“I Need to Raise My Own Bar...”

Every guitarist wants to play better – and Joe Satriani is no exception.

- By Ellie Rogers. Photographs by Eduardo Peña Dolhun

He has long been revered as one of the most technically astounding and musically gifted guitarists on the planet, but on his new album, The Elephants Of Mars, Joe Satriani set himself one heck of a challenge. “I thought: I need to raise my own bar,” he says. “I want a Joe Satriani record to sound better, have better compositions, more interesting arrangements, and, somehow, I’ve got to get my playing to be better.”

In this mission, he stuck to five simple rules - as he outlines here...

Never ignore the gift of inspiration

Very often, a little cinematic reel starts to go off in my head. I was taught at a very early age never to let that go, never ignore the gift of inspiration because you can’t manufacture it: you’re either inspired or you’re not. I hold on to it and I don’t let go until I have a palpable representation of that inspiration. If it’s something like Blue Foot Groovy, it’s very light and fun, but if it’s something like Desolation or Sahara, it’s serious and it’ll take its toll emotionally on me. If you’re by yourself or with family, you open-up and feel comfortable to bare your soul, so you can work on it and not feel shy.