Joe Satriani, Eric Gales and Steve Morse jamming on Going Down showcases some of the best solos of the year so far
The lengthy all-star cover took place at Satriani's recent G4 Experience clinic in Las Vegas
Earlier this month, electric guitar icon Joe Satriani hosted the latest edition of his G4 Experience.
Held from January 3-7 at the Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort and Spa, the experience featured an eye-watering lineup of guest instructors, among them Peter Frampton, Steve Lukather, Mateus Asato, Cory Wong, Nili Brosh, Steve Morse, Alex Skolnick, Eric Gales, Andy James, John 5, and, of course, Satch himself.
Typically – for those of us who can't attend them in person – the highlights of these camps tend to be the late-night, all-star jams, typically featuring lineups you're unlikely to see elsewhere.
Such was the case at this year's edition of G4, when Satriani took the stage with Steve Morse and blues guitar titan Eric Gales for an electrifying rendition of the blues classic, Going Down.
Thankfully, G4 host Dreamcatcher Events caught the jam on camera, and uploaded video of it to YouTube earlier this week. You can check it out below.
Going Down is very much in Gales's wheelhouse, but it's cool to see Satriani and Morse get their jam on.
Gales takes lead vocals, and the first solo, a hard-driving outburst packed with blazing runs. Morse goes next, focusing more on bite-sized phrases that he executes with laser-like precision.
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Satriani, for one, definitely wins the guitar face competition amongst the three, hitting some whopping bends that delight both the crowd and his fellow virtuosos.
Gales, after two rounds of swapping solos, says to the crowd, "I don't know about y'all, but this is some of the funnest shit I've done in my life."
The trio – all of whom are armed with one of their signature guitars – were backed by Satriani's live band – Kenny Aronoff on drums, Bryan Beller on bass guitar and Rai Thistlethwayte on keyboards.
Satch will be taking that very group on the road with him this spring for an extensive European tour, the itinerary for which you can check out at Satriani's website.
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Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
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