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HISTORICAL FACTS: Satch person - The Untold Story

Joe Satriani called her version of Always With Me, Always With You “the most impressive” he's ever seen. Meet Andrea Krakovská, the “aerial guitarist” combining fretboard acrobatics with real acrobatics

The self-described “aerial guitarist” tears it up while performing dizzying feats of aerial choreography, often upside-down – and her Satch cover earned plaudits from Herman Li and the master himself

Guitar World

Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Pete Thorn trade solos over Led Zeppelin classic at recent SatchVai Band show

Huge tunes from Led Zep and Steppenwolf, and three shredders brought the house down in Portland

Guitar World

“I kept saying, ‘I’m not the guy. Call Nuno’”: Joe Satriani put Nuno Bettencourt’s name forward for failed EVH tribute tour with Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth

Before embarking on the Best of All Worlds tour with Sammy Hagar, Satch was close to hitting the road for a Van Halen tribute tour with Roth and Alex Van Halen

Guitar World

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“I’d wake up in the morning and I wouldn’t be able to move my pinky. I’d think, ‘Is this the end?’” Joe Satriani opens up on the hand injury that forced him to relearn how to play his songs

Satch stuck it out for an entire tour before seeking help from a specialist, and it prompted him to explore new ways of playing the guitar

Guitar World

“They already had Buckethead. I was thinking, ‘Who’s the craziest and the best?’ I knew there was only one guy”: Joe Satriani on the guitar ace he recommended for the Guns N’ Roses gig

Axl Rose was on the lookout for a player who could match Buckethead's ability and eccentricity – and Satch knew just who to call

Guitar World

“I’m watching this sort of genius develop right in front of me, and he seems he has no physical barriers”: Joe Satriani on what it was like to teach a teenage Steve Vai

Here's this "goofy" Ace Frehley fan with big hands and he keeps coming back for more... Satch says it wasn't long before he recognised Vai's potential

MusicRadar

“People would say, ‘OMG, if this guy is in the back of a guitar store, teaching, what does it say about the music business?’ But, of course, within a few years, everybody would know his name”: Testament’s Alex Skolnick on what he learned from Joe Satriani

When a teenage Skolnick studied under Satch, he found a man who was “like the equivalent of studying with a classical piano or classical violin teacher” – except this guy could rock

MusicRadar

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“I took lessons from Joe Satriani. I felt like he was trying to build an army of shredders with finger exercises. He hated me because I didn’t practice his stuff enough”: The iconic alt-rock guitarist who quit taking lessons from Satch

The Satriani curriculum failed to move Cake's Xan McCurdy

Guitar World

“He shaped the tone of his voice like a guitarist would finesse riffs and phrases”: Joe Satriani pays tribute to Chris Cornell with instrumental cover of Audioslave’s Be Yourself

The virtuoso features on the latest track from King Ultramega, a tribute project for the late Soundgarden frontman

Guitar World

“Nothing’s more real than seeing your Ibanez JS guitars played by the legendary Spinal Tap”: How Joe Satriani became Spinal Tap’s unofficial guitar supplier for the loudest movie of the year

Satch and the Tap are old friends. And if you look closely, you might just catch Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins playing his Ibanez signature models in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

Guitar World

“Cat Stevens asked me to play on his recordings…it never got to the point where I felt like I could add as much as I wanted”: Eric Johnson reflects on his early session career with Carole King and Christopher Cross – and getting fired by Donald Fagen

While the Texas virtuoso loved session work, he preferred to take more time over his creations – and his experiences paved the way for him to become one of guitar’s all-time greats

Guitar World

“We would play these guitars that were supposedly the most expensive, the most rare, like, ‘There's nothing special about it’”: Joe Satriani on why he’s become disillusioned by vintage guitars

After spending “hours” playing vintage axes, Satch now relies on modern builds – here’s why

Guitar World

“The importance of one clear voice playing the melodies and solos are things we take seriously”: Joe Satriani reveals how Satch/Vai’s onstage chemistry works – and why sometimes some songs are best left to Steve Vai

Satch says playing with Steve Vai is an opportunity to expand each other's material, but says maintaining one clear voice for melodies and solos is key

Guitar World

“Something’s stirring behind closed doors…” Joe Satriani plays For the Love of God? Steve Vai and Satch tackle each other’s most iconic leads in first SatchVai Band rehearsal footage

Always With Me, Always With You and If I Could Fly are among the classics getting the dual-guitar treatment

Guitar World

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“After a minute, I realize I can’t see the fretboard, I can’t breathe and it’s suddenly 120 degrees in my head”: That time Joe Satriani took a Surfing With the Alien encore a little too far

One Halloween, Satch decided to emerge for his customary encore wearing a headpiece appropriate for the holiday – but he quickly realized it was a bad idea

Guitar World

“It was so close to happening. Then Jeff bailed at the last moment”: Joe Satriani was days away from signing Jeff Beck for G3 – before the Yardbird dropped out and suggested Prince as a replacement

Satriani discusses how Beck may have overlooked him due to their generational differences as guitarists

Guitar World

“I’d hear it on the radio as a kid, and now I’m standing beside Don Henley playing it – I had to do both solos, Joe Walsh’s and Steve Lukather’s”: The SatchVai Band is just the latest of many high-profile stops for Pete Thorn

He’s been on the road since the ’90s with Chris Cornell, Don Henley, Melissa Etheridge and many others – now the session pro is ready to do whatever Joe Satriani and Steve Vai need him to (once they tell him)

MusicRadar

“They’re kind of stuck to 30 seconds of being amazing for social media”: Joe Satriani explains the difference between online virtuosos and Jimi Hendrix – and says society isn’t giving players the chance to fully express themselves

Satch says Hendrix was never played anything that sounded like an exercise– he “just sounded like music”

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NAMM 2025: “The signature tones of a guitar legend on your pedalboard”: Joe Satriani teams up with IK Multimedia for limited edition Tonex One that comes loaded with 20 of Satch’s own presets

Finished in chrome to match his Chrome Boy Ibanez signature guitar, this small but mighty Tonex One has the tones for Ice 9, Summer Song and more

Louder

“He was a great guitar player. He’s not looking at what he’s playing, he really knows the instrument”: Joe Satriani says Kurt Cobain was an underrated guitar hero

Joe Satriani knows a thing or two about great guitarists –and he says the Nirvana frontman was one of them

Guitar World

“He’s not used to not being the focus of the show. I’d say, ‘When Steve’s soloing, don’t throw your guitar up in the air right next to him’”: Joe Satriani on the unique challenges of having Yngwie Malmsteen on the G3 tour

Satch has no notes for the Swedish maestro’s playing, but found other aspects of his performances a little distracting during their G3 time together

Guitar World

“Anti-colonialist anguish, hope, joy and the search for connection, all through his guitar. That’s what makes a guitar hero”: Guitarists of the Year 2024 – the players who took 2024 by storm

Slash made a blues record. St. Vincent boggled our minds again. And Grace Bowers blew everyone away… Here we take a look at the players who made 2024 a banner year for the instrument

Louder

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai have formed a band together and you'll never guess what it's called

The SatchVai band will embark on a UK and European tour next summer

Guitar World

“We are both at the top of our game”: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have formed a new band together – and will release new music ahead of upcoming tour dates

The two virtuosos hit the road next summer for a string of European dates – and a new original track is set to land shortly before

Guitar World

“It must have taken two weeks of tweaking to wrestle that thing to the point where it would stay in tune”: Joe Satriani called on Eddie Van Halen’s techs to figure out how to make his Frankenstein playable

Satch eventually put his own spin on the iconic axe, but it took him a while to wrap his head around a guitar that he initially struggled to keep in tune

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