Joe Satriani News and Links

by Steve Bishop 

 Do you really need to spend any of your valuable time learning guitar scales and theory?

The argument that a guitarists will use to not learn any type of theory is that they will be in danger of losing there originality. They won’t be able to be or sound like themselves, they will be caught up and constrained within the confines of rules and regulations. The only problem with that kind of thinking is that you are in danger of not growing and progressing as a musician.

All basic lead guitar instruction courses at the root level will tell you to learn chords, scales and arpeggios because they know that you will gain a greater understanding of how the music process inter-grates and works together, you will expand your playing with new possibilities and concepts, rather than the reverse.

And here is the most important factor. A lot of self taught musicians tend to suffer from episodes of self doubt because of not knowing what to play, which in turn can breed insecurities and lack of self confidence in your playing.

Knowledge is power as they say, so if you want to advance your guitar playing to expert status as a lead guitar improviser or if you want to be taken seriously as a professional musician, there is no two ways about it, you are going to have to set some time aside to practise modes, scales and learn notes on your guitar fretboard.

Here are some pointers you might want to keep in mind when getting started.

1. 5 or 10 minutes a day of disciplined practise will yield more results than 10 years of picking up your guitar and ‘noodling’ about, sitting on the end of your bed.

2. Set aside ten minutes for a practise session and decide before hand what it is you are going to do and learn. Too many guitarists tell me they practised for 8 hours a day and when I ask them what did you learn - I’m not usually given a clear answer.

3. Always use a drum machine or metronome when practising as you will learn in time that timing is everything.

4. You don’t have to practise at the speed of sound when you start. You will find most guitarists who play fast, find out that speed is not what music or guitaring is really about and end up going back to their roots and playing melodic phrases that satisfy themselves.

5. Don’t beat yourself up because you are not Steve Vai or Dave Gilmour after 2 weeks.

Also, something that isn’t discussed very often about practising guitar scales or modes or arpeggios is that it doesn’t have to be drudgery and boredom. Spending 10 or 20 minutes a day working on the theory aspect of your playing will yield benefits far beyond what you can come up with on your own. I don’t think that there is a single musician on the planet who has spent time learning theory and said I wish I hadn’t have spent all that time learning all that crap.

Conclusion: If you want to advance your playing or write songs that are original and express who you really are, you should consider opening yourself to some solid theory because the road to originality is through other peoples stuff. If you have a good working knowledge of guitar scales, you will identify what your favourite players are up to and be able to duplicate those phrases in all keys for yourself.
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Over the course of his illustrious career, Joe Satriani has achieved legendary success with his 12 solo albums and 3 platinum DVD’s selling more than 10 million units worldwide.

On April 1, 2008, Satriani is set to continue his brand of electric education for the masses with the release of his 13th solo album entitled Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (Sony/BMG).

Following the albums release, Satriani will embark on a worldwide tour, kicking off April 30th in Lisbon, Portugal before hitting the European market, Australia, South America and finally returning to the U.S. in the fall of ‘08.

Professor Satchafunkilus was produced through the creative envisioning of Satriani and John Cuniberti; guiding the musical talents of longtime drummer/percussionist Jeff Campitelli and reknowned bassist Matt Bissonette. A special addition to the album’s artist list is Joe’s own son, ZZ Satriani, playing the tenor sax.

Track Listing:
1.Musterion
2.Overdriver
3.I Just Wanna Rock
4.Professor Satchafunkilus
5.Revelation
6.Come On Baby
7.Out of the Sunrise
8.Diddle-y-a-doo-dat
9.Asik Vaysel
10.Andalusia

Over the last two decades, Satriani has traveled the world, playing to sold-out crowds as both a headliner and as founder of the all-star “G3″ guitar extravaganza. Of his 12 solo albums 2 went platinum and 4 gold with 15 Grammy nominations between them. This year Joe is nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the song “Always With Me, Always With You” from his album, Satriani Live!

Last year marked the 20th Anniversary of his groundbreaking album, Surfing with the Alien and was commemorated with new expanded edition in a meticulously restored two-disc set including the newly re-mastered album and a previously never-before-seen live show filmed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1988.

 Thanks to StarPulse.com    http://www.starpulse.com/

The big headline at Winter NAMM this year for Satch fans was the announcement of Joe’s collaboration with VOX amplification to develop a new line of effects pedals.  The line is still in R&D right now but the line-up is expected to be announced at the Summer NAMM show.  The first two pedals up will apparently be a distortion and a wah pedal.  Anyone who gets their hands on any of these please pipe in with a review!

Another great vid found on YouTube that shows how to play the section of the “Searching” solo where Joe goes nuts with the whammy pedal.

Here’s a great video of Joe performing “Midnight” at a clinic in Russia.  Nice view of the fretboard for those who may be trying to learn this piece.

What’s the most insane guitar solo you’ve ever heard? One by Paul Gilbert? Yngwie? Eddie Van Halen?

If you’re going to play an insane solo like the guitar heroes, here’s what you need to start getting good at. These guys didn’t learn this stuff over night! Let’s get that straight up front. Shredding, especially shredding not just up and down scales, takes years to master. Not just that, but these guitar gurus are always pushing their own playing to the limit in their recordings. You can imagine the difficult road you have ahead of you.

32nd Note Legato Runs

At some point during the insane solo, most of our favorite guitarists will play abnormally fast, 32nd note legato runs. This will be the fastest, most impressive point to the “lay person.” We guitarists know shredding is much harder, although slower.

It’s important to develop legato techniques (all hammer-ons and pull-offs) along your 3-note-per-string scales and Pentatonic Scales. You’ll want to skip strings, do amazing finger stretches, and of course, full neck legato runs. Listen to Joe Satriani in particular and you’ll hear all kinds of crazy legato sequences.

Finger Tapping

For the most insane solo, add finger tapping, as pioneered by Eddie Van Halen, though brought to a whole new level today. There’s 2, 4, 6, and even 8-finger finger tapping. For the most dramatic effect, learn 8-finger finger tapping and not just on the upper register, more like the middle register and upper register combined. Be sure to tap arpeggios as well as be inventive in your note choice. The greatest taps are created with “worldly sound” in mind in my opinion.

Shredding

Get your metronome and start increasing your speed until you can play 16th notes at roughly 200 beats per second. The insane guitarists don’t only shred up and down scales at this speed, but also sweep arpeggios and Pentatonics at this speed. Get a book that teaches you all of the arpeggios, not just diad.

Tetrachords

Throw in tetrachord runs. Tetrachords require intense finger stretching. These are essentially 4-note-per-string diatonic scales. Type “tetrachords” into a Google search and there you’ll find what you’re looking for. Charles Gacsi at WholeNote has a great lesson on the theory behind tetrachords.

Guitar Face

As if it weren’t enough just to play an insane solo technically… You need to develop a guitar face worthy of the masters. No simple facial expression will do. You must practice this in the mirror, coming up with an original guitar face.

Tension and Release

Don’t be afraid to go outside your comfort zone and experiment. Even by hitting “the wrong notes” you’re doing something right. You’re creating tension. Use Chromatics to create tension or rip some notes off a bizarre scale for tension. Because it will be released to create a great feeling of contrast in your listener once you begin playing in key again. For the best release, only a simple melody will do. A simple melody repeated on and off within your insane solo will make it a memorable one.
Jason Parker is a guitarist and teacher at Atomic Guitarist where free guitar lesson videos abound.

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