Interestingly enough I have been able to come frighteningly close to Joe's tone with a Parker Fly Classic and a Boss GT-5 with a 31 band EQ through the loop and an Alesis 2 channel comp/lim/gate. If you are careful you can find that beautiful tone with the right mix of the magnetic and acoustic pick-ups. GOD I just love those Custom Wound DiMarzio's. I'll have a site up in the near future and I'll get some of my orignal work up for perusal and critique from the other masters that post here. Always remember that a gentleman is a man that can play the play the accordian... but doesn't.

Yes. YES! OH YES!!! I got them, the tickets. THey have arrived and I'll be in Denver to listen to Joe on August 13th. I'm so jazzed. This will be th first time I've heard Joe live and the second time for my Bro. It's a birhtday gift to him from me to see this show. I've been a Satch fan as well as a Dream Theater fan for a long time and to see them both on the same stage in the same night will be a highlight of my life.

Joe, thank you for your inspiration! And I quote, "Play what you want to play, you've got to know every note, every scale, you've got to be able to decipher the sound without having to look at it, and anyone that is trying to avoid putting in the kind of work that is required is kidding themselves." Joe Satriani.

That is my new mantra for life! I've been playing for 15 years and that is the most inspirational thing that I have ever read.

Hey Joe, I'm exceptionally jazzed about the gig coming up on the 13th of August. It will be the first time I have ever seen you live. I have a friend in Ft. Collins Colorado whose birthday is the 11th and it's my gift to him to take him to see the show. It will be his second time.

I was very inspired by what you said in an interview about knowing every note and scale and being able to decipher the sound without having to look at it. I went home last night and played from 6:45pm till almost 2am working on my scales and sweeps. I'm not kidding myself and I will not avoid putting in the work that it requires. I, like you, started at 14 (playing now for more than half my life) and am completely self-taught. I'm a bit unorthodox and probably make quite a few mistakes with my technique. What would it require for me to get even a few hours of lessons from you? Whatever it takes to learn from the best, to become one of the best, I'll do it. Let me know please. Thank you.

Yeah so i'm getting caught up on the last two days of messages so this is a little late in coming but here goes.

WTF OVER?!?!?!?!? How the heck did Kurt Kobain get in even the top twenty?!?!?!?!? I have more talent in my little toe than all of Nirvana and can't even comprehend that third rate hack as making it in the top 100!!! And JOE!!! How did he wind up so far down the list? Seventh? Inconceivable.

Okay, rant over.

danncal;

In fact, I'm so fake that this is just a life sized tattoo of someone else over my body! LOL.

wingnut that's a tough question to answer since we don't know what type of hardware you are using. What type of bride do you have, if it's a temolo what type of temolo, what type of nut do you have, what kind of tuning machines do you have, what strings do you use, what type of pick do you use?

I had a terrible time with the Spurzel locking tuning machines on my Parker Fly Classic at first, particularly on the B and high E strings. When I started winding around the tuner head twice, instead of just pulling the string through, locking and tuning, I had much better luck. There are a lot of variables that go into it. Give us a few more details and we could probably give you some helpful advice, after all there are a lot of tremendous guitarists that post here.

wingnut so the strings aren't breaking AT the bridge or AT the nut. Is it the same string every time or is it a different one? Seems to me you might consider a different brand of string. I use D'Addario strings, another good brand would be the Dean Markley Blue Steel. I hate breaking in new strings and have been able to beat the hell out of the D'Addario and Blue Steel strings for about 4 to 5 weeks before a restring. And even then it's not always because of a broken string. I HATE breaking in new strings. Of course I put new strings on about a week before a gig so that they are broke in and have the warm tone instead of the bright new tone. If you continually have trouble breaking strings and it's not at the bridge or the nut I would recommend a change of brands. Something you can do to relieve some of the stress on the strings is to take a mechanical pencil lead and rub some of that into the nut. The carbon from the pencil lead has much less friction than the nut and can help relieve some stress on the strings.

I'm sitting here at work contemplating my computer and the tasks ahead of me for the day. HAHAHAH!!! Yeah right! I can't think about anything but the fact that I will be seeing Joe for the first time tomorrow in Denver. I can't wait, it's tormenting me! If I get chosen for the aftershow thing with Joe I will definitely be at the highest point in life. Nothing could be better. Of course if that does happen I'll have to ask Joe to let me play an original for him, get his opinion and critique of it. Wouldn't that be something? Play for Joe? As a music lover, guitarist and Satch Fan what could ever top it? Oh well, I can dream can't I?

Anyone else attending the show in Dever at the City Lights Pavillion? I'll be in Section E Seat 14 or 15. I'm going with a friend so I'm not sure what seat I'll be in. If you're going look for me. I'll be wearing a Dark Red Texas A&M cap and will have a smile on my face that looks like it could do permanent damage to the muscles in my cheeks.

If I'm not practicing something specific or learning a specific song or riff then I will sit and play chops that I already know and try to bring the speed up. I also try to find ways to make chops from other songs fit together by throwing in some of my own stuff. But it's true that you just need to be patient and keep at it. The finger exercises are great and will increase dexterity and coordination between pick hand and fret hand. Some times I'll plug in a movie that I've seen before and sit on the couch doing exerxises and scales. It's mindless and that's the idea. You have to "be able to decipher the sound without having to look at it" to quote Joe. That's why I try watching a flick while doing exercizes up and down the neck. It keeps me loose, builds speed and dexterity and forces me to keep my eyes off of the neck. Just keep at it and find what works for you.

Dang. No love from the aftershow pass contest. Blast it. Ah the dream crushed in a moment of withering pain and desolation. Life has no meaning... oh wait... I forgot. Guitar is life and I still have my guitar so I guess there is reason to live.

Congratulations to Liquid_Cell, ktsdmp7 and Hamiketa21!! Enjoy the time with Joe and remember me out there after the show is over having to drive home without getting to shake his hand. Is the guilt trip working? Keep your eyes peeled for me! I'll be in Section E Seat 14 with a dark red Texas A&M cap. Hope to see you there.

Okay, so it's only 20 minutes after 5 and I'm dying for 6 to get here so I can get ready to head for Denver. I just hope my car doesn't break down on the way there. That would truly blow.

Joe, thank you for inspiring my life, love and career as a guitarist. You have a way of touching my soul with your music. It's obvious that you play from the heart. You are the greatest. You rank #1 with John Pettrucci a close second so imagine how jazzed I am that I'm going to be able to see you both in one night. Take Care and I'll see you tomorrow.

Drew

Joe... what an incredible show in Denver. I'm still in awe. I don't know what to say. It was moving, powerful, it touched me more than you will ever know. That was the first time I've ever seen you live and I couldn't think afterwards, all I could do was wrap the experience around my soul, let it linger in my heart and drive quietly home. It was such an indescribable experience to see my two favorite guitarists in one night. JP was flawless, I've always been a fan of Dream Theater, and you were heartstopping. Your presence on stage was a spiritual experience. Your guitar playing and mastery of the instrument is inspiring yet at the same time it made me want to quit... how could I ever hope to acheive that kind of greatness. I wanted to go home and burn my guitar. :) I hope some day that my band makes it under the big lights and that we could talk and even jam some time. I think at this point the highlight of my life was this past Tuesday in Denver. To make it big with my band would only serve to, hopefully, bring me closer to the true highlight... getting to know you and jam with you. You have touched me to the core of my being.

Thank you so much,

Hello all,

An awful lot of posts for only two days of being away. I'm tired from reading now.

My band had its first gig this past Saturday. It was incredible!!!! Everyone had such a good time that we almost ran the bar out of beer! There's nothing in the world like performing on stage! God I love it. We've only been together for about 3 months, the drummer decided he wanted to sing so we were under the gun to find another drummer. So as a group we've been together for about three months, but the original 3 for about 8. The owner was so impressed he promised us a gig once a month. I was pretty jazzed about that. Our Cheif Operations Officer and my Manager were there and couldn't keep their mouths shut! :) The COO called my bassist the next morning (entirely too early after a late night) asking for a CD. God I love this business!

We are going to be in Lincoln on the 31st at the Royal Grove so any Satch fans in Lincoln that feel like coming out and giving us a listen you are more than welcome.

Mothers_Worry I agree with you 100% on that. I play a Parker Fly Classic and I can't stand to put it down. It's so smooth and easy to play, and the TONE!!!! I haven't found anything that sounds better yet.

JSCLONE I suffered from RSI back in high school. IT was brutal, my wrist was swollen up to the size of my forearm and my pinky was swollen to the size of my index finger. It was truly terrible and I know the pain you're going through. I went to several doctors and there wasn't much they could do for me other than prescribe an anti-inflammatory. They told me to wrap my arm and hand in a heating pad for an hour and a half to two hours a night and take Ibuprofen. There really wasn't anything they could do and I just babied it and took care of it. I wasn't able to play guitar for almost 2 months. DON'T TOUCH YOUR GUITAR!!! Or you may never again. And I know you don't want that. Just set it down and heal yourself.

JazzGuitar I agree with you, you can only ride talent so far. Work is required to get to Joe's level of skill. I've been playiing for 14 years and i'm nowhere near as talented as Joe but after all the work I've reached a point that I can hold my own. It's important to be disciplined about it.

That's incredibly sad. I cannot begin to describe how angry that makes me. How can anyone be that deplorably selfish? That is the epitomy of lame. This past weekend after my first show with this band I got a little drunk. When we packed our gear up the next day my guitar wasn't there. God that was a terrible feeling not knowing for sure if my buddy from another town packed it in his car. He did but the idea that it may be gone was horrible. So I kinda know what Joe is going through and that's so uncool as to be deserving of a slow and exceoptionally painful torture session. My vote is strap them to a chair, when they're found, super glue the peter shut, stick them in a room and make them listen to the sound of running water. Truly that is a desecration of the Man and music in general.

Joe, you rule. For you to do that for your fans is truly an example of the greatness of character you have. You are a wonderful person and you show your care for your fans in your actions. I respect you more than any other musician and some day I hope to shake your hand and tell you face to face that I think you are an excellent role model, a truly great person and an example of what a person can acheive when they truly care about their fans. My respect for you never ceases to increase.

Unfortunately I live in Nebraska so I really can't help with the search for Pearly. Did you run an advertisement in the papers, radio stations or tv stations? I sincerely hope your baby is returned to you and I hope the rest of the tour is less eventful than this first stretch has been.

Ah! Back from vacation. This has to be the most active forum I have ever seen. Over 1700 posts in just three short weeks. Any way... gald to be back.

I'm not getting left out of this vote darn it. If it's not going to be me as the guitar guard then it just as well be JBlaze!

1. kinger 2. mr nick 3. JS Clone 1 4. Do2222 5. Mr Nick 6. Stu_hacking 7. Shiloh2000 8. Big Daddy Love 9. akreepish1 10. For Adun (BENNY BOOM 11. Mr Nick 12. OVATION1 13. Cyberjoe 14. Whojackafibby 15. Chocoholic 16. Get a Loaf 17.XCrystalPlanetX 18. KhakiCoalition

By the by JBlaze, do you have a website where I might go to listen to some of your jams? I'm always interested in listening to the music of other guitarists. I'm still working on getting my stuff recorded and a website up but it's slow going; still spending too much on band gear. Anyway, best of luck on the guard position man, hopefully some day you and I'll be able to swap some chops.

Greetings all.

Tonight is the next gig in our Ogallala tour. This tour involves a set of venues ranging from the Sip and SIzzle to the Sip and Sizzle and then back again a little later in the year to the Sip and Sizzle. We may play the TD's Sports Club if the masses scream loud enough.

Two new originals for this weekends show!! We'll be playing our first original, Short Notice Comp Day and our newest song Slow, Deep Anger. Short Notice Comp Day is the story of mine and my singers adventures in our boss's office for being late after staying up till the wee hours writing music and Slow, Deep Anger is a song that sounds like a guy griping about a girl leaving him but turns out later in the song that she was killed and all the memorys feed his slow, burning anger. We like to tell stories with our music and not just bitch about stuff like that whiney, punk ass no talent hack Limp Bizquick. Apologies ahead of time to any LB fans.

Wish us luck this weekend and may the guitar Gods (Satch and John Petrucci) be with you.

Peace!

Well the gig went really well but I'm exceptionally tired. We played till 1a on Friday and I had to be at work at 6 Saturday morning. Same for Saturday night, played till 1a and had to be to work this morning at 6a. Very very tired. But oh it's so worth it! What really sucked was when I got off work yesterday at 3p I got home and tried to take a nap, I needed the rest, and never made it! People kept coming over, calling, and generally making a nap an impossibility. Oh well.

No more gigs for a while though, we're going to take some time off from giggin' to concentrate on our original material.