Play electric guitar like Joe Satriani

You're a big fan of Joe Satriani, you've been following his solo and band career for a long time and would like to sound like him. Then you've come to the right place in our section "Playing electric guitar like your favourite artist". Here we'll show you everything you need to get as close as possible to Joe's personal sound. You'll also find out more about Joe's exciting career.

Über Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani, also known as Satch, is an American rock guitarist, composer and songwriter who, in addition to his solo career, is also known for his band projects G3 and Chickenfoot.
Joe was born in New York in 1956 and became aware of rock music through the death of Jimi Hendrix. This event inspired him to teach himself to play the guitar. After graduating from high school, he studied jazz music with guitarist Billy Bauer and pianist Lennie Tristano. The latter in particular still influences Joe's musical and playing style today.

During and after his studies, Joe worked as a guitar teacher, and his students included his friend Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Kevin Cadogan, Alex Skolnick and numerous other guitarists who later became real celebrities. After playing in several bands, Joe recorded his first solo album Not of This Earth, which was released in 1986. His second album Surfing with the Alien followed a year later and contained numerous songs that were regularly played on US radio. To date, Joe has recorded a total of 18 studio albums and is of course still very active on the rock scene. He is also a member of the two hard rock supergroups G3 and Chickenfoot and was on tour with Deep Purple for a while.

His playing is characterised by his very vocal melody lines as well as his fast solo passages, which are often filled with his characteristic, fluid legato playing, as well as his virtuoso use of tapping. He uses various scales as a guide, with the Lydian, Mixolydian and blues scales usually taking centre stage.

Low end guitars for Satch-Fans

Joe Satriani is an endorser for Ibanez and mostly plays his signature JS models on stage. However, Joe's sound is mostly about playing technique, which can of course also be perfected with cheaper guitars. Here you will find a selection of affordable guitars that are very similar to Joe's instruments:

Joe's High End Electric Guitars

About Joe's guitars

As already mentioned, Joe is an endorser for Ibanez and therefore always gets new JS signature guitars from the S series designed according to his preferences. Joe usually plays these guitars on stage, but in the studio he tends to favour the classics, such as the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster or the Gibson Les Paul. We have put together a selection of high-end electric guitars as played by Joe himself.

"With 24 frets, a deeper cutaway, and my Mo' Joe and Satch Track pickup combination, these guitars are liberating to play. I love the new JS models."

Joe Satriani on his JS signature models

Alternative high-end electric guitars

Other manufacturers also offer electric guitars in the high-end price range that are suitable for copying Joe's sound. We have put together a selection for you here:

Joe's amplifiers

Joe relies on Marshall and Roland amps, his favourite being the Marshall JVM-410 Head. However, other amps are also used from time to time.

Joe's effects pedals

Accessories for Satriani fans