Guitar World - June 1998
Lesson
Not of This Earth
by Andy Aledort
Joltin' Joe Satriani makes his otherworldly technique crystal clear in this exclusive lesson.
"My guitar playing on this record is not all didactical or methodical," says Joe Satriani. "I'm trying to show people that I'm really not like that. If a shameless display of non-technique - like stepping on some weird box and holding one long sustained note - is what the song calls for, then that's what I'm going to do.
Satriani, perhaps the world's foremost purveyor of instrumental rock guitar, is free-associating, sharing the musical and emotional sensibilities that inform Crystal Planet, his powerful new album. "I'm under this funny umbrella, this 'rock and roll instrumental' thing," says Satch. "I'm not really fusion or traditional rock, but I entertain kind of a wide audience. Some of the stuff is simple, and some of it is complicated, but it's all wrapped up in this fun, high-energy atmosphere." High energy, technical, non-technical - all of these could describe the guitar playing on Crystal Planet. And one other thing: the stuff is challenging.
Satriani sat down with Guitar World to give us a tour of Crystal Planet and offer few insight into licks from previous albums, as well.
The first single is "Ceremony," which begins with a quiet, dreamy melody played with a wah-wah. FIGURE 1 illustrates the tune's intro. "This opening riff is based primarily on shifting two-note figures," explains Satch, "starting with an index finger barre across the A and D strings at the 6th fret. After hammering on and off the 7th fret with middle finger, the pinky reaches up to the 9th fret on the E low string for the C# note."
On the last beat of the second bar, Satriani plays a B5 power chord on the bottom two strings with his 2nd and 4th fingers while still barring the G# note (4th string/6th fret) with his index finger. When played over the B5 chord this note functions as an added sixth. "When I play this chord the second time through," says Satriani, "I add the high C# note" [3rd string/6th fret]. This note functions as the second/ninth over the root note B.
Notice also that the figure has two endings: on the first ending, Satch holds the G# note as a common tone while playing a descending figure on the 5 string, ending at B; on beat 3 of the second ending, he ends the line differently, moving the G# note down a whole-step (two frets) to F#, which he plays over an open E5 power chord, creating a cool-sounding Esus2 chord.
FIGURE 1 "Ceremony"
Intro -
80 bpm
N.C.(C#m) B6 N.C.(C#m) B6 Esus2
w/wah - let ring throughout 1-------------------------------------| 2--------------------------------|
||---------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|--------------------------------------||---------------------------------||
||•--------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------------------•||---------------------------------||
||---------------------------|----------------------0---|-------------------------|--------------------------------------||---------------------------------||
||--6-------6-------6----6---|-6-------6-------6-6--6---|-6-------6-------6----6--|-6----6--6--6--6----6--6--6--6----6---||-6---6--6--6----6--6--6--4----4--||
||•-6h7-6---6h7-6---6h7--7---|-6h7-6---6h7-6---6-9--9---|-6h7-6---6h7-6---6h7--7--|-7p6--6--6--6--6\4--4--4--4--2----2--•||-7p6-6--6--6\4--4--4--4--2----2--||
||--------9-------9----------|-------9-------9---7--7---|-------9-------9---------|--------------------------------------||-------------------------0----0--||
"I really love this 'sus2' chord," he says. "there's another song on the album, 'Secret Prayer,' that is based almost entirely on this one chord form." FIGURES 2A and 2B illustrate examples of this chord form moved up and down the neck on the bottom three strings. In FUIGURE 2A, the chord forms ascend; in FIGURE 2B, they descend. In this examples, the chord voicings are played as arpeggios, fretted with the index finger, middle finger and pinky. Be sure to allow all notes to sustain for as long as possible. Experiment with these chord forms and try to devise some interesting chord progressions of your own.
FIGURE 2 Sus2 Chord Progressions
96 bpm
a)Ascending b)Descending
Gsus2 Bbsus2 Dsus2 Fsus2 Gsus2 Ebsus2 Csus2 Absus2
||---------------------------|------------------------------||---------------------------------|--------------------------||
||---------------------------|------------------------------||---------------------------------|--------------------------||
||---------------------------|------------------------------||---------------------------------|--------------------------||
||--------7-----------10-----|----------14--------------17--||---------19--------------15------|---------12------------8--||
||-----5-----5-----8------8--|------12------12------15------||-----17------17------13------13--|-----10------10-----6-----||
||--3-----------6------------|--10--------------13----------||-15--------------11--------------|--8--------------4--------||
let ring throughout
"Secret Prayer" brings to mind the John McLaughlin/Mahavishnu Orchestra tune "Dance of the Maya." When asked about this, Joe exclaims, "Oh yeah! I love that tune! 'Dance of the Maya' is based on a pattern that you hear in a baroque piece by the composer Faure, called 'Pavonne,' I took a similar approach here.
"Another tune on Crystal Planet the, to me, has more of a Mahavishnu influence is 'Trumndrumbalind,' which is in 5/4 time. It's very similar to 'Dance of the Maya' in terms of the chord voicings, which are all played on the 6th, 4th and 3rd strings, beginning with the root, the dominant seventh and the third. The tune gets wacky at the end, when the figure switches to a progression based on the A whole tone scale" [A B C# D# F G].
Recent developments in pop music seem to have had a major impact on Satriani's approach to hi s own music. "That's definitely true," says Satch. "I don't think I would have written a song like 'Raspberry Jam Delta-V' if I hadn't been sitting around jamming to Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers and Orbital. When you write an instrumental album, aside from waiting for divine intervention, you have to employ some different angles to keep the music interesting. There's a lot of great stuff happening in music now, and there's no reason not to allow yourself to be inspired by the music around you."
"Raspberry Jam Delta-V" begins with a hypnotic lick that is very deceptive-sounding. "To play this lick," Joe explains, "I begin by holding a B octave with my right hand: I reach over and put my right index finger on the B note on the 4th string at the 4th fret, and my right pinky on the B note one octave higher, on the 1st string at the 7th fret. The B string remains open in between. Then, with my left hand, I tap and pull-off notes on the B string at the 10th and 12th frets, and then incorporate the high E and G strings, pulling-off to the B notes fretted with my right hand." FIGURE 3A illustrates the repeated lick Satch plays in bar 4 of the tune's intro.
"I step on the Whammy pedal halfway through the riff," sys Satriani. "The Whammy pedal makes the riff sound one octave higher even though I'm using the exact same fingering." He adds, "I'm also using slap-back echo effect on the lick, with the echo set to 16th notes. The additional 'drugs' added to the guitar's signal make the lick sound even more psychedelic."
FIGURES 3B-D are variations on this riff. Experiment with this technique and see if you can come up with some cool licks of your own.
FIGURE £ "Raspberry Jam Delta-V"
120 bpm
a)Intro lick * * * b)Variation #1 * * * * * C)Variation #3 * * *
h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p
||------------12\11-7------------------------||-----------12\11-7-14-7-12-7-11-7-9-7-||-----------12\11-7---------------------|---|
||•-10-0-12-0-------------------9\10-0-10-0-•||-10-0-12-0----------------------------||-10-0-12-0---------10-0-9-0------------|---|
||--------------------9-4--11-4--------------||--------------------------------------||----------------------------11-4-9-4-8-|-0-|
||-------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------||---------------------------------------|---|
||•-----------------------------------------•||--------------------------------------||---------------------------------------|---|
||-------------------------------------------||--------------------------------------||---------------------------------------|---|
*Fret notes with/r.h. (see text)
d)Variation #4
* * *
h p h p h p h p h p h p h p h p
|-12\11-7-------------------------------|----||
|---------10-0-12-0-9-0-10-0------------|----||
|----------------------------11-4-9-4-8-|-0--||
|---------------------------------------|----||
|---------------------------------------|----||
|---------------------------------------|----||
By the way, the melodies improvised here by Satriani are all based on the B Mixolydian scale (B C# D# E F# G# A), illustrated in FIGURE 3E.
e)B Mixolydian Scale
(roots are in parenthesis)
|------------------------------------------------(7)--||
|--------------------------------------7--9--10-------||
|-----------------------------6--8--9-----------------||
|-------------------6--7-(9)--------------------------||
|----------6--7--9------------------------------------||
|--(7)--9---------------------------------------------||
This brings up a funny point," Joe laughs, "because ever since The Extremist, I was on this craze to make things sound not-technical. But, as it turned out, that record was filled with some of the most technical stuff I've ever played! On 'New Blues,' the rhythm track is performed entirely using two-handed tapping, recorded live. But, for whatever reason, no one ever asks me about the technically challenging stuff on that album. At the time, people would say to me, 'Oh, this record seems pretty straight ahead - no weird techniques,' and I was like, 'What, are you kidding?!'
"I realized that when you polish things up so that they sound easy to perform, you lose the 'thrill' factor that leads people to say, 'Oh my god, how the hell did you do that?' But it's a double-edged sword: if you showboat, like 'Hey, look at me - I'm reaching over!' people label you a technical-flashy guy. You're doomed to lose one section of the audience not matter which way you go. But I'd prefer that people not be so focused in on the 'flash' aspect, anyway."
The tune that originally made Satriani commercially successful was the title track from the album Surfing With the Alien. "I begin with a rockin' rhythm part, played in G down at the 3rd fret," Satch explains. See FIGURE 4. "The single-note lick in bar 2 is executed by fretting the Bb note, 6th string/6th fret, with the pinky, followed by an index finger barre across the 5th and 4th strings at the 3rd fret for the C and F notes. If you were to play these three notes together, you'd get a Bbsus2 chord. This sets up the move to the C5 chord, played on the 'and' of beat 2 in this bar." Notice that the figure is repeated virtually verbatim, but ends with a twist the second time.
FIGURE 4 "Surfing With The Alien"
170 bpm
a)Intro Rhythm
P.M................ N.C. C5 C6 C5 C7 C6 C5 * Bb5A5 G5 C5 G5 Bb5G5
1-------------------------- 2-------------------------
|-----||------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|---------------------------||--------------------------||
|-----||•-----------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------------------|--------------------------•||--------------------------||
|-----||------------------------|--------------------------|-------------------(0)---(3)---(0)-|--3p2--0-------------------||-5--0--3--0---------------||
|-----||------------------------|--------3--5-----5--7--5--|--8--8--7--3--5--5-(0)-7-(3)-5-(0)-|--3p2--0---/5~~~-5---------||-5--0--3--0---------------||
|--5--||•--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--|-----3-----3-----3--3--3--|--3--3--3--3--3--3-----3-----3-----|-----------/5~~~-5-(0)--5-•||-----------------------5--||
|--3--||---3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|--6-----------------------|-----------------------------------|-----------/3~~~-3-(0)--3--||-----------------(0)---3--||
*play notes in parenthesis second time through
The "Surfing With the Alien" melody is based on the G minor pentatonic scale (G Bb C D F), with the inclusion of the sixth, E. The result is a hexatonic, or six-tone scale in the 3rd position. FIGURE 5A shows a fingering for this scale in the 3rd position, while FIGURE 5B illustrates a pattern that begins in the 8th position and ends in the 12th.
FIGURE 5
a)G Minor Hexatonic Scale, III position b)G Minor Hexatonic Scale, VIII - XII position
(roots are in parenthesis) (roots are in parenthesis)
|-----------------------------------------(3)--||----------------------------------------10--12--13--(15)--||
|--------------------------------3--5--6-------||--------------------------------11--13--------------------||
|--------------------------3--5----------------||-------------------9--10--(12)----------------------------||
|----------------2--3-(5)----------------------||--------8--10--12-----------------------------------------||
|----------3--5--------------------------------||--(10)----------------------------------------------------||
|--(3)--6--------------------------------------||----------------------------------------------------------||
FIGURE 5C depicts the first four bars of the "Surfing" melody, which is played in the pattern shown in FIGURE 5B. The second and third times Satriani plays the melody, he throws in a few subtle variations; the third time around, he plays the phrase shown in bar 4 of FIGURE 5C one octave higher. This is an excellent example of how he gradually develops a melody as it is repeated through a "verse" or "chorus" section, much in the same way a singer would do with a vocal melody. You can hear similar examples of this approach on many other Satch tunes, including "Summer Song," "Ice 9" and "Cryin'."
c)"Surfing With The Alien" Melody
|-------|--------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------|
|-------|--------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------|
|--12~~~|~~~~--12\10------10---12--|--9b10---9~~~~~~~~-(9)\--|-----------------------------------|-------|
|-------|-------------12-----------|-------------------------|--------8b1/4------10-8b9------------|-------|
|-------|--------------------------|-------------------------|---/10-------10----------10~~~~~~--|(10)\--|
|-------|--------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------|
Another big Satriani favorite is the beautiful ballad from Surfing, "Always With Me, Always With You." FIGURE 6A illustrates the main rhythm part,.
"I fret the first chord shape, Badd4, with my middle finger on the low B note at the 7th fret on the 6th string, my pinky on the octave B note, 4th string/9th fret, my ring finger on the D# note, 3rd string/8th fret, and my index finger reaching back to the 5th fret on the 2nd string for the E note," Satriani explains. "For the final chord, F#sus4, I fret the low F# root note with my thumb."
FIGURE 6 "Always With Me, Always With You"
a)Main Rhythm Part
148 bpm
Badd4 Emaj7/6 F#sus4
||--------------------|---------------------|--------------------|---------------------||
||•----------5--------|------------5--------|-----------4--------|-----------2--------•||
||--------8-----8-----|---------8-----8-----|--------6-----6-----|--------4-----4------||
||-----9-----------9--|-----9------------9--|-----6-----------6--|-----4------------4--||
||•-------------------|---------------------|--------------------|--------------------•||
||--7-----------------|--7------------------|--0-----------------|--2------------------||
P.M. throughout Th
For the next section of the tune (see FIGURE 6B), Satriani transposes this chord progression from B major to its parallel minor key, B minor. For this section he uses the root-fifth-ninth shape we looked at back in FIGURE 2, with additional notes on the 3rd string. "I form the Bm(add9) chord voicing by first barring my index finger across the bottom four strings at the 7th fret," Satriani explains. "This enables me to fret both the low B note on the 6th string and the D note on the 3rd string with the same finger. I then use my middle finger and pinky to fret the F# and C# notes on the 5th and 4th strings."
Notice that Satriani uses an identical voicing for the Em(add9) chord that follows, though the notes on the 6th and 3rd strings are now open. For the final chord in the progression, F#7sus4, he alters this voicing by playing the fourth (B) as the highest note instead of the minor third (A), and the flatted seventh (E) instead of the ninth (G#).
b) Parallel Minor Variation
Bm(add9) Em(add9) F#7sus4
||------------------------|-----------------------|------------------|-------------------||
||•-----------------------|-----------------------|------------------|------------------•||
||------------7-----------|-----------7-----------|----------0-------|----------4--------||
||--------11-----11-------|-------11-----11-------|-------4-----4----|-------2-----2-----||
||•----9-------------9----|----9-------------9----|----2-----------2-|----4-----------4-•||
||--7-------------------7-|-7-------------------7-|-0----------------|-2-----------------||
P.M. throughout
About halfway through the tune, Satch improvises a melody on the B string via some fretboard tapping. "I'm kind of creating a 'three on fours', syncopation with this lick," he says, "by playing three-note patterns in groups of steady 16ths." FIGURE 6C illustrates a lick that is based on this type of rhythmic syncopation.
c)
\H T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T
|------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|
|-11-12-0-9-12-0-7-12-0-5-12-0-|-9-12-0-7-12-0-5-12-0-4-12-0-|-7-12-0-5-12-0-4-12-0-2-12-0-|-4-12-0-5-12-0-7-12-0-9-12-0-|-11-12-0-11/12~~~~~~-|
|------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|
|------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|
|------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|
|------------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|---------------------|
For many Satriani fans, "Summer Song" is the epitome of the signature "Satch hard-rockin' vibe." "Of all the songs I've ever recorded, 'Summer Song' is the absolute king as far as airplay goes," he states. "A 'live' version was nominated for a Grammy this year, too" he adds proudly. "For the studio version [from The Extremist], I wanted to capture the vibe of one guitarist playing the tune all the way from beginning to end, and that's pretty much the way I recorded the track.
"I can attribute that 'Joe Satriani' sound on 'Summer Song' to one thing," Satriani declares. "The drums play absolutely straight, and the guitar part plays all of the eight-note upbeat accents." FIGURE 7A depicts the tune's primary rhythm guitar part. "This is a concept that crystallized when we were working on Surfing with The alien with [drummer/percussionist] Jeff Campitelli and [percussionist] Bongo Bob [Smith]."
FIGURE 7 "Summer Song"
a)Main Rhythm Figure
160 bpm
A5 Gmaj9(no3)/A A5
P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M. P.M.
|-----||---------------------5--|--5--------5-----------|-----------------------|------------------------||
|-----||-•-------------------7--|--7--------7-----------|-----------------------|-----------------------•||
|--9--||---9--------9--------7--|--7--------7--------9--|--9--------9--------9--|--9--------9--------9---||
|--7--||---7--------7--------5--|--5--------5--------7--|--7--------7--------7--|--7--------7--------7---||
|--0--||-•-0--0--0--0--0--0--0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--•||
|-----||------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|------------------------||
During the song's intro, Joe plays a cool natural harmonic lick (N.H.) based on the A Mixolydian scale (A B C# D E F# G). FIGURE 7B shows one way of playing this scale using natural harmonics, while FIGURES 7C-E illustrate some melodies built on this series of natural harmonics. Once you've gotten these examples under your fingers, experiment with this technique and try writing your own melodies using natural harmonics.
b)Mixolydian using Natural Harmonics c)Melodic Invention #1 d)Melodic Invention #2
(roots are in parenthesis)
N.H.------------------------| N.H.-------------------------------| N.H.------------------------|
|-------------------------------| |---------------------|----------------| |---------------|---------------|
|-------------------------------| |---------------------|----------------| |---------------|---------------|
|---------------------5-------4-| |---------------------|----------------| |---5----4----5-|---------------|
|------------5-----4-----(3)----| |------------------5--|---4------------| |-3----3----3---|--4---5--------|
|-(5)-----4-----3---------------| |-5------4-----3------|-------3-----4--| |---------------|----3---4---5--|
|------3------------------------| |-----3---------------|----------------| |---------------|----------3----|
e)Melodic Invention #3
N.H.---------------------------------|
|---||--------------|----------------|---|
|---||--------------|----------------|---|
|---||--5-----------|------------4-5-|---|
|---||------------5-|------5---4-----|-3-|
|-5-||-----5-3--5---|-5-4----3-------|---|
|---||--------------|----------------|---|
The "Summer Song" melody is also based on the Mixolydian scale (one of Satriani's favorites), played here in the key of A. FIGURE 8 shows the first three bars. Notice how Satch further accentuates the song's "eighth-note upbeat" feel within this primary melodic figure.
FIGURE 8 "Summer Song" Melody
160 bpm
A5 Gmaj9(no3)/A A5
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|
|--------10---------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|
|--X--9------9---11b(12)--|--(11)-----9--------7----9/11--|---9------9~~~~~~--|
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|
|-------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------|
When it came time to program the set list for Crystal Planet, Satriani had an overall concept firmly in mind. "one thing that I intentionally did with this record was to have the key signatures ascend as the album progresses," he reveals. "I always felt that there were some albums that you could listen to all the way through and then cycle back to the beginning, and others you can't just get all the way through. I had a few theories about this, the best one being 'this album' good, and this one sucks,' " he laughs. "But after you get past this highly intellectual notion, you start to think that maybe there is something to the way a record should be sequenced. I think that by having the key signatures constantly ascend, the album feels uplifting, track to track, as you listen. The effect is meant to be transparent, but to push the right buttons in the listener.
SATRIANI'S EQUIPMENT:
GUITARS: "For Crystal planet, I used my main 'Chrome Boy' Ibanez the most, followed by the other 'Chrome Boy,' the 'Electric Rainbow,' the 'Rain Forest' and the 'Black Dog' Ibanez prototypes. There also touches of a '58 Stratocaster, a '58 Esquire and a '58 Les Paul Junior.
"In the middle of the songs 'A Piece of Liquid,' the main guitar is my number one Ibanez, recorded live. Then I overdubbed the Strat on one side and the Tele on the other. The first solo on that song was played on a Gibson Flying V, which is a 1980 Korina reissue. The idea behind using these three different guitars is that it gives me a choice of different 'voices', almost like using different singers to sing different parts of a song. My main guitars are not vintage guitars, so those that are sound very effective when used in this way."
AMPLIFIERS: "The main amps were two old Plexi Marshalls from 1969, one 100-watt and one 50-watt. I also used a Peavey 5150 quite a bit, a Peavey Classic 50, some Wizard amps, and a custom-made Wells amp, built by a guy from New York named Matt Wells. He made me two amps, and I love them both. They are so beautiful-sounding!"
EFFECTS: "I used a lot of Fulltone effects on this record, like the Ultimate Octave, the Deja-Vibe - what a tone on that thing! I used the Ultimate Octave on 'Up in the Sky' and 'Crystal Planet.' The box really sounds amazing on 'Crystal Planet'; it's also on 'With Jupiter in Mind.' I like these pedals better than their vintage counterparts, because the new ones are more reliable. 'Crystal Planet,' 'Trundrumbalind' and 'With Jupiter in Mind' are primarily live performances, and the boxes needed to work flawlessly. And they did."
"Ceremony" and "Raspberry Jam Delta-V" music by Joe Satriani. (c) 1998 Strange Beautiful Music (ASCAP). International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Both songs are contained in the Crystal Planet guitar folio published by Cherry Lane Music Company. "Surfing With the alien" and "Always With Me, Always With You" music by Joe Satriani. (c) 1987 Strange Beautiful Music (ASCAP). International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Both songs are contained in the Surfing With the Alien guitar folio published by Cherry Lane Music Company. "Summer Song" music by Joe Satriani. (c) 1992 Strange Beautiful Music (ASCAP). International copyright secured. All rights reserved. "Summer Song" is contained in The Extremist guitar folio published by Cherry Lane Music Company.
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