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REVEALED: 7 | Vintage Vibes

“I open the door and there’s this 12-year-old kid, a stringless guitar in one hand, a pack of strings in the other”: How Joe Satriani and Steve Vai met, became fast friends, and changed guitar forever

After decades of pushing the envelope for instrumental guitar, the two giants of the instrument are touring together, writing together, and new music is coming. Satch and Vai take their story back to the beginning, and tell us where it’s headed

Guitar World

“He had this mystique to die for. There were rumours of him being nasty and mean. But he could play his ass off”: Steve Vai salutes the genius of Ritchie Blackmore

One guitar legend plays tribute to another

Louder

“James really absorbed the dual-harmony thing and took it to heart. He made it his but it was originally Cliff’s”: Kirk Hammett on Joe Satriani’s influence and Metallica’s ’84 masterpiece Ride the Lightning

Master of Puppets gets all the attention, but it was Ride the Lightning that made the metal legends sound heavier, more epic, and musically more audacious

Guitar World

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“I’m not gonna point fingers, but through all of this, one of the ingredients was not playing ball with everybody else”: Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony sets the record straight on the much-rumored VH tribute project

According to Michael Anthony, internal disputes have ruined the Van Halen tribute project's potential

Guitar World

‘Hammer-ons from nowhere’ can blow your guitar playing wide open – and help you craft silky smooth, effortlessly fast and highly impressive solos

This Greg Howe and Joe Satriani-favored technique will whip your hammer-ons, pull-offs, tapping, and muting into shape

Guitar World

“When I recorded with Jason Becker, he was still able to speak… he articulated exactly what he wanted, down to every pinch harmonic, vibrato and out-of-tune note”: Shrapnel veteran Michael Lee Firkins reflects on the final days of shred

The former Shrapnel star discusses bringing bluesgrass to shred, working with the great Jason Becker and his pivotal role in establishing the Yamaha Pacifica

Guitar World

“The guitar is still a very healthy ingredient in pop music. You get Ed Sheeran, and even Taylor Swift is playing a guitar”: Steve Vai answers the question ‘Is guitar music dead?’

Steve Vai offers his take on whether the guitar is still a relevant instrument in contemporary music

Guitar World

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“This is the best record I’ve ever done in my life. Montrose and Van Halen led up to this”: the story of Sammy Hagar’s Chickenfoot, the greatest rock supergroup of the 21st century

How members of Van Halen, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a bona fide guitar hero joined forces to bring the good times back with Chickenfoot

Louder

“That embodies the attitude of shred, and if you don’t put that into your performance, it’s a sin”: Joe Satriani names the Neil Young solo that shreds – despite only featuring one note

Satch has pinpointed the importance of attitude over technique when it comes to being a standout shredder

Guitar World

"We've got maybe another 10, 15 years? Playing a Dragonforce set is not easy": Guitar hero Herman Li talks technique, helping popularise power metal and the next generation of shredders

We put your questions to Herman Li on everything from teaming up with Polyphia and Animals As Leaders to video-games, power metal and how long the band can continue

Metal Hammer

"I was ill and when I picked the guitar up again, I wasn't playing Joe Satriani stuff – I was struggling to play Oasis!" Jack J. Hutchinson on how illness changed his playing style and his Black Crowes-inspired pedalboard

British blues guitarist and songwriter Jack J. Hutchinson on pedals, power trios, solos – and the illness that derailed his career

Guitar World

“Fingers are crossed that once I start playing Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love, it'll be like, ‘I'm here, I'm in the zone’”: Joe Satriani is working with 3rd Power on the ultimate '86 era Van Halen amp

As Satriani prepares for this summer's Best of All Worlds tour with Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, the guitarist has opened up on his preparation, which includes the building of a brand new amp and a deep dive into the technicalities of EVH's playing

Guitar World

“Connecting with Joe on this track is perhaps the most rewarding musical collaboration I’ve ever engaged in”: Hear Joe Satriani and Steve Vai pay homage to their rich history together on the Sea of Emotion, their first ever collaborative song

You can tell which guitarist is gleaming in the spotlight at all times on this, the first of a three-part musical journey that features just about everything a guitar lover could dream of

Guitar World

“They’re gonna see someone who’s hell-bent on being the most respectful guitar player to the legacy of Eddie”: Joe Satriani issues update on his mission impossible – nailing Eddie Van Halen’s guitar parts

Satch is boning up on Van Halen tracks in preparation for Sammy Hagar's Best Of All Worlds Tour in July – and he knows just what to do if the occasional lick escapes him

MusicRadar

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Guitar World

The blues scale isn’t just for blues – it’s been used in some of rock and metal’s biggest riffs and solos, too. Here’s how to make it work for you, no matter what style you play

It’s one of the essential guitar scales, and this lesson takes the blues scale from its classic context to place it in the style of Joe Satriani, Cream-era Clapton and Dimebag Darrell

Louder

"I can't think of a Van Halen song that doesn't put a smile on my face – it's just a question of figuring out how to play them": How Joe Satriani is preparing to pay tribute to Eddie Van Halen

Exclusive: we talk to Joe Satriani as the setlist for Sammy Hagar's upcoming The Best of All Worlds tour begins to take shape

Louder

34 years ago Joe Satriani and Steve Vai told the world they'd record a song called The Sea Of Emotion together: Now they've finally done it

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai collaborate on new music with The Sea Of Emotion, Pt 1, and a video that recalls the early days of their 50-year-long friendship

Guitar World

“I remember my first lesson with Joe. I had a guitar and a set of strings. I’d never really played. I didn’t know how to tune or string it”: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani discuss the evolution of guitar playing, and what they taught each other

In 1990, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani sat down for an extensive discussion with Guitar World, during which they joked that – when they were older – they would record a song called The Sea of Emotion. Now, more than three decades later, that premonition has come true

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Louder

"It's been a rough road. I never got to the point ever where I thought I'd actually achieved anything": An epic Jeff Beck interview

Jeff Beck was the guitar hero everyone admired, yet throughout his career he shunned the limelight more than basked in it

MusicRadar

“We were just kids playing together and then he built the song around that”: Joe Satriani says Steve Vai wrote a track for the Satch/Vai album featuring restored audio of the pair jamming as teenagers

Back in the day, when Satch was teaching Vai, they recorded 20 minutes of “brutal” jamming on a reel-to-reel, and Vai has put it to good use for the pair's first studio recording together

Guitar World

“I’m constantly thinking about my pick angle, how that translates the way I feel in that moment: how can I add more emotion to this part than I did last night?” Tyler Tomlinson on bringing Satch and Vai to Morgan Wallen’s country vibe

The Tele player turned Knaggs signature artist admits his mind “never shuts off” on stage, and he’s constantly finding ways of refining his expression

Guitar World

“My face has melted”: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani cover Metallica’s Enter Sandman during opening Satch/Vai Tour show – and give their first-ever collaborative single its live debut

After their own solo sets, the two virtuosos shared the stage to perform The Sea of Emotions, Pt. 1, and the Kinks' You Really Got Me – before wrapping things up with a wah-drenched cover of the Metallica classic

Guitar World

“Both Joe and Guthrie play a mean, funky rhythm guitar on a song like Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. That counts for more than you think”: Bass supremo Bryan Beller reveals what it’s like to play with Joe Satriani and Guthrie Govan

The prolific bassist explains why Satch’s music isn’t as simple as it seems, while it’s a case of keeping up with Govan’s high-speed improv… but the pair do share a certain funkiness

MusicRadar

Clapton, Iommi, Bonamassa, Tedeschi, Trucks, Townshend, Slash... New video for Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes version of Going Home reveals who played what and when on the all-star charity single

Jeff Beck's final recorded solo opens a track featuring 50-plus guitarists and all the proof if needed that Guy Fletcher is a genius producer to be able to stitch all of this together

Guitar World

“An absolutely genius video presentation”: New video for Mark Knopfler’s all-star Guitar Heroes charity single reveals who played what on the 50-guitarist-strong instrumental epic

The cleverly put together clip picks apart the many pieces of the nine-minute track, putting the spotlight on the track's A-list contributors

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