Joe Satriani’s opinion on Kurt Cobain as a guitarist

Born in Westbury, New York in 1956, Joe Satriani started his musical career in 1978 and ended up becoming a guitar teacher. Two of his students were Kirk Hammett, Steve Vai and Alex Skolnick, who would then become really famous guitar players. With the release of his first studio albums in the late 80s, Satriani also became a praised and known guitarist and in the following years became a real guitar hero that influenced countless generations of artists.

Since he was part of the music business in the 90s he had the chance to see the evolution of Rock and Roll up-close, including Grunge. That sub-genre reached the mainstream with the release of Nirvana‘s “Nevermind” in 1991 and made their singer, guitarist and songwriter one of the biggest Rock stars of all time. But what was Satriani’s opinion on Kurt Cobain as a guitar player?

What is the opinon of Joe Satriani on Kurt Cobain as a guitar player

In an interview with Classic Rock, Satriani talked about Kurt and said that he really appreciated his guitar playing.  “I was very happy with those Nirvana records.”

“He was a great guitar player. You go back and look at Nirvana clips, and you realise this guy is playing everything he’s supposed to play. He’s not looking at what he’s playing, so obviously he really knows the instrument. And he’s playing with one of the greatest drummers of all time (Dave Grohl), so that wouldn’t have worked if he was not a good guitarist,” Joe Satriani said.

Curiously, the Grunge movement was almost the opposite of the kind of music Satriani was playing. They wanted to bring Rock and Roll to the basics again and guitar solos were really short.

The band was active until 1994 when Kurt Cobain tragically died at the age of 27. One year later Dave Grohl formed Foo Fighters, making the band’s debut album all by himself, writing, singing and playing all the instruments.