Joe Satriani And The Luminous Flesh Giants

There were some pivotal figures in my musical adolescence that helped to completely rewire my brain, guitar-wise. When I was really young it was hearing Jimmy Page and “Black Dog” on my parents console stereo in the basement. Then, Joe Perry playing on “Back In The Saddle”. Quite a few songs on The White Album […]

Joe, Steve, Mom and Me

It was almost 34 years ago exactly that on a school night my older brother drove me and one of my best friends to the Embassy Theater in Fort Wayne to see Joe Satriani live. He was touring in support of the Flying In A Blue Dream album, and this was my first concert. My […]

Joe Satriani : The Elephants Of Mars

Guitar wizard Joe Satriani has had a long and accomplished career over the last nearly 40 years redefining what a guitarist can do. His prophetic skills and melody-driven instrumentals made albums like Surfing With The Alien, Flying In A Blue Dream, The Extremist, and Strange Beautiful Music essential listening for any budding guitar slinger. I […]

Revisited : Joe Satriani’s ‘Not Of This Earth’

As an awkward teenager I found most of my heroes in guitarists. Middle school was littered with cassettes of guys with names like Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, Steve Howe, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and Marty Friedman. Every time I picked up a Guitar magazine I’d flip to the back of the magazine and […]

Joe Satriani’s “Nineteen Eighty”

Joe Satriani has been essential listening since I was 14-years old. His music is like comfort food to me. I discovered Satch my freshman year of high school with Surfing With The Alien and the world of instrumental guitar music was never the same again for me. After a Friday night of downtown shopping with […]

How Stuart Hamm Rewired My Brain(or the odd case of Dr. Gradus ad Parnasum)

For a long time now I’ve wondered what happened in my brain to where I’ve veered from loving the singer/songwriter to being almost exclusively a fan of instrumental music. I mean, from 16 or 17 years old until about 5 years ago I was all about great songs. The Beatles to the Kinks to Brian […]

Love Crush

As I hit middle school I was knee deep in the hair metal hoopla, but once I made it into my freshman year of high school I’d begun to find more nuanced, less sexually ambiguous music to fall for. I’d been playing guitar for a little over two years once I hit 9th grade and […]

Joe Satriani : Shockwave Supernova

I’ll admit it, I love Joe Satriani. In all seriousness, he was the driving force that pushed me to play guitar as an awkward Midwestern teenager. I’d been playing for two years prior to hearing Joe, but once I heard Surfing With The Alien when I was 14 years old I felt like I’d been […]

Lords of Karma

So one of my oldest pals says to me today, “new satriani today. i’m a bit afraid. when was his last innovative record?” That got me thinking about the guy(Satriani, not my pal.) Of all the “shredders” that emerged from the cloud of White Rain and spandex back in the 80s I always felt Joe […]