How to Play Guitar Like Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani is a modern virtuoso of rock guitar. His driving riffs, intense melodies and speedy style have made him a successful instrumentalist in a genre that is not conducive to instrumentalists. Satch, as Joe is commonly known, uses complex techniques to accomplish his unique style of play, and while it is hard to copy, with practice and these tip you can play guitar like Joe Satriani.

Instructions

1. Work on your legato technique. Legato basically means playing smoothly, and in guitar terms this is accomplished with lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs. By eliminating the pick, and really his right hand all together, Joe is able to run scales smoothly and quickly. Work on playing scales with just your left hand (or right hand if you're a lefty) and practice clean so you can hear how smooth your transitions are.

2. Practice scales on only one string at a time. One of the techniques that Joe Satriani uses is what he calls linear scales, or playing scales from the low end of a string moving up the fretboard. This allows him to keep his legato style. Continue to work on your traditional scale positions, but mix in linear scales as well.

3. Learn to love your whammy bar. Joe Satriani uses his whammy bar a lot for vibrato, pitch changes, manipulating harmonics and more. Practice hitting notes by starting on a higher pitch and reaching your target note with your whammy bar. Listen to "Surfing with the Alien" to hear some of Joe's intense whammy bar techniques.

4. Use harmonics liberally. Joe is capable of using harmonics more richly and deeply than most guitarists. Listen to "Summer Song" to hear some of Joe's melodic harmonic techniques. Combine your harmonics with your whammy bar to expand the range of pitches you can play with harmonics.

5. Tap, tap, tap. Joe Satriani is renowned for his use of tapping, and he makes it look much easier than it is. Practice two-handed tapping, so that both of your hands are on the neck of the guitar doing hammer-ons and pull-offs. This takes incredible coordination, as well as a lot of patience to learn. Start slow and work up to Joe's level. Listen to the song "Midnight" to get an idea of Joe's tapping ability.

6. Get the Joe Satriani gear. Satch uses his own signature guitars that he endorses for Ibanez in the JS Series. These guitars are developed for Joe, so they feature things like his non-traditionally placed pickups and complex tremolo system. Also check out Peavey's Joe Satriani signature amplifiers. Also look for effects pedals like Dunlop's Cry Baby, the Boss DS-1 and the Fulltone Ultimate Octave.

Tips & Warnings

• Listen to some of Joe Satriani's influences like Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix to get an idea of where he gets his style.