Guitar Solo of the Week: "Answers" solo by Steve Vai

Guitar solos aren't necessarily a lost art, but good, original, creative solos certainly aren't as common either. While I believe in some musical cases, the "solo" has been replaced by cool riffs, great melody, and Macbook-powered/Appleby-driven loops & sequencing, it's so refreshing to hear a creative/original solo every now and then. Thus, every week I'm going to post a "guitar solo of the week" video. The first solo I'm going to post is not the solo I ever heard, but certainly the first solo I ever "felt" or "experienced". Here it is in all it's shred/glory...

Back in '98 or so, when I had first met my friend Tim Heerebout, he got me into this guitar virtuoso concert thing called "G3" starring Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson. I had never heard of any of these players before as I was still into my "only-listen-to-metal" stage of adolescents. But, Tim got me hook on these guys and I remember going gaga over this solo section at the end of Vai's song called "Answers". The whole thing is pretty neat, but about 0:39 seconds in, he goes into this part that boggles my mind: he sweep-picks on the way down, taps the fretboard on the way up, and does a whole bunch of hammer-on/pull-offs in between; not only that, but it sounds so perfect and "beautiful".
Now, this version is from the DVD, though he has a different version on the CD (which I prefer as he adds a bit of whammy bar in it). Anywho... check it out. It really took me back. Enjoy:
Guitar - Steve Vai
Rhythm/Keys - Mike Keneely
Drums: Mike Mangini
Bass: Michael Tait from dc Talk?