Joe Satriani Overview

Satriani is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso. He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument, including Legato, two-handed tapping, sweep-picking, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects. One... [more]

Satriani is widely recognized as a technically highly advanced rock guitarist and has been described as a virtuoso. He has mastered many performance techniques on the instrument, including Legato, two-handed tapping, sweep-picking, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects. One of his trademark compositional traits is the use of Pitch Axis Theory, which he applies with a variety of modes. During fast passages, Joe favors a technique known as legato (achieved primarily through hammer-ons and pull-offs) which yields smooth and flowing runs. He is also adept at other speed-related techniques such as speed picking (a rapid form of alternate picking) and sweep picking, but uses them relatively rarely. [show less]