve Vai in studio played all his stuff and Ry Cooder played all Ralphs stuff until end of duel. What he won with was actually Steve Vai composed and played.
We watch this movie on a regular basis, I know every line in the movie much to the shagrin of my family. Steve Vai and Ry Cooder are great guitar players and I don't know who made the decision to use Niccolo" Pagganini's Caprice 24 Opus 1: No. 5. in an electric guitar solo but check out the song Earthquake by Electric Sun (Uli Jon Roth, played with the Scorpions) that came out seven years before the Crossroads movie. The song is just over ten minute long, listen to the last minute.
Something I never put together about the duel. The last part played by Ralph is a part of Paganini's No. 5 Caprice. A previous musician said to have made a deal with the Devil to play as well as he did. So he beat a devil dealer with another devil dealers song. Probably why the devil started frowning when he heard that piece. It cracks me up!
Others have commented on the legend about Robert Johnson. The Crossroads reference is interesting too. It comes from an old belief (that you can trace back to Africa) that the crossroads are the place where you can meet a character named 'Legba' who is essentially equivalent to Satan. He can grant your wish in exchange for your soul. The song Crossroads belongs to Robert Johnson and is known today mostly because the rock group Cream did their version of it. Led Zeppelin also 'borrowed' a lot of old blues but sadly never credited the original Black blues artists. Copyrights were not a thing way back when during the origins of blues music.
Ry Cooder plays all the non Vai parts he is amazing as well with the slide guitar but Steve Vai is one of the greatest of all time the only guitar player who learned all of Joe Satriani lessons that is saying something Rock On😎💚🤘react to Joe Satriani!!!😎💚🔥🤘
Glad you decided to do this one. Steve Vai, playing Satan's guitarist, had to act as if he couldn't play this song, of course for the sake of the movie's storyline. This is why we need a greatest guitarist instrumental ONLY stream.
One of my favorite movies of all time. Story is based on the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil and a lot of the lines in the movie are from songs of other legendary blues men. Blues started in the Mississippi Delta and that’s where the characters are going back to where it all started. To go to the crossroads where blues men make a deal with the Devil. Side note: Robert Johnson was the first of the cursed 27 club.
Yessss! Give us some more Steve Vai---Please please please! His style is so freaking unique -- he flirts with his guitar and audience, you've just got to see more of the dude! Much more info on this guy for sure, I can't even type it all cuz I'm so excited to see him in your reactions. He is a master to say very least. Please check him out. I just love both of you, thanks to you both. I always look forward to your reactions, a good time to be had by all. Sending Love and Good vibes always.
This is awesome, Steve Vai is still My favorite guitarist should really check out his brand new video for Teeth of the Hydra with his new triple neck guitar 🎸
Steve Via recorded and wrote both guitar parts👍 The hardest part for him was "Playing badly on purpose" 🤣 Check out 'For the Love of God ' to really see how awesome he is!
Steve Vai didn't write both parts. The piece that won the duel was Caprice No 5 written by 1800s violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. He was known as the Devil's Violinist because he played like a man possessed at twelve notes per second and was believed at the time to have made a pact with the devil
Excellent movie, a must watch. Steve Vai is an awesome guitarist. If I'm not mistaken he started out with Frank Zappa. Also played in bands David Lee Roth (ex singer of Van Halen), Whitesnake and Alcatraz. Like Joe Satriani, he does his solo act as well 🙏✌🤘😎🤘
It is a great movie made in 1986 I got it here in the house somewhere. Joe Satriani taught Steve how to play. Steve also played in David Lee Roths band he makes the guitar talk in the song Yankee Rose.
Very good movie and very underrated. I think this was after Karate Kid 1 or 2. Ralph did a great job looking like he was actually playing. For sure worth the watch. The whole "Selling your soul" type thing. The Ry Cooder parts in the movie are incredible.
The lead up clip to this scene really must be included to appreciate the stunning finale the end piece Ralph reverts back to classical because classical is what he was studying and although his teacher saw potential Ralph often lost train of thought because he also loved the blues
During the duel, while Steve Vai's character was more flashy, more heavy metal sound seemed dominant: Machio's character was humble had a bluesy sound and started with what he'd learned about playing AND LIVING the blues leading up to this moment had a wild card waiting to be pulled out...his classical training!
This scene is Cutting Heads, a guitar contest they played for the devil ( the laughing guy in the crowd ) Steve Vai was the devil's player and Eugene was playing to save Willie's soul from the devil.
Movie Magic makes anyone a pro. Ry Cooder did most of the slide guitar and blues songs through out the movie, , and Steve Vai did the incredible solo work for them both. Steve is a great actor, acting like he could be beat by a weak ass, paint the fence, wax on-wax off, sloppy crane kick doing Ralph Macchio (pronounced Mock-ee-oh). I did always like the solo, but its all movie magic. They taught him how to hold the guitar, and make it look like he was struggling. He can't even get the stink-face right, because you gotta have the stank in ya to do it! Not sure if the cat playing harmonica actually played either, but I couldn't question it because it looked real AF.
This is what the CROSSROADS battle is all about. Robert Johnson, and Eric Clapton both famously sing the Crossroads blues. This came out in 1986 just 2 years after Karate Kid 1
He plays a Julliard Classical guitar student who secretly loves the blues. He breaks an old blues legend out of a Harlem medium security nursing home for criminals, and they bus and thumb it to Mississippi to win back Willie's soul.
This battle is perfect, and trying to do this again in another film, would have to be spectacular or it would just pale in comparison. The ending is considered one of the hardest musical pieces to play for guitar (Eugene's Trick Bag)
OMG yes one of the best things ever when I was a kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how exciting :) :) you guys have to watch it, so you can know who is who, and why they are there... but I guess everyone told you ;)
They're playin' for souls. Gotta watch the movie. What a time to want to be a badazz on guitar. That dream fell through, but it was fun! And I just checked your videos.... Check out David Lee Roth's "Yankee Rose" for some more Steve Vai.
Best comment I ever saw about this scene was that Ralph Macchio should've won an Oscar for acting like he could play a guitar, and Steve Vai should've won one for acting like he couldn't.
😂🤣
Omg so true.
DUDE. That's an epic response. LOVE IT.
Yepp! Well said lol
Crossroads is the best guitar movie classic!
The movie "Crossroads" is great (where this scene is from). Ralph Machio character started out taking classical guitar at Julliard but loved the blues... found this old blues man in a seniors home and they travel back to the crossroads to get his soul back from the devil. The guitar contest is for the old blues guy's soul.. (played amazingly by Joe Seneca).
You should watch the movie Crossroads NOT BRITTANY SPEARS MOVIE. After this you'll know what your looking The movie came out in 1985 or so it's a great 👍movie you'll not regret watching it
CROSSROADS
I wrote out a post explaining what was going on, then see you did a better job, Rob!
@@garygriffin8311 1986 masterpiece!
Juli who??
He also put his soul on the line.
Crossroads is a take on the actual Robert Johnson legend that he sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to play his blues guitar the way he did. Johnson and his guitar work has influenced every blues musician and rock musician. Johnson's own recording of Crossroads was electrified by Eric Clapton and Cream and Eric often marvels how he had the audacity to take in Johnson and electrify what he considered to be a masterpiece.
And that Crossroads reference goes back to Hoodoo and Voudon myths, things often mentioned in early blues.
The myth of the crossroads being a place to summon the devil or crossing between worlds goes back to both Medieval Europe and Ancient Greece as well as the Yoruba people of Africa.
Hoodoo and Voudon are a mix of European and African myths.
My favorite movie thank you for suggesting this.
Lot of folks don't understand how deep Clapton's musical roots are grounded in the Blues. His CD "From the Cradle " would be great listen for many to see what influence and helped possibly the best guitarist of the 20th Century - "From The Cradle" get ready for some unaltered raw Blues
worse was that Robert drank a tainted whickey bottle at a time, it took him 3 days to die of internal contamination!it is said in a documentary about him!
Ralph is playing one of the greatest guitars ever made, the classic Fender Telecaster. And, they both had distortion on. The biggest differences were that Ralph was using a slide for most of it (actually played by Ry Cooder), and Steve used a tremolo bar very heavily (also called a whammy bar, which was most likely a Floyd Rose). The classical piece Vai wrote and performed for the end was heavily influenced by Paganini.
Ry Cooder played the slide parts.
💯
2 far different types of "distortion".
Great reaction as always!
key points.
Steve vai played both guitars. they dubbed it for Ralph macchio
Steve said the hardest part was learning how to mess the song up!
Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar tutor for the film and played many of his pieces. According to Roth on his website, the final duel was arranged from parts played by him, Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser, who did the classical playing throughout the film.
No he didn't Ry Cooder played all of Ralph Maccio's parts except for the final classical bit, that was Vai and it was based on Paganini's Caprice Op 1 #5.
@@RayC234 except for the classical guitar(acoustic nylon) scenes. I believe that was William Kanengiser.
@@RayC234 yep.
Ray's right about Cooder. IIRC, Vai didn't know how to play slide at the time, so he couldn't have if he wanted to. But Cooder brings some realness to that blues sound of Ralph's.
Ralph Macchio play some of the guitar parts in the film. Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar instructor for the film and played many of his pieces. The advanced pieces were actually performed by Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser in the movie.
Didnt Yngwei Malmsteen have a part?
Ralph played NOTHING...I did and so did Cooder, and Kanengiser, and I worked 8 months on this film!
Steve Vai plays for the Devil at “the crossroads” in this 80s flick; in reality Vai composed and (with the exception of his rendition of Niccolò Paganini’s Caprice no. 5) played both parts in the film.
He’s a genius guitarist who transcribed music for Frank Zappa when he was only 18! 🔥👏🏼
Yeah and Steve learned from Joe Satriani.
Let's not forget Ry Cooder on slide.
Well, Steve didn't write the 5th Caprice (of course he did play it.). That piece was composed by Niccolò Paganini.
Hey, guys hope all is well. I'm a professional guitar player, so my nerd is coming out. Steve Vai, and guitar legend Ry Cooder did the guitar work in this movie. It is edited to look like Ralph is playing, but he isn't. The solo that Ralph beats Steve Vai's character at the end is a variation on a composition from a 19th century Italian violin virtuoso named Niccolo Paganini. Ironically enough, people in his time thought he had sold his soul to the devil to play so good, which earned him the nickname, "The Devil's Fiddler". Great video you two. Thanks a lot!
The boy didn't believe he was really talking to the devil, so he said "you get both of us if I lose"...But aside from the incredible guitar playing, the message is that his God-given talent beat what the devil could give the other guy. I've always considered this movie a must-see.
@Ewrekzz
You summed it up so well in that one beautiful sentence.💙☮
I thought the message was "you can't serve two masters," which is what his classical guitar teacher says to him at the beginning of the film about his budding interest in the blues. In the end, it was classical, his true master, that won his and Willie's souls.
Look up Paganini and the connection to the devil losing his smile in that scene
The slide playing of Ry Cooder always gives me chills.
The movie is centered around the lore/legend that the great Mississippi blues player Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to play well. (a common folk tale throughout history actually).
and this is them battling, in front of the devil, the guy watching and laughing from the crowd.
Steve Vai actually played the part in real life, with another guitarist, Ry Cooder playing all the blues stuff in the movie, and Ralph acting well to make it look like he is playing.
but the part Ralph plays to win, is a variation on a classical piece of music called Paganini's 5th Caprice. And the legend around Paganini is, you guessed it, he sold his soul to play well. so it's an ironic full circle moment. that's partly why they picked that piece.
in the movie Ralph is training to be a classical guitarist but he's torn because he loves the blues. so this is him thinking outside of the box pulling out a classical piece for the wiiiin!
My God, I wish you guys were just do a reaction to this whole movie. It’s a great musical and beautiful footage of the Mississippi Delta.
Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar tutor for the film and played many of his pieces. According to Roth on his website, the final duel was arranged from parts played by him, Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser, who did the classical playing throughout the film.
Btw…Ralph Maccio is not really playing the guitar on his part. This whole scene is a battle for someone’s soul with the Devil
For the movie Crossroads they hired a guitar teacher named Arlen Roth to work with Ralph Machio, and he did play some of the guitar parts in the movie. However for this particular battle Ralph’s parts were dubbed and Steve Vai actually played bits of Ralph’s guitar riffs as well as his own.
Asia, you can't quit in the middle of a battle like this - it was for Ralph Macchio's soul and to get back the soul of the old guy on the stage.
The man dressed in black, with the bow tie and hat, is the Devil.
🎵I went down to the crossroads
🎵Fell down on my knees
🎵Down to the crossroads
🎵 Fell down on my knees
🎵 Asked the Lord above for mercy
🎵 Take me, if you please
😎🎸
"Arlen Roth was Ralph Macchio's guitar tutor for the film and played many of his pieces. According to Roth on his website, the final duel was arranged from parts played by him, Steve Vai, Ry Cooder and Bill Kanengiser, who did the classical playing throughout the film." IMDB
Used to love this film, my buddies still quote it every now and again
Yall really needed to watch the 5 minutes before this duel to watch them have a conversation with the devil that led to the duel. Love that scene more than the duel itself
My favorite bit of trivia for this scene is Steve played all the guitar parts for them both, and said it was more difficult to intentionally mess up his part at the end than it was to play the correct version for Ralph's part.
If not for Robert Johnson and other great songwriters the great classic rock music I grew up with and I still enjoy today would not be the same thing. Yardbirds, Cream, Stones and lots of others took the cords and tunings for these songs from the 1930's and made lots of 60's hits. In the movie I thought it was glaring that the recoding engineer didn't shake Robert's hand. Telling it like it was. Or the new Mississippi county sheriff " what money? " Meet the new boss same as the old boss. Great Movie
Ry Cooder played Ralph's guitar parts, but when he got the part, Ralph started learning guitar! EPIC Film, must have watched it a million times! 🎸😎😄
Ry Cooder played "most" of Ralph's parts. The end "Eugene's trick bag" is all Vai
It was acting. He can't play guitar like that, but he was coached by, Arlen Roth, to look like he was doing it. The Original Score was by guitarist, Ry Cooder, who played Ralph Macchio's parts. And of course, Steve Vai played his parts. He said it took like a week, or some crazy crap just to shoot this scene!!! 🤯 I would've shot myself! Lol. Now you guy's need to watch this movie!! It's about the tale of the great Robert Johnson, who supposedly sold his soul to the Devil to become a great Blues guitarist.
Fun fact: the classical piece they are playing is
Paganini's 5th caprice.
Writen sometime in the early 1800's 😊
Ry Cooder actually played Machio's parts but I seen this movie long after it was in the theaters but interestingly enough the movie is about a budding virtuoso who learned about the real world on his own pursuit of a lost song. When the movie came out I also was 17 and a budding lead guitarist who went on to place 2nd out of 30 guitar players in a "Hot Licks" guitar contest in 1989 in Michigan. So even though I seen the movie in the early 90s, I really liked it and eventually I had 3 sons that were musicians that also really liked the movie.
The older guy in the black suit they cut to was the devil (who Robert Johnson sold his soul to at the fabled Crossroads). Because Eugene beat the Devil's guy (Vai), Eugene bought his friend's (on harmonica) freedom as he too sold his soul to the devil at the same Crossroads 50 years before. Mere seconds after this clip ends, the devil stands up and tears up Willie Brown's (on harmonica) contract from 50 years ago. Incredible story of Mississippi blues history. Crossroads!
Good movie, been ages since I saw it. The end duel was done by 3 players. Arlen Roth, Vai and Ry Cooder. Arlen Roth was hired as Ralphs coach for the film, and all the slide parts was made by both Ry Cooder and Arlen (who never got proper credit). The classical parts earlier in the film was played by Bill Kanegiser.
One of my favorites and this is the short version of this scene it's much longer,and the actual player on Ralph's part is Ry Cooder!
Love this, can never have enough Steve Vai. More more more Vai!!!
Crossroads came out 2 years after The Karate Kid. This movie is hallowed ground for musicians but especially guitarists. It's always worth a watch/rewatch.
I grew up on this movie in the 80's! influenced me to play blues guitar and still do!
As a guitarist this was my top 5 movies of all time. I didn’t get to watch it in the 80‘s but I did in the 90‘s. I got to learn the winning classical shred which Vai based off of Violin Virtuoso, Paganini‘s Caprice no.5. It is very difficult to play but Vai plays it effortlessly. It’s funny seeing him try to mess it up🤪
This movie is one of the greatest, best scene in the movie, story line dates way back and is amazing tale of the battle for ur soul...altho did hear that Stevie had hard time trying to mess up...Thanx so much, Peace
Great movie and story, acting....and that finale !!! The best thing, though.....
...the hair! Both of ya!
niiiice!
I loved that movie just for that part.Stevie was so amazing 💓
Cross Roads is a movie about Robert Johnson
I ain't laughed like that in years but when Asia said you better run I lost it. Thank y'all for what y'all do. God bless
I rented this movie back in the day on VCR and after watching it I went back to the rental shop and told him I was keeping it and asked how much he wanted for the video.
This was a fun reaction video for me - I love rock guitar, but I'm a classical guitarist by training. I loved this movie when it came out - it helped inspire my learning classical music, just because it's so much different than most music people are exposed to. But this many years later, I've heard so many incredible guitarists from all genres - it would be really cool for this kind of guitar battle to actually happen in real life, but in my experience, this kind of thing is very rare (on a professional level). I think many rock guitarists have good skills, but massive & fragile egos - like is shown in this clip. The techniques between rock, jazz, Spanish flamenco & classical are very different - but not too many rock guitarists would want to get into this type of battle with a jazz, or classical virtuoso guitarist. The legendary jazz/rock guitarist Les Paul had fun doing this - he challenged anybody to on stage battles & just dominated everyone - the same thing would happen with a classical master going against rock - their finger strength & control is unreal - and classical phrasings are more advanced. Rock relies I think too much on effects, amps, distortion, pedals - just a lot of technology to get those sounds - if you unplug Steve's guitar & he does the same playing on an acoustic - it's a very different thing all together - without the power of all the unseen equipment & studio/audio engineers helping out, this showdown loses a lot of the 'wow' factor. BTW, the Paganini sections played here are very basic compared to how it's played by an international virtuoso - for a comparison watch on YT: 'Caprice No.24 N.Paganini played by Su Meng' uploaded by 'HMFPAC07' (less video lag) - Ralph, Steve, Les ... none would challenge her to a battle for a reason -
Love it when Asia gets the giggles. No, that is not really Ralph playing. Believe it was actually Rye Cooder.
yes, it was the great Ry Cooder. It would have been so much fun to make. Ralph was coached to do the chords we see I believe - he probably plays a bit himself anyway
Man… I remember watching this movie as a teenager back in the 80’s! Classic 80’s movie!
You guys always have great chemistry it comes thru in every video that is what makes them all so good.😎
Y'all are one of my Favorite reaction couples, keep up the Good work and GOD Bless you're Family.
The soundtrack to the movie "Crossroads" which is by Rye Cooder, doesn't include this battle between Steve Vai and Rye Cooder (Vai played the classical piece at the end on both, but the beginning had Rye Cooder playing slide guitar.) However, the soundtrack is really spectacular, if you love the sounds of delta blues. Steve Vai is an amazing guitarist, who spent a number of years touring and recording with Frank Zappa, and there's a great song, "Stevie's Spanking" on the Zappa album "Them or Us."
Ralph was playing for their souls and vai was the devils big star and Ralph was playing for his and the old man’s soul. The devil was the old man that was laughing sitting in the crowd. All the people around them were people that lost their souls! You really need to check that movie out!
He couldn't just quit and go home. The bearded guy laughing is the devil. Steve is his guitarist. Ralph's character was playing for his soul.
Ry Cooder on Machio playing 'slide' guitar part and I had an old Rock magazine Steve Vai, voted best all around guitarist 4 yrs in a row interview (if my 66year old memory is intact) in being approached to do this movie appearance and he had to 'lose'... he was offered 2million dollars to play that part.
This is my all-time Favorite movie. Crossroads. Stevie Vai and Ry Coder {playing the Ralph Macchio parts] IS IN MY OPINION THE BEST GUITAR PLAYING EVER! I have requested this so many times. Thank You for this. In the movie Stevie is the devil's guitarist and Ralph is trying to beat him to get the soul back of his friend. YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love this movie. Steve Vai & Ry Cooder do the guitar work. This is a great blues movie.
Yep, loved the movie "Crossroads", have it on DVD. Lots of fun and some great music.
Crossroads is a must see.. Excellent Movie
I love Asia's smile everytime Ralph plays. She knows what he's capable of.
This scene makes the whole movie!!
Great movie. It's been years since I'd seen this. Great reaction!
1 - steve vai played all parts // 2 - the first SV solo is from a song called "Bad Horsie" // 3 - the last solo is a classical piece from the violinist Niccolò Paganini - 24th Capriccio
Great 80s flick for a Sunday afternoon with the kids. Y’all can argue over who played what, but to me the funniest true story was Steve Vai getting told by the Director during filming to screw up the ending worse. Steve’s such a natural that making mistakes on purpose is harder than playing it right. First couple takes he got heat for not playing it wrong enough. So finally he had to clear his mind and just flap his fingers and stare at the floor. The result sounded like someone falling down stairs, but the director was finally happy. 🤣
Always loved this movie and the music that went along with it.
This was one of the closeup looks at shred guitar for many musicians. Steve Vai did outstanding job here. And its pure fun to watch.
This has a touch of The Crossroads in it. Great movie!!!!!
Great movie!!!! I didn't know Ralph played for real either , I thought someone played it for him and he just held the guitar and of course they did camera tricks?? Shoot I didn't know and I love that movie!!
Yay! So glad you played this! I still have the movie on VHS, lol, love it!! Steve Vai is a great guitarist.I saw him play when I saw David Lee Roth in concert..they have a few songs worth checking out like Yankee Rose, Just Like Paradise,Goin' Crazy,Knucklebones and Shy Boy..always loved his style.Keep On Rockin'
Don't forget their smoking cover of "Tobacco Road.' And just think...the incomparable Jason Becker(pre-ALS) replaced Steve in the DLR band. Amazing guitarists and musicians. Just listened to Becker's "Perpetual Burn" album...as I have been for three decades now. The fact that he was so incredibly advanced at 16 or 17 makes him, to my ears, a true modern prodigy. "Altitudes" is easily one of the best guitar instrumentals ever. As are Vai's "For The Love Of God" and "Tender Surrender. " I've been listening to instrumental guitar since the 80s and have amassed a huge collection of thousands of songs from hundreds of guitarists-both known and undiscovered. Anyone that doubts me listen to "Air" by Jason Becker and realize he was SIXTEEN when he developed it. Today Jason is only able to communicate with his eyes... yet through a special keyboard and computer software his dad developed, Jason is STILL able to compose music to this day. Didn't mean to hijack this thread y'all. But seriously, in addition to Vai and Becker everyone who adores outstanding instrumental guitar should not hesitate to search out incredible works by Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Marty Friedman, and Greg Howe to lesser-known guys and gals like Joe Stump, David Valdes, Rob Balducci, Andy James, Carina Alfie, Andy Timmons, John Petrucci, Buckethead, Christian Muenzner, DC Slater, Gus G, Igor Paspalj, Marco Sfogli, Martin Miller, Michael Orlando, Neil Zaza, Nick Johnston, Alexios Anest, Oziel Zinho, Paul Wardingham, Paul Gilbert, Bruce Bouillet and Rick Graham....those are just a few suggestions .... realize also that mega-huge guitarists like Neal Schon of Journey and Steve Morse from Kansas/Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs also have spectacular instrumental releases. Y'all all know about Jeff Beck of course but I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here BUT IF just one person makes a new discovery or two from this list then I've done my part! Enjoy y'all!
That movie is definitely worth a watch.
Great movie. The end Steve Vai in studio played all his stuff and Ry Cooder played all Ralphs stuff until end of duel. What he won with was actually Steve Vai composed and played.
I hope you react to Steve Vai--Teeth of the Hydra just came out April 2022 and has 2.5 mil so far. 3 headed guitar.
We watch this movie on a regular basis, I know every line in the movie much to the shagrin of my family. Steve Vai and Ry Cooder are great guitar players and I don't know who made the decision to use Niccolo" Pagganini's Caprice 24 Opus 1: No. 5. in an electric guitar solo but check out the song Earthquake by Electric Sun (Uli Jon Roth, played with the Scorpions) that came out seven years before the Crossroads movie. The song is just over ten minute long, listen to the last minute.
From what I understand In this segment guitar was played by Steve Vai, Rye Cooder, and Bill Kanengiser. Machio had a coach who helped him fake it.
Something I never put together about the duel. The last part played by Ralph is a part of Paganini's No. 5 Caprice. A previous musician said to have made a deal with the Devil to play as well as he did. So he beat a devil dealer with another devil dealers song. Probably why the devil started frowning when he heard that piece. It cracks me up!
Crossroads is such a good movie! Great music in it also. It’s a must see
I don't know what is funnier Ralph pretending to play the guitar or Steve Vai pretending he can't.
Others have commented on the legend about Robert Johnson. The Crossroads reference is interesting too. It comes from an old belief (that you can trace back to Africa) that the crossroads are the place where you can meet a character named 'Legba' who is essentially equivalent to Satan. He can grant your wish in exchange for your soul. The song Crossroads belongs to Robert Johnson and is known today mostly because the rock group Cream did their version of it. Led Zeppelin also 'borrowed' a lot of old blues but sadly never credited the original Black blues artists. Copyrights were not a thing way back when during the origins of blues music.
I saw this movie when I was 10 ,I started playing guitar and never looked back.
nice to see a reaction to this underrated movie the guitar battle was the best part of this movie
I'm not a huge movie watcher but I have seen this one several times and always enjoy it
ha ha I have seen that movie many times in the past....may have to watch it again now.
This movie is AMAZING, please react to it! There are so many great music scenes and Robert Johnsons legend needs to be told again and again
This a great movie and the battle is even better if you see the context of what lead up to it. Have a great day guys!!
Ry Cooder plays all the non Vai parts he is amazing as well with the slide guitar but Steve Vai is one of the greatest of all time the only guitar player who learned all of Joe Satriani lessons that is saying something Rock On😎💚🤘react to Joe Satriani!!!😎💚🔥🤘
Glad you decided to do this one. Steve Vai, playing Satan's guitarist, had to act as if he couldn't play this song, of course for the sake of the movie's storyline. This is why we need a greatest guitarist instrumental ONLY stream.
One of my favorite movies of all time. Story is based on the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil and a lot of the lines in the movie are from songs of other legendary blues men. Blues started in the Mississippi Delta and that’s where the characters are going back to where it all started. To go to the crossroads where blues men make a deal with the Devil. Side note: Robert Johnson was the first of the cursed 27 club.
Yessss! Give us some more Steve Vai---Please please please! His style is so freaking unique -- he flirts with his guitar and audience, you've just got to see more of the dude! Much more info on this guy for sure, I can't even type it all cuz I'm so excited to see him in your reactions.
He is a master to say very least.
Please check him out.
I just love both of you, thanks to you both. I always look forward to your reactions, a good time to be had by all.
Sending Love and Good vibes always.
One of my favorite scenes ever. Great movie! Vai played both parts btw
This is awesome, Steve Vai is still My favorite guitarist should really check out his brand new video for Teeth of the Hydra with his new triple neck guitar 🎸
The Guitar from Ralph is played from Ry Cooder!!🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Absolutely one of my top favorite movies
Steve Via recorded and wrote both guitar parts👍
The hardest part for him was "Playing badly on purpose" 🤣
Check out 'For the Love of God ' to really see how awesome he is!
Its so funny watching Steve purposely do the the string slip. I didn’t buy that for a second 😂
Steve Vai didn't write both parts. The piece that won the duel was Caprice No 5 written by 1800s violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. He was known as the Devil's Violinist because he played like a man possessed at twelve notes per second and was believed at the time to have made a pact with the devil
Ahh the battle for the soul scene with the devils champion. Cool movie
Excellent movie, a must watch. Steve Vai is an awesome guitarist. If I'm not mistaken he started out with Frank Zappa. Also played in bands David Lee Roth (ex singer of Van Halen), Whitesnake and Alcatraz. Like Joe Satriani, he does his solo act as well 🙏✌🤘😎🤘
It is a great movie made in 1986 I got it here in the house somewhere. Joe Satriani taught Steve how to play. Steve also played in David Lee Roths band he makes the guitar talk in the song Yankee Rose.
The sass coming off of that girl dancing when the band kicks in and she pretty much punks Machio off. That was great
Very good movie and very underrated. I think this was after Karate Kid 1 or 2. Ralph did a great job looking like he was actually playing. For sure worth the watch. The whole "Selling your soul" type thing. The Ry Cooder parts in the movie are incredible.
Ryan Cooder played Ralf's part and Steve Vai played his own parts, of course. Great movie!
This movie opened the way for me to be introduced to other iconic fusion guitarists like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satch and Paul Gilbert
You mean Fusion about ten to fifteen years later than when it started.
The lead up clip to this scene really must be included to appreciate the stunning finale
the end piece Ralph reverts back to classical because classical is what he was studying and although his teacher saw potential Ralph often lost train of thought because he also loved the blues
During the duel, while Steve Vai's character was more flashy, more heavy metal sound seemed dominant: Machio's character was humble had a bluesy sound and started with what he'd learned about playing AND LIVING the blues leading up to this moment had a wild card waiting to be pulled out...his classical training!
This scene is Cutting Heads, a guitar contest they played for the devil ( the laughing guy in the crowd ) Steve Vai was the devil's player and Eugene was playing to save Willie's soul from the devil.
Movie Magic makes anyone a pro. Ry Cooder did most of the slide guitar and blues songs through out the movie, , and Steve Vai did the incredible solo work for them both. Steve is a great actor, acting like he could be beat by a weak ass, paint the fence, wax on-wax off, sloppy crane kick doing Ralph Macchio (pronounced Mock-ee-oh). I did always like the solo, but its all movie magic. They taught him how to hold the guitar, and make it look like he was struggling. He can't even get the stink-face right, because you gotta have the stank in ya to do it! Not sure if the cat playing harmonica actually played either, but I couldn't question it because it looked real AF.
I play guitar mainly because of the end on this scene. Plus FEELIN BAD BLUES on the soundtrack mesmorized me.
Ralph knew how to play, just not this good.
This is what the CROSSROADS battle is all about. Robert Johnson, and Eric Clapton both famously sing the Crossroads blues. This came out in 1986 just 2 years after Karate Kid 1
playing for their SOUL.
He plays a Julliard Classical guitar student who secretly loves the blues. He breaks an old blues legend out of a Harlem medium security nursing home for criminals, and they bus and thumb it to Mississippi to win back Willie's soul.
This battle is perfect, and trying to do this again in another film, would have to be spectacular or it would just pale in comparison. The ending is considered one of the hardest musical pieces to play for guitar (Eugene's Trick Bag)
OMG yes one of the best things ever when I was a kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!! how exciting :) :)
you guys have to watch it, so you can know who is who, and why they are there... but I guess everyone told you ;)
They're playin' for souls. Gotta watch the movie. What a time to want to be a badazz on guitar. That dream fell through, but it was fun! And I just checked your videos.... Check out David Lee Roth's "Yankee Rose" for some more Steve Vai.