Joe Satriani

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Joe "Satch" Satriani (born on July 15, 1956, in Westbury, New York and brought up in Carle Place, New York, USA) is an instrumental rock guitarist and teacher, and a recognized virtuoso of the rock guitar.

1 Biography and playing history
2 Technique and influence
3 Recurring Themes
4 Discography
5 External links

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Biography and playing history

Satriani was inspired to play guitar at age 14 after hearing that Jimi Hendrix had died. Satriani reportedly heard the news during a football training session where he immediately confronted his coach and announced that he was quitting to become a guitarist. Starting in 1974, he studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and with reclusive jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. The technically demanding Tristano greatly influenced Satriani's playing. During the 1970's, Satriani also began teaching guitar, with his most notable student being fellow Long Island native Steve Vai. In 1978, he moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a music career. He continued to teach guitar in California, and his students included David Bryson (Counting Crows), Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Ler LaLonde (Primus), and Charlie Hunter.

When his friend and former student Steve Vai gained fame playing with David Lee Roth in 1986, Vai raved about Satriani in several interviews with guitar magazines. In 1987, Satriani's second album Surfing With the Alien produced popular radio hits, and was the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. Satriani also toured Australia with Mick Jagger in support of the Rolling Stones singer's solo album.

Image:April 1990 - Guitar World.jpg

In 1989, Satriani released the album Flying in a Blue Dream. One Big Rush was featured on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything. The Forgotten Part II was featured on a Labatt Blue commercial in Canada in 1993. Big Bad Moon, one of Satriani's few singles with personally sung vocals, was a big hit in 1991-1992.

In 1994, Satriani joined the band Deep Purple to replace guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's Japanese tour. In 1996, he formed G3, a concert tour featuring three instrumental rock guitarists -- originally Satriani, Vai, and Eric Johnson. The G3 tour has continued periodically since its inaugural version, where Satriani and Vai are returning members, featured with a floating third member, including Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Fripp and more.

Satriani is also credited on many other albums, including guitar duties on Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid (1991), Spinal Tap's Break Like the Wind (1992), Blue Öyster Cult's Imaginos (1988), band members Stu Hamm and Gregg Bissonette's solo albums, and many others including countless guitar heroes-style albums. Interestingly, he was credited for singing background vocals on the 1986 debut album by Crowded House. In 2003, he played lead guitar in The Yardbirds' CD release Birdland.

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Technique and influence

Satriani is recognized as one of the most technically proficient guitarists in rock. He has mastered nearly every performance technique on the instrument, including two-handed tapping, sweep picking, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects. One of his trademark compositional traits is the use of Pitch Axis Theory which he applies with a variety of modes. Satriani approaches scales and soloing differently. Instead of practicing his scales in positions he practices his scales one string at a time. He calls this technique ‘linear scales’. He moves into positions on extremely technical passages. He is also a renowned guitar teacher, whose students have included Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Ler LaLonde (Primus), Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind), David Bryson (Counting Crows), among others.

Satriani (like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci and other guitarists who emphasize technical command and precision in their playing) has been criticized by those who prefer simpler compositional styles. Some of his contemporaries have been known to take pot-shots at the earnest Satriani. For example, Gary Moore once said that he found Satriani's music "cerebral", saying, "it leaves me cold". Although his more flamboyant student, Steve Vai, has garnered more attention, most writers and musicians respect Satriani's musicianship as well as his modest and personable demeanor.

Fans of instrumental electric guitar music widely laud him as the most lyrical and soulful of contemporary rock virtuosos, with an eye and an ear for a good tune and, more recently, an emphasis on emotion over technique. Since 1998 his albums have been, stylistically speaking, a departure from his earlier style, delving into simpler, more widely accessible genres. Satriani has maintained a large fan base throughout the world, buoyed largely by the lasting influence of his earlier albums.

His success is notable in a genre typically unfriendly to instrumental musicians. Satriani has received 13 Grammy nominations, and he has sold more than 7 million albums worldwide. Many of his fans call him "Satch," an apocope, or shortening, of Satriani, as have his friends over the years. The song "Satch Boogie" from the album Surfing With the Alien is one of possibly several hundred such songs numbered, but with no names ("Satch Boogie 1," "Satch Boogie 143," etc.). Other guitarists sometimes refer to him as "Saint Joe;" there are numerous t-shirts to this effect.

Satriani has endorsed Ibanez's JS Series guitars, and Peavey's JSX amplifier. Both lines were designed specifically as signature products for Satriani.

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Recurring Themes

Satriani's work freqently makes references to various science fiction stories and/or ideas. "Surfing With the Alien" is a reference to the comic book Silver Surfer while "Ice 9" reffers to the secret government ice weapon in Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle." "Borg Sex" may be a reference to Star Trek, which features a [homogenous] race known as the Borg. Additionally, his albums and songs often have other-worldly titles, such as "Not of this Earth," "Is There Love in Space," and "Engines of Creation."

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