10 Greatest Guitarists From The '80s - The Guys Who Rewrote The Book
5. Joe Satriani
How good is Joe Satriani? How about the fact that he taught two of the guys on this list, Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett, how to play for starters? Satriani's technical ability is almost frighteningly overwhelming. The music he records in the comfort of the studio is reproduced without any safety net, night after night, note perfect. During the shred guitar heyday in the early '80s he even managed to score US hits with Always With Me, Always With You and Surfing With The Alien.
The signature Satriani track is Satch Boogie, a unique gumbo of swinging, jazzy riffs that crash headlong into blistering whammy dives and tremolo picking. Satriani can do all this and make it look infuriatingly effortless.
Like many artists on this list, Satch has a signature guitar, amp, guitar strap - you name it, he's got one. The reason for that high profile of marketability is simple: he is the player's player. Everything he does seems to have come from a place of work and woodshedding; his playing may well be 'Not Of This Earth' as his debut album was named, but there is something about his demeanour that makes you think 'maybe I could do that too - with enough practice!'