Joe Satriani
Instrumental rock guitarist and teacher, and a recognized virtuoso rock guitarist.
Song ideas have come to me in the middle of interviews, in the shower, or while I'm writing another song.
I can embarrass myself very easily on guitar. It's funny because people say to me I can play anything; I'm God on the guitar. But I could make a big list of everything I can't play... I'm grateful that people don't notice that.
It really sucks when music is so perfect you just don't need to hear it anymore.
I pride myself on being incorrigible. I have a very hard time being told what to do.
My inspirations don't come from outer space, they just come to me. I have no idea why they come when they do.
18th September, 1970; Jimi Hendrix dies. I'm still on the football team when I get the news. So I take my helmet off and confront the coach to tell him I'm quitting the team. In a moment of brilliance he gives me one look and says "OK".
The Squares [his former band] never really fit in. We weren't rock enough. We weren't alternative enough. We weren't new wave enough and we weren't punk enough. Maybe we just weren't the right people for the band.
Relax. Be yourself. Play a lot.
When you hear something you don't like, don't ever play it again.
When I want to play music, you've got to get me on tape or else it goes.
Solos I kind of [couldn't] care less about. I know most people probably think that's what I care most about, but it's really the melody playing that is the cornerstone of what I'm working on.
My first [guitar] lessons lasted two weeks and it was "Jingle Bells." It didn't make any sense at all. I wanted to know how to play like Hendrix...
Sounds cool. Looks cool. Feels cool.
I'm ready to take the heat.
If someone can relate my guitar solo to an exercise in a book ... that's no fun at all.
I've always spent a lot of time on my records with what I think were unique rhythmic approaches ... but no one ever writes about your rhythm playing
I think it's quite painfully obvious when someone's practicing through an amp, as opposed to someone who's really laying down some stuff that just happens to be fast.
Basic anatomy. That has got to be the ongoing frustration: Why can't my fingers do what I want them to do? Not being able to play what I hear in my head — that is the ultimate source of frustration.
I write the songs first and in most cases teach myself the technique second.
Mozart was a freaky kind of shredder.