Joe Satriani compares teaching guitar to Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett

Joe Satriani talked with Q103 about the time he was a guitar teacher, during which he taught rock and roll legends like Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Alex Skolnick, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, and more. He also compared the differences between teaching Vai and Kirk.

(Via Blabbermouth)

Read what he said:

“It was very different how I met them. Steve Vai was 12 years old and could not play guitar at all when I met him.

“He showed up on my front door with a guitar with no strings in one hand and a pack of strings in the other, and said, ‘Hey, you’re teaching my friend. Can you teach me how to play too?’ So that was my introduction to Steve.

Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and John Petrucci:

“Kirk was already a really good guitar player; he was already the lead guitarist in Exodus when I met him. And I already moved to Berkeley, CA by then. So he walked into the store where I was teaching looking for lessons, ’cause he knew that I was teaching a bunch of other thrash metal kids in the neighborhood there.

“So working with Kirk was a lot easier, because he was already a pretty accomplished player, he was already an advanced player. And he was still in Exodus at the time, but then, very quickly, he got the gig with Metallica, so the lessons became extremely important, because he was working and making albums.

“Exciting times, very exciting times. They were both fantastically dedicated musicians, as they are today.”

Last year, Kirk remembered his first lesson from Joe, telling CFOX:

“It was actually very poignant. His first lesson to me was, ‘Learn your lesson. Don’t waste your time, don’t waste my time. I expect you to know everything that I gave you in a week’s time.’ I was, like, ‘This guy is serious.’ But you know what? I did it, and he kicked my ass.

“But after a while, I was taking two lessons a week from him. I became so thirsty for what he had to offer me, I was just, like, ‘Bring it on! It’s all making sense. I wanna learn more.’

“I have to say, Joe Satriani has always played that way. Ever since I first met him, he’s always played incredibly – with all the sounds and all the bar stuff and tapping and crazy licks that no one’s ever played, and still probably never plays. I mean, he’s just such a unique individual as a musician.”

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