JOE SATRIANI TRIVIA
Trivia
In 1993 Satriani stepped into Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for Ritchie Blackmore, who had just left. What his official biography records of that spell is the 1993 Japanese tour - which means the first stage he played with the band was a Japanese one.
Satriani's headline visit to Japan came in February 2017 as the Surfing to Shockwave Japan Tour 2017. Sony Music's official artist page announced it as his first headline Japanese concerts in fifteen years: Namba Hatch in Osaka on 7 February and Nakano Sunplaza Hall in Tokyo on the 8th. The band with him was Mike Keneally on guitar and keyboards, Bryan Beller on bass and Marco Minnemann on drums.
The day Satriani decided to play guitar can be named. His official biography says he has been dedicated to guitar artistry since 18 September 1970 - the day Jimi Hendrix died. He was fourteen, and he heard the news at American football practice; he told his coach on the spot that he was quitting to become a guitarist.
Satriani taught guitar for years, and his official biography states plainly that as a teenager he taught Steve Vai. The other students it names are Kirk Hammett of Metallica and Alex Skolnick of Testament. He would later share a stage with Vai in G3, and from 2024 tour with him as SATCHVAI.
After moving to San Francisco, Satriani played in The Squares and then spent a short spell in the Greg Kihn Band. Those are the two pre-solo groups his official biography names.
Surfing With The Alien, released in 1987, was his second studio album, and according to his official biography it reached number 29 on the Billboard 200 and produced radio hits. For a guitar album with no singing on it that is an exceptional placing, and the success led to the invitation from Mick Jagger the following year.
The success of Surfing With The Alien led Mick Jagger to recruit Satriani as lead guitarist for his first solo tour in 1988. His official biography presents the hiring as a consequence of that album.
Satriani holds fifteen Grammy Award nominations; his official biography names Surfing With The Alien and The Extremist among the songs and albums nominated. He has never won.
His official biography describes him as the world's most commercially successful solo guitar performer, with six gold and platinum discs and over ten million albums sold. Very few instrumental catalogues with no singing on them have reached that scale.
G3 is the multi-guitarist touring format Satriani founded in 1996, in which the bill rotates. His official biography names Eric Johnson, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen among the guitarists who have played it, and records that the 2024 reunion of the original line-up was a sold-out American tour.
Satriani has also been the guitarist of Chickenfoot since 2009, a band with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith. His official biography calls it an all-star band and records that it released two albums.
He has appeared in films as well. His official biography names two: For Your Consideration in 2006 and Moneyball in 2011.
His instruments carry his name. According to his official biography, Ibanez's JS Series guitars and the Marshall JVM410HJS amplifier were both designed specifically for him as signature products.
Four songs from The Sea Of Emotion, the first studio album Joe Satriani and Steve Vai made together as SatchVai, came out ahead of the record: The Sea Of Emotion, Pt.1 in March 2024, I Wanna Play My Guitar in May 2025, Dancing in March 2026 and Mayhem on 2 September 2026, alongside the album announcement. All four were published by their label earMUSIC on its own channel. The pair's relationship goes back to guitar lessons in 1973, and it took more than fifty years for them to write a single together.