A Kind of Magic

Joe Satriani, guitar hero to guitar heroes. To Brian May he's “a friend and an inspiration”. To legions of shredders, he's a master of the art. With new album, Shapeshifting, coming soon, Satch tells TG about his “emotional” and “fruity” music, the gear he’s using – new and old – and how he is still developing as a player. Plus: Satriani disciples pay tribute to their maestro...

- Amit Sharma

“You’re inducting Joe Satriani into the Metal Hall Of Fame in earlier this year. “But you have been a friend and inspiration to so many,” noted the Queen legend. “You’ve done so much for guitar playing, lifted it to a new place and, all around the world, people like me are still marvelling at what you do.”

Seeing the footage for the first time after the ceremony, the newly inducted guitarist felt shocked and touched by such kind words from one of his earliest inspirations, joking that he would have probably been reduced to tears if he’d been in front of an audience.

“Brian is such an amazing human being, brilliant as a composer as well as player,” says Satch, speaking to TG a few weeks after. “You know how it is – within one note and you fall in love with his playing all over again, every time you hear him. That’s truly remarkable.”

Similar things could be said of Satriani’s inimitably tasteful contributions to the guitar world, from his double Grammy-nominated and platinum-selling 1987 album Surfing With The Alien – a commercial breakthrough and game-changer for guitar music at the time – to everything he’s achieved since, including his latest masterpiece Shapeshifting. Here the man who wrote the rulebook on shredding with finesse, through a perfect storm of tear-jerking virtuosity and choice-note simplicity, explains why your best music can only come from a real place...

The title track on your latest album has a really interesting bend where you pull up on the high E before catching and coming down on the B. Where did you learn that?