Years before he became one of the most celebrated guitarists on the planet, Joe Satriani was a club-gigging musician who paid his bills – sometimes barely – by teaching other aspiring players. Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Alex Skolnick and Larry LaLonde are some of his famous alumni.
Satriani says that his teaching days were great. I tried to give my students their money’s worth and build their musical knowledge in ways they could grasp and use regardless of their abilities.
I tried to make the lessons fun because I knew that if they got boring, they would stop coming.
Satch considers himself a student in his own life.
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I’m still teaching myself
Joe Satriani
He says that he is still learning. I began strumming the guitar and trying to grab bits of information from wherever I could. There are some things that you let slide along the way and other things that you care about.
There are a lot of rabbit holes you can go down, but there are certain aspects of guitar playing that you should always pay attention to.
Joe runs down his top tips.
1. TUNE UP FIRST
There is a neglected aspect to guitar playing. A lot of the time people grab their guitars because they want to play. There have been records recorded in that way. The guitarist doesn’t want his flow interrupted and he ends up playing this amazing part with an out-of- tune guitar.
If you don’t check your guitar’s intonation regularly, you may not know that it’s accurate. It will become part of your signature sound if you have a history of playing in tune.
2. STRIKE YOUR STRINGS AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE PICKING AREA
When watching footage of Hendrix, I noticed his picking hand wasn’t in one place. Sometimes he would pick at the bridge and other times he would move his hand towards the neck. It was a key part of his play. Same with him.
It unlocked this rich world of tone when I tried it myself.
You should be able to move your hand around. This will allow you to modify the tone of the notes. Pick angle and part of pick should be changed. You will be surprised by how much variation you can get.
3. PRACTICE ACHIEVING GOOD INTONATION WHILE BENDING NOTES
There is cause and effect. If you want to achieve a particular sound, you have to learn how to control it. It can be a scary guitar sound, or it can sound beautiful, but you need to know how to get there.
Drop down two frets and bend up to the note on your B string. Use the first three strings to do this at a variety of fret positions.
Half steps, whole steps, and so on. Again, create a history of being in tune.
4. PRACTICE SCALES OVER ACTUAL MUSIC
It is important to learn scale patterns, but if you spend all your time doing exercises, everything will sound like scale patterns. Who would like to hear that?
Playing over music is a good way to learn and apply scale tones.
You can jam over the top of a two-chord pattern. It’s important to listen as you play. The audience is doing that.
5. VARY YOUR ROUTINE
When I was learning how to play, I got stuck on some exercises and would repeat them over and over. I did not know how repetition was working against me. It was making me not play well.
It’s time to break out of the habit. Change your guitar warm-up exercises frequently. The variety factor needs to be increased.
One day you can do the non- musical, finger-twisting stuff; the next, focus on arpeggios, and the next day you can do scales.
6. DON’T DRAG YOUR PRACTICE SESSIONS OUT
You can work on exercises and patterns for a long time, but there is a point where you need to stop.
You will not get a billion streams online with finger exercises. These routines should be restricted. Keep them short and productive, but remember they are exercises and not actual music.
You should spend more of your time learning and playing music. It will be more enjoyable for you, and you will progress quicker.
7. LEARN NEW MATERIAL BY MEASURED REPETITION
It’s a habit to make the unknown, or something that feels awkward. Measured repetition is how you learn how to play something the right way, not by playing it the wrong way over and over.
The jazz pianist, who was Satch’s guitar teacher, taught me how to play this song. He asked me why I played that wrong note. Don’t play the next note if you’re not sure.
I had let bad habits become part of my style.
Make sure not to reinforce wrong parts and get stuck in bad habits. The more time you spend playing, the better your chance of always playing it right.
8. DON’T STRETCH RIGHT BEFORE A PERFORMANCE
I thought it was normal to stretch before a performance. I noticed bassist Matt Bissonette (opens in new tab) was always relaxing backstage before he played.
Around the same time, I read an article about athletes who said stretching before an event could affect performance. I changed my routine and it worked.
I did my warm-ups hours before the performance and I noticed that I was playing better. I had more energy and I felt more relaxed. It’s possible to try it!
9. KEEP YOUR VOLUME LOW WHILE PRACTICING
It is a crazy one. It relates to your ability to hear different kinds of sounds. If loudness is increased, a high pitch will be perceived as getting higher, while a low pitch will be perceived as going lower.
This psycho-acoustic effect has been studied. With an increase in sound intensity from 60 to 90 decibels, the pitch of a pure tone was thought to rise over 30 cents.
Why am I telling you? You can hear the music.
Keep your volume low while you practice. It will help you better understand what you are playing. Your ears will appreciate that. Your neighbors will, too.
10. KEEP YOUR STRINGS CLEAN
Everything will sound clear and beautiful if your strings are clean.
I used to use alcohol which made the strings brittle. I use Big Bends Guitar String Wipes and they work well.
If you don’t want to change your strings all the time, these wipes are for you.
You can find the Joe Satriani’s tour dates and tickets here.