I Could Listen to Joe Satriani for Hours

[bobhalford]

I used to be into Satch and Vai when I was a teenager learning to play guitar. I've seen both live several times, and of course they have great guitar skills. Some of the music is pretty good too, but once you get past the wankery, there isn't much there.

Vai is the more original of the two. Both have produced good solo records, but the majority of it is blah. This is music for teenagers that want to play fast like Eddie Van Halen.

This is music for kids who haven't discovered jazz yet, or metalheads who play guitar. I didn't have anyone back then to teach me about good music, so I thought Vai and Satriani were the cat's meow.

Since I'm a guitar player, I like to listen to what Satriani and these guys are up to, hear some cool licks and some riffage. But I don't consider this good music. I wouldn't play it for a jazz musician expecting him or her to say anything positive about it.

Dream Theatre is horrible, horrible music. I'd hate for people to listen to Satriani and move on to Dream Theatre. The guitar player is a good technical guy, but whatever, the music is awful. If you are a guitar player, and are just starting out, this stuff might sound amazing, but it's really not good music.

For all y'all that are into this stuff, I would suggest slowly starting to listen to other music. Start with the blues, like Freddie King, and then move into jazz or jazz fusion (try Mahavishnu Orchestra, Shakti, Jeff Beck).

After all this, you can go back and listen to Joe with different ears.

I don't want to take anything away from these guys - they are great guitar players and musicians. I just wish they would stop playing this pop-instrumental hard rock music. It's just so simple and devoid of soul. I have to think that this music exists solely for people that like hard rock and heavy metal music and are learning to play the guitar.

If anyone is looking for other artists in this genre, I would suggest Jason Becker's album Perpetual Burn. Marty Friedman's album Dragon's Kiss is pretty good. Probably my favorite guitar player in the instrumental rock category is Richie Kotzen. Now this guy can play the guitar. I saw him live at guitar camp 15 years ago and he owned. He played Lenny and just amazed everyone. His album Electric Joy is good.

If you are interested in learning more about jazz music, but are afraid to get your feet wet, you might try listening to the Alex Skolnick trio. They play jazz versions of popular hard rock tunes. Alex is a former teacher of mine and the original guitar player for Testament. I think he is doing a reunion type tour with them now. Good stuff.