Joe Satriani

[MasterShakezula]

Who all here bows to this guitar god?

I, a non-guitarist, am not quite as fanatical as the people who actually know what Joe's doing on his axe, but I do love what I hear.  Flying In A Blue Dream is a mainstay in my iPod, with The Extremist and Crystal Planet also being favorites of mine.  (I haven't had the good fortune of acquiring Surfing With The Alien.  Yet.)

I'm currently rocking out to Back To Shalla-Bal, and boy, am I having the best time!

[Mechanix1911]

I dislike his style, and I think he's just a little bit overrated as a guitar player in the technical point of view, but he knows how to write really beautiful songs. So, I assume it's because of his composing skills that he is much appreciated.

My favorite albums are Crystal Planet and Flying in a Blue Dream.

[YtseBitsySpider]

I own and follow all his stuff I don't completely disagree with the above post.

[Xanthul]

I've only listened to Surfing with the Alien, Engines of Creation, Flying in a Blue Dream and Crystal Planet. I love some songs and some others don't do anything for me - it could be because I'm not big on instrumental music though.

Even though I'm no guitar player (I have no training, I just play from ear or online tabs) I've learned how to play some of his songs or parts of songs and they are by far the most entertaining pieces of music that I can play. I particularly enjoy playing Love Thing and The Crush of Love.

[ReaperKK]

Love his work. I don't listen to him as much as I used but he is one of the few guitar players that keeps me interested through a whole album (unlike Paul Gilbert or JP).

Also I love this video of stach playing some cheap guitar and still being awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts

[Bill Carson]

I too don't listen to him as much as I used to but for me he is just a class act.
Such a great player and shows how technique can be used in a musical & tasteful manner.

Really put instrumental guitar music on the map. He'll go down as a pioneer and one of the most influential players of the modern era.

[TheStinger]

I've always been a fan of his, right from the SWTA and Not Of This Earth days.  Some of his stuff of late though has been a  little ho hum.  I did enjoy seeing him with Steve Vai and John Petrucci at a G3 concert in Australia once.  He is very good live.  A very clean player.

[KevShmev]

I only know his most well-known songs, but Summer Song is always a killer tune, and Ceremony is just bonkers.

[Lowdz]

In the mid eighties I was an instrumental guitar nerd. I studied in the school of the Shrapnel label.
Satch was a favourite from hearing Not Of This Earth, and everything was great up until the s/t album. At that point I kind of lost a bit of love for the albums that followed, though there were always good tracks amongst them.
BS&WW was a return to form but I'd love to see a return to something like FIABD, his pinnacle for me.
He is always worth seeing live.
I love his vocal tracks, all of them but I'm probably alone there! I expected more from Chickenfoot to be honest.
He made me cry when he played Crying on the Extremist tour. The only time that ever happened at a live show and only once more by any artist.

[MasterShakezula]

Dude, you're not alone in liking the vocal tracks.

Big Bad Moon is easily a highlight on the all-round great FIABD!

[jjrock88]

Flying in a Blue Dream is a favorite of mine too.

[Bongasti]

I used to like him a lot, but instrumental rock like that tends to get a bit boring easily. Though he has some really great songs too.

[Bombardana]

Surfing with the Alien: my first album ever. No regrets, amazing stuff! While I'm not into solo guitarists much anymore, I still check his new stuff out every so often.

[TheStinger]

Two of my favourite tunes are One Big Rush and Midnight.  Class tunes.

[wolfking]

I idolized this guy when I was learning guitar.  I agree he is not the most technical, but writes simply some of the best instrumental songs of all time.  A list of my favs are;

Crytal Planet
Lights of Heaven
Ceremony
Extremist
War
Why
Echo
One Big Rush
Driving At Night
Memories
New Last Jam
Devil's Slide
Dweller On The Threshold
Up In The Sky
Moraccan Sunset

This list can just go on and on.

[lelanddt]

I'm feeling a lack of genuine enthusiasm regarding Satch! To me he is, without a doubt, a Top 3 instrumental music guitarist (McKee is number 1). He can shred, but chooses not to usually. His songs drip with emotion and creative energy, and he even has a pretty decent singing voice! That said, The Extremist is his best 90's album, and Strange Beautiful Music is unbelievable in the current category.

His best song is Friends.
For those who haven't checked out his entire discography, there are some real gems on every album!
  Satch.

[lucky7]

I love Joe Satriani, I have followed him since the early 90's when his music was featured on a lot of surfing videos.
I have every album, but the latest 'Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards' is not bad but not a fave, his work on Chickenfoot is great.
Steve Vai is my all time fave guitarist but Satriani is number 2, there are standout tracks on every album of his.
I even heard Always with me Always with you on commercial radio the other day, first time for years 

Looking forward to G3 in Australia (Melbourne March 31), I have also met Joe twice and he is the nicest guy. 

[guitarrero]

Satch is great! Since i do play guitar he was/is one of my all-time-faves and certainly was my hero when i started playing guitar almost 20 years ago

[rumborak]

I used to put him behind Steve Vai, but later I realized that Satch scales back his skill in order to serve the songs. These days I don't really listen to Steve Vai anymore, but Satch still gets a spin rarely but regularly.

rumborak