avid

Photo by Eduardo Peña Dolhun

The ever-intrepid guitarist recorded in isolation and dug deep on his 18th studio album, The Elephants of Mars, achieving even greater levels of emotional expression and dimension-stretching 6-string sonics.

“Don’t ever think that you’re going to impress people by reminding them that you can play faster, stretch your fingers longer, be louder, and look cooler,” says Joe Satriani. Those words carry a lot of weight coming from Satch, who can, of course, do all those things. But while he’s received plenty of attention for his endless supply of dexterous digital athletics over the years, he’s always been a committed melody player. And if you ask him, that’s even harder to dish out.

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