![\"Joe-Satriani-Issue-No27\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Joe-Satriani-Issue-No27.jpg\")
JOE SATRIANI<\/h1>\nJOE SATRIANI<\/h1>\nWith a new set, the guitar virtuoso showcases his Unstoppable<\/i> talent<\/b><\/p>\n
By Russell Hall<\/b><\/p>\n
Surprisingly, Joe Satriani doesn\u2019t always pay scrupulous attention to detail. His new album, Unstoppable Momentum<\/i>, is a case in point. Only after the project was complete did it occur to him that the opening track was in 5\/4 time. \u201cA few things got past me,\u201d says the guitar ace with a laugh. \u201cIt never dawned on me that it might be weird to start an album in 5\/4, until everything was finished. That\u2019s when I thought, why didn\u2019t I notice that? It was a case of blindness induced by enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n
Satriani\u2019s enthusiasm and singular talent have carried him in a multitude of directions for nearly three decades. Launching his career in 1984 with a self-funded EP, he took the guitar world by storm three years later with Surfing With the Alien<\/i>\u2014an instrumental album that set a new standard. His solo albums have earned 15 Grammy nominations and established him as the best-selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time.<\/p>\n
Satriani has also immersed himself in a variety of side projects. Chief among these was the 1996 founding of \u201cG3,\u201d an ongoing concert series for which he recruits a rotating cast of guitar legends to accompany him on tour. He\u2019s also part of the supergroup Chickenfoot, which includes Van Halen alumni Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.<\/p>\n
But Satriani\u2019s solo work remains his top priority. For Unstoppable Momentum<\/i>, he enlisted Mike Fraser to co-produce, along with keyboardist Mike Keneally, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and Jane\u2019s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney. \u201cPart of the idea was to give the players more freedom,\u201d says Satriani, 56. \u201cI let everyone experience the music until they felt they had something unique to offer. In every case, each musician brought something interesting, something that I didn\u2019t expect.\u201d Satriani discussed with us the new album, his creative process, and his fellow guitar gods.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What drove you to instrumental music?<\/b><\/p>\n
It was totally by accident. I was playing in a trio called the Squares, and while on break I started a DIY record and publishing company and recorded some avant-garde music on an EP. One of the guitar magazines published a review\u2014just a paragraph, but flattering. Suddenly I thought, \u201cI should just throw caution to the wind and follow this course.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Describe your writing process.<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s always different. Sometimes I write on guitar, sometimes at piano, and sometimes I\u2019m walking around humming into my iPhone. Where and when inspiration comes often surprises me, but I still operate on the presumption that every idea might be a good one. So write it down, record it, do what you need to capture it. And then bring it up a few times to give it its fair shake and explore the message behind that little burst of creativity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How do you make final cuts?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s not an intellectual pursuit. I say to myself, what do I want to hear first? What would be great to follow this? I\u2019m subject to the biorhythms of the day. If it\u2019s early in the morning and I\u2019ve had my espresso, I might think, \u201cLet\u2019s keep everything pumping fast,\u201d while late at night I might feel I need something that\u2019s more reflective. So I always start the sequence process weeks before having to turn in the record.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Did the guitar come easily to you?<\/b><\/p>\n
I never considered myself particularly gifted on any instrument. The guitar was the instrument that offered the least resistance, but I struggled with it. Once the guitar is in your hands, there\u2019s the physical fascination with just being able to play. The better you are at moving your fingers around, the more you\u2019re going to do that. The blessing in disguise back then was I couldn\u2019t<\/i> move my fingers that much, so I tried to make everything count, to make a statement with as few notes as possible. I still think the greatest composers in classical, jazz and rock are the ones who can edit their message down to something that\u2019s strong, important and beautiful.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your perspective on Surfing With the Alien<\/i> now?<\/b><\/p>\n
It was a stroke of great fortune. I love that record. Producer John Cuniberti and I did everything we thought no one would ever let us do. The record company was furious because we went over budget. I thought, \u2018When this is finished they\u2019re going to run me out of town.\u2019 Everyone was surprised when it was picked up by radio. The kiss of death is when you\u2019re in a heavy rock band and you put out one acoustic love song that launches your career. It was just the opposite with me. Surfing<\/i> was a celebration of everything I loved about 60 years of guitar playing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Were you part of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll\u2019s electric guitar renaissance?<\/b><\/p>\n
I came along at the end of that. Eddie Van Halen had already brought more positive energy to electric guitar playing. I was an early fan. He was playing what every kid my age wanted to play. Things were closing in for music in the \u201970s. There was disco, punk\u2014and fusion had run its course. But suddenly there was Eddie, smiling and laughing while he was tearing up the fret board. That\u2019s what I had been waiting for, the re-emergence of that. And of course my friend Steve Vai was breaking boundaries on guitar in an incredible way. And he had a bunch of comrades who were doing that with him from Yngwie Malmsteen to\u00a0Jason Becker. Those guys could play anything\u2014more notes than you could\u00a0listen to in a given bar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Any surprises making the record?<\/b><\/p>\n
I thought one song, \u201cA Door Into Summer,\u201d would be an interesting vehicle for Sam to sing over, but it fell flat when I brought it to the band. I remember Sammy saying, \u201cI don\u2019t get it. Where do I sing?\u201d I couldn\u2019t understand why the guys didn\u2019t go crazy over the song\u2014it was so big and happy-sounding. I spent the next year playing it over and over, trying to figure out if a guitar could handle that sort of R&B melody and still have an impact. It\u2019s easy to write an instrumental that\u2019s instrument-focused, where you put the fireworks on display. What\u2019s harder is something that\u2019s so melodic, because you get to a point where people think, \u201cWhy isn\u2019t there someone singing?\u201d To keep that from happening, the power of the performance has to be at the highest level.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Are great riffs a thing of the past?<\/b><\/p>\n
True guitar riffs were deep\u2014they had history and nods to musical roots. When that kind of rock was pioneered there was more audacity in the sound. When you heard \u201cPurple Haze,\u201d not only were the notes forbidden\u2014that opening phrase\u2014but there was also a lot of message in that sound. We live in a different world now where that\u2019s been diluted. People tend to toss away the power of those things now. Once video became the main medium, those musical hooks became less important. What\u2019s more important is for the singer to be looking right into the camera at the beginning of the song. Most music is learned through visuals these days. Riffs have taken a bit of a back seat, at least for the moment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why are G3 tours so satisfying?<\/b><\/p>\n
They\u2019ve all been great musical experiences. We\u2019re continually blown away by how connected we become during the improvisations. There\u2019s always an intense musicality going on among the three of us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Who do you dream of joining G3?<\/b><\/p>\n
We\u2019ve come close with Jeff Beck and\u00a0Billy Gibbons. I\u2019ve also asked friends like Brian May to do it. Brian\u2019s joined us onstage three different times when we\u2019ve been in London, and he\u2019s been a great guest on tours as well. I routinely ask Eddie Van Halen. It would be great to get some of the guys from the past 20 or 30 years who\u2019ve been heard only in the context of their bands. Kirk Hammett would be fantastic. But not everyone likes stepping outside their bands. You have to respect their feelings about that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JOE SATRIANI With a new set, the guitar virtuoso showcases his Unstoppable talent By Russell Hall Surprisingly, Joe Satriani doesn\u2019t always pay scrupulous attention to detail. His new album, Unstoppable Momentum, is a case in point. Only after the project was complete did it occur to him that the opening track was in 5\/4 time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,3805],"tags":[6875,4195],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10302"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10305,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10302\/revisions\/10305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}