A virtuoso with creative courage. Joe Satriani Guitar Collection May be useful

This material was originally published in January 2012. Translation - Sergei Tyncu

1. 1955 Gibson Les Paul GoldTop

When Mike Pierce brought it to me, I fell in love with the sound of the Les Paul. But I also love his appearance. It looks like my type of guitar - completely beat up. Mike said, “I think it used to belong to Steve Hunter,” which added value. He looked the part and had a briefcase with “Steve Hunter” written on it. We were excited because Steve Hunter is part of the rock'n'roll DNA. Anyway, I wanted this guitar because it was beautiful.

A year or so later I was on stage with Steve Hunter at a friend's benefit. And then I told him: “Steve, I have that beautiful goldtop that once belonged to you.” And he replied: “I don’t know where this crap came from, but I never had it.” This was yet another proof that very often in our lives we do not see everything as it is. We look for old guitars and if someone says, “Jimmy Page owned this instrument for a year,” your mind will explode and you'll start to think the guitar has bigger balls than it actually does. I have to keep this in mind every time Mike brings in guitars so I don't buy something just because someone once owned it, or someone was on the cover of Vintage Guitar magazine with that guitar, etc.

2. 1958 Gibson Les Paul Junior

Pierre de Beauport found this instrument for me around the time of the Extremist album. He and the '58 TV Special got me thinking about collecting guitars that weren't my main guitars. I had my own Ibanez and knew it was the tool I needed to express myself. But I began to realize that to create the sound that we call “classic rock,” you need instruments from that era. I had a lot of Les Paul Juniors but got rid of most of them because they didn't compare to this one.

3. 1958 Gibson Les Paul TV Special

This is such a cool player. I once walked to Chris Cobbs' store, Real Guitars in San Francisco, without even thinking about buying anything. And there were two Strats from the sixties - 64 and 61 - well, in a thrift store. I couldn't believe it because I'd been looking for something like them for ten years. Well, then I bought them there. And then Chris told me: “If you’re in the mood to buy, then I also have my Special here.” He pulled it out and again I can’t believe it. I've had a few great ones, but they always struggled with me as a guitar player. And this one was amazing. Now it's time to talk about mojo! I couldn't believe how cool it sounded and how easy it was to play. Chris bought it from an old rock and roll guitarist who said he was the only owner of the guitar. I got a kick in the soul and had to buy it. So it was quite an expensive evening when I walked out of the store with three guitar cases.

4. 1960 Gibson Les Paul Special

Cherry doublecut. I bought it at Gruhn in Nashville. I loved this guitar until we did the photo shoot two weeks ago. I thought, “How could I not play this lately?” So I stuck it on Sam (Hagar's) stack in the studio and just didn't get anything out of it. And I thought, “Oh, no,” which was the beginning of concern in the opposite direction. I told myself “I need to get rid of her because...”

5. 1958 Gibson L-5 CES

I struggled with this guitar. She's one of those cases where you open the case, look at her, smell her and fall in love. But if I can't figure out how to play good music on it, then it starts to bother me, because I have an expensive guitar, and there are 100 guys who could play great things on it. Instead, it's in my closet. This really bothers me. This guitar and the cherry Special are on a list called “Maybe I should sell them and find another Hagstrom III or something?”... (laughs) Who knows?

6. 1965 Gibson J-45

I was in Caracas (Venezuela), and one evening a guy came up to me in front of a restaurant and said: “I’m such a big fan of yours. I would be happy to give you this guitar.” So I said, “Okay, thanks.” Great, right? It had an adjustable bridge and is a beautiful guitar. I immediately fell in love with it and immediately began composing songs on it; “Bitten By the Wolf” from the first Chickenfoot album was written on it. I think “Different Devil” from the new Chickenfoot album too. The bridge was Gibson's mistake, but the guitar itself is a perfect example of the magic they can create with their acoustics. I had Gary Brouwer put on a new bridge and this guitar sounds great - the best Gibson acoustic I've ever owned.

7. 1966 Fender XII

Michael Pierce got it for me. I once told him that I wanted one. I had a Rickenbacker, and he said, “A lot of people who say they used a Rickenbacker actually played a Fender XII.” So one day he came out with a great Red XII in Candy Apple, and I've had it on almost every album since then. Amazing sounding guitar. I found that she does things that Rickenbacker doesn't do, but she doesn't do things that Rickenbacker does (laughs). The Rickenbacker delivers a twang like nothing else. Stick it in the AC30, twist the knobs, and it's the final polish you need to polish up a song's bridge or chorus. Every time I come across difficult parts to play, where I need to be sweet and without overt twang, I play a Fender. There's a song on the Super Colossal album called "Cool New Way" - it's just guitars and harmonies, no chords, I put a Fender in the left channel and a Rickenbacker in the right and they complemented each other so well. This Fender inspired me to create the Ibanez JS-1200. I actually took detailed photos of the Fender and told Ibanez it would be cool to have a JS in that color.

8.9. 1990 Ibanez JS-2 Chrome Boy & Refractor

I originally had three guitars from that period named Chrome Boy, Refractor and Pearly. But Pearly got stolen a few years ago while I was on tour. Chrome Boy was my favorite, while Pearly had a more lightweight sound for a number of reasons. The chrome plating really creates a different sound for every cabinet you dip into the material. Unfortunately, real chrome was used and therefore when the coating cracked, knife-sharp crack edges formed there. So a lot of plastic was used to protect my hands from getting cut while playing. Year after year these guitars sound better and better. At first, when the guys brought me these guitars, I remember thinking: “Damn, everything will probably sound very tight or something else wrong.” Well, I put them on the counter. And I don’t know why, whether they somehow got worn out, or whether they were affected by the nightly stage volume, but later they became my favorites, especially Chrome Boy.

10. 1984 Kramer Pacer

This is the guitar I played on my first two solo albums: “Not of This Earth” and “Surfin’ With the Alien.” After I finished Surfin, I went to the NAMM show and we started passing the album around. This was when my collaboration with Ibanez began to develop. I was introduced to D'Addario and DiMarzio, and through Steve Vai, to the guys at Ibanez. They said they would like to make me a guitar. And I replied, “Please help me.” Because the Pacer was constantly falling apart and its construction was slipping away. This was unusual as it was not a production model. I bought it from Guitar Center and I'm sure it was put together from different parts. The body was from a Pacer, the neck was from another Pacer, the iron was a mix of gold and chrome. The original Schaller pickups are a thing of the past, I swapped them out for Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio ones. Something in this guitar was replaced every two weeks. At one point in the past, when floyds were screwed directly to the body, the wood was so light that the mounting screws came out within two weeks. I was happy to stop playing that guitar (laughs)! It was tough! But that's the cool part of my story.

11.12.13.1990 Ibanez JS 3 Donnie Hunt

I have three original Donnie Hunt guitars. He was a Bay Area artist who died a couple of years ago. He taught arts and crafts at the Oakland School of the Arts, and painted everything around him - his home, his phone, his refrigerator, his shoes, his jackets, you name it. I had his drawings on a couple of guitars and I took him to Ibanez and they offered him a job. I think he painted 300 examples of the guitar, all incredibly different. Donnie also made me a lot of unusual clothes early in my career.

14. Ibanez Futura

Doug Doppler gave it to me a couple of years ago. Nice larger piece of mahogany, I love this guitar. She has a really super warm sound. I haven't used it on any albums yet, but I have it in my head as a cool guitar for slide playing or something else.

This guitar has an interesting little modification - a Sunrise pickup, which I used a little on a couple of albums. I asked Gary to replace the bridge and install one of those two-saddle ones. We used that guitar on “Starry Night” and so many songs that have an acoustic backing. Me and my son, ZZ... this is our favorite acoustic in the house.

16. 1969 Fender Stratocaster

It's an Olympic White Strat with a maple neck and everything is original. He's truly wonderful. If you remove the pickguard you can see the original color (not faded) - it's amazing. I played the melody on “Two Sides to Every Story” from my last album on it. Over the years, Fender had all kinds of quality in terms of sound quality, the pickups were either weaker or stronger, different types of wood and iron were used. I'm closer to 60's Strats than 50's Strats. I had a pretty good brain early on in my collecting career where I thought, “You should have a ’55 and a ’56 or something.” But after owning a lot of these and then getting rid of them, I've come to the conclusion that my Strats start in the '60s, so I'm still on the lookout for great '64 to '69 examples because that's exactly what I heard on records when I was a child.

17. 1964 Fender Stratocaster

This guitar has “it.” You know how when you turn on a Strat, switch to the neck pickup and play the 12th fret of the third string, you immediately get a beautiful trumpet sound? It's not too skinny, but not too bright and not too dead. I turned on this guitar, played two notes and realized “Oh, this is it.” The 61 Strat I bought with this guitar doesn't have that lead guitar feature, but it does have a better rhythm sound than this guitar. So I took both guitars. I thought they would be great guitars for one or two or three songs.

His relationship with the guitar resembles a passionate, lifelong romance. “I would like to play until the end of my days,” says Satriani. “I hope I will never get tired of it and will always be able to turn into music everything that I experience and feel in real life. I hope the guitar will always be with me.”

Joe Satriani grew up in the small town of Carle Place. There probably wasn’t a teenager in the 60s who was interested in rock music who would remain indifferent to the enchanting performances of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix so captured the imagination of 14-year-old Satriani that he made him forget about the drums, which he had already begun to master, and exchange them for the guitar. It seemed that he was simply born for this instrument. The training progressed quickly, and soon he was so deft with his six-string that he could teach others a thing or two. His first students were students of the same school that the “master” himself attended. Among them was an incredibly gifted boy - Steve Vai, a future star of the guitar scene. As Joe later admitted, he started teaching only because he needed money. He had to work as a gardener, a bricklayer, and a seller of ready-made clothes. But he only derived pleasure from working with his students, especially since he could not imagine any other field for himself besides music.

Soon after graduation, Satriani moved to San Francisco. Continuing to improve his playing technique and finding many people willing to take advantage of his talents as a backing musician, Joe Satriani was not deprived of students. For about ten years, while working part-time in a music store, he constantly taught aspiring guitarists. Through his capable hands passed such noteworthy characters of the rock commune as Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Larry LaLonde (Primus), David Bryson (Counting Crows), jazz-fusion master Charlie Hunter Hunter). Already such a list of students turned Satriani into a legendary figure on the guitar scene.

During the entire San Francisco period, Satriani almost never remained outside of one or another rock band. The most enduring endeavor was The Squares, which featured drummer Jeff Campitelli. He will turn out to be Satriani's most faithful companion and will spend decades with him side by side.

In the early 80s, Joe Satriani found refuge in the backing band of famous performer Greg Kihn. He participates in the musician’s studio sessions and conducts concert tours with him. The surviving material from this period was only made public in 1996 on the album "King Biscuit Flower Hour".

In the early 80s, Satriani began to think about a completely independent career. In 1984, he recorded his debut EP, "Joe Satriani", which he prepared and published at his own expense. Given the complete lack of advertising, it is not surprising that the release did not attract anyone's attention. The situation changed in 1986, when one of Satriani's best students, Steve Vai, thanks to his successful work in the team of David Lee Roth, came to the attention of the media and overnight turned into a fashionable guitarist. In interviews with leading American publications, Vai repeatedly spoke in the warmest terms about his wonderful teacher and good friend Joe Satriani. In guitar circles, the figure of Satriani began to attract widespread interest.

This unplanned promotional campaign conveniently coincided with the release of his solo debut album, Not of this Earth, in 1986. Of course, the response to this record was incomparably greater than the first mini-disc. In any case, she did not leave her fellow guitarists indifferent.

But these were flowers. The berries were still just ripening. In 1987, Satriani appeared in all his glory, releasing his second long-play "Surfing With the Alien". It seemed like an insight descended on the audience overnight, and in just a few days Joe Satriani turned from a modest musician into one of the top guitarists of our time. "Surfing With the Alien" sold half a million copies in the States alone, finishing at number 29 on the pop chart. This was the first instrumental guitar album that managed to conquer Top 30 of the Billboard 200 rating. Summing up the results of 1987, the most respectable guitar publications in the world put Satriani’s name on the first line in the lists of the best of the best. The growth of the fan guard was greatly facilitated by the invitation of Mick Jagger to accompany him on a tour of Australia and Japan.

Best of the day

A year later, the guitarist released the EP "Dreaming #11", combining studio compositions and live tracks. A year later, the third long-play “Flying in a Blue Dream” (1989) appeared. A strong album, equipped with masterful guitar solos, revealed a new side of Satriani - as a vocalist. True, he decided to sing only on a few tracks. The album was received very well by the music community, and interest in it increased even more after the song "One Big Rush" was featured on the soundtrack to director Cameron Crow's very popular film "Say Anything". Satriani's singles never made a splash on the pop charts, but they had much better luck in the mainstream rock ratings. Thus, the track "One Big Rush" was listed at #17, and the single "The Crush of Love" rose to number 6 on the rock chart.

At the turn of the 80s and 90s, the musician became infected with a new idea - to create his own guitar. Together with the Ibanez company, he developed the JS (Joe Satriani) model.

Work on new material progressed slowly, and the new disc was released only in 1992. It was called "The Extremist" and showed the best result in the American charts in the musician's entire career - #22 according to the Billboard 200. The greatest success was expected for the composition "Summer Song", which entered the top five rock hits. A year later, the double album “Time Machine” appeared in the musician’s discography: new compositions, concert recordings, plus the almost unknown debut EP “Joe Satriani”.

In 1994, rockers Deep Purple invited Satriani to take the place of recently departed lead guitarist Ritchie Blackmore for a tour. Satriani's playing did not cause the slightest criticism, so the Deep Purple musicians invited him to become a full member of the team. But Satriani had other plans, and even very ambitious ones.

After the 1995 long-play "Joe Satriani", the musician began to implement a promising guitar project, called G3 - it was assumed that three bright and original guitarists would participate in it. “I noticed that Steve (Vai) and I never come to the same city at the same time, managers do not allow this, as if we are obliged to compete with each other. But guitarists really like to just meet and jam together, but such an opportunity is extremely rare ", - said Joe Satriani. - So I decided to organize something like a guitar festival." Having found full understanding and support from Steve Vai, in 1996 Satriani went with him and Eric Johnson on the first G3 tour. The concerts were a great success. The G3 “festival” grew from a one-time event into an annual show marathon with the obligatory participation of Satriani and Vai, who were joined each time by a new guitarist. From 1996 to 2003, Satriani shared the stage with Michael Schenker and Uli Jon Roth, Adrian Legg and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Fripp and John Petrucci from Dream Theater.

In 1997, an audio report of the first tour "G3: Live in Concert" appeared. Although the disc failed to even break into the top hundred of the pop chart, its circulation eventually exceeded a million copies.

In 1998, Satriani's next studio disc, "Crystal Planet" (Top 50 USA), was ready, after which the three guitarists continued to travel around the United States.

In 2000, the musician unveiled the most daring release of his career, “Engines of Creation,” heavily mixed with electronics. This was another round of his musical biography, which had not been monotonous before. Satriani never limited himself to pure blues, rock or heavy metal; he was equally interested in testing the strength of pop music and jazz, and now it’s the turn of electronic styles. The album "Engines of Creation", like almost all of its predecessors, was nominated for a Grammy (in total, during his twenty-year career, the guitarist became a Grammy candidate 13 times, although he never won).

It was followed by the live album "Live in San Francisco" (2001), which was certified gold. And the results of new studio research were presented to the public in 2002 under the title “Strange Beautiful Music”.

In addition to his own creativity, Satriani always had the opportunity to play in other groups, fortunately he did not experience a shortage of invitations. True, he invariably rejected them, but he never refused to help in studio sessions. His guitar was used on the albums "Hey Stoopid" by Alice Cooper, "Radio Free Albemuth" by Stuart Hamm, "All Sides Now" by Pat Martino, and "Break Like the Wind" by Spinal Tap. Moreover, he managed to conduct several tours with his studio charges, including Cooper and the group Spinal Tap.

In 2004, the musician prepared the studio disc "Is There Love in Space?". Although his commercial performance leaves much to be desired, Joe Satriani's credibility will not suffer from this. Moreover, the fans were in for another surprise - Satriani appeared in an unusual role. “People have already heard me play blues, metal and techno,” explains the guitarist. “And on this album I play rock.” In two compositions he performed the vocal parts himself, which he had not done for 15 years. During the studio sessions, the musician was supported by a reliable team with whom he has been working in the studio and on tour for many years: constant drummer Jeff Campitelli, bass guitarist Matt Bissonette, keyboardist and guitarist Eric Caudieux.

In 2005, the DVD “G3 - Live In Tokyo” was released. G3 performance in Japan, featuring John Petrucci along with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

At the beginning of 2006, Joe released his next studio album, Super Colossal. After recording this album, Satriani, together with his renewed team (bassist Dave LaRue joined Joe instead of the departed Matt Bissonette), went on a world tour in support of the new album. Russia was not included in the list of countries where Satriani gave concerts.

On October 31, 2006, the double DVD/CD “Satriani LIVE!” was released. - the video shows a concert from the Super Colossal tour. In addition to the concert itself, the disc contains all possible bonuses in the form of photographs, various videos, as well as the Joe Satriani India Tour concert.

In December 2007, Joe was again nominated for a Grammy Award for his live performance of his composition “Always With Me, Always With You.”

In the same year, the album “Surfing With The Alien (Legacy Edition)” was re-released, in which all the tracks of the 1987 album were re-arranged and recorded.

In March 2008, Joe Satriani's new studio album, “Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock,” was released, after which Joe went on a world tour.

On June 8, 2008, as part of the world tour, Joe Satriani and his band performed in Moscow. Guitarist Dmitry Chetvergov played as the opening act for the maestro.

In 2009, the band's debut album, Chickenfoot, was released.

On February 2, 2010, a new DVD/CD “Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock!” was released, recorded in March 2008 during the “PROFESSOR SATCHAFUNKILUS TOUR”. Also in 2010, the 2009 EXPERIENCE HENDRIX tour took place, in which Joe Satriani took part.

The fourteenth studio album, entitled Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards, went on sale in the United States on October 5 and one day earlier in the rest of the world. The album was released on Epic Records.

Guitar genius
Vander_Bit 06.09.2007 01:05:27

I myself like to play the guitar, of course not professionally, I think it’s for the soul. I would like to know what the person who wrote, in my opinion, 50 hits feels, in every 100% - (4-5) things are just a bomb. There is boundless respect for the person who makes history. I love, respect, and look forward to the new concert like all the previous ones. All guitarists in the world are not indifferent to this man, thank you for his existence.

Joe Satriani
Lexus 04.01.2008 01:09:54

You know, having watched just one concert of Joe Satriani, also with the participation of Steve Way and Eric Johnson, I saw in the guitarist himself and in his playing something special, distinctive... maybe due to the lack of experience in listening to famous rock performers, I I’m not giving my assessment objectively enough, but Satriani has developed his own special style... it has rock, metal and jazz... he found that middle ground that makes you listen to him especially... and his playing inspires me to play, to strive , improve, I even liked coming up with purely instrumental compositions, i.e. to express myself purely by music on the guitar... and this turned out to be closer to me, and in general it really helps guitarists who see the guitar not only as a hobby... people like Satriani are worth watching and learning from them... people like him show to us, what freedom of creativity, freedom of musical thought means!!!

Joe was born on July 15, 1956 in Westbury, New York, and grew up in the small town of Cairl Place. In addition to him, the family had four more children. He began his acquaintance with music at the age of 9 with drums, and immediately began taking lessons. At first he had a rather peculiar setup, which consisted of a coffee can and a rubber pad. His father came up with a way to encourage his son's learning: when Joe completed his next assignment and showed that he was a responsible growing musician, he would receive something else, like a hi-hat. So, after about two years of training, when Joe could already sight read and improvise, he finally had a small Ludwig rig. Satriani soon realized that he was not good enough like those he listened to, he felt as if he lacked something in the physical development to play the drums, and he decided to take a break from music.

At the same time, Joe began to become interested in Hendrix and Cream, as well as Led Zeppelin. He definitely decides: if he takes up music again, it will certainly be a guitar, and soon after Hendrix’s death he finally makes his choice in favor of the guitar and begins to practice diligently on the guitar given to him - Hagstrom III.

At Cairl Place High School, where Joe studied, in addition to general lessons, he had to participate in either the choir or orchestra. There he was taught basic music theory as well as sight singing. At the same time, Joe begins to learn from books and harmonic diagrams that he borrows from his friends.

Having quickly mastered the guitar, in parallel with his lessons, he began to give lessons himself. Steve Vai was one of his first students. However, teaching is nothing more than a side income for Maestro Satriani.

Then Joe moved in the same direction; in grades 11-12 he began studying music theory. This was already an in-depth theory of music, where he was taught how symphonies, cantatas and string quartets are written. At that time, while studying in New York, they took exams at the state board of trustees level. So they were taught very seriously and tested at the state level. His teacher Bill Wescott was truly a music enthusiast.

In parallel with his studies, Joe performs at school dances and in parks, receiving money for it, and at the age of 16 he is already playing in clubs. “When I was in 11th grade, my parents used to let me go away on weekends and play concerts in the Hamptons, a resort on the outskirts of Long Island. It was like coming back from another world. On Sunday evenings you came home from living the life of a professional musician and had to do your homework and go to school. It was just two worlds colliding,” Joe recalls.

Bill Wescott taught so thoroughly that when Joe left school there was no need for him to go to college. By this time he already had extensive professional experience in the music field. Father's older brother Joe was a musician all his life. So he softened the family's reaction to Joe's announcement: “I'm going to quit school and become a professional musician.” Therefore, Joe met no opposition.

After high school, Satriani moved to San Francisco, where he continued to improve his playing technique, working as a session musician and also as a teacher. For about ten years, while working part-time in a music store, he constantly taught aspiring guitarists. Personalities such as Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Larry LaLonde (Primus), David Bryson (Counting Crows), and jazz-fusion master Charlie Hunter passed through his hands. In addition to teaching, Joe constantly performs with various teams, without staying in any of them for long. The band that lasted the longest was The Squares, where drummer Jeff Campitelli played, with whom Joe would later spend decades together.

In the early 80s, Satriani began to think about a solo career. In 1984, he independently recorded and then released (at his own expense) his debut album, “Joe Satriani,” on an independent label, but the album did not attract public attention. The situation changed in 1986, when one of Satriani's best students, Steve Vai, thanks to his successful work in the team of David Lee Roth, came to the attention of the media. In interviews with leading American publications, Vai repeatedly mentioned his wonderful teacher and good friend Joe Satriani. This unplanned promotional campaign conveniently coincided with the release of his solo debut album “Not Of This Earth”, as a result of which public interest in Joe’s person began to gradually increase, but the best was yet to come.

In 1987, after the release of the second disc “Surfing With The Alien”, Satriani woke up famous, his photographs adorned all guitar magazines. Mick Jagger himself invited him to tour Australia and Japan. Joe himself recalls this period this way: “The offer to join Jagger’s group came at a very opportune time. At that time, my second album “Surfing With The Alien” had just been released. Even those people who really liked my CDs still didn't know what I looked like. As soon as I got into Jagger's team, Rolling Stone, CNN, Wall Street Journal, NY Times began interviewing me, and fame quickly came to me. And the chance to perform with such a showman as Mick Jagger comes once in a lifetime.”

A year later, the album “Dreaming #11” (1988) was released, combining studio compositions and live tracks. A year later, Satriani’s third album, “Flying In A Blue Dream” (1989), was released, on which Joe made his debut as a vocalist. His career received a new impetus after the song “One Big Rush” was used as a soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe film “Say Anything.”

Around this time, Joe began collaborating with Ibanez, which resulted in the development of his signature guitar, the Ibanez JS Signature. Due to work on the guitar, Satriani's next album, The Extremist, was released only in 1992, however, despite the long break, the album showed excellent results in the American charts.

In 1993, the double CD “Time Machine” was released. The first disc contains studio recordings and “bonus tracks from foreign albums” plus tracks from the first album “Joe Satriani” and three new recordings. The second disc includes 14 live recordings.

In 1994, Satriani received an offer to take the place of the departed Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple. After some hesitation, Joe agreed. The task was not easy, because... it was necessary to learn a large amount of material in a short time, but Joe coped with this task brilliantly, he even received an offer from Deep Purple to remain in the group as a permanent guitarist, but Joe (not surprisingly) refused. “The feelings are ambivalent. In fact, I replaced Blackmore himself. Then I think: “Wait a minute! Ritchie Blackmore is irreplaceable!” I saw the faces of the listeners who looked at the stage in awe, but I understood that I was not one of Deep Purple. There were several songs in the repertoire that no one could play better than Blackmore. Then they let me listen to live recordings, and I realized that some of the Blackmore parts changed radically from concert to concert. He was constantly looking for ways to improve the song. And now, already being a member of the group, I took over this baton. The “fit” was mostly about the new material we were touring with. They liked my game, I liked playing with them. The team is fantastic!” recalls Joe.

In 1995, Joe began implementing a promising guitar project called G3 - it was expected that three bright and original guitarists would participate in it. Joe Satriani says: “I once complained to my manager that I felt isolated from the rest of the world, alone in the studio, alone at concerts... My tours and the tours of other guitarists, like Steve, never intersect. We are deprived of the opportunity to communicate and exchange information. Guitarists, you know, love to hang out with each other and jam and stuff like that. Thus the idea was born... of a guitar festival, or something. True, there was one limitation - no more than three performers could take part in the “festival”. Firstly, in many concert halls there is a limit - no more than three hours, and secondly, three hours of “live” music, you will agree, is still a bit difficult for the listener. From all these ideas “G3” emerged. If memory serves, my manager Mick came up with the name. At first, the project was not in great demand. Managers and promoters were intimidated by the mere idea of ​​a guitar competition. However, I managed to convince everyone of the feasibility of “G3”, and the reaction of the fans was not long in coming.”

Soon the G3 festival grew from a one-time event into an annual show marathon with the obligatory participation of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, who are joined each time by a new guitarist: Robert Fripp, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen and John Petrucci from Dream Theater, as well as other guitarists.

In 1998, Joe Satriani's next studio album, Crystal Planet (US Top 50), was released, after which G3 tours throughout the United States continued.

In 2000, Joe decided on bold experiments with electronic effects in the album “Engines of Creation”. This album, like almost all of its predecessors, was nominated for a Grammy in the category “Best Rock Instrumental Performance” for the song “Starry Night”, however, as before, Joe did not receive the award. In total, Satriani has been nominated for a Grammy 13 times throughout his career.

In 2001, the live album “Live in San Francisco” was released with a recording of Joe Satriani’s concert in San Francisco in December 2000. A year later, Joe released a new studio album, Strange Beautiful Music.

In addition to his own work, Satriani appeared on the albums of various artists, including: “Radio Free Albemuth” by Stuart Hamm, “Hey Stoopid” by Alice Cooper, “All Sides Now” by Pat Martino.

In 2004, a new studio disc “Is There Love in Space?” was released. In two compositions, Satriani performed the vocal parts himself, which he had not done for 15 years. Working with Joe on this album were regular drummer Jeff Campitelli, bass player Matt Bissonette, and keyboardist and guitarist Eric Caudieux.

In 2005, the DVD “G3 - Live In Tokyo” was released. G3 performance in Japan, in which John Petrucci performed along with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

In 2006, the eleventh studio album “Super Colossal” was released. The album was recorded at Studio 21 and partly in Vancouver (Canada) at Armory Studios. In particular, the part of the chanting crowd for the composition “Crowd Chant” was recorded in Vancouver.

In 2008, Joe's 12th solo album, Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock, was released.

Official website - http://www.satriani.com/2004/

Joe Satriani is an outstanding musician who made a huge contribution to the history of guitar music... Hm, you must agree - this is how they often write about the deceased. But no, we were lucky. We can, as contemporaries, enjoy the live concerts of this genius and observe the evolution of his work up close. Joe Satriani is great in all three ways: teacher, guitarist, composer. He is also wonderful as a person. We tried to compose this story so that you can get acquainted from different sides with a musician whose name has long become a textbook.

Creative translation from English: Anton Ivlev

Nothing amazes you like skill
Satriani makes something great out of nothing.
Bruce Maag

SATRIANI - TEACHER

Among Satriani's students were Steve Vai, Kirk Hammet (Metallica), Larry LaLonde (Primus), David Bryson (The Counting Crows), jazzman Charlie Hunter and many others...

Satriani: A teacher should not discriminate against a student, but rather inspire him. It is necessary to prepare the ground (teach some chords and so on), and if the student decides for himself that he wants and is ready to move on, then you can surprise him with something like that. I had students from 9 to 60 years old - lawyers, already aged, but it is always important to find out what the student wants to achieve.

Did your teaching practice help you later?

Teaching music helped me realize that for the student you have to give your all, to open up yourself. You must make sure that your thoughts and desires merge. You may lose a student if you fail to explain a thought correctly. Then, when I started speaking in front of an audience, I realized that it was the same thing. You will lose your audience if you cannot get your point across correctly.

Some of your students have become very famous musicians...

Yeah (laughs), I wish they could all be as successful as Kirk Hammet and Steve Vai.

How old was Steve Vai when he started training with you?

He was 12. I'm 15, so he's twelve. I remember he came with a guitar and a pack of strings in his hands. Steve was brilliant, very gifted. I only studied music for one year more than he did.

Perhaps no one makes such a vivid impression on young people as you do. Where do you get this feeling of the younger generation?

Don't know! It's strange to me. I taught for many years, so I know the feeling when someone comes to you with a fresh mind and a fierce desire to learn how to play, and maybe a little talent. You are obliged to tell the truth and convey the knowledge that you can give. And you need to know how to pass this on to the younger generation. Perhaps this is the answer. I guess I’m just used to it, but when you think about it, a strange feeling arises, because I’m still a teenager myself, who is completely into Jimi Hendrix and who even now wants to find an idol in some cool guitarist. In general, I don't know. Rather, I did not have to think about this topic. It's just a feeling.

Guitarists play in E minor too often.
Joe Satriani

SATRIANI - COMPOSER. WORK ON ALBUMS

"Crystal Planet"

Satriani: I wanted to make an album that would absorb everything that I had created before. This phrase came from somewhere - “crystal planet” - and I thought that it could become a metaphor for the album, as the embodiment of just my world, in which I could play whatever I wanted. I wanted to take every chord, every phrase, style and technique with me into my world, my crystal planet.

The entire Crystal Planet album was written with just a notebook and a metronome. The recording technology was as follows. First of all, I didn't make any demos. After all the songs were on paper, Jeff and Stuart (Jeff Campitelli - drums, Stu Hamm - bass) and I rehearsed them as if it were a live concert. After that, producer Mike Fraser joined us. After listening to the arrangements, he added some things and made some suggestions, and then we went to the studio. In the studio we played live on two tracks, 24 tracks or 48 analog tracks, as well as directly to the computer hard drive. That way we could improvise and make things up wherever we wanted. The work took place between G3 tours, so the time frame was very tight, six weeks, and this also helped a lot. We didn’t try to play the same place a hundred times, but creatively, “on the fly,” spontaneously tried to feel the right mood. Each of us supported each other and encouraged us to experiment, so the music on the album reflects our individual traits and style, just like during a concert performance. From here, it seems to me, the album turned out to be very lively. The main grain of the Crystal planet album is three musicians.

I wrote and finished this album in nine months and tried to work in a completely new way, not the way I worked before. I recorded an album on instruments that I don’t usually play myself, and generally turned everything upside down... The album did not receive any name, it was recorded in three studios at the same time. Nothing was planned. I just went to the studio with some ideas and, without correcting mistakes, recorded the first developments. Everything was different from the usual: from the brand of film and the size of the strings to the location of the studio and the hours of work in it. It was like I deliberately put myself off guard in everything from the writing to the recording itself.

"Engines of Creation"

Engines Of Creation is not like any other album of mine. I see that it has gained popularity among an audience that is new to me. On the other hand, I would like to warn my old fans that this album may not be what they expect from me. The album doesn't contain songs like Summer Song or Satch Boogie. This is what is written for today, and today is the year 2000...

Engines of Creation is a techno album. I wrote the music not on an acoustic guitar, but on the keyboard. When the MIDI files were ready, I sent them to my partner Eric Caudieux, who processed and mixed them in Logic Audio Platinum.

When trying to reproduce the electronic sound of the album for a live performance, we experimented quite a bit in the studio with Moogerfooger pedals, Electro-Harmonix Micro Synths and Bass Micro Synths, and Hafler Triple Giant preamps, but in rehearsals it turned out that if we turned up the volume, all our fancy the circuits cease to be stable, and therefore unsuitable for the concert. So I decided that I would do it the way I've always done it, the way Hendrix probably would have done it. I’ll make an album for the studio, and for a concert I’ll take very powerful amplifiers, a couple of pedals and make the music all over again.

SATRIANI - GUITARIST or JOE'S IDEAS

"Borg Sex"

If you take away all the electronic overdubs and weird guitar sounds, you can see that this song can be played on Dobro. So at the show we ditched all the sequencers and synthesizers and had Stu Hamm play the bass lines instead. Also, when performing this composition, Eric (the second guitarist) practically doubles all the solo parts with me, he plays the rhythm, and plays all the parts of the female Borg, thus creating a dialogue between the two guitars. As a result, the composition takes on a very sexy, bluesy tone, with a rich rhythm. A studio recording of a concert can be interpreted in a very interesting way.

I've found that a Fulltone Ultimate Octave pedal works well in place of studio gear live. When recording "Borg Sex" in the studio, Eric uses an Electro-Harmonix pedal, but in concert he changes it to a Fulltone. The Fulltone pedal is more consistent and sounds the same every time, but the Electro-Harmonix is ​​unique and can sound different every night. This unpredictability sometimes creates problems.

Beginning of "Rasperry Jam Delta-V"

Played with fingers and two hands. Quite strange, but in my defense I found an option acceptable to the performer. You need to press the note B with your right hand on the third string, fourth fret, and the first string, seventh fret. The melody is played with the left hand. Basically hammer on and pull off on the first three strings in the Mixolydian mode. The open B string and those notes held by the right hand are used in the melody. Higher octaves are achieved using the whammy pedal.

"Surfing With The Alien"

It's blues, like most of my music. The structure of the composition is very much from the 50s, 60s, but I added a pedal, a lever, two-handed tapping and it became a modern guitar style (1987). However, when we perform live we tend to have a slightly raspy, bluesy sound.

Cosmic solo of "Up In The Sky"

The idea behind Up In The Sky is about a man turning into an eagle and flying. I have to say that I will never be able to reproduce this piece exactly because I have no idea where the sound came from, but the solo can be played in several ways. The composition was originally recorded for the album "Joe Satriani", but I didn't like the result, so this song was only included in the bonus of the Japanese edition of the album. And the sound of this option is exactly what I like the most: electronic, analog-electronic fancy tone. Recording was done through a Wizard 5150 amplifier and here and there through a Marshall 6100 with a Boss DS-1. Then for the guitar we applied the DigiTech effect, which resulted in a sound similar to a floating guitar tuning. Using the Fulltone Ultimate Octave pedal and boosted amps I was able to create good overdrive. I hit the strings somewhere around the fifth fret and got a cool tone. After the recording I asked Mike Fraser if there was any solo or nothing but weird noise, but now I'm very pleased!

"Down, Down, Down"

I have never had a more stoned, nerdy, lazy composition...

"Ceremony"

Ceremony tells of a fantastic vision of some holiday, perhaps at midnight, in the middle of an endless enchanting prairie or a delightful valley... somewhere where the holiday of the Earth suggests itself, and where everything around is captivating and enchanted.

"House Full of Bullets"

A blues composition that does not particularly pretend to be spiritual. I imagined that Martin Scorsese was filming a video for me, and that he put me in a house with my silver guitar, and the house was being sprayed with bullets and I was dodging them. The camera floats out of the house, and then it becomes clear who organized this whole pogrom. Mostly it's only critics, musicians and commentators who don't understand why I love making records like this.

SATRIANI ABOUT GUITARISTS

Steve Vai:

Reckless. I know that's how he likes to see himself. I can talk a lot about him because I know him very well. He developed and progressed before my eyes.

In your own world. Eric is a complex musician, I apologize for the ambiguous definition. On stage with him, non-solo performers constantly have a feeling of disbelief in what they hear. I remember the G3 rehearsal. There was Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Steve Vai and Eric, whom I hadn't seen in ages. We each checked our equipment, and I, as the group leader, nodded my head. Eric started his solo. As soon as the first sounds were heard, Kenny and I looked at each other and realized that our thoughts were the same: “what the hell!” The sound of his guitar clearly did not belong to this world, it came from some other space of the universe!

Kenny Wayne Shepherd:

Blues! This guy can be given such a succinct definition. And on stage he is always 100 percent Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Kenny has never been ashamed to celebrate his blues roots. Free spirit and exceptional guitarist.

Robert Fripp:

Cathartic. I don't know if this is the right word to describe how I feel about his music, but the last time I listened to his album, after 30 minutes I was overcome with a feeling of deep contemplation about my life. It’s not often that such thoughts pop into one’s head.

I played some of his works for many years. Since the 70s, the sound and tone of his guitar has constantly changed and expanded. I can’t think of anyone else who has had this happen to them. Page and Clapton haven't grown up (by and large). They have remained constant, perhaps matured, and Beck is amazing, a wizard."

Jimmy Hendrix

I always think about him. Every song, every recording of his guitar sounded new. He was never a selfish guitar player, if you know what I mean. He didn't force his sound on anyone. Hendrix reflected the world and what was happening in it with art. He could turn his guitar into a huge monster and a tiny moth, but you always get pleasure from his music. Yes exactly. His legacy is still fascinating today, he left us amazing music that changed the world.

EMOTIONAL JOE

Satriani: Honing your style, working on phrasing is a constant, endless process. This is a technique, but it cannot only be called a technique. This is the most difficult feeling to work on because there are no exercises for it. The problem is that we are different people every day. Our emotions and experiences change, and we look at life differently in different emotional states. This is important for me because I reflect my emotions in music. If I can't do it, I get bored and stop playing guitar. When recording one solo for the new album, I just sat down and played, over and over, not thinking about finger placement, just trying to capture the emotions I had while recording.

Since childhood, I have adored music and have always been in it, in its endless labyrinths and bizarre diversity. Being the fifth and youngest child in the family, I saw how my relatives studied music. There was always music in our house. At the age of nine, I began to seriously study drums and always considered myself a musician, never losing this feeling. The most beautiful thing in the world for me has always been to play music, to study it, to be amused by it, to show it to people or to conceal it within myself. Now I always enjoy going on tour or recording albums with other musicians.

How did you start?

Everything happened in a very strange way, mostly by accident. I was making some home recordings for myself, and suddenly I started playing with bands, someone suggested to me that something might come out of my recordings, because he himself had just received a contract. That is, one thing led to another, then I signed a contract, and they asked for more and more, and I myself was completely inexperienced in all this. The second record I made on Relativity Records was Surfing With the Alien, and that was the year that I first started performing - performing in front of people, just playing guitar for a couple of hours. Even now it’s strange to remember. It was a good time. It seems that Michael Jackson and Motley Crue were fighting for first place in the popularity lists, but I was somewhere on the sidelines, continuing my work.

How do you feel about pirated recordings made by fans at a concert?

Ooh, I love them. This is cool. Here you really need to distinguish such recordings from pirated fakes of studio recordings, but if people resell their own material, I don’t think that this is a serious commercial conflict.

It seems that commercial success doesn't bother you much...

Just recently a writer approached me with a request for an interview for his book. I replied that I wanted to sell my records and perform in concerts, which would allow me to continue playing guitar, but I was not at all tempted to become a “quoted” figure. So don't put me in the Love Connection, Hollywood Squares, or Regis & Kathy Lee catalogs. I don't want people to think that I coexist side by side with Cher, Richie Sambora and others aspiring to this circle of show business. It is unlikely that I will be able to achieve success in such a field.

Does this mean that it's difficult for you to be in public, to be a guitar hero?

I can't say it's discouraging, but it's a little weird if I look at myself as a guitar hero. Of course, when you become a musician, you also partly become an actor, although in reality I am a little shy and reserved. It turns out that I don’t like being in a crowd, but in the end I find myself in front of an audience of a thousand (laughs).

Where is the line between a musician and a showman for you?

This question is easy to answer because I am not a showman at all, like some of my friends. I realized this when I was a kid listening to Hendrix. Then I asked myself, “What lesson, Joe, can you learn from this man’s life?” And he came to the conclusion that he had fallen into the trap of show business. I said to myself, "Well, if you're going to be in this business, Joe, try never to lose yourself." Then there will be no strain, no artificial transition from the hotel to the stage, from an interview to work in the studio, from a home environment to a concert tour environment. Then I saw that the creative process can flow easily. There is no need to write about things that others make you believe. There is no need to write for this artificial rocker, a fictional character. There is only you, and it is always you. I still carry this understanding within me, and it helps me to be myself.

Without them everything would be different

Joe Satriani: 10 guitarists,
who tore down my tower

Translation - Dmitry Semenov

Joe Satriani has influenced and continues to influence an incredible number of guitarists. But at the same time, he himself does not hesitate to talk about his idols.

1. Jimi Hendrix

Let's start with Hendrix. He was the first guitar player who made me realize that the guitar could actually sound right and that it could lead you to other things. These are not just songs about boys and girls and fast cars. All those things that were a big part of 60s music. He used the guitar not only to reflect the sounds of the world around him, but also to convey a certain inner longing, confusion and a whole range of emotions. I remember having trouble getting into “Third Stone From The Sun,” not because it was hard to listen to, but because it bordered on cathartic. Sometimes I would listen to the first part of a song and only listen to the second the next day! He was the first guitar player who blew my mind. It still creates this effect...

2. Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page was a contemporary of Hendrix, but he was a completely different kind of musician. Imagine a boy named Joe Satriani, an Italian-American who grew up in New York City. For him, the British guitarist seemed somewhat exotic. Now we don’t think about it, both worlds are closely intertwined, but for a boy who grew up in Long Island, England seemed very distant and mysterious! Page sounded ethnically very different from the music I grew up with, to be more precise - blues and rhythm and blues, which almost bordered on each other. I've always loved guitarists who put their doubts aside and went for it. It's part of the rock and roll spirit. Every time I need to study a Led Zeppelin song for a gig, his explosive playing technique and British folk influences catch my eye again and I think, “Wow, this is so different! Who else can boast of this besides him?”

3. Jeff Beck

Beck really stood out from the others for a number of reasons. He perceives the musical outline completely differently, it’s as if he’s telling you: “I’ll make just three strokes, and it will sound like music.” And he does it, and you think to yourself: “Oh, God! It’s like he hasn’t played anything yet, but it sounds just amazing!” How does he make it seem like he is not involved, and then suddenly at the right moment he creates a beautiful and powerful musical statement? I compared his musical style to Jimmy Page and thought, “This is really cool. These two guys grew up together, were friends, but they have completely different music.” It's an amazing discovery when you're young and you realize that you could very well take a different path, because here are two guys making fantastic music, but each with their own unique approach.

4. Eric Clapton

Hendrix, Page and Beck always walked to the very edge of the cliff and were not afraid to fall, which was always pleasing, but Clapton was a different matter. He played like a man who can sing great. And his sound was beautiful. At first, his sound changed a lot. It's not a sound that everyone hears. He experimented. He was part of an artistic movement that wanted to turn everything on its head. He wasn't as much of a blues purist as people like to think. Another thing that stood out was that he could maintain interest for long periods of time without turning the volume up to 11! Hendrix, Page and Beck always somehow ended up around 11. And Clapton was always like, “I'll just stay here at 8.5.”

(This refers to the meme from the classic movie “Spinal Tap”, where the boys had an amp with knobs up to 11, and not as usual for everyone up to 10 – editor’s note)

5. Keith Richards

The figure of Richards holds a special place in my mind. Growing up, the Beatles and the Stones were my biggest influences. My older sisters were crazy about everything British, so I heard this music from every room in the house. When I became a guitarist, I thought Keith Richards was the coolest guy. He came up with all these riffs and tunings. The way Glen Jones recorded his solos just blows your mind. When you're young, rough and angry, you just gravitate towards it. These guitarists become your idols - the ones who aren't afraid to make a Telecaster sound like a drill. A lot of the early punk bands I hung out with in the mid-'70s in New York City, they thought highly of Keith Richards. Keith was the foundation, whether they wanted to admit it or not!

6. Wes Montgomery

I was also influenced by Wes Montgomery at the same time as Keith Richards. This happened because my parents grew up on jazz and listened to jazz all the time at home. And so I grew up listening to the Beatles and the Stones, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, and then I started listening to Wes and Montgomery every day. When I heard Hendrix, I found out that Hendrix was also a Wes Montgomery fan. I saw the connection, and it was partly reassuring to me, a young, long-haired teenager in motorcycle boots. It allowed me to love Wes Montgomery and tell my friends, “You know, Hendrix himself listened to this guy!” He plays with octaves and never makes mistakes!” I've always loved the feel of jazz and the spirit of improvisation. Round Midnight...the live records are impeccable, incredible testaments to the musicianship and cool of that era.

7. Ron Wood

As a punk guitarist from New York, I was stunned by Ron Wood's influence on the many bands he played in and eventually the Stones. He was able to fit in perfectly with the changing approaches of all the bands he was in, and in doing so he created a sound that people know as the “Ron Wood sound.” How many such people can you name? He has created an approach and sound that is practically superior to anyone you name. You can name Holdsworth, you can say “legato”, if Eddie Van Halen – “tapping”, but if you talk about Ron Wood, you can’t name a specific physical action. His entire approach is important here. Yes, he always looks great! How does he still manage to remain a great guitarist, a guitarist that you want to imitate? You need to come up with a special reward for this, and it will rightfully go to him!

8. Billy Gibbons

Hendrix once said that this is who the future of music is, but he knew how to feel very well. Thanks to Billy, we all know that the guitar sound and his style of Texas blues is something unique. It builds on the great styles of other blues musicians, but it's completely unique. He is the most innovative blues composer to emerge in the '50s and '60s. And he continues to get better every day. This is a real manifestation of his talent. I played with him several times. He's a very nice guy and a very interesting personality, but just when you think you know, “if I buy this thing,” I can sound like him, Billy comes up with something new. You think: “No! Your guitar sounds like Mount Everest and yet you play on the thinnest strings. How do you do it?” It's personal talent/voodoo magic, if you will.

9. Brian May

You'll recognize Brian's writing style instantly. His guitar style is known for his equipment, that famous mantelpiece guitar he and his dad made. I played it, and unfortunately, when I play that guitar, I don't sound like Brian. Only Brian can sound like that. When I was a young musician and someone played me a Queen record for the first time, my jaw just dropped. There's nothing in your head but questions. And at the same time your body loves this music. The sensory experience is just wonderful and it's a lot of fun. He's one of those guitarists who knows how to mix fun and seriousness, and Brian does it masterfully. His music can be forceful and cathartic. She forces you to get up and go kick some ass. I love it. Real rock and roll.

10. John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin of the Mahavishnu Orchestra drove me crazy to the point where I became a wild, Black Sabbath-obsessed teenager in skinny jeans. We used to play a lot of Black Sabbath and Zeppelin in my school bands, but when someone played me Mahavishnu records for the first time, it was like something opened in me. John, his whole technique - you've seen him play acoustic guitar and it's a very tight playing, he doesn't screw up anywhere - when he picked up an electric guitar, he played almost like Jimmy Page! He walked right to the edge of decency. Songs like “Birds of Fire” gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling when other people just run out of the room. They say: “What is this cacophonous, awkward music!?” And you tell them: “I’ve been waiting for this music all my life!”