Joe Satriani Quotes

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Joe Satriani

Profession : Musician

Birth : July 15, 1956

I loved that playing the guitar wasn't easy. It was pain, but it was my pain. And then it became joy. My joy.

Joe Satriani

It's important for me not to peak before I hit the stage. In other words, I save all of my creative and physical energy for when I walk on stage. If I can get 45 minutes of just easy going, playing rhythm, songs, stuff like that, then that's what I do to make sure that I'm all stretched out and ready.

Joe Satriani

Instead of just hammering away at a song, I'll approach it from a million other angles. Sometimes I'll leave all my equipment set up and just turn on the TV for five minutes; sometimes I've gotta get out of the house. I don't think it every really leaves my head.

Joe Satriani

I worked at a vintage guitar store, and the owner had ties with a lot of Japanese manufacturers and U.S. manufacturers that were beginning to pop up. So I was ordering parts and screwing them together and contacting local luthiers to finish and do frets and things, and I had put together two guitars, a red one and a black one.

Joe Satriani

I prefer a heart player; I prefer someone like a blues player, like Jeff Healey. Jeff Healey I think is tremendous.

Joe Satriani

I love classical music, but I hated classical guitar. But I like flamenco, because there was something else there going on. It wasn't just the notes being thrown at you. And there were certain kinds of jazz that I really liked and other kinds that just went right over my head.

Joe Satriani

I put together the idea for G3 because I felt isolated. The success of being a 'guitar hero' kept me away from all my friends who were guitar players. I thought it would be a lot more fun to play with them.

Joe Satriani

I always think of the craziest idea first and then work backwards, because you never know: that person that you think would never return your call might be sitting at home with nothing to do.

Joe Satriani

All of the good things that surround art - you have to embrace the idea that it could be a complete disaster. I think that's what gives it its artistic sparkle is that it really could crash and burn at any moment because you're going out on a limb and being very personal.

Joe Satriani

You have to have a sound that inspires you to play because, if not, you won't be able to make the sound you have work. You won't be able to make magic with it if you're not happy with it, so it's important that you at least please yourself to the level where you can just relax and be an artist.

Joe Satriani

You always have to reset your volume for the venue you are in. Sometimes the tubes can have you scratching your head because they react differently at different volumes.

Joe Satriani

I personally am into the minstrel technique - if I hear someone playing a lute or playing a crumhorn, it just moves me. I don't know why.

Joe Satriani

You couldn't make a Steve Vai. That's a one-in-a-billion type of personality that comes out together with an incredible talent facility. You grow it; you help them grow it. Hopefully, it matures, and they don't hit any roadblocks along the way.

Joe Satriani

For a little kid like me, growing up in Carle Place, you put on John Lee Hooker late at night, and it's a different reality. I try to feel that music from the inside out because I was really attracted to it.

Joe Satriani

Guitar players I find kind of boring - and that's not meant as a dig. I find myself boring.

Joe Satriani

I think the main objective is to move people, make people think in their heart. I personally am not interested in appealing to other musicians. To me, it's more inspiring to move someone who doesn't know anything about music but has a feel.

Joe Satriani

I walked into Relativity Records as a musician who could not be taken advantage of. That's why I wound up owning all my own publishing and making a deal that was quite advantageous for a new solo artist. But I really didn't think of myself as an entrepreneur.

Joe Satriani

Rock music is a funny thing: You can actually take it too far sometimes, and then it's not rock music anymore - it's something else, but it's not rock.

Joe Satriani

Business always requires personal relationships.

Joe Satriani

I started many years ago using the Boss DS-1 and then graduated to the Satchurator and putting that right into that clean channel, and that sounds great. I've done many tours with that setup. Then we took the next two channels that were part of the JVM sound in channel 1 and made them a little more subtle.

Joe Satriani