If Joe Satriani asks you to build an amp to make him sound like Eddie Van Halen – specifically the Eddie we hear and see in Van Halen’s Live Without a Net (1986) – it’s a request you’d better take seriously.

This is exactly what happened to Dylana Nova Scott, founder/owner of Minnesota-based 3rd Power, who was entrusted with handling Satch’s tones on this year’s Sammy Hagar-fronted Best of All Worlds tour. Together they created the DRGN 100 Custom Shop head, packed with a whole range of new features to bring the legendary tones of Van Halen’s 1968 Marshall Super Lead (serial number 12301, to be precise) into the modern age.

The results were so impressive, Satriani continued using the amp in the Satch/Vai band, which then led to Steve Vai switching over to 3rd Power cabinets. For Scott, who rose to fame in the late ’80s as the lead guitarist in San Francisco hard rockers Vain, it’s been a true labor of love – helping one of the world’s most respected living guitarists pay tribute to one of the world’s most sorely missed.

Then there are other 3rd Power designs like the Dumble-inspired Aurora 35 and the Fender-golden-era-rivaling Lyra, housing the sounds of a 1962 brown-panel and a 1965 black-panel in one box.

Here’s the story of how a glam-metal guitarist ended up becoming a specialist builder for the likes of Satriani, Lenny Kravitz, Joe Walsh and many more.

What made you want to start an amp company?

I’m a player myself. That’s what drives the amp company. You can design a tone in isolation to sound good, but there can be a moment when that isolation blows up. That’s where 3rd Power comes in. We live in between the artist and the audience, sitting in a very sacred place.

It’s the moment the lights come on and the audience is screaming. I also know what it’s like when the lights come on and everyone is silent because you have to prove yourself. My job is emotional translation. Whatever comes out of that quarter-inch jack needs to hit the audience.

Where did you learn how to build amps?

I’m self-taught, but I guess I’ve always been a tone-chaser tinkering with gear. I took electronics and computer programming in high school. As a recording artist, I started paying attention to the engineers working around me.

In between tours, I was working at a music store where DigiDesign specialists would train us. I also spent time with legendary sound guy Chip Davis, watching how he would analyze rooms.

He would clap and listen to the reflections, asking me if I could hear the flange coming out of the corner. Then I got into wireless systems, which led to me working at Sennheiser and eventually Line 6. But I started to become more interested in tube amps at a time when everyone else was converting to digital. I was the person listening to records while reading The History of Marshall: The First Fifty Years.

It clearly paid off. Joe Satriani is a big fan.

Joe has said a lot of wonderful things. Yes, I’m a nice person, but he’s not using my stuff because I’m nice. On our first call, he said he’d been talking to Edward’s techs, Zeke Clark and Tom Weber, describing the sound he was looking for.

The 5150 tour was actually Ed’s last tour with the famous Marshall. He had all the candy, but it hadn’t moved into the more modern Van Halen tone. On that tour, they played the old catalog next to the new catalog, and it all translated because the energy was right.

After that, the rig changed and maybe the old songs didn’t sound right – this is according to Sammy – so Joe had to be very specific. Ed’s own techs said the only person that could help was this girl outta Nashville called Dylana Scott. Joe called me and said, “Apparently I should be talking to you.”

What were the main considerations when designing the DRGN 100?

I said, “Let me build the perfect racecar for you to drive.” Did he want more horsepower at this turn or better traction over here or extra acceleration back there?

I’m a big fan of his work, so I also explained that I didn’t want to watch him play a covers set. He asked what I meant and I answered, “Joe, none of us need to see you play note for note; we need you to interpret the essence of the moment while honoring the king.”

Obviously I had to make sure he had all the tones he needed – the intro to Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love is like taking a flint and stone to make a spark.

It’s a two-hour set with moments that also sound creamier. This amp was designed to lift Joe up the whole way through, so that even someone in the last seat of the arena would feel the buzz and stand up.

Some of your other designs, like the Aurora 35 and the Lyra, are completely different.

The Lyra has two classic Fender circuits from the ’60s, alongside tube-driven spring reverb and attenuation. It’s a beautifully authentic amp that sounds great. The Aurora 35 starts out in the hi-fi Fender spectrum, like a Dumble, and then opens up.

The signal path is complicated because of the stacking and gain staging, but you don’t need a Ph.D. to get it right; it’s super-simple. But you still get the mid-switch, just in case you need to voice it differently.

Your amps also have modern functions like the HF Damp and HybridMaster.

The High Frequency Damp is geared toward working professionals. Imagine being a hired gun and the singer says you’re too bright. If you walk back to your amp and turn the treble down, you’ve just made sure you have a bad night. Leave it where it is and you might not get that gig again.

The HF Damp will keep all of your articulation but shave a little bit of treble from the power amp. Your gain structure hangs on your tone stacking, and with this all of your sonic decisions remain intact. It’s a gig-saver. The HybridMaster is a patented micro volume control that I refined over years. I looked at all the soaks out there.

Some were good for a 15-percent reduction, others maybe 10 percent, and some weren’t good at all. I decided to create a hybrid while only showing the customer one knob. Inside the amp, that knob is controlling a myriad of things.

When you turn amps down, you lose the weight of the moment. Everything gets smaller. I found a way to reduce the volume without sacrificing tone. When you attenuate the signal, I increase the volume strategically in different circuits so what remains feels more alive.

You don’t just design amps. You also have your own MagFRAG pickup line.

It’s my spin on what a pickup could be in this day and age. I jumped on forums and read the arguments, but I didn’t think like a regular winder, obsessing over wires, magnets, insulators and turns.

Instead, I learned about the variables and tried to imagine the sound of Alnico II on the treble strings, the sound of Alnico IV on the middle strings, which is where chords and chimes open up, and then Alnico V for the bass strings.

I wanted one magnet to address each pair of strings. Tracii Guns is a big fan; they’re now on his main guitars. The pickups sound beautiful, making your instrument come to life. It’s like throwing glitter on what you hear.

• For more info, head to 3rd Power.
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

He’s penned the classic instrumental guitar album, Surfing with the Alien, masterminded the shredder’s union G3 tours, and is now nailing Van Halen material on tour with Sammy Hagar. Still, not every Joe Satriani guitar solo has been a classic.

There is one cut that, by his own admission, he wishes he had never written.

Ironically, the song in question, Crushing Day, featured on Satriani’s career-defining Surfing with the Alien album. It’s a song, he told Guitar World in 2008, that he “curses” himself for writing.

“It’s just not comfortable for me,” he confessed. “It bothered me on the day we released the record, and it bothered me on every subsequent tour. It got worse when people actually started to like it. I realized the only way for me to play it was to sit in a chair, which I had to explain to the audience. It was quite embarrassing.”

Speaking to MusicRadar about the song in 2017, three decades after its release, he also feels it proved to be style over substance, and has aged less gracefully than its stablemates.

“That was some alter-ego thing where I thought it would be a really cool thing to do,” he said. “I loved the idea of sweep picking, and that was one of the very first things that I recorded for Relativity [Records] when I was trying to sell the idea to Barry Kobrin at the record label.

“This song definitely, out of all of them, echoed the time. It had that early-’80s metal sound and a sense of strictness. It had more Rockman than it should have, and it had tuning issues since it was a demo. By the time we decided to put it on the album, we had run out of money, and so we didn’t have time to replace the parts.”

Everything had conspired against the song. That made its success all the more surprising to Satriani, who saw it as a lesson learned.

“I realized from then on that I should never write songs sitting down, because I can’t play them standing up,” he said in his Guitar World interview.

It’s the age-old problem of nailing something in-studio, sitting on the comfort of a chair with the ability to track several runs, then finding yourself before a live audience baying for virtuosity, only to find you’ve overcooked things.

Still, he believes his audience “got a kick out of me revealing some of my technical shortcomings.” Indeed, it’s nice, from time to time, that the world’s most dazzling guitar virtuosos do show us mere mortals that they are human after all.

The irony of what the song is about, and the future pain it caused him, isn’t lost on us, either.

“It was really about when we have days that really suck, and you feel like the weight of the world is crashing down on you,” he said in 2017. “Because of the guitar instrumental, a lot of that weight that you’re trying to describe has got to be turned into some kind of real screaming emotional melody. And so, my writing approach was to create a super melody and then have it harmonized beautifully.

“The solo section is really long, and I have to say that part of that is that I was so frustrated as a struggling session player that I was always told to stop playing, like, ‘No, you’re playing too many notes. You can’t use that technique.’

“I think Crushing Day epitomizes the idea that this guitar solo’s going to be really long,” he added. “So I thought, ‘I’d better work some of this shit out.’ All the other ones are improvised, but this one was too long to sit there and fiddle about.

“In retrospect,” he concluded, “I regret it, because I’ve always found that when you’re on stage, and you’re playing night after night, that sticking to the script is one of the things that will kill you in the end: it’s a solo killer.”

Mistakes, though, are just as valuable – if not more so – than doing something perfectly. It’s a good thing when shortcomings in our playing and mistakes in our songwriting approaches are exposed. It might seem odd that such an acclaimed album also plays host to one of Satriani’s biggest regrets, but equally, he can be thankful he made the mistake to learn from it.

Deep Purple’s longevity is remarkable on a number of levels. Aside from a relatively brief split between 1976 and 1984, they've been a working band since 1968 – a striking achievement, attributable in part to their willingness to forge ahead creatively rather than coasting on past glories, and to adapt in the face of personnel changes.

Anyone familiar with their history will know that these two elements have not only worked in parallel on many occasions, but have often sparked fresh, innovative Purple patches.

Even before the arrival of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover in 1969, and the resultant shift to their genre-defining hard rock sound, founding members Ian Paice (drums), Jon Lord (keyboards) and Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) used their instrumental prowess to inject rock, pop, psychedelia, jazz, and blues influences into the Mark I lineup's three albums.

Citing the influence of Led Zeppelin, Blackmore then sought to pursue his muse in a heavier direction. With Gillan and Glover in place, the Man in Black rose to the occasion with riffs and solos that proved central to the Mark II lineup’s explosive chemistry, often characterised by creativity and volatility in equal measure.

Blackmore would twice depart the ranks, and although his instantly recognizable style set the bar at an intimidating height, his successors – the late Tommy Bolin, Dixie Dregs virtuoso Steve Morse, and recently recruited blues-rock hotshot Simon McBride – have succeeded in making the gig their own.

And while never a permanent member, anyone who caught Purple live between December 1993 and July 1994 would have witnessed the Yoda of Shred himself, Joe Satriani, working his magic on stage.

With the band's new album Splat! out now, we cast an eye over the proliferation of Purple pickers who have propelled them to this point.

Ritchie Blackmore (1968-1975, 1984-1993)

By the time he formed Deep Purple with Paice and Lord in 1968, Blackmore was already a relative veteran at the age of 23, having served an apprenticeship which ran in parallel with the development of British rock 'n' roll.

He’d taken in stints with the Dominators, the Satellites, Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages, and also the Outlaws, the in-house band of studio pioneer Joe Meek.

Though certainly capable of distinctive, nimble phrasing on Mark I highlights like Wring That Neck, it was during the Mark II era that Blackmore’s signature style as a riffmeister and soloist came dramatically into focus.

He composed a wealth of widely imitated signature motifs, ranging from bluesy single note earworms like Black Night and Lazy, to the pedal toned powerchords of Smoke on the Water, and the vicious Speed King.

His innovative lead guitar style blended raw blues licks with fluid, classically inspired runs, as his solos on Highway Star and Strange Kind of Woman demonstrate.

In a 1991 interview with Guitar World he explained, “I found the blues too limiting. Classical, on the other hand, was always too disciplined. I was always playing between the two. I’m not a rigid player. I like to improvise.”

After growing dissatisfied with Mark III’s increasingly funky direction, ushered in by new members David Coverdale (vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass/vocals), Blackmore quit to form Rainbow in 1975 – but not before turning in ferocious performances on the title track of Burn, both in the studio and onstage at the California Jam festival the previous year.

The post-1984 reunion era would be marked by interpersonal turbulence that prompted Blackmore to quit for a second and final time in 1993. But it nonetheless yielded sublime results on a musical level, as demonstrated by Knocking At Your Back Door, on which Blackmore modernized the powerchord riffing style of Smoke on the Water, before letting rip with a serrated solo.

Tommy Bolin (1975-1976)

Prior to joining Deep Purple in 1975, Tommy Bolin had recorded albums with Zephyr, the James Gang, and most notably, appeared on former Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham’s 1973 solo debut, Spectrum. His coruscating shredding on tracks like that album’s Quadrant 4 convinced his new bandmates there could be life after Ritchie Blackmore.

Tragically, Bolin was in the grip of a heroin dependence that marred his live performances, and contributed to his death in December 1976. Thankfully, his talent won out on 1975’s Come Taste the Band, his sole studio outing with Purple.

With Bolin co-writing seven of its nine tracks, and the funk and soul influences of Burn and Stormbringer front and center, the album bore little resemblance to the Purple of old, save for sprightly opener Comin’ Home.

Nevertheless, as Lord reflected on its 35th anniversary reissue, it remains “a surprisingly good rock album of that period. Tommy's guitar playing is par excellence.”

Gettin' Tighter, featuring singing slide licks and a chicken-picked solo from Bolin, wields a funk rock groove the way Bruce Lee wielded nunchucks. Similarly, Bolin’s scorching lead over the tightly syncopated instrumental Owed to “G”, and the dynamic flow of his layered solo on You Keep On Moving, show how potent the Mark IV formation’s chemistry could be.

Sadly, Bolin's erratic performances, coupled with the addictions of other members, hastened the group's demise, and in July 1976, the band's first run came to an ignominious close.

In a 1999 interview with Guitar World, Ritchie Blackmore paid tribute to his successor: “I don't envy Tommy Bolin for trying to take my place in Purple.

“He was a uniquely talented player and it's unfortunate that he never had the chance to develop with the band the way I did. His death was an incredible loss, not only for Deep Purple but for guitar fans as well.”

Joe Satriani (1993-1994)

When Joe Satriani stepped into the breach at short notice to help Purple fulfill tour dates after Blackmore's abrupt departure, he'd already achieved a seemingly impossible feat by proving that not only could virtuoso guitar instrumentals be enjoyable for non-players, but that albums full of them could be commercially successful.

With bona fide hit records that had bagged him gold and platinum sales awards, and a couple of Grammys in his trophy cabinet too, Satriani was a star in his own right when he hooked up with Purple in 1993 – although that wasn’t the reason he gave for declining the band's offer of permanent membership.

“I had the time of my life,” Satriani told author Martin Popoff. “But it was very mentally difficult to replace one of my idols, Ritchie Blackmore.

“And having a solo career makes you feel like the luckiest guitarist in the world. I just couldn't see having to turn my back on it.”

Satriani stuck close to Blackmore's original solo templates in the main, but took the opportunity to illustrate how well his own masterful style might have worked long-term in Purple on tracks that had always been more fluid in structure, like Child in Time.

Steve Morse (1994-2022)

Like Satriani, Steve Morse was already a revered guitar hero when he joined Purple in 1994. His 28-year tenure as the band's longest-serving lead guitarist would only enhance his reputation, to the point that Guitar World once hailed him as “the guitar virtuoso’s virtuoso.”

His ability to combine feel, melodious musicality and ninja-level chops had famously seen him voted Best Overall Guitar Player in Guitar Player’s readers’ poll every year between 1982 and 1986. With a style that fused classical, rock, blues, country, jazz, and bluegrass, Celtic influences from his grandfather – a Cajun fiddle player – and prior experience of blending genres with the Dixie Dregs and Kansas, Morse was a perfect fit.

Morse’s new compatriots were quick to praise him for the revitalizing effect he had on the band, which ignited a new chemistry that fueled Purple through eight studio albums and countless live shows for almost 30 years. When he departed in 2022 to care for his ailing wife, his bandmates stated that he was “a true master” who’d be “greatly missed.”

When asked to choose favorite Purple recordings over the years, Morse has flagged up Man Alive (from 2020’s Whoosh!), which he described as “an attempt to play something different from what I would normally do,” and selected his 1996 debut with the band, Purpendicular, in a list of his career-defining albums for MusicRadar.

For this writer’s money, the latter album is an inspired choice, shot through with a palpable sense of energy and enthusiasm. Check out Morse’s consummate lead work on Vavoom, Ted The Mechanic, and Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, and you’ll hear exactly why he was the ideal man for the job.

Simon McBride (2022-present)

Though only 46, Purple’s newest six-stringer – brought up on the band’s music – had been turning heads with his blues-infused style since winning Guitarist’s Young Guitarist of the Year award in 1996.

In addition to recording as a solo artist, he’d proven his mettle in various branches of the Purple family tree, playing with Whitesnake offshoot Snakecharmer, and in current keyboardist Don Airey’s band, a role in which he backed Ian Gillan on 2019’s Contractual Obligation #2: Live In Warsaw.

Morse’s ability to think and play outside the box, while drawing on a wide range of influences, allowed Purple to broaden the scope of their signature sound and move forward. Today, McBride's more streamlined, riff-driven approach has helped the band revisit their roots as they head for the finish line.

On the well-received release of 2024 album =1, Gillan told Qobuz that McBride’s playing is “very compatible with the way we started; very straight ahead.”

That said, McBride's catchy riffing and eloquent, inventive lead lines – on highlights such as Portable Door – ensure that the Mark IX lineup delivers a classic-era vibe with the contemporary edge. Nearly 60 years in, they look set to bow out at the top of their game.

The shred generation is hitting retirement age and beyond, and arthritis diagnoses are becoming increasingly common – but the good news is that the condition doesn’t have to be the death knell for anyone’s playing days.

Our aging guitar heroes have shown the impact a life of playing can have on our bodies. Jake E. Lee’s right hand has “basically no cartilage.” A sports doctor laughed in amazement when Steve Morse showed him his hands, ground down by years of shredding – and relayed his ambition to continue touring.

Keith Richards recently revealed that arthritis has cast uncertainty on his continued ability to play for longer periods, while Alex Lifeson, Joe Perry, and Joe Satriani have all suffered their own struggles.

According to Nuffield Health, 50 percent of adults aged 65 and over have been diagnosed with arthritis, and Jimmy Page isn’t immune just because he’s a guitar god. Wear and tear over time is a major factor, but there are measures we can take to prevent and alleviate symptoms.

Dan Turnell, Clinical Director at Elite Performance Physio, has worked in the performing arts sector for over a decade. He wants players to look at their hands a little differently.

“One of the biggest mindset shifts is that playing an instrument is a skilled muscular action,” he says. “They should think of themselves as an athlete, instead of as a musician.”

There are over 100 types of arthritis; but for guitarists the most common is osteoarthritis: the cartilage at the end of a bone gets damaged or worn down, resulting in bone-on-bone contact. It currently affects over 32.5 million Americans including Lee, Morse, and Richards.

Repetitive motion has slowly ground down cartilage, causing pain, inflammation and, in extreme cases, a loss of hand mobility. “Playing guitar is small repetitive movements continuously happening,” Turnell notes. “It runs the risk of potential cartilage changes and microtraumas.”

He adds: “When you’re young you think of arthritis as something that affects your granddad,” warning that the approach is to our detriment. He regularly works with young musicians to help establish “good practice routines that protect the body and minimize the risk of injury.”

Prevention will always outweigh any cure. “I encourage people not to sit and play for six hours at a time, and to understand that a warm-up is important before you even touch the guitar,” he says.

Warm-ups help release synovial fluid, which lubricates joints and keeps muscles warm and responsive. Turnell recommends hand exercises such as stretches and grip and squeeze movements, or using strengthening bands for individual fingers.

Joe Satriani benefited from hand massages after a tour of particularly challenging music. The shows put extra strain on his hands and he suffered the consequences of malpractice to his digits. I’ve used a D’Addario Varigrip for years as part of my pre-show routine – it’s worked wonders.

It might be helpful to think of arthritis as the last domino in a line. The best way to prevent it is to ensure that you’re always working with, rather than against, your body.

“Prevention comes down to making sure that all the muscles around the fingers, hands and wrists are as strong as they need to be to minimize the pressure and over-aggravating our joints,” Turnell says.

“It comes down to load management within the body. For example, if you’re not setting your practice environment up in the appropriate way, then playing for six hours in a suboptimal position, you’re potentially going to suffer microtrauma injuries through the joints.

“Posture is likely to be a secondary or tertiary cause of arthritis, but by being hunched over a guitar, the body isn’t able to move with freedom. Guitar straps help offload the weight; otherwise, all that weight is going to come into the hands and impact shoulder mobility.”

Likewise, diet and lifestyle choices represent another domino. “Certain food combinations can be inflammatory for the body; and if we’re not hydrated, our joints aren’t hydrated either.

Sugar and processed foods are the biggest culprits. “From a socializing perspective, alcohol can act as an inflammatory substance, and it can affect our sleep – which impacts our body’s ability to recover and prepare to play the next day.”

Turnell emphasizes the importance of semi-regular check-ins with a physio, just as you’d take your car to the garage for maintenance. But he says there’s another issue at play too. “Once musicians get to a certain standard, they often stop taking lessons,” he says.

“But lessons are really useful – not necessarily from a technical perspective, but to make sure you’re not falling into bad habits, which can be a potential trigger for an arthritic change.”

After that, it’s time to look at your instrument and setup – should you ditch that heavy, fat-necked Les Paul for something that’s kinder to the body?

Morse has accepted his gigging days are now numbered, as his arthritis worsens, but a key modification to his Music Man signature guitar is helping relieve unnecessary stress. Perry confessed to recording the band’s recent One More Time EP exclusively with his Fender/Warmoth “Burned Strat,” as it’s been set up to be kinder to his hands.

The more our guitar heroes face arthritis struggles and talk about what it means for them, the better it is for the wider guitar-playing community.

“Seeing people doing things with an arthritic condition improves our understanding that it’s more of a self-limiting condition rather than a death knell,” Turnell concludes. “You just modify your activity around it.”

• For help and advice around arthritis and related issues, head to Arthritis Foundation.

Pedals Week 2026: Looper pedals are undoubtedly one of the best writing tools a guitar player can have in their arsenal, but they’re also invaluable for anyone looking to sharpen their skills as a soloist, both technically and theoretically.

You could take the chord progression from one of your favorite songs, for example, and start testing out new ideas – which will help you find your voice and identity on your instrument.

As any Guitar World reader already knows, it can be highly rewarding to learn your favorite solos note for note, but studying the chord progression underneath them will help you put your own spin on things. And this is precisely where a looper will come in handy.

Some of the world’s greatest solos were written over movements that allowed the players to create something truly astounding and unique. The more attention you pay to chords and rhythms, the more impactful your solo might end up sounding.

Play the chords into your looper and start experimenting with different sounds and feels. You might notice how some tracks stay in one key and allow you to build your story a scene at a time without any radical harmonic departures.

In other situations, you might notice that some of the chords you’re playing over allow you to add in other tonalities and venture outside of the key, with options for more ear-catching notes from a different scale – from the introduction of Dorian, Aeolian or Mixolydian flavors to more dramatic-sounding harmonic and melodic minor scales.

So, even if you feel like music theory isn’t a strong point, just a little bit of due diligence can go a long way to impress listeners and help you learn how to deliver a solo that truly soars and sings. Your ear is the most important thing here.

Here are 10 tracks that are great for looping, with repetitive progressions that give you plenty of opportunities to conjure up something extra special.

1. Eagles – Hotel California

It’s one of those songs that’s always in the running for the greatest guitar solo(s) of all-time, with Don Felder and Joe Walsh going head to head before joining forces for some lavish harmonized arpeggios at the end.

The minor chord progression underneath is what gives ample opportunity to create something dramatic, with the V chord being changed to dominant (F#7 instead of F#min) and the IV chord alternating between major and minor instead of staying minor.

This is what allows soloists to switch between B pentatonic and Aeolian to harmonic minor, especially on the substituted chords Ultimately, the goal here is to not stick with one scale – make your solo more fluid and unpredictable to catch listeners off-guard.

2. John Mayer – Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

If you’re looking for the perfect song to master your C# minor pentatonic chops, as well as its E major relative, this could very well be it. Unlike Hotel California, the progression is completely diatonic and therefore feels like it’s all in one key, so it’s more about phrasing and delivery than note choices when targeting chords.

With a laid-back tempo and slinky feel, it’s the kind of musical scenario that calls for big pentatonic bends, and therefore works as a practice tool for pitch accuracy. It’s worth asking yourself what note are you trying to bend up to and how close are you getting.

3. Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb

Often cited as one of David Gilmour’s greatest moments, this final single from Pink Floyd’s 1979 rock opera The Wall is an absolute masterclass in how to speak B minor pentatonic.

Pay attention to your vibrato and note choice, because these are two areas where Gilmour is known to excel, and see if you can find your own lines that feel natural and avoid over-complication.

The bar where the chords drop from G to F#min and Emin calls for something extra special – think about what you can play to emphasize the movement underneath you and have some fun with it.

4. B.B. King – The Thrill Is Gone

Anyone trying to master the art of 12-bar blues will undoubtedly come across this Grammy-winning hit from 1969. This is another B minor progression that’s all about the bends – know exactly what you’re aiming for and see what happens when you undershoot or overshoot to unlock “the in-between notes” on the fretboard, like the original blues masters.

The minor pentatonic will be your friend here, but if you’re looking to spice things up, try introducing B melodic minor or A# half-whole diminished scales over the dominant chord (F#7) to create tension before the progression returns to root. This resolution from the V chord to the I is often referred to as a perfect cadence.

5. Metallica – Wherever I May Roam

Arguably one of the most famous heavy metal tracks written using the Phrygian scale, the fourth single from Metallica’s self-titled landmark album of 1991 is a great way of introducing yourself to more outside ideas.

For his solo, Kirk Hammett chose to use a mixture of E minor pentatonic and E Phrygian Dominant – which is the fifth mode of A harmonic minor – to great effect. The big jump from a minor second to a major third is a surefire way of capturing people’s attention.

Use it too much, however, and it loses its effect. So try switching between Phrygian, which has a minor third, and its dominant sibling to mix things up – essentially swapping a G for a G# wherever you think it feels right. Follow your ears and have fun.

6. Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven

Maybe don’t try this one while testing looper pedals in your local guitar shop, but if you’re hoping to explore the world of natural minor, this hit provides a perfect backdrop.

The A minor pentatonic scale will do the trick for most of the chords, but highlighting the F chord with an F note will add a sense of sophistication to what you play, showing everyone how you understand the song’s inner workings by targeting the sound of a minor 6th at exactly the right time.

If you listen to the last note of Jimmy Page’s opening line, you’ll hear how it creates an atmosphere of tension after the familiarity of more bluesy sounds.

7. Free – All Right Now

Some of the world’s greatest guitar solos aren’t strictly major or minor, with the player blending ideas from both worlds into one seamless package. This 1970 hit is one of those, thanks to Paul Kossoff’s iconic fretwork halfway into the song.

Maybe start off in A major pentatonic and work your way into A minor pentatonic as your solo builds towards its grand crescendo, or try using both in a ‘call and answer’ fashion. Kossoff’s vibrato also played a huge part in his solo’s overall feel, so experiment with how you shake the notes you’re choosing to let ring – there’s plenty of space to get creative and express yourself here.

8. Joe Bonamassa – Sloe Gin

The New York blues maverick is one of the undisputed titans of the long-form solo, and the title track from his 2007 album is the perfect example of why that is. Once you’ve recorded the chords into your looping pedal, begin with some simple phrases in D minor and slowly build your ideas in terms of intensity and dynamics.

The original solo is almost three minutes long and never outstays its welcome. Holding back is an art form in itself – and playing along to a progression like this is a great way of learning how to flow naturally through control and discipline, keeping the listener on the edge of their seats every step of the way.

The chords to Purple Rain by Prince would also work very well for this – look at it as telling a story with a beginning, middle and end, rather than going in all guns blazing.

9. Joe Satriani – Flying In A Blue Dream

If you’re mainly used to pentatonic scales, Lydian – which is the fourth mode of the major scale – can present some serious challenges when it comes to phrasing.

Jamming along to the chords from this title track on Joe Satriani’s third full-length, released in 1989, is a great way of familiarizing yourself with these shapes and sounds. You can look at C Lydian from a G major perspective, which is its parent scale, or think of it as C major with a sharpened fourth, or even C major pentatonic with the inclusion of a B and an F.

Ultimately, different ways of visualizing a scale can help you explore new sonic horizons. Experiment with every possibility, even the ones that feel more confusing and less natural, because they might push you in a completely new direction.

10. Gary Moore – Parisienne Walkways

Much like Moore’s most famous track Still Got The Blues, this late ’70s hit is a great way of getting used to cycle-of-fifth progressions, also typified by songs like Autumn Leaves and I Will Survive.

Parisienne Walkways is in the key of A natural minor but at the end of the main progression, the perfect cadence of a V chord (E7) into the I chord (Amin) provides an opportunity to use the A harmonic minor scale for extra tension, which is then released by resolving back to the root.

Like Stairway To Heaven, it’s a great way of learning how to change just one note over the right chord and provide more depth for the listener to appreciate, taking them on a journey that travels further and therefore exceeds expectation.

The musical worlds of Joe Satriani and Coldplay couldn’t be further removed. Yet there are two songs that bind the guitar virtuoso and stadium-conquering pop-rockers together.

In May 2008, Coldplay dropped Viva La Vida. The title track from their fourth studio record, it has since become the UK band’s defining anthem, underpinned by a catchy verse melody that helped the track on its way to two Grammy nominations.

But when Joe Satriani heard the song, he did a double-take. To his ear, the verse melody from Viva La Vida sounded a lot like his guitar hook in 2004 track If I Could Fly. In fact, it was a bit too close for comfort.

Satriani soon took Coldplay to court in a high-profile legal tangle that lasted almost a year. According to Satch, Chris Martin and co had plagiarized the hook from If I Could Fly, cribbing his instrumental lead line for their verse.

Coldplay denied the allegations, insisting that any similarities between the two songs were purely coincidental. Satriani wasn’t convinced, though, and during an interview with MusicRadar in 2008, said the situation “hurt so much”.

“I felt like a dagger went right through my heart,” Satriani said. "The second I heard it, I knew it was [my own] If I Could Fly.

“Almost immediately, from the minute their song came out, my email box flooded with people going, 'Have you heard this song by Coldplay? They ripped you off man.' I mean, I couldn't tell you how many emails I received.

“Everybody noticed the similarities between the songs. It's pretty obvious. It's as simple as that – when you listen to a song and you say, 'Wow, that's a real rip-off.'”

Satriani sued the band, demanding damages and “any profits attributable to the alleged copyright infringement”. His lawyers then claimed the band had been avoiding the plagiarism lawsuit, and threatened to use a fleet of servers to follow Coldplay and serve them the papers at the Grammys.

For Satriani, the plagiarism was blatant. Martin, however, was just as surprised by the similarities between Viva La Vida and If I Could Fly. And as heat around the allegations began to intensify, Coldplay were forced to address the case publicly.

“With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations,” a statement on their website read.

“If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental and just as surprising to us as to him.

“Joe Satriani is a great musician but he did not write or have any influence on the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours.”

Coldplay drummer Will Champion also waded in on the matter, telling Australian outlet Confidential (via The Guardian) “It's so far-fetched and ridiculous, but that's about all we can say at the moment. We're waiting to see what's happening but it's frustrating and annoying… and totally unfounded.”

Coldplay asked for the case to be heard in a jury trial, but in a filing posted September 14 2009, judge Dean D Pregerson dismissed the case. He ruled that the two would “bear [their] own cost” for the litigation, with the stipulation suggesting an out-of-court settlement was reached.

After the dust settled, neither Satriani nor Coldplay addressed the case. But Martin had been adamant that there had been no wrongdoing – the similarities were coincidental.

“When these things happen it’s a coincidence and we’re as surprised by it as anybody else,” he told NME Radio. “I do feel a bit upset about it because I wrote the song. But, you know, these things happen. Whatever will be will be.”

Viva La Vida continues to be one of Coldplay's most popular hits. At the time of writing, it has amassed more than three billion streams on Spotify, and the music video on YouTube has well over one billion views.

If I Could Fly, meanwhile, ranks among Joe Satriani's most popular tracks, with 12 million streams on Spotify, and makes regular appearances in his setlists to this day.

Song copyright disputes can often be hotly contested and drawn out. Last year, Jimmy Page and Jake Holmes settled their decades-long lawsuit of Dazed and Confused.

Joe Satriani may be filling Eddie Van Halen’s shoes during the Best Of All Worlds tour with Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar, and Jason Bonham; however, he’s recently revealed that David Lee Roth tried to recruit him for a Van Halen cover band when the sorely missed guitarist was still very much alive and active.

“I remember in the mid-’90s, around ’95 or ’96, David Lee Roth called me and he wanted to put together a band to do Van Halen songs,” Satriani tells Thinking About Guitar in a new interview. “He went on and on about how we were the only guys who could really do it right.

“He had all these crazy plans, and I said, ‘But Dave, Ed’s still alive. He’s still making amazing records. He’s still on tour. What guitar player would ever try to imitate him while he’s still working?’ I said, ‘It makes no sense.’ And of course, I said, ‘Look, I’m not the guy.’”

Ultimately, Roth’s project didn’t transpire, and Satriani could breathe a sigh of relief. Following Van Halen’s death in 2020, though, the Surfing with the Alien virtuoso was once again approached for an Eddie Van Halen tribute.

“When he and Alex [Van Halen] called me after Ed had passed away, it made a little bit more sense, even though I tried to convince them I was not the person who could do it justice. I told them I had tried to avoid playing like Ed for so long that now I really couldn’t.”

He even tried to pitch a couple of other names for the job. “I called and said, ‘Really, are you sure you don’t want to call Nuno [Bettencourt] or Steve [Vai] , or someone obviously more well-suited to sound like Ed? Someone who has demonstrated playing this stuff live?’ But they were adamant that I was the only guy who was going to do it justice.”

Fast forward to 2024, and Satriani found himself joining Hagar on his Best Of All Worlds tour, which heavily celebrated his era with the legendary band.

When asked by Guitarist what it takes to tackle EVH’s parts live, he replied, “It’s all in the fingers; that really is true. We’ve heard Eddie play acoustic guitar, and it’s freakishly just as good as electric. I don’t know how he did that. I’ve seen players online get close, but there’s that magic thing that Eddie had, which was his personality and his heart. No one comes close to that.”

Elsewhere in the Guitarist interview, Satriani revealed the gear he uses to play Van Halen’s parts – and the level of dedication and practice required to nail them.

Joe Satriani has never been someone to do things by halves, so when he was tasked with honoring Eddie Van Halen in Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds tour, he knew he needed a custom amp to nail his tone.

Naturally, he went straight to the source for help, and the late virtuoso’s electric guitar techs all pointed to one person: 3rd Power’s Dylana Scott.

“Ed’s own techs said the only person that could help was this girl outta Nashville called Dylana Scott,” the amp builder tells Guitar World. “Joe called me and said, ‘Apparently I should be talking to you.’”

Satriani is a huge Van Halen fan, and he had a specific era of Eddie’s tone in mind, since he was to be playing both David Lee Roth- and Sammy Hagar-era material.

“On our first call, he said he’d been talking to Edward’s techs, Zeke Clark and Tom Weber, describing the sound he was looking for,” Scott details. “The 5150 [in 1986] tour was Ed’s last tour with the famous Marshall. He had all the candy, but it hadn’t moved into the more modern Van Halen tone.”

After conversations with Hagar, Satriani had homed in on the band’s Live Without a Net live album from that tour, because it captured such an important tonal transition and was, err, the best of both worlds of the band’s two most distinct eras.

The resulting amp – and the one that Satch has been pushing air with on the road – is the DRGN 100. To bring it to life, Scott had one request: “Let me build the perfect racecar for you to drive.”

“Did he want more horsepower at this turn, or better traction over here, or extra acceleration back there?” she posits. “I’m a big fan of his work, so I explained that I didn’t want to watch him play a covers set. I said, ‘None of us need to see you play note for note; we need you to interpret the essence of the moment while honoring the king.’

“Obviously, I had to make sure he had all the tones he needed – the intro to Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love is like taking a flint and stone to make a spark,” she adds. “It’s a two-hour set with moments that also sound creamier.

“This amp was designed to lift Joe up the whole way through, so that even someone in the last seat of the arena would feel the buzz and stand up.”

With the DRGN 100, Scott more than lived up to her reputation, with Satriani later purring that the “harmonically rich and touch-sensitive” tube amp is “my favorite new amp.”

After a raft of choice guitar mods, it was the final ingredient needed to Van Halen-ify his rig.

Elsewhere, Satriani has opened up on the failed Van Halen tribute tour that would have seen him take EVH’s place in a Roth-fronted Van Halen, and named the two guitarists he felt would have nailed the gig better than him.

Scott’s full interview can be found in the latest issue of Guitar World. Print and digital copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.

Paul Gilbert may be a virtuoso shredder, and he may have been Eddie Van Halen’s pick to teach guitar to his son, Wolfgang. However, he’s also very much aware of the importance of quality songwriting and the idea that, sometimes, less is more – and it all goes back to Todd Rundgren.

“I remember being about 22. I was teaching every day at GIT [L.A.’s Guitar Institute of Technology] and having a blast, and every day I'd come up with a new 16th note phrase,” he says on the No Cover Charge Podcast.

“Every time I'm a 16th note genius, every day I get something new, and what I realized, [is that] they all sound the same emotionally. They're the same. They're all some version of [the same time thing].”

However, his obsession with mastering 16th notes and virtuosic technique soon abated when he went to a concert that wholly changed his perception.

“With an eight-minute song, [it] completely changed my life,” he says matter-of-factly. “So Todd Rundgren [was] doing a song called Hawking. It was almost like a gospel song, a really slow tempo – all these harmony background vocals and horns, two keyboard players – and there's Lyle Workman [renowned session and touring guitarist] playing guitar.”

Although Gilbert admits that Workman “was great,” it wasn’t the guitar that truly moved him. Rather, “it was the song and the vocal and this arrangement”.

He remembers, “I was sobbing for eight minutes, and after that I was like, ‘I don't care so much about guitar solos anymore.’

“I want to write something that follows that beacon of emotion, whatever it is,” he continues. “It didn't have to be that emotion all the time, or everything I do be a crying festival, but just something moves myself and hopefully some other people.

And, speaking of stepping back from crazy guitar solos, earlier this year, Gilbert released his first album in 10 years featuring vocals, WROC, which stands for “Washington’s Rules of Civility.”

“To me, that is actually a courageous thing to do, to not go crazy all the time, and rely on the fact that it works for the song – and not have to prove yourself every single second,” he told Music Radar about practicing restraint when it comes to shredding.

Elsewhere in that same interview, he talks about the universal need for guitar players – even ones as established as himself and Joe Satriani – to prove their skills with every album.

Debate has raged across the internet about “social media guitarists” – internet-savvy whipper-snappers engaged (or so the critics say) in what amounts to a fretboard acrobatics arms race.

Then there's Australian guitarist Andrea Krakovská, who sets herself head and shoulders above the pack by combining fretboard acrobatics with, well, literal acrobatics.

An “aerial guitarist,” as she describes it, Krakovská tears it up while simultaneously performing dizzying (literally) feats of aerial choreography, often upside-down. Posted last November, her graceful version of Joe Satriani's Always With Me, Always With You has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram, and earned plaudits from Herman Li and, most significantly, the master himself.

Satch's verdict? “This just might be the most impressive (in)version of Always With Me, Always With You I’ve ever seen,” he wrote on Instagram last November. “Bravo.”

“When I had the idea to record and release my own version of Always With Me, Always With You it was of course a bit nerve-wracking,” Krakovská tells Guitar World. “I had never released a proper full cover like that before and I know how brutal guitarists on social media can be, especially when you do something differently than the original artist.

“It was always my dream for Satriani to hear the track, but of course thousands of guitarists have covered his music. I thought there’s no way it would even be on his radar.”

“When I found out that he had seen my video I was over the moon – it was all worth it for the master himself to hear it,” she continues. “When he shared the video on his social media pages a few days later it was beyond my wildest dreams.”

So, how does one even think to apply aerial arts, which have been growing in popularity, to the guitar? The Sydney, Australia-based player tells us it was a faster jump than you might think.

“It wasn't until after high school that I stumbled across aerial arts,” Krakovská tells us. “I still remember after my very first aerial class walking away thinking, ‘I am going to do that with a guitar one day.’ I then trained in aerial arts for over five years before I ever took a guitar up with me.”

Other than the leg muscles required to, you know, do the whole ‘playing upside-down while dangling in mid-air’ thing, Krakovská found that tackling complex pieces – playing for any extended time at all really – ended up being almost as challenging on the arms.

“Aside from all the obvious [challenges] like the strength required, one thing that I remember when I was starting out was the arm fatigue from having to hold my arms up while I play upside down,” she tells us.

“I hadn’t thought about it before, but when you play guitar either standing up or sitting down, gravity holds your arms down by your sides naturally, so it’s not much effort. When you flip upside-down, suddenly you have to physically hold your arms up, and I wasn’t used to that fatigue in the triceps/biceps. I used to practice at home by hanging off the edge off my bed and trying to play upside-down that way!”

Krakovská's six-string weapons of choice have long been ESPs. The first guitar she used for her routines was an LTD Horizon that she received as a joint 18th birthday gift from her school friends, who all pitched in for it. She's also partial to Eclipses, mentioning that she bought her first while on a long hunt for a new guitar – with a “shopping list” of desired specs – in Canberra.

The Eclipse was over her budget, and, ironically, didn't have any of the specs she'd originally been looking for, but once she picked it up, everything clicked.

Down the line, Krakovská's got some more covers up her sleeve. While grounded, she recently tipped her cap to one of her other major influences, Nita Strauss, with a sharply arranged version of the latter's Summer Storm, and showed her versatility by blending funk attitude and '80s-style shred heroics in a cover of, of all things, the dancefloor-pleaser, Funkytown.

Unsurprisingly, she's also a Vai acolyte, recently posting a soulful take on the master shredder's guitar-final-boss composition, Teeth of the Hydra.

Mind you, Krakovská's repertoire doesn't consist solely of covers.

“I’m actually working on my debut instrumental guitar EP,” she says. “I have two singles out already and am hoping to release the rest later this year so keep an eye out!”

• Follow Andrea Krakovská on Instagram.

The SatchVai Band recently treated fans to a spectacular jam at a show in Portland, covering two bona fide rock classics and littering them with three-part guitar harmonies and oodles of guitar solos.

The band, spearheaded by resident virtuosos Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, powered through a high octane take on Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll, before riding through Steppenwolf’s ever-cool Born to be Wild.

The show at the 2,700-capacity Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was the second date of the band's latest run, marking their first dates since last summer and their first US run.

The Surfing with the Hydra tour is now making its way across the US for the first time. Before, the SatchVai Band's only show on home soil prior to this tour was a debut gig in New York in 2024.

So, to mark the occasion, they dropped in two rock guitar staples into their encore.

Marco Mendoza handled vocals pretty damn well across the two songs, but given the context of the night, all eyes were on the fretboards of Vai, Satriani, and their well-picked third guitarist, Pete Thorn. It was the latter, after some extravagant three-part harmonies, who delivered the first solo, unleashing a flurry of hot pentatonic licks on his Suhr signature guitar.

Vai was next up, and as is to be expected, there was a little more weirdness sprinkled in, including some whammy-lavished mimicking of Robert Plant’s crooning vocal lines, all while staying faithfully in blues rock territory.

Satriani actually didn’t get his chance to strut his stuff until Born to Be Wild, and he serves up tapping and harmonic licks aplenty. It's like his time in the Best of All Worlds band is rubbing off on him.

There was also a tasty wah solo from Thorn, more screaming leads from Vai, and some dextrous arpeggios from Satch, who was seen to be rocking his EVH-coded 3rd Power Dragon amps. A nod to Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love to top it all off was a doozy, too.

The band’s first US tour sees Animals As Leaders in tow – for even more virtuosity – and a SatchVai album has been teased for the near future. They released their third single, Dancing, earlier this year, with the help of Dethklok’s Brendon Small.

As the old adage goes, comparison is the thief of joy. Even the best of us experience imposter syndrome – but, as Cory Wong and bassist to the stars, Oteil Burbridge, discuss on the Wong Notes podcast, the key is to develop, and be confident enough in, your own playing style.

“Lean into what you are,” Burbridge imparts. “That's what I do, and that's what people call me for. But when [they call] me for 'this', and now you're saying you don't want me to do 'that', I'm like, 'I think you need to get someone else.'”

Wong notes that “guitar players are very susceptible to clashing of egos, where you feel like you're against each other”.

He reflects, “Naturally, we as humans [are] sometimes like, ‘Oh, I feel threatened because of whatever.’”

He goes on to describe himself as a “late bloomer” when it came to finding himself and his own sound – a journey that has culminated in a distinct philosophy: “I'm not competing with anyone., I'm just me. There could be 10 of us soloing over the same tune. I'm like, guess what, I'm gonna give you the most me version of this thing.”

That philosophy has meant he's no longer afraid to trade leads with his heroes. Before, imposter syndrome may have got the better of him. Now, Wong embraces his own style.

“If you talked to me when I was 25 years old, I would have been frightened to take a solo after Joe Satriani,” Wong admits.

“Now it's just like, ‘Oh, Joe's gonna be Joe. I'm going to be me. There's no way I'm going to be able to do what Joe did, and he's not going to do what I'm going to do. So we're good.’ It's like we're shopping at different aisles of the grocery store here.”

As Burnbridge sums it up, “You've got to get to that place. [It's like] a whole field of flowers, they're not competing with each other – they're making it better being all together. It's more impressive.”

In more recent Wong news, the modern-day funk maestro discusses why he’s not buying the Klon hype, and why you don’t need to use a piece of gear just because somebody else uses it.

Joe Satriani has been a key figure in honoring the music of Eddie Van Halen over the past few years, but if he’d had it his way, there may have been another virtuoso carrying the torch in his place.

Back in 2022, rumors of a potential Van Halen reunion tribute tour began to circulate after Jason Newsted said he’d been approached by Alex Van Halen for a project that ultimately “fizzled” out.

Eventually, Satch would link up with Sammy Hagar for The Best of All Worlds – widely seen as the next best alternative to a Van Halen tribute tour – but before that, he was heavily involved in the ill-fated project that also featured David Lee Roth.

However, when Alex and Roth sounded out his availability for the band, Satch tried to distance himself – suggesting they instead hire Nuno Bettencourt.

As Satch explains in an interview with David J. Maloney, “It started really when Dave and Alex had called and they wanted to put together a band, and they were insisting that I was the guy to do it, and I kept saying, ‘I’m not the guy. Like, call Nuno.’

“He can really do it, and there’s thousands of kids around the world who dedicated their life to sounding exactly like Ed.”

For Satriani, stepping into a role that would focus solely on the music of Eddie Van Halen didn’t sit quite right with his own ambitions, especially since it was a sound he’d consciously worked hard to distance himself from.

“I said, ‘I’ve always tried not to sound like Ed.’ I’m a huge fan, but like I’ve tried to respect that.’ But they were insistent,” he adds of his approach. “And we rehearsed, we came really close to doing our first show, but it all kind of started to fall apart.”

That the project failed to get off the ground is well-documented. In 2024, Alex Van Halen revealed that David Lee Roth's refusal to pay tribute to Eddie Van Halen during the proposed shows meant they couldn’t go ahead.

But when it failed, Satch fielded another call from another former Van Halen member – but the outline was different.

“When it seemed like what was going on in the family and the band members was getting really out of hand, Sam called,” Satriani continues.

“And he surprised me by saying, ‘Look, I know this: you've been going through this thing with those guys, and it’s insane and everything. How about if we did a retrospective tour – not an Eddie Van Halen tribute thing, but where we get to do Montrose, Hagar, Chickenfoot, my stuff… even some David Lee Roth-era Van Halen?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, that could [work].’”

It’s not the first time Satch recommended a player for a high-profile guitar gig. Earlier this month, he revealed he’d put Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal’s name forward for the Guns N’ Roses gig after hearing Axl Rose was on the hunt for Buckethead’s replacement.

Elsewhere in his chat with Maloney, Satriani opened up on the hand injury that forced him to find new ways to play his songs.

Joe Satriani has opened up about the time he was forced to find new ways of playing the guitar after a hand injury left him fearing his shredding days were over.

Hand injuries are an inevitable occupational hazard for guitar players, especially for those who play at high speeds. Just ask Steve Vai, who had surgery for trigger finger and was forced to play with just one hand while he recovered.

Satriani also knows first-hand just how impactful these injuries can be. As he explains in a new interview with The Weekly Show with David J. Maloney, Satch was required to effectively relearn how to play the guitar after one of his original tracks pushed his hand strength to the limit.

“I wrote this song called Shockwave Supernova that had this really funny part where I had to stretch,” he explains. “And there are these tendons [in the hand] and the fourth one [along the pinky] is the weakest one.

“And I'd written this song, and like the crazy guitar playing idiot that I am, I probably played it for 12 hours a day until I got the perfect sound. And I didn't think anything of it. Usually when you make records, you work on a song until it's done, then you forget, then you work on the next song.

“Six months later, you find yourself on stage and you go, ‘How did I do that? Oh, that's right.’ It wound up as the first song of the show for this tour, and I realized I never really practiced it after I'd finished recording it.

“I started to play it, and after about two weeks on tour, I'd wake up in the morning and I wouldn't be able to move my pinky. I’d think, ‘Oh, is this the end?’

“I didn't know what to do, and so every night on tour was this cathartic process of not being able to move the finger, and then finally getting it to move, and then getting through the show and having the pain.”

After braving it out for the entire tour, Satriani sought out some help from a specialist. A thorough massage helped solve the problem, but to prevent future issues Satch had to find a new way to play Shockwave Supernova – and more.

“My chiropractor just spent an hour massaging my hand, and it solved the problem. And he said, ‘There's nothing wrong. It was just tight from doing something. Whatever it was, don't do that.’

“So I realized I have to learn how to do a lot of my things differently, because I hadn't thought that I may have written something unnatural for my body, and that it was just going to get worse if I kept doing it like that.

“I literally had to relearn so many songs with different fingerings on different strings, and it was a great process. In the end, I wish it hadn't happened, but it opened me up to a different way of getting around the fingerboard.”

In related Satch news, the Surfing with the Alien shredder recently revealed he once recommended Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal for the Guns N’ Roses gig.

Joe Satriani has looked back on the time he recommended Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal for the Guns N’ Roses gig – after hearing Axl Rose was on the look out for the “craziest guitar player ever” to join the band.

In 2006, Guns N’ Roses were on the hunt for a new electric guitar player, following the departure of Buckethead two years earlier. They didn’t just want any ol’ guitarist to step in and fill the role, though – they needed someone who could match their outgoing bandmate for both ability and eccentricity.

When Satriani caught wind of this search via producer Eric Cadieux, he knew exactly who to put up for the job.

“One day [Eric] calls up and he says that Axl is looking for the craziest guitar player ever. It was one of the things that he was demanding,” Satch recalls in a new interview on the Appetite For Distortion podcast.

“And I think they already had Buckethead, and I was thinking, 'Who would I recommend? Who's the craziest and the best?' And I knew there was only one guy. It had to be Ron Thal – Bumblefoot.”

As Satch explains in the interview, he’d crossed paths with Bumblefoot years earlier, after a rather unfortunate communication error involving comments made in the press prompted the two virtuosos to smooth over the misunderstanding with an onstage jam.

Satch, unsurprisingly, was blown away by Bumblefoot’s abstract and expansive playing ability. He believed he would be perfect for Buckethead’s replacement.

He continues, “Ron came to my mind, and I said, 'Eric, you have to get this guy Ron Thal into Axl's band. And tell Axl that there's no one else who can stand next to Buckethead and look even stranger and play just as good,' because they're two premier guitar players.”

Satriani’s recommendation was taken on board, and he was given the green light to break the news of an audition to Bumblefoot himself.

“My conversation with Ron was pretty funny, because the last thing he expected was me to call him and say, 'How would you like to audition for Guns N' Roses?' He had accepted, I think, the fact that he was just the oddest guitar player.

“[He never thought] that the most accepted rock band at the moment was ever going to be calling him for an audition. But he did it anyway, I think as an experiment in life, just to see how much fun it would be. And he got the gig, because he was himself. And I think Axl could see right away he's a genius.”

Speaking about receiving Satch’s recommendation for the Guns N’ Roses gig, Bumblefoot once recalled to Guitar World, “He mentioned to me that he had dropped my name to someone in the Guns N’ Roses camp because they were looking for a new guy to replace Buckethead.

“He wanted me to know that if anyone from Guns got in touch it wasn’t a joke. And soon after that I heard from [GNR keyboardist] Chris Pitman.”

Bumblefoot ended up becoming a key part of the GNR legacy, contributing to Chinese Democracy and remaining a part of the touring band until his departure in 2014.

When Guitar World scheduled an interview with Dethklok mastermind Brendon Small, we had no idea that a few hours prior, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai had premiered their latest SatchVai music video, for their new single, Dancing.

In the comical clip, Small portrays a misguided manager who tries to convince the guitarists of the importance of “motion” and “energy,” which leads to a series of auditions by a wave of impressive dancers as the duo perform in a school gymnasium.

The video isn’t Small’s first collaboration with Satriani and Vai, as both served as guest voice actors on Small’s cult animated TV series, Metalocalypse. Since then, Small explains, both guitarists have proceeded to serve as mentors.

“When I was discovering guitar, Flying In A Blue Dream was about to come out and Passion and Warfare had just come out, so I was in guitar heaven,” Small says.

“Joe's music is so creative, and his [sense of] harmony and melody are so strong. I think he's one of the great songwriters, and I could say the same thing for Steve. It felt like they were playing these kind of dream melodies in this dream universe.”

Years later, Small met the pair at a Guitar Player-sponsored competition (“they put me on as the funny guy at a dais, where I would just make jokes the whole time”), where they “became very friendly, very easily, very quickly,” he says. Soon after, Satriani left an indirect stamp on Dethklok’s music.

“Joe actually helped me find guitar sounds for Dethalbum II,” Small explains. “I had just finished Dethalbum I and was working on Dethalbum II, and he said, ‘Where are you at with the process?’ I go, ‘Well, I’ve run out of studio time, so I'm doing overdubs from my home studio.’ He goes, ‘What are you using to record the guitar?’ I said, ‘I'm using my Line 6 POD,’ and he goes, ‘I’ve got something that may work better.’

“He asked me for my address, and he sent me two things in the mail,” Small continues. “One was his new distortion pedal, the Satchurator, and he [also] sent me his old Palmer cabinet simulator, because I didn't have an amp mic room or anything. And he said, ‘Get this stuff set up, and then give me a call.’

“Later, I found myself on the phone with Joe Satriani, and he's kind of giving me tech support and showing me, like, ‘Hey, this filter knob – that's going to be your best friend,’” Small continues.

“Steve Vai has done similar things for me. Both of them have been mentors to me in many different ways – musically, business-wise, financially, all kinds of stuff. Steve gives such great advice, and so does Joe. Joe's a natural teacher, and so is Steve.”

While Small says he had a blast filming the Dancing video, his favorite moments on set were off-camera.

“There's a lot of downtime on a video set – they're shooting all these dancers and everything – so we were huddled in a corner just talking the whole time,” he says. “For me, it was one of the most glorious days because there are my two guitar heroes, and we're just talking about the inner game of guitar the whole time.

“It's really funny, because in the world that I've kind of carved out for myself – which is part-time producer/director/writer, and then part-time musician – while I'm doing one, the other atrophies. So while I'm directing a movie or something, my guitar playing is just kind of going, like, ‘All right – you're on hold. I'll get back to you in a while.’

“I noticed that some parts of my guitar playing had atrophied over the years, and some parts had gotten better,” Small explains. “I took a lesson last year with Jason Richardson, and [as] I sat with Joe and Steve, I talked about how I kind of took my guitar-playing apart and cleaned the engine and put it back together again. They were very curious about that – ‘How does that work? How are your muscles working?’

“I'm talking to these guys who are kind of the statesmen of the entire guitar industry, and they're giving me really great advice. Steve Vai’s giving me posture advice. All this stuff, I'm taking in like a sponge, because it's a different game of guitar. It's the mental game of guitar, and Steve had a lot to say about that, and so did Joe. That day was pretty amazing.”

The complete Guitar World interview with Small – whose band Dethklok will soon join forces with Swedish viking metal warriors Amon Amarth on the North American “Amonklok Conquest” tour – will be published in the coming weeks.

It’s been 10 years since a Paul Gilbert album featured vocals, and the stalwart shredder says he’s back behind the mic because it helps him resist the urge to litter his music with too many backflips and arpeggios.

He's released four albums since 2016's I Can Destroy, including an acrobatic Dio tribute, and the most virtuosic Christmas album we're likely ever going to hear. For a guitarist whose reputation has been on testing the limits of what the electric guitar can do, he admits it's far too easy to get carried away.

“It was funny, I did a [guitar] camp once with Joe Satriani, and he said something like, ‘Every time I do an album, I feel like the first song I have to prove that I can play guitar,’” Gilbert tells MusicRadar. “And he said, ‘I don’t like that. I wish I could let that go. But it’s just really hard!’ I thought, ‘I know exactly what you mean.’”

Gilbert understands the one-upmanship of guitar solos; there’s a fierce competitiveness that comes with the territory. On his new album, WROC (Washington’s Rules of Civility), he’s trying to show a little restraint.

“There’s this athletic element where you want to prove that you can still swim – like you’re [23x Olympic medalist] Michael Phelps, ‘I can still swim just as fast as I did when I was 22!’” he laughs.

“That’s a hard thing to resist. And obviously, there are a lot of places where I didn’t resist and went crazy.”

For evidence of him behaving himself on the album, he points to his U2-coded solo on Orderly and Distinctly, which sees “playing a three-note melody over and over again,” rather than treating his trusty Ibanez Fireman guitar – complete with a slide magnet – as if it owes him money.

As someone who has been teaching guitar for decades, he understands the sex appeal of shred. But he also wants to instil the right mindset into his students.

Speaking to Guitar World in 2024, he explained: “Whenever a guitar student of mine brings up BPMs, I’m like, ‘Oh no!’ That mindset is not a musical mindset. That’s the wrong door to get in the building!”

3rd Power has introduced the MagFRAG pickup system – a potentially game-changing new evolution that gives players unprecedented control over their gain staging.

The tube amp specialist, which has previously built amps for the likes of Joe Satriani, unveiled the latest edition of its proprietary system at NAMM last month. First launched back in 2017, the updated MagFRAG humbuckers and single-coils look to push the boundaries of modern pickup engineering and design.

It is true we are living in a golden age of guitar pickups. Over the past 10 years there has been a huge leap forward in pickup tech, which all started when Fishman launched its flagship Fluence Modern humbuckers back in 2014.

At the time, Guitar World hailed the Fluence system as “the first truly new electric guitar pickup system design in more than 80 years”. MagFRAG – an accessible passive pickup design – is aiming to be equally influential in the passive pickup sphere.

In essence, MagFRAG pickups use a multi-magnet platform design to give players intentional control over how and where gain is created. That means they utilize a string-specific magnet voicing – for example, alnico II, V and beyond – to improve “clarity, balance and dynamic response”, unlike conventional pickups, which use a single magnet bar at their core.

As 3rd Power puts it, MagFRAG isn’t about “chasing vintage replication”. It’s about pushing the boundary. It’s a new approach to the “modern tone ecosystem”, homing in on a player’s touch while preserving musical feel “across a wide range of gain structures”.

MagFRAG was originally designed as a high-resolution interface between a guitar and amp, but later became a pickup system that has since been rolled out through two distinct families: PraXIS and Drive.

The PraXIS Series is about transparency and dynamics. PraXIS Reveal, made from a low-mass coil architecture, prioritizes touch sensitivity and clarity over output, meaning gain can be shaped at the pedalboard or amp stages. It also means every nuance of the player’s hands and instrument remains intact.

Elsewhere, PraXIS Reference offers a more full-range voice said to be more suitable for “modern electric guitar”, while Reference+ offers increased output and ‘push’.

There’s also the MagFRAG Drive Series, made up of Drive and Drive Studio pickups. The first is voiced to engage the front end of an amp with responsive saturation and bumped mids without excessive compression, while the latter offers an unpotted configuration for more controlled microphonics, enhanced “harmonic bloom” and “studio-grade responsiveness”.

A pickup system that lets you intentionally and deliberately choose where your gain staging comes from sounds like a neat idea, and the multi-magnet design seemingly offers a fresh take on conventional passive pickup design.

In the provided diagrams, for example, there are three distinct types of magnet used in one pickup, which will no doubt have an interesting effect on overall tone and behaviour.

These are a new development and a significant departure from conventional passive pickup design.

“MagFRAG is about intent,” said Dylana Nova Scott, Founder and Chief Designer of 3rd Power Amplification. “Where you choose to shape gain should be a musical decision. The MagFRAG Pickup System gives players clear, purpose-built tools to decide whether that happens at the guitar, the pedalboard, or the amplifier.”

Like any new development, though, it will be interesting to see just how revolutionary the MagFRAGs can be when it rolls out. For example, how effective the MagFRAGs are at differentiating gain stages in practice – ie, whether the gain comes from a pedalboard or amplifier – remains to be seen.

No doubt we’ll see plenty of demo videos in the near future, though, so keep your eyes peeled on 3rd Power for future updates.

Jethro Tull are one of prog’s most uncompromising acts, one of its trailblazers, the band who give blues-rock an evolutionary push and shove into more adventurous terrain, seeking out the wide-open sonic pastures of English folk, applying classical flourishes, following their musical curiosity to see where it might take them.

But for co-founder and vocalist/flautist/acoustic guitar player Ian Anderson, that musical curiosity has to be reined in a little when it comes to lead guitar.

When recording Jethro Tull’s latest studio LP, Curious Ruminant – an album that finds Jack Clark officially making his debut on electric guitar – Anderson admits he gave Clark some advice on what to do and, just as importantly, what not to do when taking a solo in the studio.

In a recent interview with Louder, Anderson said Clark knew the value of restraint when it came to guitar solos.

“Turns out Jack’s a really good lead player, too,” says Anderson. “On this record he impressed me with intelligent, measured guitar solos, which have lots of semi-quavers in the right places, but Jack’s not afraid to hang on a note, either.”

For Anderson, restraint in lead guitar goes a long way. Or, in other words, he isn’t looking for technical audacity.

“That was something I impressed upon him when he first joined,” he says. “‘If you have a 16-bar guitar solo, please don’t turn into Yngwie Malmsteen or Joe Satriani.’”

Clark would no doubt have been aware of his brief already. He has been involved with Jethro Tull for some time now, filling in on keys and guitar.

“This is Jack’s first LP with us, but he had already played with Jethro Tull a number of times,” says Anderson. “He stood in for David Goodier when David was having surgery, and then for John O’Hara, covering some of his keyboard ground, but on second guitar.”

In other words. Clark knew what he was getting into. But Anderson – whether wild-eyed and hopping on one leg with a flute in his mouth, or in the control room overseeing a take – nonetheless knows what he wants from a guitarist, and he is a man who believes in speaking plainly.

Does he think about the idea of Curious Ruminent, an album that is freighted with his introspections, as a career milestone? “Not really,” he tells Louder. “It’s just a collection of songs, in the same way that Aqualung was a collection of songs.”

Anderson might have vetoed the technical ecstasies of Satriani and Malmsteen’s lead styles, but some of Jethro Tull’s greatest lead guitar moments have come under the influence of the hottest players in guitar at the time.

Take 1971’s Aqualung, which features one of the greatest – if not the greatest – solos in Jethro Tull history from Martin Barre. Speaking to Guitarist in 2025, Barre explained how Leslie West of Mountain inspired his tone.

“I’d met Leslie West, and like a lot of guitar players, you couldn’t meet Leslie West and come out unscathed,” he said. “I loved him to bits. I loved his playing, I loved his presence. And I loved Mountain.

“Everything about them was a learning curve. Not just the guitar playing but everything about their arrangements. So, like a lot of people, I bought a Gibson Les Paul Junior because Leslie had one.”

Barre used his Junior and a Fender Stratocaster, both from 1958, plugged them into a Hiwatt and let the amp do the heavy lifting.

“It was simple – no pedals, nothing,” said Barre. “Just a guitar into the amp – and off you go.”

NAMM 2026: Ibanez reliably stuck to NAMM tradition by showcasing a load of new signature guitars at this year’s show, giving Nili Brosh’s first-ever artist electric guitar its long-awaited debut.

Talk of Ibanez going into the show was focused mostly on the Alpha series – which nods to Tosin Abasi’s guitar designs – but the majority of eyeballs on the show floor were trained on the ‘Wall of Fame’ signature display, which offered new axes Brosh, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Kiko Loureiro and more.

We’ll be as impartial as possible, but Brosh’s is our favorite of the lot. That purple finish? Those yellow EMG pickups? Those exclamation mark inlays?! From top to bottom, it’s a sensational signature, one that puts the virtuoso’s spin on the classic RG template.

It’s been a long time coming, too. Back in 2022, the long-time Ibanez endorser revealed she’d worked on a custom shop model that was later played on stage alongside Danny Elfman. It’s been one of her main touring guitars since, with fans calling for a signature release.

This is slightly different from the OG custom model, with a deeper finish and purple inlays, instead of yellow. Still, it retains that distinct Brosh vibe, and leads the charge for the rest of Ibanez’s 2026 signature line.

“My thing basically was, you don’t see too many RG signature models these days,” Brosh told Guitar World. “I’ve always been an RG player so that’s something I felt like made sense for me.

“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here. It’s a workhorse that I’ve been using for everything that I do.”

The line also includes an official racing stripe-adorned signature for JB Brubaker, new-look models for Nita Strauss, Joe Satriani and Kiko Loureiro, and an extraordinarily styled Gold Flame PIA for Steve Vai.

Ibanez has gone big on visuals this year, it seems. The Gold Flame PIA has specially tailored pickup covers and inlays, while Satch’s Cherry Sunburst model puts a vintage spin on his usually Sci-Fi-esque six-string.

The Ruby Red Sunburst Flat finish of Loureiro’s KIKO300RRT, meanwhile, is very nice on the eyes, as is Strauss’ appropriately named Torch Red JIVA.

While we’re on the topic of visuals, we should also give a shout to Ibanez’s limited-edition RG, which celebrates 250 years of the USA with a very tasty blue, red and white art-style splash finish.

None of these models have been put on the Ibanez website just yet, but GW was able to get up close and personal with each of the models while scouring the Anaheim Convention Center for gear.

It’s only a matter of time before they do go live on the site, though, so keep your eyes peeled on Ibanez for more info when it lands.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai's maiden European tour as the SatchVai Band this past June and July was a milestone moment for the guitar world.

Now, the two are bringing their band to the States for a new leg of the aptly-titled Surfing with the Hydra tour in April and May 2026, with Animals as Leaders as support on all dates.

Speaking about the two’s first-ever collaborative States-wide tour, Vai says, “The SatchVai Band summer Euro tour of 2025 far exceeded anything I could have imagined. Joe and I struck pure jammin’ gold night after night.

“Being in the same band with Joe, playing songs we actually wrote together on stage, in real time, felt like watching a childhood fantasy step out of my teenage brain and stroll onto the stage. And somehow, it was even more rewarding, satisfying, and downright fulfilling than I ever thought possible.”

Alongside Satriani and Vai, the lineup is rounded out by drummer Kenny Aronoff, bassist Marco Mendoza, and guitarist Pete Thorn. They will not only be performing the collaborative releases the duo have put out so far, but also new material from a forthcoming Satch/Vai album and favorites from the pair’s prolific catalog.

Pre-sale tickets for the tour have just kicked off today with an Artist Presale, followed by local pre-sales tomorrow (December 11) and public on-sales on December 12.

For more information, head to the SatchVai Band's official website.

Earlier this year, the electric guitar titans released their sophomore collaborative single, the ’70s-flavored I Wanna Play My Guitar, with Glenn Hughes on vocals, which continued to tease what fans can expect from their upcoming album.

Stevie Salas has backed up Rod Stewart, started a guitar trend via Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and was asked to join both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar’s bands. But he doesn’t take any of it too seriously.

“I like to surround myself with super talent,” he tells Guitar World. “I always like to be the shittiest guy in the room – that makes me learn more and become better.”

Salas picks out his early ‘90s opening slot with Joe Satriani as a significant learning experience.

“I stole a lot of shit from Joe!” he admits. “But when I do it, it doesn’t sound like him; it sounds like me. I couldn’t do it when was there, but I was able to watch.”

While he’s promoting the reissue of his 1994 album, Back from the Living, his calling card remains the frenzied work from Bill & Ted. He didn’t like it when it arrived in 1989 – but he’s warmed to it now.

“A year ago I was with Keanu Reeves, and we talked about the third movie,” Salas says.

“I told him, ‘I’ve done a lot of amazing things, but when I die people will say, ‘That’s the guy who did Bill & Ted!’ He started laughing – we all feel like, ‘I don’t want to be known as the guy that did Bill & Ted.’ But it’s been an insane blessing – young guys are always like, ‘You’re the guy that did Bill & Ted!’ So there you go!”

Early on you rubbed elbows with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, and eventually started working with producer David Kirschenbaum.

I left San Diego in ’85 after I got out of school and spent a couple of years rocking out with my band. My band was pretty good, but I didn’t think it was going to make it. I quit and moved to LA in 1985.

I was living in someone’s house with my next band, Color Code. We all got kicked out, and I was homeless from August to September ’85. Then I met George Clinton in the studio, and Terry Costa, wife of Don Costa, who produced Sinatra and Elvis. They let me live in their house in Beverly Hills. I was living in a rock star pad, but I had no money!

In ’87, David Kirschenbaum called me, because he knew I’d worked with George and Bootsy. At the time rap was very new; I was a big fan of Eddie Martinez’s playing with Run-DMC, and I was kind of emulating his funk-rock thing.

Someone said to David, “This kid knows about rap music.” I really didn’t, but I told him I did! So I became a producer for David at a studio called Power Tracks.

How did you end up working on movie soundtracks?

I met a Motown arranger named Gene Page, who told me about two African American boys called West Coast Posse, these badass rappers. There was this movie called Big Shots, about two black kids who steal a car and go across the country on an adventure.

They said, “We need some rap music.’ I said, ‘I can do it!’ and I went into the studio with these two kids. We created this song called Put On the Brakes. Atlantic Records loved it and released it as a 12-inch single.

That led to the next movie, Action Jackson. They needed another rap song, so I called the West Coast Posse kids and cut a song called Protect and Serve. That was another Atlantic 12-inch – and all of a sudden I’m the expert on hip-hop in LA, but only because no one in LA really knew shit about it. It was all being done in New York.

Is that what led to your memorable guitar solo at the end of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure?

David said, “Stevie, I need your help. There's this movie about these two kids who play guitar and want to be in a rock band, but they don’t know how to play, and they go on this history trip. They put a score down for the movie, but there’s no guitar at all. They want you to redo the whole movie over the score.”

So that was unusual, but it was dope. Once the movie was done, I forgot all about it and moved on. I got a call from David, who said, “The Bill & Ted movie is coming out, but the ending isn’t testing well.” I was like, “I don’t even know what that means!” I was a stupid fucking kid! He goes, “They’re gonna reshoot the end and they want some kind of guitar solo.”

What do you remember about recording the solo in a scene with George Carlin?

I drove to this house in the Palisades. They had the whole Bill & Ted setup in the garage, and Keanu and Alex Winter were there. Everyone thought I was a big shot, so they had me share a trailer with George! He told me stories all night; it was one of the most amazing nights of my life.

So they called me up to the set with George, and we’re wearing matching outfits. They stood me up on this crate, handed me a guitar, and Keanu, Alex, and the two girls were standing in front of me.

I said, “What do you want me to do?” The director, Stephen Herek, said, “Just play something crazy!” I wasn’t plugged in, and I knew it was a comedy, so the first thing I did was hit the A chord like it was Eruption. Then, I just started spazzing out with my fingers!

So the solo wasn’t premeditated.

No – I just started moving in the most unorthodox, weird way all over the fucking place. I was trying to be funny, playing air guitar, and you couldn’t hear anything. My fingers were going bananas and everyone goes, “That’s great! That’s perfect, thanks!”

A couple of days later I got the cut. I went into Power Tracks and used a Rock Tron, which made these really cool pre-amps that you could plug into a pro-gap, like a yellow Bass overdrive. Joel Dantzig from Hamer sent me an amazing Tele-shaped Hamer, so I had that guitar. All I did was follow my hands – I hit the A chord and followed my fingers the best I could. It sounded ridiculous to me, which I thought it was supposed to.

I got the gig with Rod Stewart after I’d done it. I took off on a world tour, and when I went to see the film I thought it was the worst, crappiest film I’ve ever seen in my life! I was super-embarrassed. But somehow that guitar solo became part of the franchise.

Tongue-in-cheek as it was, you started a trend that Steve Vai and Tosin Abasi followed.

The next movie came out and Steve Vai was the guitar guy. And then the third one came out and Tosin Abasi did it. It became this rite of passage to be the guitar guy in Bill & Ted, which is really weird!

In the early ‘90s you opened for Joe Satriani. What was that like?

A fucking nightmare! I was managed by Bill Graham, and by then I was hot shit, playing on big records and going on MTV. I was the guy in LA, I’d just gotten this huge gig with Rod Stewart, and then I signed the biggest recording contract Island had ever given a new artist.

I made my album – the Colorcode album with Bill Laswell – and Bill Graham said, “We should put you on tour with Joe Satriani,” because they also managed Joe. I was up for it, but I was scared shitless because everybody who went on tour with Joe got booed off the stage. You can ask him!

Satriani really wanted me to do it and I wanted to go back on tour. But I’d just finished with Rod Stewart, where we were playing 20,000-seaters, with mostly women in the crowd. Now I was going out with Satriani with 5,000 people a night, and it was all dudes. They would just stare at your hands, and I’d never taken a lesson – I just play.

So I was like, “This is going to be gnarly,” and I was scared shitless. But in the end it was one of the greatest things I ever did. I got standing ovations every night!

What’s the biggest lesson you learned from Satch?

Joe was so good to me. He was really bummed when I had to leave because my European label wanted me to do a more alternative tour. He never tried to shut me down – he’d sit up the front watching me.

He’d measure the volume every night of what the amp was doing, and it had to be the same. Then he’d measure the volume of the monitors, and they had to be the same too. He’d measure between the monitor and his amp to be exactly the same, no matter how big the stage. At soundcheck, he’d hit a note, walk around, and put an “X” on the stage.

During the shows he’d go over to that spot, hold that note, and the crowd would go crazy. He’d worked all that out – he knew exactly how it was going to sustain forever and do that shit. That was a big thing I learned.

In 1994, you made Back From the Living, which has built a cult following.

I went from being this cult guitar player with tons of dudes who’d show up to see me play to having a ton of chicks in the audience! I shot the photos for the album in New York with a Vogue photographer. It sounds corny, but she made me look beautiful!

Suddenly I had all these chicks piling in to listen to me play. That album never caught on in America, but it was number one in other countries. It was life-changing for me; it made me rich. I got this multi-million-dollar contract where I kept all the money!

Steve Lukather lived up the street from me, and he asked, “Where’s Stevie getting all that money – is he a drug dealer?” I swear to God! But that album changed my life in the most amazing way. I was just trying to blend James Brown and Jimi Hendrix; that was my thing.

Is it true that both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar asked you to join their bands?

Sammy called me two days after he got fired from Van Halen, and David Lee Roth called me after Steve Vai left. I might be the only guitar player in the world who was called by two Van Halen singers!

Why didn’t you take the gigs?

I was a huge Van Halen fan. When I was with Rod Stewart I got to meet Eddie Van Halen, and we became friends. I was a Van Halen nut – but when Roth called me, I thought somebody was taking the piss! He talked to me for about an hour, but he kind of sounded like he was out of his mind.

He was talking about making a blues album, like B.B. King. I’m thinking, “What am I doing?” I didn’t like where Dave was going. I didn’t like [Roth's 1988] Skyscraper album, and I just didn’t think it was what I wanted to do.

With Hagar, I was a Montrose fanatic. He called me, flew me to San Francisco, picked me up himself in his Porsche, and I stayed at his house. We started to write together. I wanted to write a Montrose album, and he wanted to write an album more like the Eagles – and I hate the Eagles!

No disrespect, but that didn’t work for me. Plus, I still had a recording contract, and Back From the Living was blowing up in Europe. So I played on his album, but I couldn’t commit to the tour.

What’s next for you?

Well, I’m 100 years old now, so I don’t know! But Deko has been talking to me about rereleasing my shit – so I’m kind of letting people rediscover my old shit like it’s new shit. In 2006, I started producing television; I’m still writing and producing movies and TV now. But I’ll still do music stuff if it’s something that’s good and interesting.

• The reissue of Back From the Living is on sale now.

Drawing inspiration from Zen Buddhism, queer history and Bob Dylan to Jaco Pastorious and beyond, Agriculture have long been interested in exploring joy amid suffering.

“If you’re in a forest, you can’t see all the water underground, nourishing these beautiful trees,” says guitarist Dan Meyer. “Joy is the underground source of life in the forest of extreme metal!”

He believes his band’s sophomore LP The Spiritual Sound is heavier than what’s gone before. Guitarist and producer Richard Chowenhill explains why: “While we were making the record in my LA studio, the wildfires were only a couple of miles away.

“The presidential election results, the fires and everything else come through in the music.”

Meyer, Chowenhill and bassist Leah Levinson – who have released new music every year since they started out – tell Guitar World about their latest activities.

What’s unique about your current setup?

Meyer: “The dad of one of my guitar students offered to make me my dream guitar as a wedding present. It has a slimmer SG neck on a Jazzmaster-style body, minus all the bells and whistles up the top. The real trick is that it’s fitted with Thunderbird bass pickups. I never play anything else anymore.”

Chowenhill: “I got my EVH Wolfgang in a trade when I lived in Boston, fitted with custom overwound pickups. They’re a little bit hotter so they really scream, and they fill the spectrum nicely with Dan’s bass pickups. I have the hardtail – I love a whammy, but with all the tuning changes, it’s perfect.

“The special thing is the asymmetrical neck profile. You get that nice C-neck feeling, but it’s slightly thinner behind the treble strings.”

How do you balance the tone of two heavy guitars and a five-string bass?

Levinson: “I used a rare Music Man Sabre on the album, but my Ibanez for touring has a very focused, even sound. So, I split the signal after my tuner and noise gate, send that into an MXR Poly Blue Octave that’s two octaves up, then that goes into a Big Muff, which I blend with my clean tone.

“That’s gated, then goes into a Darkglass Microtubes preamp for the scooped mids Ampeg sound. It makes space for Richard and Dan. I usually have the treble knob on my bass cranked to get the articulation coming through.”

Meyer: “One of the tricky things working with blast beats is getting a lightness in texture so the tremolo-picked harmonies balance the heaviness. But Leah’s bass rig and my bass pickups give us the nimbleness we need harmonically. It provides our heaviness, even though we’re almost never dropping down.”

How do you translate this meticulously thought-out studio sound for live shows?

Chowenhill: “We use to tour with 6505+ heads and Randall Diavolo 4x12s. But about a year and a half ago we switched over to digital; it’s convenient for travelling but also minimizes the variance in sound between venues. Dan has a Line 6 Helix, and I’ve got one running through an Orange Pedal Baby with presets for every song on the record ready to go.”

Meyer: “Especially in heavy metal, the live show should be different from the recording. Richard spends an enormous amount of time putting in ear candy on the record to make it a really pleasurable and engaging listening experience.

“The Helix allows us to control as much as we can, but people aren’t coming to shows to hear us play the highest-fidelity set ever; it’s to be part of a really special and joyful experience.”

What do you hope to achieve on your upcoming US tour?

Levinson: “We played Chicago with Chat Pile the night Trump was elected. I was at the merch table all night and it was easy to forget about the election. Extreme music expresses hardship and suffering, but we’re reaching towards joy. We know shit is going on, but we’re working to be present right now.”

Meyer: “Joy is an appropriate response to suffering, which is a little counterintuitive. It’s important to bear witness to the horrors, but not get mired in them. The fantasy of eternal bliss – ‘all night, love you forever, never going to give you up’ – appears over and over in pop music. We’re at a perpendicular angle to that: ‘The joy is going to stop, but here it is!’”

Chowenhill: “Community is huge and I love demonstrating that on stage. Each of us has our own look and sound, but we’re all together and love each other. I hope that transmits as an invitation to the audience.”

Richard, could you tell us more about the picture with Joe Satriani you posted on social media?

Chowenhill: “I was thrilled to run into him backstage when we played Hellfest. As a kid, I’d spent so long listening to him, reading his columns and checking out his Live in San Francisco DVD from the library.

“He’s one of those players, along with Van Halen, Alexi Laiho, Steve Vai, Petrucci and Bettencourt, who all have the chops and cool technique – but Satriani was an early one for me.”

Now The Spiritual Sound is done, do you already have plans for what comes next? Will you be keeping to your prolific schedule?

Meyer: “We’re getting back in the studio in three hours! We’re already writing for the next record. It really feels limitless. We’ve poked fun at genre, calling ourselves ‘ecstatic black metal’ – beyond that, we’ll be guided by wherever our ears take us.”

• The Spiritual Sound is on out now via The Flenser.

Sammy Hagar's Best of All World tour is making its way to the UK, with an arena tour kicking off on July 4, 2026. The Red Rocker will be joined by his all-star lineup consisting of Joe Satriani, Van Halen's Michael Anthony, and renowned session drummer Kenny Aronoff.

It's Hagar's first UK tour since 1996 and one which celebrates his five-decade-plus catalog, including a healthy dose of Van Halen. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will also be joining as special guests, alongside opening act JAYLER.

“I can’t wait to cross the Atlantic with the Best of All Worlds Band,” comments Hagar. “Fans in the UK and Europe have waited a long time – and so have I!”

The supergroup is set to take the stage at Manchester’s AO Arena on July 4, followed by BP Pulse Live in Birmingham on July 5, Leeds’ First Direct Bank Arena on July 7, and finally, the O2 Arena in London on July 9.

Last year's US Best of All Worlds tour saw Satriani tackle some tasty Eddie Van Halen solos – a role that the virtuoso hasn't taken lightly. In fact, Satriani switched up his rig to make sure that it could capture Van Halen's iconic tone, even calling it “a different animal.”

“My rig doesn't work because my live rig is designed so that I can play above the 12th fret on the first strings and still have everything sound fat,” he told Guitar World. “I realized there's no way to play the Van Halen stuff on my rig.”

Elsewhere, Satriani also discussed his years-long search for the quintessential Van Halen tone, which will be on full display during the upcoming Best of All Worlds dates.

Tickets for the UK leg of the tour go on sale this Friday (October 31) at 10 am BST/5 am ET. For more information, visit Sammy Hagar's official website.

Founded in Japan all the way back in 1957, with roots stretching to the Hoshino Gakki company in 1908, Ibanez stands today as one of the key players in the guitar market.

The brand has always been synonymous with high quality – so much so, in fact, that there’s even a now-collectable ‘lawsuit’ period of instruments from a time when American brands felt threatened by their Eastern imitators.

And while it’s easy to think of Ibanez as a company that’s at the cutting edge of metal machines for the modern age, it's also innovated much further afield: producing timeless acoustics, semi-hollows, and hollowbody instruments – not forgetting, of course, some of the world’s best-selling overdrive pedals in the Tube Screamer series. Which is exactly why this list of the 25 most important Ibanez players crosses through various genres and styles.

It's become the go-to brand for all kinds of players, from original jazz cats like George Benson and fusion pioneers like Pat Metheny to acoustic renegades like Jon Gomm and Marcin and modern trailblazers like Nita Strauss and Yvette Young.

Steve Vai

Could Steve Vai be the most quintessential Ibanez player of them all?

After all, it was his first JEM signature in 1987 that inspired the RG series, which quickly became a bestseller for the company. And then just a few years later, his Universe signatures made history as the world’s first mass-produced seven-string electric.

More importantly, however, Vai ended up cementing his name as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, from his stints with Frank Zappa, Whitesnake, and David Lee Roth and game-changing solo records like Passion And Warfare, Real Illusions: Reflections, and his latest instrumental masterpiece, Inviolate.

Joe Satriani

How many guitarists can say they taught the likes of Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, and Alex Skolnick? Joe Satriani is truly one of a kind in that sense, but more significantly, he took rock guitar to new heights with the double Grammy-nominated album, Surfing With The Alien, and continued to innovate on the releases that followed, most notably Flying In A Blue Dream and The Extremist.

The legato-loving legend has also been prolific as a collaborator, having conquered arenas as part of Mick Jagger’s band and Deep Purple, as well as starting the G3 supergroup alongside Steve Vai. More recently, he’s been busy working with ex-Van Halen members on the Best Of All Worlds tour.

Paul Gilbert

Alongside Vai and Satch, Paul Gilbert completes what many would consider to be ‘The Big Three’ of Ibanez shredders.

His work in Racer X and Mr. Big sets him apart as one of the most advanced minds to pick up a guitar, as well as one of the most ferocious alternate pickers the world has ever seen, fusing the neoclassical edge of Yngwie Malmsteen with the impromptu bluesiness of Edward Van Halen.

He’s had all kinds of Ibanez signatures through the years, from the PGM series to the Fireman models he’s usually seen with today, having designed the latter, reversed-body model himself.

Pat Metheny

Since the release of his debut album in 1975, Pat Metheny has continually proven himself to be one of the most revolutionary minds to ever work in jazz, cross-pollinating elements of the traditional with more worldly and experimental meditations.

He currently has two Ibanez signature models, the PM200 and PM3C, and his most famous works include Still Life (Talking), Letter From Home, and Bright Size Life.

As well as these sizeable contributions to the world of electric guitar, he’s also recorded unaccompanied acoustic albums like 2003’s One Quiet Night and last year’s MoonDial release, which saw him wielding a custom-built baritone guitar made by the luthier Linda Manzer.

Tim Henson and Scott LePage

The genre-smashing guitarists from Polyphia could very well be two of the most ground-breaking names in the company’s roster of signature artists, at least in terms of recent additions.

Their most recent album, 2022’s Remember That You Will Die, was voted as the best guitar album of that year by GW readers and was also notable for featuring fellow Ibanez endorsee Steve Vai on its mind-melting closing track, Ego Death.

By that point, both guitarists already had their own signature electrics, but what really got the industry talking was Henson’s TOD10N nylon-string electric, as prominently featured on the album’s lead single, Playing God.

Ichika Nito

As the very first Japanese guitarist to become an Ibanez signature artist, you could say Ichika Nito is making history for all the right reasons.

Much like Tim Henson and Scott LePage, his take on guitar is an incredibly contemporary one – combining the sounds of tech-metal with spanky and funky cleans while dazzling listeners with an array of legato and two-handed techniques.

He currently has two Ibanez models, the Talman-inspired ICHI00 and the headless Q Series-style ICHI10.

John Scofield

Having worked with everyone from Miles Davis and Charles Mingus to Herbie Hancock and Weather Report, John Scofield’s jazz credentials are as impressive as they come.

His most famous works include 1986’s Still Warm, 1994’s Hand Jive, and 1997’s A Go Go, as well as 1994’s I Can See Your House From Here – which saw him team up with fellow Ibanez signature artist Pat Metheny for an absolute tour-de-force of modern jazz. He’s also ventured into bluesier sonic pastures, having collaborated with John Mayer and Gov't Mule.

Josh Smith

Continually featured in lists of the best blues guitarists in the world today, it’s no wonder that Josh Smith ended up being recruited by Joe Bonamassa and has become a regular face in the blues giant’s backing band. The pair also work together regularly as producers, lending their expertise to fellow blues powerhouses like Eric Gales and Larry McCray.

The guitarist/singer currently has two T-style signatures, the FlATV1 and FlATV2, and is also highly regarded for his informative tutorials, some of which he has authored for this very publication.

Manuel Gardner Fernandes

As the driving force behind progressive metal band Unprocessed, German guitarist Manuel Gardner Fernandes is someone who knows how to blend the power of gargantuan riffs with blistering lead work.

Last year he was awarded his own signature guitar, the MGFM10 – a stunning headless model in Obsidian Black Low Gloss, boasting the same advanced switching system he uses to make his guitar go from apocalyptic roars to spanky cleans.

This year’s latest Unprocessed album, titled Angel, served as yet another firm reminder of his all-encompassing talents.

George Benson

Now at 82 years old, George Benson is one of the dyed-in-the-wool veterans of jazz guitar – a multiple Grammy-winning master who influenced the sound of an entire genre and ended up inspiring countless players that came after him.

Over the years, as well as releasing an extensive solo discography, he’s worked with mainstream greats such as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, and Frank Sinatra, making him one of the most prolific jazz artists of all time. He currently has six Ibanez signature models, all of them hollowbody designs.

Yvette Young

There’s a wonderfully abstract quality to Yvette Young’s sound – of course, there’s plenty of dexterity and technicality, but the real magic lies in the sheer amount of personality the Covet guitarist throws into every note she plays.

Part of this comes down to her alternate tunings, which she has often cited as a secret weapon for yielding interesting results, as well as her experimental approach to tone, but then there’s also her piano background – which has led to her unique sense of phrasing and ear for melody.

Marcin

Having just turned 25, it would be fair to say Polish wunderkind Marcin Patrzałek is spearheading a new generation of daredevil acoustic guitarists.

He rose to fame partly thanks to his viral videos that shocked listeners in how they were able to blur the lines between classical and contemporary music. This all led to the release of his first signature in 2022, the Ibanez MRC10, and a major label deal that started with last year’s debut full-length, Dragon In Harmony.

Nita Strauss

In 2018, Nita Strauss made history as the first woman to have her own Ibanez signature model, which she named the JIVA. It was certainly well-warranted, given her background playing in Alice Cooper’s band, as well as the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens.

Since then she’s worked with pop sensation Demi Lovato and has also released two solo albums, the latter of which featured an array of high profile guest stars, including Marty Friedman, David Draiman, and Lzzy Hale.

Andy Timmons

When it comes to tasteful shredding, Andy Timmons is up there with the likes of gold-standard legends like Eric Johnson and Steve Lukather.

He knows how to impress people, but more importantly, he knows when to focus on the melody. Which is exactly why he’s worked with high profile names like Olivia Newton-John, Paula Abdul, and fellow Ibanez endorsee Paul Stanley.

He currently has three Strat-style Ibanez signatures, which come fitted with three DiMarzio humbuckers, including his own AT-1 pickup in the bridge.

Jon Gomm

English guitarist Jon Gomm became one of the early standouts in the modern percussive acoustic scene thanks to the 2011 track Passionflower going viral, which led to both national and international coverage.

In 2020, he announced he’d joined the Ibanez roster, and two years later he unveiled a pair of signature models – the JGM5 and the JGM10 – tailor-made for wanting to implement two-handed ideas based on open tunings, while also using the body of the guitar for drum beats.

Lari Basilio

Over the last decade or so, Brazilian virtuoso Lari Basilio has established herself as one of the most tasteful players of her generation – striking that perfect balance between technical wizardry, emotional phrasing, and an inimitable sense of feel.

Her Seymour Duncan-equipped LB1 signature was debuted in 2021, making her the third female signature artist for Ibanez, with the latest update being this year’s version in black.

Her latest album, Redemption, was also released earlier this year, with no shortage of dazzling fretwork and earworm melodies.

James ‘Munky’ Shaffer and Brian ‘Head’ Welch

Steve Vai may have helped invent the world’s first mass-produced electric seven-string with Ibanez, but it was Korn who took that extended range to new (or nu) metallic heights, inventing a whole subgenre in the process.

For guitarists Munky and Head, the extra low-end only intensified the heaviness and helped them reinvent guitar music in the mid-90s.

Head left Ibanez for ESP back in 2016 but made his official return to the fold earlier this year with the launch of the K7 series.

Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström

Much like Munky and Head from Korn, Meshuggah guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström were early adopters of the seven-string, as demonstrated on the 1995 tech-metal landmark, Destroy Erase Improve.

Other releases like Chaosphere, Nothing, and Obzen would also become hugely influential on the tech-metal scene, with bands like Animals As Leaders, Periphery, and Tesseract taking metric modulations and polyrhythmic concepts to new sonic horizons.

The Swedish pair would later move onto eight-strings, leading to signature models like the M8M, M80M, and FTM33.

Paul Stanley

It’s easy to think of Kiss as a Gibson band, given the kind of instruments usually seen in the hands of lead guitarists like Ace Frehley and Tommy Thayer.

Singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley, however, has been using Ibanez guitars on and off since 1977 – most notably the company's Iceman offset – which led to the five signature models that currently bear his name, including the striking Cracked Mirror PS1CM.

Kiko Loureiro

There’s a golden rule for anyone who plays lead guitar in Megadeth – you have to be, without question, one of the best shredders on the planet.

Brazilian virtuoso Kiko Loureiro had already proven his merits in Angra and was a perfect fit for the thrash titans when he joined in 2015. He recorded two albums with the band, 2016’s Dystopia and 2022’s The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, before announcing his departure in 2023.

He currently has three Ibanez signature models, all of which feature his custom DiMarzio pickups and a double-locking tremolo system.

Dexter Holland and Noodles

As the two guitar players in The Offspring, Dexter Holland and Noodles are well-known for dialing in tones that are guaranteed to cut through any mix.

The pair were at the very forefront of the 90s punk rock scene, with key albums like Smash and Ixnay On The Hombre setting them up for the mainstream success that followed with the 1998 bestseller Americana, which yielded hit singles like Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), Why Don’t You Get A Job?, and The Kids Aren’t Alright.

Holland sticks with ARZ and RG models while Noodles has had several signatures, the latest being 2020’s NDM5.

Daron Malakian

Joining Paul Stanley, Fredrik Thordendal, and Tom G. Warrior in our list of Iceman devotees, System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian is someone deeply connected to the striking offset shape.

“I went to Guitar Center, and I saw this Iceman sitting there, and I was like, ‘You know, that’s a guitar that not too many people use’,” he once explained.

The Armenian-American group became one of the biggest bands of their generation thanks to the world-conquering success of tracks like Chop Suey!, Toxicity, and Aerials.

Nili Brosh

Well-renowned for being one of the most versatile musicians in the Ibanez roster, Israeli-American shredder Nili Brosh has performed with Danny Elfman, Cirque Du Soleil, Dethklok, The Iron Maidens, and Tony MacAlpine – a list which perfectly demonstrates just how well-rounded her skillset is.

Her third solo album, titled Spectrum, was released in 2019 and her main guitars include an Ibanez LA Custom RG770 and a Desert Yellow RG550.

Jake Bowen

The sole Ibanez endorsee in Periphery’s trio of hotshot guitarists, Jake Bowen is also their longest-serving member after founder Misha Mansoor.

Over the course of seven full-length albums, they’ve become torchbearers for the modern tech-metal scene and in many ways typify the ‘djent’ wave of bands that arrived roughly 10 years after the new millennium.

He currently has three signature models: the JBM9999 and JBM10FX six-strings as well as the JBM27 seven-string.

Martin Miller

Martin Miller is a man of many talents. The German musician is a highly respected educator, with books and video courses to help rock guitarists expand into fusion.

He also writes, records, and tours original music, but his biggest calling card has been a series of live studio performances that find him enrolling guitar heroes old and new to cover hits of every kind. Hey Jude with Paul Gilbert, Kiss from a Rose with Lari Basilio, and Get Lucky with Kirk Fletcher are just three prominent examples.

He has a pair of Ibanez signatures to his name, the most recent being the MMN1, which was released in 2023.

For most players, electric guitar lessons from Joe Satriani – and getting the chance to learn from one of the world’s foremost shredders – sounds like a dream prospect.

After all, in the pantheon of guitar greats, Satch is up there with the best. Not only that, in the early stages of his career he also gave lessons to a generation of emerging musicians, including Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Larry LaLonde, Alex Skolnick and more.

The proof is in the pudding – the proof in this case being that Satch is both a virtuoso and an exceptional tutor. One guitarist who didn’t quite warm to his style or teaching technique, though, was Xan McCurdy – who left after a few lessons.

In a new interview with Guitar World, McCurdy, who plays with iconic alt-rockers Cake, looks back on his early playing days, and recalls the time he sought out the wisdom of Satriani in a bid to level up his playing.

“I totally knew what I wanted to play like. Early on, I actually started out wanting to be a hard rock guy to impress my brothers,” he says. “But once I became a teenager, I quickly started to obsess about super mod and British sounds, and that was it.

“Then, I took lessons from several different teachers in Berkeley, California, one of them being Joe Satriani.”

However, Satch’s curriculum failed to move McCurdy, who wasn’t delighted by the rigorous technical exercises his newfound teacher was putting him through.

“I felt like he was trying to build an army of shredders, like nonsensical, not musical things, but just finger exercises, like da da da da da da da da da da da da da da back then,” McCurdy continues. “It was not even scales, just like getting your hands to flow, and have the ultimate dexterity, you know? And that was not what I was into because I did not care at all.

“I mean, there was a moment when we all got into Van Halen, but I sort of found my little niche subculture world, and I was all about Chuck Berry and the blues guys.”

It was a mutual feeling, though. As McCurdy remembers it, Satch was equally unimpressed with his new pupil, who failed to do his homework.

“I stopped going to Joe Satriani – and by the way, Joe Satriani would have no memory of this whatsoever,” he laughs. “I didn’t take a lot of lessons, and he hated me because I didn’t practice his stuff enough. And then I found a guy who, instead of having this long-hair shred master, this guy would just smoke a joint, and be like, ‘Alright, so what do you wanna do?’”

It’s rare to hear of a player leaving Satch’s tuition methodology a less-than-glowing review, especially when one considers his alumni. Last year, Guitar World unearthed a classic interview with Vai and Satriani, during which Vai revealed one of the biggest lessons Satriani taught him as a young shredder.

The full interview with Xan McCurdy will be published in the coming weeks.

Despite his amazing versatility, Matt Bissonette struggles to move on from seeing The Beatles in 1966, when he was five years old, and being inspired – like many others – by Paul McCartney’s bass playing.

“You can never take the Paul out of the bass,” he says. “I literally have to fight myself from playing Paul’s licks on sessions. And when I write songs, I have to keep an eye on ripping off a Beatles motif!”

Aside from Macca, it was Bissonette’s parents who kicked off his musical life. “To be totally honest, my mom and dad picked out the bass for me. One day I went to the car and there was a bass in the trunk. I pulled it out and went into the basement in Detroit with my brother,” he says. “We played Smoke on the Water for eight hours.”

He continues: “Within the first five minutes I realized that the bass wasn’t playing the cool intro; it was the guitar. But my brother said, ‘No! You’re the guy that pulses the eighth notes.’

“We listened on the record player, and it hit me that I really liked that. I started with ‘dumb guy’ eighth notes and I’ve been ‘dumb guying’ ever since!”

Bissonette – who’s worked with David Lee Roth, Joe Satriani, Brian Wilson, Peter Frampton and Elton John – is a bass heavyweight, but he keeps it simple. “The song dictates the bass movement, and how much freedom they give me,” he says. “I start with the simplest approach and go from there.

“The key is trying to get inside the head of the artist, knowing the music they’ve already recorded and adapting to that, but doing your own thing. That’s why they called you in the first place.”

He admits that anyone looking to get into his line of work will find it less easy, and less financially rewarding, than he did. “Learn as many skills as possible,” is his advice. “Sing, write, produce, and learn a software program to record on. I think it’s the only way to improve your odds.”

What kicked off III, your new album with The Squirts?

“The album was put together during Covid. We were locked away in our home studios, so we figured we should get off our duffs and do another record. George Bernhardt and I are used to sending files back and forth. He’d bounce an idea and I’d write lyrics.

“Then I’d write something and send it to him, and he’d make it better. Rodger Carter, our drummer, would add different sections. It was a pretty easy process even though we weren’t in the same room.”

The Squirts originated as the backing band for Rick Springfield, right?

“We were Rick’s rhythm section for about 10 years, and Rick and I were writing together for his solo albums. We’d done a couple of Squirts CDs before then, and he really liked them. It kind of steamrolled into Rick and I doing three of his solo albums together after that.”

How helpful was he?

“Rick was awesome about it from the very start. One day, in an airport, we asked him if we could open up for his shows. We dangled the idea that it would sound out the PA so it would be that much better.

“He thought it was a great idea – he let us open up for about seven years. He never blinked an eye when we asked if we could sell CDs, T-shirts and hats. We were double-dipping there for a long time. It was great!”

What was it like replacing Billy Sheehan in David Lee Roth’s band?

“At first it was terrifying! Billy is an amazing player so I didn’t even try to play like him. I just tried to get as close as I could to some of his riffs from a different angle, and it seemed to work.

“It’s always hard taking someone’s place like that. You have to dig deep and hope for the best. You have to realize that not everybody is going to love the way you play, but such is life in general. After I figured that out, it seemed to get a lot easier!”

What gear helped you follow Billy and Michael Anthony into David’s orbit?

“I had the typical Bradshaw monster pedalboard rig like everybody was using back then – tons of distortion, reverbs and delays. We all had mobile studios that were six foot tall that we’d bring to our hotel rooms to write songs. It was truly ’80s excess!

“I still think the greatest bass tone for that kind of gig is when you go straight into an amp. Sometimes all the fluff can get washed away in a big room. Dave was always really cool and supportive, and he was a blast to work with – the ultimate entertainer!”

What are your memories of recording with Jason Becker?

“Jason will always be a great friend. He was the young gunslinger that came into town and blew everybody away. We used to play catch with the football in Dave's backyard on breaks from rehearsing.

“I remember one day he felt a pinch on his leg, and it continued to get worse. He struggled through the recording process, trying to figure out what was going on. He’s an amazing person and he’s still doing amazing music with the help of his parents and all his friends. What a talented guy.”

Did recording with Jason help prepare you for Joe Satriani?

“When you’re playing with a virtuoso like Joe, Jason, or Steve Vai, someone has to be the solid guy laying down a foundation for everyone. There are moments where you can stick your head out and play something, but I always try to support whoever I'm working with.

“And with that much guitar action going on, I figured the best thing was to keep it simple and let them run wild. Sometimes, the more you play, the more cluttered it gets – especially when there’s additional rhythm guitars and sounds.”

How did David’s expectations differ from Joe’s?

“Dave would have ideas and certain things that he wanted, but he basically just let us run wild. He also knew what he liked, so when things went off the rails he’d always bring it back to the simplest idea – a trait I respect from any songwriter.

“Joe knows exactly what he wants from a bass player. He plays bass really well himself, so a lot of times you’re emulating what he played on demos. He lets you do whatever you wanna do when the red light goes on, but when something is good to start with, you don’t want to veer too much off of it.

Did Joe like you to use specific gear?

“He had this amazing ‘60s Fender P-Bass that he used on his demos, and it sounded so good that we used it on a lot of songs. Sometimes, I’d use my Rickenbacker, Fender Jazz Bass, or one of my own P-Basses. Those basses sounded massive with a big SVT mic’d up and blended.

“Sometimes we’d add a touch of distortion; but again, we found that the biggest, most massive straight tone always filled up the tracks best. That was my sound in the late ’80s and ’90s, then the early 2000s when I started working with Joe again. It’s that ‘if it's not broken, don't fix it’ approach.”

What was the key to supporting people like Brian Wilson, Steve Perry and Peter Frampton?

“Unlike playing with guys like Joe, Dave and people I’d known for a while, when you get thrown into a one-day session with an artist you don’t know, you pretty much have to be ready for anything. I bring a fretless, two or five strings, a bunch of P-Basses and Jazz Basses and maybe a Hofner or a Rickenbacker, in case they want to try something different.

“I think being versatile in all styles of music is the only survival mechanism for session players. My brother Gregg and I call it ‘music vocabulary.’ You have to spend a lot of time dissecting records – the sounds, the tones and the players who recorded them – to be able to walk in cold and record.”

How did you end up being involved with the recording of the Friends in-show music? And did it shock you that it blew it up the way that it did?

“Never in a million years did I think that doing those once-a-month Friday Friends sessions would turn into the highest-paying gig I’ve ever had! We’d start recording at 10 o’clock and make up music on the fly in five-second clips; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.

“Our friend Michael Skloff was the musical director. We had tears in our eyes because it was just one big party – no stress, just a real blast to do. Doug Ryder is an amazing engineer, and he’d get the sounds instantly.

“I’d show up at 9.45, and we’d go until 1.00, taking time to eat in between. I’d try a different bass every session, although usually, for things like that, I’ll come in with a five-string that I know the engineer isn’t going to have to work on. It just sounds good right when you plug it in.

“I used my Music Man StingRay five-string a lot, and I had a Bossa five-string as well as my Bongo Bass. Truly one of the best gigs I've ever had!”

You toured with Elton John for over a decade. What was he like?

“Elton probably only said two things to me in 13 years about wanting me to do something differently. On Take Me to the Pilot, he asked me to play a little bit simpler, and on in the jam section of Rocket Man he did the same. Other than that, it was free rein for everybody.

“I was the nearest person to him on the stage, so he’d look at me and play something like he was challenging me to play back at him. His love for music humbled me – when I started with him, I was kind of falling out of love with music in general. To see someone like Elton love music so much kind of woke me up from my slumber.”

What was your staple rig with Elton?

“I played the Music Man StingRay basses exclusively, all five-strings, and I had a rack and a cabinet, but basically they used the direct sound. Matt Herr is an amazing soundman; he always pumped the bass with that band. My fingers would get blisters every night just because it was fun to play again!”

What inspires you as a bassist today?

“I love that so many great bass players can make the same bass sound completely different, just by the way they use their hands. Engineers tell me that it’s not the bass that makes the sound, but the player’s hands.

“I get inspired by hearing acoustic upright players make a piece of wood sound like a vocalist. I love the sound of a fretless when it's played in tune – which is something I’m working on feverishly.

“And I love bass players that play whatever’s right for the song, no more, no less. That’s why I show up at a session with eight or nine basses – I think the bass tone sets the overall sound for a song.”

What’s next for you?

“I’m looking forward to going home and staying for a while, and diving into a couple of records I’ve been working on. One is a straight-ahead jazz record, where the bass is playing all the melodies and I’m singing along with them, like George Benson.

“I was listening to all my old bass solos and figured I wanted to try some new stuff, so I started singing solos and learning them on the bass, which completely changed my life. If I can play what I hear in my head and play what I’m singing when I’m bopping around, I think I’ll be a much better player.

“After I went to see the Bob Dylan movie, I came home and instantly bought an acoustic guitar and a capo and wrote 10 songs in that vein. That’ll probably come out at the beginning of 2026.”

• The Squirts’ III is out now via Bandcamp.

Joe Satriani has paid tribute to late Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell with an instrumental cover of Audioslave’s Be Yourself.

The track, which also features drummer Kenny Aronoff, is part of bassist Mark Menghi’s King Ultramega project – an ongoing tribute to the singer in honor of Soundgarden’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inauguration in November.

Satriani eases back on the fretboard fireworks in the cover, translating Cornell’s vocal line and Tom Morello’s sparse lead lines into more of a laid-back, low-gain bluesy vamp than you might expect from an Audioslave cover.

Only when it gets to Morello’s wah-wah solo does Satch engage the drive and add some modal embellishments, otherwise dialing into the pure melody of Cornell’s vocals.

“[Chris Cornell] was a brilliant vocalist and communicator,” says Satriani. “He often used his voice like an instrument, shaping the tone of his voice like a guitarist would finesse riffs and phrases.

“I took a deep dive into his magical sensibilities and came up with a multi-tracked guitar production approach that I felt would pay proper homage to his brilliance.”

“I remember like it was yesterday,” adds Menghi. “I was on a run through some crazy trail, just zoning out and the original song came on through my headphones… as I was running, I remember hearing Chris sing, ‘to be yourself is all that you can do,’ it was like he was talking to me… then thought to myself, ‘I can totally hear this as an instrumental a-la Satch style…’

“My hope is that whomever is listening to this song hears Chris over Joe’s guitar and understands that we are paying homage to Chris with our take on this tune.”

The song follows King Ultramega’s previous cover of Soundgarden classic Rusty Cage, which featured Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher and Alice in Chains’ William DuVall.

Be Yourself is out now. Proceeds from the track go towards addiction recovery and mental health nonprofit MusiCares.

Today is a historic day for cinema. What is surely the loudest movie of all time, and most definitely the loudest sequel, opens across theaters worldwide – Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.

It’s a story that finds the legendary UK rock institution putting the wheels in motion for a reunion. Guitar World has already spoken with Nigel Tufnel, whose custom-made Marshall amp will be testing the integrity of your local multiplex’s sound system (it goes to infinity).

We have also dissected the trailer to document all of the new guitars in Tap's collection. And it is no spoiler to say that there will be a lot of electric guitars on display – among them, it turns out, some very special Ibanez JS Series Joe Satriani signature guitars.

To see them turn up 34 years after their epic jam in 1991 is blowing Satriani’s mind, who reveals on his Instagram that these Japanese high-performance electrics were custom-finished models that he gifted to the band.

“It’s a fine line between reality and fantasy... But nothing’s more real than seeing your Ibanez JS guitars played by the legendary Spinal Tap,” writes Satch. “Let’s all raise our goblets of Tap Water to the greatest band that ever was.”

Satriani, of course, has actually played on a Spinal Tap album. Introduced to the band in the late 1980s via Steve Lukather, who would be in the control room manning the desk for 1992’s Break Like the Wind, he joined the likes of Jeff Beck, Slash and Lukather on the star-studded title track – though there is an argument that says Cher’s guest turn on Just Begin Again was the highlight of the album.

“I jumped onstage with them a few times to play either bass or guitar, and we just started up this friendship,” said Satriani, speaking to the RIPaLivecast in 2020. “And it’s amazing, those guys are amazing musicians. They are really interesting, disciplined musicians.”

Spinal Tap share those sentiments. Firebrand lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel has spoken about Satriani’s ridiculous technique, admitting that even slowing down footage of him failed to yield any insight as to what he was doing on the instrument.

“I did have a chance to slow it down on a video once, and it was still too quick,” admitted Tufnel. “So I don’t really know what he’s doing. Otherwise, you know, I would do it.

“I look at it, [how] his fingers move, and I say, ‘Yeah, yeah, but where are they going?’ You can't really be jealous of something you can't fathom. And that's my situation.

“You see, if I was close to doing what he could do, I would feel some envy, I suppose, but I just don't understand it a lot of the time. I mean, I hear what he’s doing and I like it, but I can’t copy it.”

That’s not to say that Satriani was not intimidated by Tufnel and Tap. This is the band, after all, who wear tight trousers, armadillos and, above all, volume. Tufnel says the sheer power of his Marshall put the frighteners on him.

“He was very frightened, mostly from the volume, because he plays a bit lower than we do,” says Tufnel. “My new amplifiers now go to infinity, and I think that idea was very scary to him, because most amplifiers go to 10, but I made the jump to infinity.”

It will be interesting to see if Satriani still feels intimidated after getting 3rd Dragon to build him a custom tube amp from the ground up to recreate Eddie Van Halen’s guitar tone on Sammy Hagar’s Best of All Worlds Tour. Maybe that will come in the threquel.

For Spinal Tap, this is only the continuation of the end. And those Ibanezes? Well, two have been custom painted by the late Donnie Hunt, the San Francisco-based artist and friend of Satriani’s who provided the JS3 models with a unique aesthetic.

“Donnie was a wild, inspired artist who painted anything and everything in his environment,” said Satriani, speaking to Guitar World in 2024. “He painted a lot of my stage clothes for the first few tours I did as a solo artist.”

The other JS model, which Tufnel is pictured in Satch's post played on stage, was painted by Satriani himself.

“Back in ’91, as a thank you gift for letting me be a part of the band’s legacy, as it were, I gave them two guitars and a bass painted by Donnie Hunt,” writes Satriani. “They in turn had Donnie paint a vibroharp for me, complete with the Tap logo. Recently, I gave Nigel a JSART guitar I painted. He’s pictured using it on stage (red lighting) although we'll have to wait and see if it makes the final cut!”

Take yourself to your local cinema tonight and find out for yourself. Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is showing now.

It’s interesting to speculate on how the instrumental guitar boom might have gone if Eric Johnson hadn’t released his 1986 debut solo album Tones. It was a pivotal moment – but the virtuoso admits he enjoyed session work so much that he considered sticking with it.

Johnson insists that Satch and Vai had “a lot” to do with the explosion in technical players, and his record came after years of working with the likes of Cat Stevens, Carole King, Christopher Cross and Steve Morse. But Johnson admits that others were probably better in the session field, as his style of creativity thrives on a slow burn rather than a light-speed race.

“Sometimes I came up with stuff that was just different than jumping in and playing a generic guitar part,” he says of his best sessions. “It’s composing something like a part, instead of just filling stuff in.”

His departure from that world worked out. Tones was the gateway toward virtuosic success, culminating in 1990’s Ah Via Musicom, which featured signature track Cliffs of Dover.

“Sessions helped me get a wider grip on music,” he says. “It’s impossible not to let a little bit of that rub off on you when you watch songwriters like the ones I worked with. Without that I’d probably be like a chimpanzee hacking at the guitar!”

How did you first get into session work in the ’70s?

“I was in a contract that just wasn’t working out, and I wasn’t able to pursue records and touring. I kind of went insular and underground for a few years, and I got offered different session things.

“I guess it started with Cat Stevens. I moved to New York for a while, and I had a manager called Nat Weiss, who had Emperor Records at the time. I met Cat Stevens through Nat and he asked me to play on some of his recordings.”

On the surface – mostly based on what you’ve done since – working with Cat is an interesting juxtaposition.

“I didn’t play with him for that long. I played on a couple tracks, and we were going to do a tour and we were rehearsing for it. But it was right at the point where he was deciding to get out of music and follow his spiritual practices, so the tour never happened.”

What were Cat’s expectations of you as a guitarist?

“Well, it never got to the point where I felt like I could add as much as I wanted. I don’t mean playing crazy guitar – just stuff that would have supported him. He just wanted some kind of atmospheric guitar behind what he did.”

What was your typical rig like at the time?

“I’d either use a Fender or Gibson guitar, and a Fender Twin Reverb. I might have used a tube overdrive or an Echoplex. That was pretty much it – either a clean tone, or urn the amp up for a semi-dirty tone. And I had this thing called a Mini-Boogie, which was a predecessor to the Tube Driver.”

How did you end up working with Carole King?

“That was great – I was fortunate to play and tour with such a brilliant songwriter. She liked Austin, Texas, and wanted to come down here to make a record. There was a real nice studio on Sixth Street at the time. When she started a record here, they were looking for musicians and they called me in to audition.”

What kind of tones and textures did you use on Carole’s album, Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King?

“It was mostly clean guitar and rhythm stuff. Every once in a while there’d be some kind of little lead thing she’d want me to do. But it was mostly just backing her up with rhythm parts and little licks behind her vocals.”

You also worked with Christopher Cross – you’d known him since the early ’70s.

“I met Chris when I was in a group called Mariani. We were opening for Deep Purple, and Ritchie Blackmore got food poisoning and was in the hospital overnight. Deep Purple had to do this gig, and Christopher was a real hot-shot guitar player, and he knew all the songs, so they hired him for that gig.

“I met him that night. At the time he was more of a rocker. He played a Gibson Flying V and had long hair! He was totally different from what he did later. We got to be friends after that gig.”

Is that why you played on Minstrel Gigolo from his album Christopher Cross?

“Yeah – years later, after he became very successful with his first record, he asked me to do a guest spot. He had three or four different guitarists, like Larry Carlton and Jay Graydon. He asked me to play on that one song with him.”

Given Chris is a player himself, did he have different expectations than Carol or Cat, for example?

“A little bit. Hard rock guitar had been his main gig, and he just happened to have a really great voice and he got more and more into writing pop tunes. But he had a real affinity for guitar; he understood all the old guys – rock players, blues players. He was well aware of all that vocabulary on guitar.”

Before you recorded Tones you did a session with Steve Morse’s band, which ended up being the song Distant Star. That seems like it was the start of what we’d come to know as your style.

“Steve and I became friends when I was in the Electromagnets and he used to play with Dixie Dregs. We’d be touring around and we’d cross paths. Steve really, really helped me get my career started – and he also gave me a lot of good musical direction.”

A year later you went solo as a career. Could you have become a go-to session ace instead?

“Yeah, because I always enjoyed doing that. It felt good – it’s fun, you know? It’s not about having to be in the spotlight; it’s about how can you contribute to helping someone make their song better. But I think a lot of cats would be better at it than me because they write faster.

“Sometimes I take too long, you know? I want to sit and think about what to write. When I was working with Carol or Cat, during rehearsals, I’d have time to formulate a part. But sometimes a session pro only has five minutes to come up with something and nail it.”

Did you ever encounter any disasters during your session career?

“Oh, yeah! There was a famous country artist – I can’t remember his name. The piano player had played almost every fill in-between the vocals. He was doing a thing between every vocal.

“The producer wanted me to put something in there besides chords, but I couldn’t find any room. I hadn’t learned every lick the piano player had done, so I couldn’t harmonize, double, or come up with a continual part. I got fired from the session because I couldn’t get it.

“I once worked on a session for Donald Fagan – that didn’t work out too well either. Not because of him; he was just looking for a certain thing, but I don’t think that I came up with it immediately.

“Sometimes you want to go with that first impulse. But I guess the first thing I came up with wasn’t good enough or something. So, those two things were learning experiences – or examples of times that it just didn’t work out.”

Tones pre-dates the virtuoso explosion of Satch and Vai. Could you have set the table, so to speak, without your training as a session player?

“I like to approach guitar like a compositional, orchestral type of thing. With Carol, Cat and Chris, I saw these great songwriters. Doing an instrumental thing, it’s about how you can make it speak like a song with constructed, composed parts.

“I learned to try to have a melody and to compose structural parts that would make the song play as if it were a vocal tune.”

What do you think the instrumental boom might have looked and sounded like without Tones?

“Oh, there’s so many great players, as we know from watching YouTube today. There’s a lot of great players you’ve never heard of, or who never pursued a career. Maybe they just didn’t have ambitions to do it as a career, or to get known.

“So I think it would have always been there. People like The Ventures and Duane Eddy, and even some things with Hendrix – even though he was a vocalist – did that. The groundwork was already laid. But as far as the ’80s instrumental guitar stuff goes, of course, Joe and Steve have a lot to do with that.”

The culmination on your end is Cliffs of Dover. How did your session experience contribute to writing it?

“It allows you to be tuned into when you’re ready to step into something. It’s not always simple. When you do all this homework, you learn about music and you construct something. It’s more than just ‘you do your part’.

“That’s readying yourself technically and emotionally. You have to have the mechanical ability to reproduce something that comes out of the air. With some songs, I don’t think we can really take full credit for them. I think they’re just floating around as ideas.

“I think I wrote Cliffs of Dover in, like, five or 10 minutes. And then I could take a song I’d spent months trying to write, and it wouldn’t work. I don’t know where that all comes from.

“But I think it’s important that I learned a lot from those guys about not just settling for some guitar things. That’s kind of the purpose, you know – It’s about trying to come up with something that is really built into the songs, and to lift the song up.”

• Eric Johnson’s next tour commences on September 28.

Back in 1992, Guitar World sat down with the creative triumvirate at the head of Spinal Tap – guitarists David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, and bassist Derek Smalls.

The occasion was Break Like the Wind, the band's highly-anticipated 1992 reunion album. It saw the group move proudly forward with their humorous, hooky brand of brash heavy rock, while also having some looks back – in the form of the proto-Tap skiffle tune, All the Way Home, and the flower-power throwback, Rainy Day Sun – at their musical journey to that point.

Most notable, though, was the album's title track – a proggy epic that featured not one, not two, not three, but four guest guitar solos from a dream team of six-string gods – Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Steve Lukather, and Slash.

It was, St. Hubbins and Smalls told Guitar World, meant to be a surprise tribute to Tufnel, ever their tone-master and fretboard-melter. Touching, eh?

Tufnel, though, was if anything a bit miffed by the headline-grabbing lead spots – intruding as they did on his creative vision.

Asked by Guitar World to discuss the track in question, St. Hubbins pointed to the surprise factor as being a sore point, saying “He [Nigel] is a bit sensitive about it. He really didn't know about all this.” Tufnel added, with a touch of bite, “It's what you call a sucker punch.”

The two guitarists proceeded to bicker a bit, with St. Hubbins maintaining that the collaborations were merely intended as a nice tribute, and that Tufnel misunderstood the intention of it.

“I understood it very well,” he countered. “It was a surprise – that part of it worked – and I understand the tribute part, but I walk in and see on the board, from left to right, ‘Neve’ [the recording console], then ‘Beck, Satriani, Lukather, Slash.’ I thought it was a send-up. As if I'd said, ‘Here's the vocal track: David Bowie.’ [David St. Hubbins] would have gone, ‘Ha ha ha. Very funny.’ ‘No, David. The real David Bowie is singing on this instead of you!’”

The guitarist went on to say that he merely wanted to be let in on the decision: “The point is, ask me. Say, ‘Nige, what 'bout this idea?’ Give me the chance to say no.”

St. Hubbins, in turn, said, “And you would have said no, because of your modesty. What we asked them was, ‘How would you like to come in and replace eight bars by your idol, a person you respect?’ They really do respect Nigel.”

“You know, you can't pay Jeff Beck just to play on your record,” Derek Smalls added. “You can't ring up the musicians' union and say, ‘Give me Jeff Beck's number.’ It would cost you a fortune just to have him come in and do an eight-bar solo. He did it out of respect. And Nigel's too modest to acknowledge that.”

Spinal Tap would later go on to share the stage with, among others, Satriani. In that case, Tufnel – while coming away amazed by the former's virtuosity – certainly, and unsurprisingly, had the upper hand when it came to volume.

Joe Satriani has revealed why he became “disillusioned” by vintage guitars, with the Surfing with the Alien shredder underscoring his preference for modern builds in a new interview.

For some players, vintage guitars are the Holy Grail. From pre-CBS era Stratocasters to pre-war Martin acoustic guitars, there are certain models from certain periods that hold a mythical appeal. Satriani, though, doesn’t see what the fuss is about.

“Working in a vintage guitar shop, you kind of get disillusioned about the price of these things and what they actually sound like,” he tells D’Addario in a new video charting his celebrated career.

“After hours, we would sit there, my friends and I, and we would play all these guitars that were supposedly the most expensive, the most valuable, rare guitars. And they'd be like, ‘There's nothing special about it.’

“The musician has to connect with the guitar for it to become special,” he adds.

He certainly makes an interesting point, though playability is only one side of the coin. Vintage gear expert Joe Bonamassa, for example, places much importance in the actual story of a guitar and the sentimental tales the instrument can tell.

His quest for the Gibson Les Paul used by the late Deep Purple marksman Tommy Bolin, for instance, is one of the wildest guitar acquisition stories out there. History and providence are powerful things but as Satch observes, another player could easily pick it up and feel no connection to it.

Bolin’s Les Paul has a rich history, but from a purely performative perspective, that doesn’t necessarily mean it play better. Nevertheless, it does carry one hell of a story.

On the contrary, Pink Floyd and prog rock legend David Gilmour has claimed that time can make vintage guitars play far better than their contemporary counterparts. Yet his iconic Black Strat, which shattered records as it sold for $4 million in 2019, is no better or worse than his signature reissue model, he reckons. Vintage doesn’t always equate to better.

Instead of romanticizing the past, Satriani, through his partnership with Ibanez, has crafted a series of futuristic signature guitars, including an ultra-ambitious Ibanez Y2K Crystal Planet prototype. It sold for $10,000 last year.

He's also been happy to adopt modern tech into his live rig, with a signature TONEX One pedal, loaded with presets made by Satriani, indicative of that.

Ibanez has just officially launched a score of new signature guitars for Joe Satriani, Lari Basilio, and Josh Smith – but they've been somewhat overshadowed by the arrival of the all-new RGA Premium Series.

The release wave marks the Japanese firm’s weightiest reveal since January, when a new seven-string weapon for Korn’s Head and a semi-hollow for George Benson headlined a signature-centric drop.

But here, it is the standard-run guitars that have really got our attention. After all, it's been a while since the RG received a refresh, and the all-new RGA Premium looks like it's been worth the wait, boasting top-tier appointments and exquisite elegance.

Featuring lightweight basswood bodies, they offer a host of elegant tops, including burl poplar, maple, walnut, curly maple, and the eye-catching panga panga, making them some of the most aesthetically enticing RGs yet.

They also have bolt-on, five-strip maple and walnut necks crafted in Ibanez’s Wizard neck profile for a comfortable shredding experience, which are joined by ebony fingerboards with offset pearl dot inlays and 24 jumbo frets.

The RGA Premiums also come equipped with DiMarzio Fusion Edge humbuckers, bolstered by a dyna-MIX10 switching system. This, with the help of an Alter switch and a five-way switch, gives access to a huge range of different voicings.

Other specs found throughout the range include either a Gibraltar Standard III hardtail or an Edge Tremolo system, while Cosmic Blue Burst and Deep Twilight Burst colorways are on tap. Prices start from $1,469.

After a golden guitar release in January, Ibanez darling Joe Satriani is back with a pearly white version of his signature axe. Beyond its colorway, the JS2480-WH delivers Satch-approved tones via a Sustainiac Driver pickup in the neck and a DiMarzio Satchur8 humbucker in the bridge, with a push/pull Volume control to engage a hi-pass control filter.

Like the RGA Premium, it has a lightweight basswood body, this time with a bolt-on three-piece maple/bubinga neck and a rosewood fingerboard. It comes with an Edge Tremolo and is made in Japan, warranting a $2,944 price tag.

Lari Basilio has brought her signature stylings to a black-and-gold version of her T-style electric. The LB1-BK features her signature Seymour Duncan HSS humbuckers, and Ibanez's dyna-MIX9 system to get the most out of them.

Elsewhere, there's a Gotoh T1702B tremolo and Gotoh Magnum locking tuners, with an ash body, bolt-on one-piece roasted bird’s-eye maple neck, and compound radius fretboard. It was first teased back in January, but now it's officially available for $2,755.

Blues guitar maestro Josh Smith has also given Ibanez’s Tele-shaped offering some personal touches, upgrading his flagship FLATV1 in the process. The FLATV2-MSN comprises an ash body with a bolt-on maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard.

Other highlights include ivory dot inlays, a bone saddle, and Seymour Duncan FLAT5 pickups. In a twist to his OG signature, the FLATV2 offers a humbucker in the neck and a single coil in the bridge. It weighs in at $2,599.

The releases follow Ibanez dropping heavy metal acoustics and new offerings for its mid-priced AZ Standard series. Unfortunately, the Knocked Loose and Kiss-approved Iceman has been frozen out of 2025's shenanigans so far. Thankfully, there's still time for that to change.

‘Isn't Joe Satriani a guitarist?’ I hear you cry. Well, yes he is, but in common with many other guitarists, Satriani also dabbles with playing bass – in fact, he personally handled all of the bass duties on his self-released debut album, Not Of This Earth, which paved the way for instrumental rockers everywhere.

You might think that a guitarist like Satch, who spends much of his time whizzing about the fretboard, might approach laying down the bass in a similar manner. But, surprisingly, his bass parts are actually quite simple, supportive, and groove-orientated.

“Guitar players play bass differently than bass players play bass, that's for sure,” he once told the Club Joe Streaming Sessions.

“I was listening to If There's No Heaven (from 2015's Shockwave Supernova) and I thought, ‘Only a guitar player would think that's OK, to play bass like that.’ I love playing distorted bass, but that's because I'm a twisted guitar player!”

In 1987, Satriani's landmark album Surfing With The Alien demonstrated his mastery of sweep picking, two-handed tapping, and whammy bar action. Back then the world was a different place, and big hair, pointy guitars, and ridiculous fashions ruled.

Nirvana had just formed and The Smiths had just split up. It was a time of change, and rock guitar was in the eye of the storm.

“You're looking at a guitar player who was still figuring out how to be a solo artist. Six months earlier, I had never done that. I had never walked on stage and said, ‘I'm Joe Satriani and this is my music,’ so l had no experience.”

“I was always a guitar player in a rock band backing up a singer. I'd done that my entire life since I was a little kid. And then, quite by accident, I did a record and the label wanted me to do a tour. I thought they were crazy.”

Time has proved the label right and the rest is history, but let’s revisit that time and take a look at some of Satriani’s best basslines – plus a few tips on how to play them.

Not Of This Earth

For the title track of his debut album, Satriani plays a simple 8th note bassline that only uses three different notes – you can't get much more straightforward than that! Your main aim here should be to keep things tight throughout – the effect you get should be almost hypnotic in feel.

“I kept the rhythm section simple for very specific reasons. The chord progression is sophisticated and I had two distinct melodies that had to co-exist. If I had changed the bassline and the drums, the piece could've very easily deteriorated into one big mess.”

The Snake

Catchy to the Nth degree, The Snake’s opening bass riff merges funk-style slap bass with synthetic drums, processed guitars, and synth. In this particular case you should use you right hand 1st and 2nd fingers to hook under the strings and then pluck them in the general direction away from the bass.

Surfing With The Alien

Satriani’s second solo album, Surfing With the Alien, sounded like guitar music from the future when it was released in 1987. The title track features a driving, syncopated bass groove that keeps the song’s momentum going steadily until the end. It sounds great played with a pick or fingers, but the pick wins out for ultimate rock. Use alternate eighth-note picking throughout.

The Enigmatic

Satriani's syncopated bassline has each phrase starting on the up-beat; it should ultimately be played at the tempo of 162 bpm – but take it slowly at first and only try to play it faster as and when it feels comfortable.

Note how Satriani harmonizes the scale to produce a series of guitar chords for a very angular sounding composition.

Flying In A Blue Dream

In 1989, Satriani followed the surprise success of Surfing With the Alien with a sprawling 18-track album titled Flying in a Blue Dream. The title track remains a sucker-punch against the play-it-safe parameters of standard guitar music.

“This song embodied a spirit of experimentation on so many levels. I used an open F tuning for the rhythm guitars, and I tuned my ’64 P-Bass down to a low C. I don’t know why I didn’t just get a five-string to solve that problem!”

Hordes Of Locusts

Another of Satriani’s simple groove ideas. Notice how the initial dotted 8th/16th note rhythm helps push the part along and also how the rest that occurs on beat 2 of each bar allows the snare drum to become a momentary focus of attention.

Technically, you should aim to play this with downstrokes throughout and also make sure that you lightly mute the string with the palm of your right hand in order to achieve the required ‘chugging’ effect.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that social media can make or break you. In Mateus Asato's case, social media has proven to be a way for him to carve a path to the higher echelons of the music industry, leading to an ever-evolving résumé that includes names like Bruno Mars, Tori Kelly, Jessie J, Joe Satriani, and John Petrucci, as well as a signature guitar with Suhr.

However, back in 2016, Asato's role as an A-list sideman left him questioning his future. While traveling to South Korea for a guitar clinic – and confronted with real-life human beings who had discovered him through Instagram and were actually invested in his personal career – he realized there was tremendous potential to switch gears from “sideman” to “artist.”

“I had no idea of the impact that these little Instagram videos were having until I actually went to South Korea,” he tells Guitar.com. “There were 500 people there just to see this ‘Mateus Asato guy’. That totally changed the game for me: ‘Wait a minute, I play for an artist… but also there’s a big potential for me to just do my own stuff’.”

Working on his own material has been far from easy, however. Discussions with friend and producer Matt Mainhard made him realize that “it’s not okay to just have a list of songs. We gotta have a theme. We gotta have some sort of concept, or something that will tell you where to go”.

As for what we can expect from his hotly anticipated debut record, Asato sums it up as, “The album is definitely a journey through all the sides of Mateus. The Mateus who’s a sideman, Mateus as the Instagram boy, and then the Mateus that got more mature over the years. Who developed a different vision regarding music, regarding how I see guitar.”

So-called “Instagram guitarists” have been in hot water recently, with the Giacomo Turra controversy putting into question the lengths some go to to achieve virality and reap the benefits that guitar stardom offers.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s collaboration on the Satch/Vai tour has to go down as one of the great guitar team-ups of all time. It’s also a feel-good story in a time when we could use one. But with the set for the Satch/Vai Tour to be culled from both players’ catalogs, how does this momentous electric guitar spectacle come together onstage?

At least Pete Thorn knows what he has to do; he’ll be will be holding it down on rhythm guitar. But will we hear hear Vai playing the solo to Surfing With the Alien, or Satch handling For the Love of God?

Speaking to British gear retail giant GuitarGuitar, the latter explained how he and his old friend are sharing lead guitar duties, and why it's essential that they don’t get in each other’s way.

“We’ve had so much experience playing with each other over the decades, it really makes things very easy,” says Satriani. “However, some of Steve’s songs are better left to him performing them on his own. The level of technical difficulty and the importance of one clear voice playing the melodies and solos are things we take seriously, song by song.”

If Vai’s Teeth of the Hydra is on the setlist, then we can see why discretion would be the better part of valor. And if Vai himself admits that And We Are One, from 2016’s Modern Primitive, is his “greatest accomplishment” on the guitar, telling Guitar Player that it has “more phrasing and melodic intimacy” than anything he has ever recorded, then perhaps that’s best left for Vai to handle.

But Satriani doesn’t rule anything out. He tells GuitarGuitar that they soon discovered during rehearsals that their respective arrangements could be expanded to make room for them both.

They will certainly be playing together on The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1, the first original composition the pair ever wrote together, and on the newly released I Wanna Play My Guitar, which premiered on Guitar World and Guitar Player last month and features Glenn Hughes on vocals.

Satriani wrote the track and originally intended for Hughes and Justin Hawkins of the Darkness to share vocals. Hawkins was unavailable. Hughes was all in. Satriani recorded his vocal idea on Voice Memos and sent it to Hughes. “I pray no one ever hears that demo of me singing into my iPhone!” he said.

Both tracks are thematically linked. Satriani might be 68. Vai turns 65 today, Friday, June 6 [many happy returns, Steve!]. But they draw upon the formative experiences of both of them growing up. Think of them as companion pieces, that Dazed and Confused social milieu of teenagers in the ‘70s, two of whom just happen to be the world’s preeminent guitar virtuosos.

“This song depicts all that Joe and I used to think about as teenagers. All of the things we loved about pounding rock ‘n’ roll and the glorious guitar,” said Vai. “It is phenomenal for us to be able to present to you now our teenage aspirations in this song.

“I remember those days and how absolutely exciting it was to play the guitar. Our whole world revolved around it as if it was a mysterious monolith, as it is, and I know that there are teenagers right now that are feeling the same thing about this sacred instrument when they play it.

“It feels like freedom and joy and I recommend everybody find some time in their life to play the guitar – enjoy!”

The Satch/Vai Band features the legendary Kenny Aronoff on drums, with Marco Mendoza on bass guitar.

The Satch/Vai Band's Surfing With the Hydra Tour arrives in the UK on June 13, at the Barbican in York. See Satch/Vai Band for full dates and ticket details.

Gary Clark Jr. has revealed what Eric Clapton said to him when the pair spontaneously crossed paths at a show – and although the bluesman isn't entirely sure what Slowhand meant by his words, Joe Satriani has assured him they were offered as praise.

The acclaimed blues rock electric guitar titan is one of his generation’s finest players, and last year he was positioned alongside Van Halen and Carlos Santana on Guitar Center Hollywood’s Rockwalk in a recognition of his dazzling talents.

He’s now recalled his random Clapton conversation via a new Instagram post, which also shows him playing Storyville’s Good Day for the Blues on a Bigsby-loaded ES-335 – his crystal clear licks wading through a sea of warming reverb.

“A man approached me while I was getting settled to play a show,” he recalls. “He had a big smile on his face while he said to me ‘Man, you’re like the king of reverb!’ In hindsight, I’m pretty sure that statement was not meant to be a compliment but was meant to be more of a subtle suggestion. That man was Eric Clapton.”

While the guitarist may see Slowhand's comment in such a light, Joe Satriani – who commented on the post – was quick to offer his own interpretation of the exchange.

“What E.C.meant,” he wrote, “was, ‘You're amazing. You lift people up, make them think, make them smile, so, don't ever stop being yourself.’ I'm pretty sure that's what he meant.”

It’s unclear when this conversation took place, but by the sounds of it, it was one of the pair's earliest meetings.

Though the blues is the beating heart of Gary Clark Jr.'s sound, and the main ingredient in his sizzling guitar solos, the Austin musician is something of a genre polymath. As his career has progressed, soul, R&B, and hip-hop are just some of the extra spices he's weaved into his music, helping him score an impressive four Grammy wins from six nominations. His LP, This Land, helped him to a trio of those wins.

Today, Clark Jr.'s stock could hardly be higher. But when he was cutting his teeth during his early club gigs, he was often mocked for his leftfield gear choices.

“I got made fun of because I walked in proud with an Ibanez Blazer and a solid-state Crate amp,” he recalls. “I was showing up to blues clubs with that, and they were like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ But, you know, at a certain point you can’t please everybody.”

It’s a move that echoes how Cecil Alexander was received for playing bebop on a Jackson Soloist at jazz clubs. Impressively, he’s made it sound like a big-body guitar and has revealed his secrets to Guitar World.

Last month Clark Jr. donned a Stratocaster for a sterling set of Stevie Ray Vaughan classics at Austin City Limits' 50th Anniversary televised special. He dished out SRV's sophisticated licks with fellow blues guitarist Eve Monsees – and it proved to be a full-circle moment for the guitarist, who watched his guitar hero on the show as a kid.

Clapton, meanwhile, has given more on-the-nose praise to a Japanese neo-soul player and has name-dropped an unlikely contender as his favorite contemporary guitarist.

The Grateful Dead legend Bob Weir recently made a surprise guest appearance with the Best of All Worlds band, playing Sammy Hagar's Gibson Explorer alongside Joe Satriani and co. for a rendition of Montrose's Bad Motor Scooter earlier this week (May 7).

The red rocker is in the middle of his Las Vegas residency with his Van Halen-honoring band – whose lineup comprises Satriani, Michael Anthony, and Kenny Aronoff – at the Park MGM. Weir and John Mayer, meanwhile, have been making The Sphere their second home during their second residency at the futuristic venue across the city.

Dead & Company have been enjoying some downtime recently, with their tour schedule set to resume tonight (May 9). However, Hagar wasted no time seizing the opportunity to get his long-time friend up on stage to play the Montrose classic.

“Bob is fearless,” Hagar wrote on Instagram after the event. “He’s always willing to take chances with music of any kind. This was a blast.”

The clip first shows the band running through the track backstage, with Weir playing a Les Paul. But it's Hagar's go-to Explorer that he takes to the stage, and which he uses to deliver an improvised, scrappy-in-a-joyfully-free-flowing-way, solo.

When they aren't supping tequila together, Hagar and Weir are always grabbing the chance to jam. In 2018, Weir joined Chickenfoot to jam Otis Redding with Taj Mahal and REO Speedwagon's Kevin Cronin during the Acoustic-4-a-Cure concert.

The 2023 edition of the event also saw the revival of the Hagar/Weir partnership, with Taj Mahal, Michael Anthony, and singer-songwriter Chris Isaak also present.

At 77, Hagar has said he prefers residencies to the rigors of touring city-to-city, which explains his current residency slot.

Weir’s own Las Vegas residencies haven’t been without note, either. John Mayer has played Jeff Beck’s Custom Strat at select shows, as well as an off-the-shelf Jerry Garcia Strat replica that was “too good to put down.”

In related news, Mayer also revealed the secret hiding place for his amps as he battles with the venue's stage volume limitations. During their first residency, a hand injury forced him to rethink his playing style.

Weir, who dropped his third signature D’Angelico last August, says he and Mayer have learned a lot about one another from a decade of guitar partnership, believing they now enjoy a “telepathic relationship.”

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since electric guitar titans Joe Satriani and Steve Vai dropped The Sea of Emotion, their first ever collaborative song.

Now, though, we finally have its follow-up. Titled I Wanna Play My Guitar, it's an ode to the titular instrument that traverses many eras of rock guitar – particularly the '70s, a formative decade for both players.

Adding to the '70s flavor is an epic vocal turn by Glenn Hughes, who made his name on bass and pipes with Deep Purple during the middle part of that decade.

Now, don't run to your streaming platform of choice just yet. I Wanna Play My Guitar can only be spun here for the time being (or on our sister website, Guitar Player).

You can check it out – in all its funky, swaggering, dual-guitar acrobatic glory – below. It's a fun ride!

I Wanna Play My Guitar has quite the backstory, which Satriani kindly keyed us in on.

“When I started writing this song I had no idea how important the contributions from Glenn and Steve would be,” he shared. “What they brought to the track made it all happen.”

Originally, the song was meant to not only be a dual guitar showcase of sorts, but a dual vocal one as well.

“My original idea was to have Glenn Hughes and Justin Hawkins do the vocals together,” Satriani said.

“I got this crazy idea on the Monsters of Rock Cruise where Glenn and Justin were both performing. Unfortunately, when I got back from the cruise I tested positive for COVID and I entered into a 10 day fog, forgetting if I had sent the invitations to collaborate.

“When I finally recovered, I heard back from Justin's people that The Darkness were going to be releasing a record at the same time and he wouldn’t be able to contribute to the song, so, I sent a rough demo to Glenn and he was into it. I pray no one ever hears that demo of me singing into my iPhone!”

According to Vai, the song is meant to take listeners all the way back to the guitarists' early days – before the sold-out crowds, platinum records, and magazine covers.

“This song depicts all that Joe and I used to think about as teenagers. All of the things we loved about pounding rock ‘n’ roll and the glorious guitar,” he explained. “It is phenomenal for us to be able to present to you now our teenage aspirations in this song.

“I remember those days and how absolutely exciting it was to play the guitar. Our whole world revolved around it as if it was a mysterious monolith, as it is, and I know that there are teenagers right now that are feeling the same thing about this sacred instrument when they play it.

“It feels like freedom and joy and I recommend everybody find some time in their life to play the guitar – enjoy!”

Rounded out by Pete Thorn on rhythm guitar, Marco Mendoza on bass, and Kenny Aronoff on drums, the SatchVai Band will hit the road for the first time starting next month.

For tickets and a full list of tour dates, visit SatchVaiBand.com.

Cory Wong sparked discussion just over a month ago when he insisted that guitarists should not call themselves “advanced guitarists” unless they can ace one exercise: knowing where all the notes are on a guitar – and recall them on demand. It was a controversy that extended far beyond Wong's comment section, with Jack White even weighing in on the debate.

Now, Joe Satriani is giving his two cents on the matter, agreeing with Wong's statement and reasserting how essential it is for both veteran guitarists and complete rookies to know the fretboard like the back of their hand.

“I would always insist that you know every single note right from the beginning,” he tells Cory Wong on the Wong Notes podcast. “Find-the-note-everywhere exercise. I think that's what I would write on the top of the lesson book. And I'd always tell them [guitarists], ‘Look, it's gonna take maybe three weeks, and then you'll never think about this ever again.’”

Satch also mentions how kids who have just started learning the guitar need to hone in on this early so they’ll “never have to learn it again.”

“The time to learn these things is when you're that young, and your cells are being recreated every minute, and you've got a million hormones and all this energy, and it's the hardest time to focus, but it's the best time to learn. It'll just become part of who you are.”

The veteran guitarist takes the same approach when it comes to scales: learn them as early as possible. “I would always tell them, ‘This is not music – you got to learn this, form an opinion about it. That's what you're playing the scales for. What's your opinion of Mixolydian versus Phrygian dominant? When do you pull one scale out instead of the other?’ You have to make that decision. How are you going to do that if you can't play it?” he concludes.

Aside from giving his hot takes, Satriani is busy rehearsing with Steve Vai for the SatchVai Band – the first official band the two have formed together in their 50-year musical careers.

Sammy Hagar, as he often does during interviews, turned heads recently when he said he'd written a song inspired by a dream he had about Eddie Van Halen, and had tapped Joe Satriani to bring it to life. Now, the Red Rocker has released the song, Encore, Thank You, Goodnight, and it represents a surprise new chapter in the Van Halen storybook.

With Michael Anthony on bass and esteemed session drummer and long-time Satriani collaborator Kenny Aronoff behind the kit, it takes the current iteration of the Best of All Worlds band to the studio.

For his part, Satriani is clearly reveling in his role, peppering the song with tapping licks, stadium-size chords and a potent recreation of Eddie’s legendary tones.

The song starts with a wild flurry of tapping that, while evoking Eddie’s virtuosic flavors with startling accuracy, still carries a little Satch spirit. It gives way to rolling drums, some pick slides, and massive power chords before Hagar takes the spotlight.

“This song is my final bow to that part of my life,” Hagar said of the song prior to its release. “It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank-you – with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo.”

Before Hagar had approached Satriani for the Best of All Worlds tour, the guitarist had previously said he never wanted to learn Eddie’s riffs and leads, fearing it would imprint too much on his own ideas.

But when he took the job, he left no stone unturned as he had a custom amp built to recreate his favorite era of Eddie Van Halen’s tone, rebuilt his live rig, and made some choice mods to his guitars.

Now, fully immersed in the task, it feels like he’s really letting fly on Encore…, and it’s something that will delight Van Halen and Satch fans the world over.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times about life after Eddie, Hagar says, “I miss the guy so much. Thank God we connected towards the end, otherwise I'd be heartbroken.

“It was so important to me that we did connect in that last year. Eddie said to me, 'Don't tell anyone about us talking because I don't want to be answering questions about rumors of a reunion.'

“But he said, 'Next year, we're gonna get together – we're gonna make some noise. Let me beat this shit, and let's do it.' He goes, 'Please don't talk to anyone – not even Al [Van Halen].' I've never said that to anyone, and I bet you Al is gonna have a fucking fit.

“It hasn't been the same since Eddie died,” he adds. “Things aren't the same without that hope. After the 2004 tour, with Eddie being in the condition he was in, I was very angry with him. I was hoping that we'd get together and play [again] someday.

“I've never gotten back to that level since. That was the pinnacle of my career. But more than that was the creativity and the energy we had together writing songs like Right Now, When It's Love, and Love Walks In. He brought something out of me that just ain't the same without him. At my age, you sit there and wonder: If Eddie was alive, could I reach that again? Now that dream is gone.”

Hagar and Michael Anthony were absent from Van Halen’s last album and the subsequent tours, with David Lee Roth back in the fold and Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen on bass.

The Best of All Worlds tour allowed Hagar to pay tribute to Eddie in his own way, and after their successful first tour, he admitted “a million guys” could have taken Satch’s spot, but he trumps the rest for one specific reason.

A few months after Sammy Hagar announced his semi-retirement from touring, he’s now unveiling a new single – Encore, Thank You, Goodnight., out April 25 via Big Machine Rock.

The track, co-written with Joe Satriani, and co-produced alongside Satch and his frequent collaborator Eric Caudieux, was inspired by a dream Hagar had about Eddie Van Halen and serves as a homage to that life-changing part of his career.

“This song is my final bow to that part of my life,” says Hagar. “It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank-you – with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo.” Satriani's contribution is also unmistakable – bringing about a sound that's nostalgic but equally forward-looking.

“Joe was the perfect partner to help me shape the sound – he brought in that big, emotional, guitar-driven energy that feels like Eddie’s spirit but is entirely of Joe’s creation.

“With Michael Anthony’s thundering bass and stellar Van Halen-esque background vocals and Kenny Aronoff’s relentlessly powerful driving rhythms, the song really came together on all levels.”

According to Hagar, the dream that sparked the song came a year after Van Halen’s passing – and rather than a somber farewell, the song is meant to celebrate the unforgettable times they shared in Van Halen.

Aside from the song’s official release on Friday, fans attending the launch of The Best of All Worlds’ Las Vegacy residency at the end of the month will get to experience the song’s first live outing at Dolby Live at Park MGM.

Speaking of Joe Satriani’s many exploits, the guitar maestro recently told Guitar World about the lengths he went to in order to nail Eddie Van Halen’s playing and tone.

Meanwhile, the late guitarist's former wife, actor Valerie Bertinelli, has ruled out the possibility of a Van Halen biopic materializing anytime soon.

Andy Fairweather Low’s career is a smorgasbord of musical successes. He hit the big-time in 1968 with Amen Corner. Top 10 hits such as Bend Me, Shape Me, High In The Sky and the chart-topper (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice propelled the Cardiff-based pop-soul outfit to heady heights.

Following a stint as Fair Weather and scoring a Top 10 with Natural Sinner, Andy forged a solo path with his beautiful composition Wide Eyed and Legless.

However, for decades he was guitar-playing sideman to superstars including Eric Clapton and Roger Waters, toured with Chris Rea, Paul Carrack, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. He’s even recorded with Joe Satriani and jammed with Jimi Hendrix. And that’s the tip of a very large iceberg.

Andy’s new album, The Invisible Bluesman, could give any of his famous employers a run for their money.

The album’s title alludes to Andy’s status as perennial sideman. “But I’m not bitter,” he laughs, as he sits down to chat about some of the album’s tracks, his gear and his phenomenal backstory.

There’s an extremely cohesive feel to the album, considering the tracks were recorded at different times and places.

“It’s the band, the combination. Because Henry [Spinetti], the Low Riders’ drummer, was going off with Katie Melua, bass player Dave Bronze said, ‘Check Paul Beavis out.’ And within three minutes it felt right. So Paul’s on it. Dave’s on it. And the thing is, the Low Riders is a co-operative. We’re all in it together, so when it’s good, it’s really good.

“Chris Stainton [Eric Clapton, keyboards] helped us out, too – so gracious. I asked [Paul] ‘Wix’ Wickens, McCartney’s keyboard player, if he fancied doing some gigs and he said, ‘Yeah, it’d be great.’ We were going to Rhyl, so the van picks him up in London, and by the time we got to North Wales he was regretting it! But no, it was all so joyful.

“Playing in arenas is great. It’s about money, it’s about life, it’s about history, it’s about what went before, and it’s about what’s in people’s minds.

“But playing in small venues to 200 people, it’s about what’s happening right now: we control the dynamic of loud and we control the dynamic of quiet. So you get to ‘be’, as a player, in front of people right there and then. We do play Paradise, Wide Eyed, and Gin House [Blues], but I tell them, ‘Not until later or you’ll all bugger off!’”

Did you rehearse the studio cuts first and then lay them down?

“No, we’d already played them live. I’d finished my last album, Flang Dang, and decided I was not going to do any more. And then Malcolm Mills from The Last Record Company said those words, ‘the invisible bluesman’, and I went, ‘Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel through all the years of whoever I played with.’”

But you have your own niche, don’t you?

“And I’m very grateful for it. And a lot of it is not connected to Roger Waters or Eric Clapton; it’s connected to Amen Corner and my solo records. We get some fabulous, dedicated Eric fans that have continually turned up to support us. But it’s a handful, considering the maybe millions I’ve played in front of.”

My Baby Left Me has a lovely lazy feel.

“That’s from 2007, the first time we went out. I’ve stolen a few bits: Robert Johnson’s Kind Hearted Woman, Mississippi John Hurt [Since I’ve Laid My] Burden Down. But the feel is all Paul and Dave, there’s nothing else going on.”

Lightin’s Boogie is fantastic, too.

“I heard the Herald recordings from the ’50s with Lightin’ [Hopkins] on acoustic, then later on electric. And to play that stuff you have to know it. It’s like Irish music; it’s in the blood. And I knew it.

“I got the funny timings. I was doing a film soundtrack, One Of The Hollywood Ten with Glyn Johns. We recorded 19 tracks in one day. That was one of the songs, and that’s the recording from that moment.”

Your solo in the live Gin House Blues is phenomenal. And what a sound.

“Eric said, ‘Who’s playing that?’ I said, ‘It’s me.’ Well, I had my Fender Vibro-King, and no matter how many times I changed the valves, they got tired. So Dave Bronze brought Dennis Cornell along and he said, ‘Show me what you want.’ So I cranked up the Vibro-King and Dennis looked at Dave and said, ‘Is he serious?’

“But Dennis is all about efficiency and making a wonderful amp. I want a dirty amp. I want an inefficient amp. I want one control. Albert King, BB King, Freddie King – they never had graphic equalisers. It was a lead into an amp, into a man, and into his soul.

“And I’ve stuck with that. I only ever had a pedal for a tour I did with Chris Rea, for one sound. And I used one pedal with Paul Carrack, and with Roger Waters it was a rack delay that they had. But I never got in-ears, and I never got a wireless system.

“It needs to be me, the amp and the guitar. But Dennis did make me an amp so Gin House Blues is the Cornell with a 4x10.

“The guitar was the white Clapton Strat with one humbucker. When I joined Eric, I only had one guitar, and with Eric you have to have two of everything. So they ordered this white Strat with Lace Sensors and I didn’t like them, so I ripped everything out and put the humbucker in. You only need one good pickup for what I do.”

Your unique, high-toned voice is perfect for blues.

“Stevie Wonder’s a singer. Ray Charles is a singer. Aretha Franklin is a singer. I’m just a guy who sings. I mean, I love Ry Cooder, I love Mick Jagger, but you wouldn’t say they’re singers, except they sing.”

You don’t do the ‘pentatonic licks’ thing – you play melodies over bluesy changes.

“No, I don’t have that vocabulary of licks where I open the door and it’s there. Before Amen Corner we were doing stuff like Otis Redding’s Don’t Mess With Cupid, Booker T’s Hip Hug-Her, so it’s all Steve Cropper licks.

“Then I had those years with Amen Corner and with my solo stuff I was writing. So I ended up being a guitar player that doesn’t play. The rhythm player. Eric’s always been taking solos. That’s what he does.”

But these artists trust you. Getting it right is important.

“But I can’t step out of the zone the moment I want to be somebody else, which, after 13 years without it, I did.

“Occasionally, I’d sneak a couple of my Jimmy Vaughan, Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson licks in and he’d go, ‘No, Andy!’ And that was it. I’m back in my box.”

The Unplugged film for MTV in 1992 must have been special to work on.

“It was. But none of those guitars were mine. The Martin is Eric’s, the Super 300 Alan [Rogan, legendary guitar tech] lent me. The D’Angelico mandolin, someone lent it. But to be able to just play and not have ‘a bit more bass there, a bit less something there, you’re a little too loud’ – no, you just play. That was glorious.

“I didn’t play mandolin. I could do When I’m Dead And Gone and Malt And Barley Blues by McGuinness Flint, but that was it. And then we get to the rehearsals and Eric says, ‘You play mandolin, don’t you?’ ‘Er, not really.’

“So they get this mandolin and he presents me with My Father’s Eyes. So on Unplugged you can see a bit of paper on the floor with triads written out of how to play My Father’s Eyes.”

Were there lots of rehearsals?

“I spent a week at Eric’s house. ‘Come on, we’ll sit around and work some stuff out.’ So we’d play through Nobody Knows [You When You’re Down And Out], Running On Faith, Old Love and so on. He wanted to do Malted Milk by Robert Johnson, which has a diminished chord, and that’s the only one I had to do a bit of work on.

“But, man, it was a joy. We did the same for the Concert For George [in 2002]; I spent a week with him, routining things.”

You toured with Harrison, too, didn’t you?

“Eric had said, ‘Look, I’ll put my band together and we’ll back you.’ We were having a meal in Japan and George gets up and says, ‘Andy was not the first choice. There were seven guitarists and he was the seventh choice.’ Because Gary Moore was one, Alvin Lee was another, and eventually it came to me. But George said, ‘He wasn’t the first choice, but he was the right choice.’

“George and I had met at Ry Cooder shows backstage, so he’d assumed I played slide. Anyway, the first song we played when I went over was Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth). I knew it inside out because I loved [Living] In The Material World. But I said, ‘George, I’m the rhythm player, you play the slide. It doesn’t make any sense.’ Well, I learned the solo, but, believe me, there’s so many nights I didn’t sleep!”

And then there’s Roger Waters.

“I’d done the ARMS tour for multiple sclerosis. Then we toured America with Eric, Jeff [Beck], Jimmy [Page] and a full cast. And the person who was doing press for the tour, Adie Cook, was a friend of Roger’s. So when Roger was looking for a replacement for Eric for The Pros And Cons Of Hitch Hiking tour, my name came up.

“‘Hello, Andy. Roger Waters here. Will you come up and see whether we get on?’ We did get on. And I stayed for 24 years. Then I’m doing The Wall in 1990 with Roger, and Van Morrison is on the show. So I do the Van Morrison tour. I’m doing a charity gig at the Natural History Museum. Chris Rea is on that bill. I do the Road To Hell tour.

“The other connection is Glyn [Johns]. Glyn got me in with Joe Satriani, David Crosby, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Pete Townshend. I’m staying with Glyn and they’re recording Who Are You. Pete says, ‘Come down, do some vocals.’

“I did a live album with Joe Satriani. Me! Think about it! I phoned him up and said, ‘Joe, why? Do you know what I do?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ He’d seen me with Eric. But I can’t even think as quickly as he can play. I mean, he wasn’t just in control of the guitar; it’s like he’d invented the bloody thing.”

Clearly, you are that safe pair of hands because all these incredible artists want to work with you.

“Well, there was a guitar player called Roy Smeck. It came to the end of a concert and someone shouted, ‘You’re a genius!’ And he just said, ‘No. I’m a lucky guy. I’m very grateful.’ And that’s me. I’m a very lucky guy, and I’m very, very grateful.

“And you need luck. Amen Corner got a record deal because the guy from Decca saw the band that went on before us, then left and said, ‘Tell them to be in the studio Monday morning, nine o’clock.’

“So we turn up and we’re not that band. He said, ‘Well, we might as well do something.’ So we played Gin House, and without that bit of luck, and a bit of payola, too, we may not have got our success.”

When you were with Amen Corner, were you already into blues?

“No. In the ’70s, when we were called Fair Weather, I got hold of the Robert Johnson album, put it on and said these immortal words, ‘They all sound the same.’ The blues came along when touring with Eric in the big band, doing baseball stadiums with Elton John around America and Europe.

“One day in the car he puts on Chicago Bound by Jimmy Rogers, and that was his way of saying, ‘Check that out – because this is what’s coming.’

“The thing is, he’d got so big that no-one was listening any more. We came off one night and Greg Phillinganes [keyboards] said, ‘Man, just like The Beatles.’ And Eric looked at him and went, ‘Yeah, just like The Beatles.’ And that was him saying, ‘I’m done with this. I need to play what I really want to play.’ And that’s when he seriously played. And in 13 years I never tired of any of it.

“But I wanted to play more, and it was inappropriate with Eric or Roger. I was not the lead guitarist, and I wanted to be, and that’s why I left two of the best-paying and most socially comfortable gigs. I knew I had to do it and not hear those words, ‘No, Andy.’ I can’t pretend I’m a guitar player next to Eric Clapton, can I?”

Did you meet Hendrix?

“He’d been on Top of the Pops, so the word is out. Amen Corner had a residency at the Speakeasy, and one night Jimi is there and wants to play. So he borrows Clive [Taylor]’s bass, flips it upside down, and we do Otis Redding’s I Can’t Turn You Loose. So great!

“Next night, he wanted to play guitar, so he took Neil [Jones]’s guitar, flipped it upside down, I took the bass, so it was Dennis [Bryon, drums], me and Hendrix. I have to say it was three o’clock in the morning and I wasn’t very good! You gotta learn somewhere though, eh?

“Then it’s 1969, I’m in New York and I get a phone call. ‘Jimi’s in the studio. Would you come down and do some vocals?’ He’s recutting Stone Free. So we go down, Roger Chapman [of Family] is also there, so we did it. It’s not a good version. There’s only one version of Stone Free.”

And you even recorded with Kate Bush!

“Oh, man. This is off the scale. I’m at home, nothing’s going on. Phone rings. There’s this woman who says she’s Kate Bush. ‘Would you consider doing some vocals on a track? You’d be absolutely perfect.’ I said, ‘Well, can you send me something?’ ‘No, just come up.’

“I’m apprehensive. But I get up there and gosh, she’s just fabulous. She plays me Wild Man and we record it. I get home, send my bill in: ‘Hello, Andy, I’ve just got your bill. You don’t charge enough.’ So she gave me three times more, then put the single out as Kate Bush and Andy Fairweather Low.”

You’ve had and continue to have a long and distinguished career. What’s the secret?

“The point is to keep aiming for that high bar. If you aim high and fail, it’s not that bad. If you aim for a low bar and fail, then you’re in trouble.”

• The Invisible Bluesman is out now via The Last Music Company.
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

When Joe Satriani and Steve Vai announced they were forming a new band together, the news came hot on the heels of a G3 reunion run alongside Eric Johnson, not to mention their own Satch/Vai tour. So, naturally, we were left wondering: just how different would this new project be?

As it turns out, it may end up sounding quite unlike any other performance the pair have been involved with throughout their lengthy careers, as the very first SatchVai Band rehearsal footage shows.

The one-minute clip, posted to Satriani’s YouTube channel and captioned “Something’s stirring behind closed doors…”, finds the pair not only performing their own classics, but taking on the leads and melodies of each other’s.

So, you can hear Vai soloing over Satriani’s If I Could Fly, before both guitarists tackle the iconic two-hand-tapped run in Always With Me, Always With You.

But the highlight has to be hearing the two guitar heroes harmonizing Vai opus For the Love of God’s legendary leads with pitch-perfect precision. It’s breathtaking stuff.

The clip ends with the duo busting out the main riff of Metallica’s Enter Sandman – a staple on the G3 reunion tour that carries extra nostalgia given Joe Satriani’s role as Kirk Hammett’s guitar teacher (as well as Vai’s, of course).

It’s also our first chance to see the band’s rhythm guitarist, Pete Thorn, in action. You can spot him deploying a Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster for the acoustic parts in If I Could Fly, while you know that Suhr backline is getting cranked for the higher-gain numbers.

Speaking of, Satch appears to have brought his 3rd Power DRGN 100 rig – which was specially designed to tackle Eddie Van Halen’s tone in Best of All Worlds – into the instrumental arena, rather than his typical Marshall JVM410HJS setup.

All of which is very exciting: it looks as if Satch and Vai – alongside Thorn, bassist Marco Mendoza and longtime Satch drummer Kenny Aronoff – could be trading solos for the entire show’s duration, as opposed to the separate sets and closing jams that typically feature in their live collaborations.

We’ll find out when the SatchVai Band tour kicks off in York, United Kingdom on June 13 – head over to SatchVaiBand.com for full dates.

What is it?

In a seemingly endless quest for the preservation of pedalboard real estate, IK Multimedia took things to an extreme with the Tonex One. A modeling amp pedal capable of housing a selection of 20 Tone Models from the Tonex stable, all in a mini pedal format with a full 3-band EQ, gate, compressor, and reverb to boot. Now enter a certain Joe Satriani, here to combine his considerable expertise to a new special edition of the pedal.

Working from the Joe Satriani Amp Vault collection added to the Tonex library in June 2024 and combining that with the addition of the delay and modulation effects debuted in a November firmware update in the same year, Satch has curated 20 presets preloaded into the pedal to reflect tones from across his considerable career.

Specs

• Launch price: $229/£229/€229.99
• Type: Amp modeling and multi-effects pedal
• Controls: Bass, Middle, Treble, Gate, Comp, Reverb, Volume/Gain, Alt button
• Features: Curated Satch presets, amp and stompbox modeling, multi-effects
• Connectivity: 1/4 In and Out, TRS Out
• Bypass: Buffered Bypass
• Power: 9v DC centre negative, 120mA
• Dimensions: 48 mm/1.89" x 94 mm/3.7" x 53 mm/2.09"
• Weight: 160g
• Contact: IK Multimedia

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

Guitar World reviewed the Tonex One back in July 2024, and this new version of the pedal is almost unchanged in terms of build, which, to summarize, is solid. The exception is a rather striking and brilliantly reflective chrome finish, in keeping with Satch's Ibanez 'Chrome Boy' signature guitar. The one downside is that the reflective nature can be a little dazzling if you get a bit unlucky with stage lighting, but it nonetheless looks fantastic.

Usability

Usability rating: ★★★★☆

Even in the context of the fast-moving technological evolution we've seen in amp modelers so far, the same realisation remains with the Tonex One; the amount of functionality stuffed into this mini pedal is, quite frankly, astounding.

As reflected upon in our original review, the drawbacks to this include the memorization of button presses to access some of these features and the difficulty of browsing through the presets on the pedal. The updates to the software are where things get interesting. Previously under fire for a lack of user friendliness, the updated version - renamed Tonex Editor - is much improved.

The biggest and most important change is in how the software reflects the presets loaded into the pedal vs the presets in the software and the huge collection of user presets found in ToneNet. It is now obvious which is which, and they're presented much more cohesively within the software's 'Librarian'.

I'm a user of both the current and prior versions and this alone makes for a much smoother experience.

The editor now also does a much better job of, well, editing. Previously, presets would be edited within the software and then dragged and dropped into the pedal.

This update comes with the addition of real-time editing, allowing the software to make changes directly on the pedal whilst it is being played. The fact that this wasn't included at launch is arguably an oversight, but the change shows that IK has listened to player feedback and reacted accordingly.

These are all general updates to the Tonex ecosystem, with the last bit of housekeeping since our first review being the much-anticipated delay and modulation effects added in November.

But in terms of usability, there is no way to access these on the Tonex One, this has to be done through the software.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. The number of functions on the hardware itself that required the memorization of certain button presses, combinations, and holds already exceeded what was practical, and therefore, it's a reasonable compromise not to squeeze yet more into something so small.

However, sounds cut differently in a band mix, so the requirement of a laptop in order to adjust the delay or modulation at a gig or rehearsal room is a bit tricky.

I'm not sure what the perfect solution is here, and of course players have the option to add their own effects pedals alongside the Tonex, but either way, I think these are still worthwhile additions to the features in this tiny, value-packed package.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★★

Outside of the chrome finish, what makes this a Satriani signature pedal are the 20 preloaded presets created by the man himself.

These presets make use of the Satch Amp Vault Tone Models (worth $99 on their own, which users also get full access to upon purchasing the Tonex One Joe Satriani), the Tone Model parameters that were already adjustable, plus the new modulation and delay effects to create a selection of sounds from Joe's extensive catalogue of virtuosic guitar.

Playing through a Les Paul and the Tonex Cab I recently reviewed, I was disappointed to find that the tones didn't immediately give me satch-like chops! What they did do, however, is give me Satch-like sounds, exactly as promised.

With the Tonex Tone Models already well reviewed, the use of Satch's own amps in the Tone Vault, and Joe in charge of utilizing the parameters of the presets and effects, it should come as no surprise that the sounds are very reminiscent of the songs they are aimed at.

Although it is worth bearing in mind that effects not already contained within the Tonex eco system aren't reflected in the presets - so bring your own Wah.

Perhaps the most iconic of Satch's tones is that searing, mid-focused, Satriani lead. The Tonex One Joe Satriani has this nailed, but more than that, I was surprised to hear it morph into amp-like feedback impressively so for a piece of digital gear. For this, the Tonex Cab has to share some credit.

A few personal highlights for me are the Alien Rhythm, The Extremist Lead, and Love Thing Clean presets. The Alien Rhythm is a fairly basic, tight, throaty sound, great for gainy riffs and rhythms. The Extremist Lead furthers the gain and adds some delay for that soaring Satch shred, and the Love Thing Clean adds some satisfying width with a healthy amount of chorus, tape delay and reverb.

You can hear all of these in action in the track I recorded with the Tonex One below.

When using a lot of gain as Satch often does, it is fair to expect a noisy afair, however, this is not the case. The noise gate has been carefully applied to each of the presets in order to clamp down on this and remarkably manages to stay out of the way of the sustain.

It does affect the ability to back off via the volume control, but this is as expected, given the amount of gain we are talking about.

Diving into the newly added modulations and delay effects a little deeper, IK has adopted a 'simple but effective' mindset. Not built for those who want endlessly tweakable parameters, but more so that we have the essentials that are needed to get good sounds.

And good sounds we do indeed get. Two modes for the delay - Digital or Tape. The digital is crisp and clear, whilst the tape adds a little bit of flutter, and I spent way too much time enjoying it.

There's a Ping-Pong option to add some width, Time, Feedback, and Mix controls for the general parameters, a Sync option, and the ability to set the delay block pre- or post-tone model.

The modulations include a Chorus, Tremolo, Phaser, Flanger, and Rotary (one engaged at a time) and follow the same train of thought with a set of either 3 or 4 simple controls, a sync option, and the ability to have it set pre or post the tone model. I felt the chorus had a tad too much low end, which is less of an issue if you like your clean sounds with a bit of beef, but the rest were full of the wobbly goodness you would hope for.

Verdict

Put simply, the Tonex One Joe Satriani, does exactly what it says it will do. It's a collection of Satch's sounds, from ethereal cleans to soaring high gain, all in a tiny little box. It may not turn you into a legato-fuelled monster, but it will certainly put your tone in the Satch ballpark. I guess the rest is up to you.

Beyond the Satriani of it all, the updates to the Tonex ecosystem in general have made the software much more useable and the hardware even more capable. While there are some drawbacks to this mass functionality in the Tonex One's minuscule form factor, it is nonetheless a brilliant and mightily versatile unit.

Guitar World verdict: A dream combination of IK's tech and Joe Satriani's vault of coveted amps plus presets tweaked by the man himself, the Tonex One Joe Satriani accurately delivers a selection of iconic Satch tones that you can literally place in the palm of your hand.

Also try

Hands-on Videos

Jason Sadites

IK Multimedia

Joe Satriani has listed a bunch of pre-loved gear on Bananas at Large, with one-of-a-kind electric guitars, a variety of tube amps, and pedals available.

A Fender Custom Shop Telecaster has been listed alongside a trio of amps and a smattering of stompboxes, but no item is more enticing than the one-of-one Crystal Planet version of his Ibanez signature guitar.

The prototype kickstarted Satriani's Y2K edition of his signature. It was designed and built by Juniji Hotta in the Ibanez Custom Shop in 1999 to coincide with the release of Satch's Crystal Planet LP, with ultra-transparency the name of the game.

Heck, even the bobbins of its twin humbuckers are see-through – but such an ambitious concept, Satriani admits to Bananas, posed plenty of problems when it came to production.

“We had to make decisions with stuff that normally you would hide,” he says, referring to its electrical innards. “Then the weight is really substantial. It feels like a ’73 Les Paul, but when I saw it I couldn't believe how cool it was.

“I love the clear knobs, you never see pickups like that, and I have to point out that there are earplugs that are squished into the corner [of the pickups] here,” he adds, enthusiastically. Thankfully, the earplugs aren’t used, but they served a crucial role in Satch’s late ‘90s live rig.

“Now, this has to do with the way I used to set up the guitars and the amps, I'd be using a a Boss DS-1 into a Marshall 6100,” the guitarist explains. “That's a ton of low-end and a ton of gain, and very often these pickups would pick up on those frequencies and they start vibrating.

“Waxing wasn't enough, so we would stuff foam or earplugs in there to stop them from vibrating. It allowed me to keep the gain up and still play melodies that sounded sweet. So, the earplugs are still in there.”

Speaking of the guitar to celebrate the album's anniversary in 2021, Satriani said the transparent six-string was “a good example of how, as artists, you have to blindly move forward with crazy ideas”.

The guitar did get a very limited-edition Prestige series run, but this model is the only Custom Shop, hand-made Crystal Planet prototype axe to be found.

The acrylic guitar is cut to Satriani's unique Ibanez JS body shape, and loaded with a one-piece maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, as well as DiMarzio FRED (bridge) and DiMarzio PAF Pro (neck) pickups.

Neo-chrome hardware includes a Lo-Pro Edge double locking trem and Gotoh SG381 tuners. It's said to still be in mint condition, and considering its uniqueness and rarity, is priced at $10,000.

Elsewhere, a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Custom, built in 2016 and saddled with an SSH pickup configuration and sporting a relic'd finish, is priced at $5,499.99, while his 1965 sunburst Precision bass costs $5,995.00.

Featured amps include two 100-watt EVH 5150III heads in Black Stealth and Black/Gold finishes, and his signature Marshall head, the JVM410HJS.

For players wanting a piece of Joe Satriani's gear collection without breaking the bank, a pre-owned Jim Dunlop John Petrucci wah pedal ($149.99) and an Ibanez TK999 Tube King overdrive pedal ($179.99), represent the cheapest listings.

Visit Bananas at Large to check out the listing in full.

Though he’s fast approaching his 70s, Joe Satriani remains one of the busiest guitar players in the game. There’s a new live album out, documenting the original G3 lineup’s sold-out reunion tour of last year.

He’s been paying tribute to Eddie Van Halen in the ongoing Best of All Worlds tour alongside Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham. And there’s the recently announced Surfing with the Hydra tour with the Satch/Vai band, where they’ll be performing new original music written together and solo tracks as one group for the very first time.

For a six-stringer who released his debut EP way back in 1984 and now has 18 solo full-lengths under his belt, plus two albums with Chickenfoot and all kinds of collaborations stretching across the last four decades, there’s no shortage of wind in the sails.

Perhaps it all comes down to his work ethic – despite all the awards and accolades, he’s still humble enough to see himself as a student of music with plenty of room for expansion.

You can hear it on G3 Reunion Live, where Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson play some of their most famous tracks alongside more recent innovations that document their growth as world-commanding purveyors of melody and harmony.

“It’s pretty remarkable,” says Satch from a studio room where he’s surrounded by 3rd Power heads, Marshall cabs and Fender combo amps, as well as nearly every iteration of his Ibanez JS series.

“Every night I’d be watching them create new worlds to inhabit. Steve is the kind of player who wants to redesign his whole space before filling it with new music. Then you have Eric, who has pursued a sonic refinement that’s very special.

“He’s tireless in trying to enhance the sound of a Stratocaster going through his pedals and his amps. I have the best seat in the house. They are both so original and yet so different to each other in how they play.”

The tonal differences are also huge. Eric uses a lot less gain than you and Steve, and it’s more of a fuzz sound than overdrive or distortion.

“Funnily enough, the day after we recorded the live album, we were at EastWest Studios. The three of us stood together and plugged into my Marshall, passing the cord around. The one thing Eric said to me was, ‘Wow, there is so much gain!’

“We all have different ways of building our own gain structure to create melodies that soar. Eric has more of a germanium fuzz sound. Steve is more of a preamp gain guy. And I’m more of a power amp circuitry kind of player. It didn’t matter who had the cable, we all sounded like ourselves, but you can hear the differences in our own rigs.”

Eric’s take on Jeff Beck’s Freeway Jam is terrifically moving.

“Eric knows how to reach into a song and find something unique. Jeff was a fantastic example of someone who was always moving forward. He was continually reinventing himself.

“Beck’s Blow by Blow is loose and makes you go ‘Wow!’ because the performances were comped and no one’s really in tune. But the vibe and compositions supersede that and achieve this magical thing.

“Whenever I saw Jeff, he was always in the moment. Every time he played Where Were You, one of the most brilliant things any player has conceived, it would be different. All of his recordings were mostly improvised. He would prepare but then invite danger into every performance. That’s why he sounded fresh.”

Is The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1 a good indication of what to expect from the Satch/Vai debut?

“I wrote that song as a first volley. I pictured us growing up and referenced all the classic bands we loved – Hendrix, Zeppelin and Sabbath – almost like private jokes between us. Then I wrote a second part and Steve wrote a third. It sounds like a Spinal Tap joke, but it’s a trilogy. The rest of the album is quite diverse. Stylistically, it’s all over the place. We’re both venturing into unknown territory.”

You designed a new amp for the Best of All Worlds tour, geared more toward chordal ideas than single-note lines higher up. Talk us through the 3rd Power Dragon 100.

“Going back some years, when David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen first called me about a tribute, I started this deep search into Ed’s tone. His sound was lighter and thinner than my JVM, which was designed to make all my high notes super-fat.

“That’s what I usually do for two hours on stage. I’m not playing many chords. But when I play with Sammy, it’s 95 percent rhythm and then eight or 16 bars of solo. A quick rip before coming back.”

Edward’s tone changed a lot through the years, which probably makes this gig even more challenging.

“Ed had a million sounds. Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love to Panama is a huge jump, then to Summer Nights is a crazy jump. He went from mono to mono with a little bit of stereo from the Eventide to widen the pitch, and then full stereo. He used Marshall, Soldano, Peavey and EVH. Those are huge changes in terms of preamp gain and compression.

“He went from a lot of midrange to quite scooped. So I asked Dylana Scott at 3rd Power Amplification to solve it for me. We went for the 1986 Live Without a Net tone, because it was all Marshalls but with the extra stereo-ness.”

What have been your favorite tracks on the setlist and why?

“Opening with Good Enough, Poundcake and Runaround is amazing. I quickly realized that the order of Eddie’s embellishments is really important to the fans. Even though Ed would move things around, this audience knows the studio versions and they will want the scream here, the harmonic cascades there and the finger tapping there.

“As for challenges, the Poundcake drill is hard to nail. The beginning of Summer Nights is difficult because of the picking and gain structure. I don’t think I got the intro right until halfway into the tour. It felt so odd to my fingers.”

• G3: 25th Anniversary Tour is out now via earMUSIC.

The Best of All Worlds tour, which saw Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham team up to deliver a celebration of Van Halen's repertoire, may have recruited one of the best veteran players on the scene, Joe Satriani, to fill Eddie Van Halen's shoes. However, the Surfing with the Alien virtuoso still found certain parts of Eddie's compositions – and their nuances – tricky to nail.

“Opening with Good Enough, Poundcake and Runaround is amazing,” he says in the new issue of Guitar World. “I quickly realized that the order of Eddie’s embellishments is really important to the fans.

“Even though Ed would move things around, this audience knows the studio versions and they will want the scream here, the harmonic cascades there and the finger tapping there.”

And as for the most challenging tracks? “The Poundcake drill is hard to nail. The beginning of Summer Nights is difficult because of the picking and gain structure. I don’t think I got the intro right until halfway into the tour. It felt so odd to my fingers.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Satriani reveals the lengths he went to in order to ensure that his tone was as Van Halen-esque as possible for the tour, even designing a new amp, the 3rd Power Dragon 100.

“Going back some years, when David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen first called me about a tribute, I started this deep search into Ed's tone,” he explains.

“Ed had a millions sounds. He went from mono to mono with a little bit of stereo from the Eventide to widen the pitch, and then full stereo. He used Marshall, Soldano, Peavey and EVH. Those are huge changes in terms of preamp gain and compression.”

Taking all this into consideration, Satriani reached out to Dylana Scott at 3rd Power Amplification to create the perfect amp for this tour. “We went for the 1986 Live Without a Net tone, because it was all Marshalls but with the extra stereo-ness.”

In other Satriani-Van Halen news, Peavey CEO Courtland Gray has recently shed new light on Van Halen's split from the company in the early aughts, and suggested the Satriani endorsement could have led to the end of the partnership.

For more from Joe Satriani, plus new interviews with Norman Harris from Norman’s Rare Guitars, and John Mayer and Bob Weir, pick up issue 590 of Guitar World at Magazines Direct.

Though he left Spinal Tap in a huff before they began experimenting with jazz odysseys, Nigel Tufnel has plenty of musical range – just listen to the beautiful, classically influenced instrumental piano piece he performed (if I wrote the name of it here I might lose my job) in the classic film about his totally real band, This is Spinal Tap.

With that sort of versatility, and Tap's undisputed place in the halls of rock kings and queens, it makes sense that Tufnel once found himself sharing the stage with one of guitar's great virtuosos, Joe Satriani.

It's a pairing that makes for a fascinating meeting of the musical minds. So, what was it like?

Recounting Satriani's guest appearance with Tap, Tufnel said in an interview, “He was very frightened, mostly from the volume, because he plays a bit lower than we do. My new amplifiers now go to infinity, and I think that idea was very scary to him, because most amplifiers go to 10, but I made the jump to infinity.”

The intimidation Satriani felt was understandable. After all, this was the guitarist who had already broken new ground in amp volume with a Marshall fitted with volume controls that went up to 11...

Despite having the upper hand in volume, though, Tufnel felt nothing but admiration for Satriani's skill.

“Sound and technique, obviously, are two different things. He has got both. I have volume.”

Watching the Ibanez-toting virtuoso play, Tufnel said, “I did have a chance to slow it down on a video once, and it was still too quick. So I don't really know what he's doing. Otherwise, you know, I would do it.

“I look at it, [how] his fingers move, and I say, ‘Yeah, yeah, but where are they going?’ You can't really be jealous of something you can't fathom. And that's my situation.

“You see, if I was close to doing what he could do, I would feel some envy, I suppose, but I just don't understand it a lot of the time. I mean, I hear what he's doing and I like it, but I can't copy it.”

These humble quotes aside, it does make us wonder if we'll see Spinal Tap recruit any other guitar legends for a stage or studio collaboration in the future.

Guess we'll find out in Spinal Tap II...

Last year, Joe Satriani assembled the original G3 trio and hit the road with Steve Vai and Eric Johnson for what turned out to be one of 2024’s most notable guitar tours.

The tour saw the three electric guitar greats reunite under the G3 banner almost three decades after Satch first initiated the long-running format back in 1996. As per tradition, each show saw the three players headline their own sets, before joining forces for a finale jam.

G3 2024 was recently delivered to the masses via the new G3 Reunion Live album, and to celebrate the highly anticipated record’s release, Guitar World has teamed up with Vai, Johnson and Satch for three personal lessons breaking down some of their favorite instrumental tracks.

While Johnson offers a whistle stop tour of the verse section of his Ah Via Musicom acoustic classic, Desert Rose – particularly the crucial muting technique he deploys – Vai serves up a bespoke insight into Avalancha, from his most recent studio record, Inviolate.

“I was looking for a song to open the show with,” Vai says of Avalancha’s origins. “This melody is like a Clarion Call of sorts. That’s what I was looking for.”

For his own lesson, Satch breaks out both his Ibanez JS1CR and Ibanez 12-string to walk through the micro-tonal hook, main melodies, and accompanying lead sections of Sahara.

“Playing the melody on top of that was the real challenge,” Satch says of the opening motif, before giving players a close-up look at the wild whammy bar techniques he uses to amp up the central lead line.

Head over to the Guitar World YouTube channel to watch all three lessons. G3 Reunion Live is out now via earMusic.