The one gig Joe Satriani called “The Bible” for guitarists: “Changed the course of music”
There aren’t many facets of the guitar that Joe Satriani hasn’t managed to master at this point.
He could have easily kept ploughing through his solo career and become a legend in the guitar community, the fact that he can hold his own and pull off Van Halen licks pretty effectively next to Sammy Hagar is like being touched by a musical god in many respects. But that’s only because he had the deities to study from when he was younger as well.
When Satriani first hit the scene in the 1980s, though, he was already fully formed. The amount of ground he had covered in terms of tapping was on another level, and before Metallica had even become thrash legends, Kirk Hammett was already talking about getting lessons from ‘Satch’ in between his gigs for Kill Em All. And while that led to some great moments on Master of Puppets, it’s not exactly hard to think that Satriani felt overshadowed by any means.
Almost any track on Surfing with the Alien is enough to leave any other guitarist in shambles wondering how the hell he pulled any of it off. Despite not having any words at all, tracks like ‘Satch Boogie’ and ‘Midnight’ can be sung and still sound great next to the other legends of the 1980s at the time. Then again, Satriani didn’t need a singer because he was too busy using his guitar as his voice.
After all, his biggest heroes were those that used the guitar to speak, and while Steve Vai did have his own eccentric space in history and Eddie Van Halen had his ground covered, ‘Satch’ worshipped at the altar of Jimi Hendrix. When it comes to guitar heroes, Hendrix practically wrote the rulebook, but no matter how much he loved Electric Ladyland, he knew that Hendrix was in a different league after hearing the live record Band of Gypsys.
The gig itself might not have been recorded to be pristine by any means, but Satriani was convinced that singular show was responsible for shaping the world of guitar, saying, “It’s not a perfect recording, but I’m listening for the heart and soul. He changed the course of music in one evening. If it only contained that version of ‘Machine Gun’, that would be enough for me. That’s the Bible, the grimoire of electric guitar.”
While some people may have been unhappy that the original Experience lineup wasn’t with Hendrix at this time, hearing him cut loose with Buddy Miles behind the drumkit and throwing the occasional backing vocal in the background is like watching them have a conversation with no words. This was the sound of artists unleashing every emotion in their body onstage, and ‘Satch’ is right on the money with the version of ‘Machine Gun’.
Hendrix could have easily made a studio version of the tune if he wanted, but listening to how he approaches the solo, it almost feels like he’s channeling all of the raw anger that he had about the state of the world in the Vietnam era. The instrument itself is practically telling the story for him half the time, from the scrapes that sound like a gunman filling the chamber to the bends that sound like screams from those trying to avoid the carnage.
The guitar was simply the trademark instrument before Hendrix came along, but throughout one night, he helped people see the possibilities of where rock and roll could go. It may have been treated like another fad, but with people like Hendrix, there was no limit to where rock and roll could go.
