TOTALGUITARMARCH 202038
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?
“That kind of idea was a vocal or
harmonica line, I’m gonna take a guess
and say it was Hubert Sumlin or Buddy
Jx|#slfnlqj#lw#xs#rļ#kdus#sod|huv#lq#wkh#
50s and early 60s. It’s funny, in my
early years everything was a mystery.
I didn’t even know what a barre-chord
was. But I was listening to these
geniuses – Hendrix, Page, Clapton,
Beck, Winter, Berry, Guy, Townshend –
on the radio. They all did these idiomatic
blues things that didn’t make sense to
a beginner like me. Sometimes I’d
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I sawtheminconcert.I wasplayingthis
lickwrongforsolongandthenI saw
footageofHendrixandrealisedit was
wkhĽuvwwzrvwulqjv1Prphqwvolnhwkdw
canfeellikea revelation.Andthen
I realisedthe‘wrong’wayalsohadits
ownuniquevalue.”Thesolohassomeheavyblues
mixedin withsomemorefruity,
Phrygianflavours...
“Ilovethatidea,gettingfruity!I’m
happyyounoticed,becauseit’sa
compositionalsubtletythat’svery
vshflĽfwr wkhvrqj1Sod|lqjolnhwkdwlq
themiddleofa songis mestatingmy
truenature.Thereneedstobesomesort
ofmetamorphosistomovethrough
glļhuhqwyhuvlrqvri phdqgwkdw
experienceis representedbyallthe
feedbacknoisesusinga Sustainiac
pickupattheend.Therewasa
compositionalthought-processthattold
menottogototalPhrygian– theway
youexpressedit is great,I’mplaying
rockbutI’mgettingsortafruityhereand
there!I couldhavesweep-pickedbut
thatdoesn’tdoanythingotherthan
displaythefactI’vepractised...I’m
lookingforanemotionalstatementso
I cantellpeoplehowI’mreallyfeeling.”Outofthe80svirtuosos,you’ve
alwaystargetednoteswitha levelof
restraint.Didthatcomenaturally?
“WhenI wasyoungeranddoing
sessions,I wouldseeanopportunityto
throwina #4orsomethingoutsideand
makeit work.I’dgetthislookfromthe
producer,‘Whatthehell,don’tdothat!’
Theyjustwantedtheexpectednotes–
which,ofcourse,wouldboreme.Then
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werecallingmebackaskingmetodothat very thing! It was like, ‘You mean
you didn’t want it before but you do
now?’ By that point I gave up being a
session player. I’d be lying if I said
holding certain notes for this length
would always work. It’s about how you
apply the artistry. That’s what will make
or break you. It has to make sense in
that moment in time. Here’s a simple
analogy: imagine you are playing music
iru#d#vfhqh#lq#d#Ľop#zlwk#d#fxwh#ede|#
walking towards the camera. You
wouldn’t play your most grotesque and
dissonant notes. But what if that baby is
covered in blood and has a huge kitchen
knife in its hand? That’s totally
glļhuhqw$#L#fdqġw#vd|#ľdw#<v#dozd|v#
sound bad, they sound perfectly
beautifulinPhrygianorPhrygian
Dominant,butif youplaya C#when
everyoneelseis inC majoryouaregoing
tostickout...there’sthecontext!”PerfectDustandFallingStarsare
greatexamplesofyourabilityto
switchthroughgenres.Whatwere
youusingonthosetracks?
“Theoverdubsreallycametogetheron
thosesongs,aswellasHereTheBlue
River. ThemainguitarsweremyJS1CR
re-ampedthroughanoldBassmaninto
my4x12sandthesuper-cleanrhythms
zhqwwkurxjkd IhqghuIPfrp
solid-statethingis soclear!I s
ofmyoldtweedsandgotsome
Fenders.Theyallsounduniqu
usable,respondingwelltoany
youplugin.AtonepointChris
Chaney[Jane’sAddiction]was
doublinghisbasswithoneofm
668vwkurxjkd Pduvkdoo830zd
Otherthingsgotre-ampedint
Sulqfhwrq/Edvvpdqru p|MYP
headtocreatea largersonic
picture.Sometimesfora meek
soloyouwanta meekampand
fora boldsoloyou’llwanta
boldamp.If theygoback-to-
edfnwkhqwkh|qhhgwr kdqgr
toeachotherwell.”Arethereanynewpedalsth
haveimpressedyourecentl
“IusedtheTCElectronicSub’
inthelastsoloof?Zeebg`LmZkl. Tpedallistwasshort– theSub’N’Up, my
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ghod|/dq P[UG|qdFrps/HS436dqg#
Flanger.Therewasa VemuramJanRay
overdriveononesong.I usedmyEVH
phaser,whichfeltlikea tripdown
memorylane,goingbacktotheearly
80s.I wasthinkingaboutwhatI didn’t
doinmyband[Squares],andoneof our
ruleswastryingnottodowhatever
otherguitaristsweredoing...”whyyousteeredaway
t phasersoundearly on?
pectit wasa stupididea,
havejustdonewhatever
todo.SoI wrotethesong
`amrinresponsetothat,
y whatI wouldhavedone
llowedthatSquaresband
sedI should'veusedthe
nh Hgglh1L vdzwkdwshgdo#
htI’dripa solothrough it.
layedit toeveryone,the
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-sounding,butI wanted
celebratethosetimes.”Howelsedoyou
allengeyourselfand
ureyoudevelop?
e writingis themost
rtantpartforme.It has
ansomethingtoyou.they just wanted
the expected notes,
which would bore me...
Hold back
Satriani is known for
a level of restraint in
his playing – a
considered approach
that goes back to his
session daysPhoto:Randy Holmes/Get t yINTERVIEW
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