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Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien (Patreon)

Published:
2025-04-06 15:00:13
Imported:
2026-06
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I listened and reacted to the album version first and I blown away by the musicality of Joe Satriani. This is lyrical guitar playing with some shreddiness here and there. I honestly could imagine myself "surfing with the alien."

Curiosity got the best of me so I searched for a live version, and man did I get lucky! I hope you enjoy that part as well!

I am sad that he lost out on having the old album art, so since this is on Patreon and I am a goof, here's me as the Silver Surfer!

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Comments

Gary Ellis

I was a radio DJ in college and when this album came out I played the shit out of it.

P in D

Ok, so maybe next time I tell you someone is "great" you'll just believe me :p . The telltale sign for me that this is not just some complex guitar noodling - you COULD dance to this. You hit it when you said Joe can nearly make his guitar talk ... or "sing". Writing instrumentals is tricky so they do not sound repetitive. Remember the original was recorded nearly 40 years ago. Joe did everything himself ... thank you SO MUCH for searching out the live. I find it almost comical he needs a full band to replicate what he did all by himself several years before. Joe has always been generous with his music and his talent. He has tons of "how - to's" on YouTube and was a guitar teacher for several years. Among his students were Kirk Hammett ... and YES Steve Vai was also a Satriani student. They remain close friends to this day. Vai and Satriani sold more Ibanez JEM model guitars than any artist endorsed guitars ... ever? They were everywhere in the 80's and 90's, especially the neon swirl painted jobs. Thank you for yet another excellent and entertaining reaction. It is always great fun to watch you discover ... or rediscover stuff for us. Bravo to you and Joe ;) . BTW, your thumbnails are SO fun!

Charles Coleman

This is definitely one of my favorite songs and it was on many of my exercise tapes/playlists. It's great to rollerblade to, trust me! Satriani is a fantastic guitarist. I believe Steve Vai was a student of his and Kanami really likes Steve Vai. There's even a photo on Kanami's Instagram where she has her hands in the handprints of Steve Vai in the concrete outside of the Guitar Center in LA. The photo was during Band Maid's tour with the Last Rock Stars in February of 2023. And NittPicc, you should ask SJ Nix about the birthday gifts the fans got for Saiki at the LA show on February 10, 2023.

Chris Bergsten

This came out in 87 and it shows. The guitar tones, the squealy lead, the tapping... Takes me back to Trapper Keepers and pizza places with arcade cabinets, which is kinda dating myself. Satch has probably a dozen or more solo albums out, all instrumental guitar rock. Good stuff if you're into it, but these days it kinda feels like a time capsule.

Tom Hammond

My favorite JS performance is from the same concert. The YT title is "Joe Satriani - Ten Words (from Satriani Live)." It's much more low-key and quite beautiful. Another favorite is a performance on Howard Stern with the Chickenfoot lineup (Jason Bonham replacing Chad Smith). The YT title is "Sammy Hagar "Right Now" live on the Stern Show." According to Sammy this was without any rehersal.

Andrew Hellebrand

Satch does use a wah pedal extensively in Surfing to accentuate the vocal element of the main melodies, the first Vox wah design was actual meant to emulate the variable envelope & nasal quality of a trumpet mute when soloing. Two techniques you might not have figured out in this song would be the following: - Firstly, in the tapping sections, he uses the side of his plectrum instead of fingertips to get a sharper attack as a trade off for less sustain. - Secondly he uses artificial pinched harmonics on open strings which then get rapidly lowered in pitch by the whammy bar, as well as the more normal whammy bar divebombs and the percussive rhythmic dips in the outro you picked up on. This dived squeal effect is a signature trick of Satriani's and the late Dimebag Darrell of Pantera had a reversed version, where he'd instead pull the pitch of the pinch harmonic upwards (the outro to Cemetary Gates being a clear example).

P in D

Very technical :p .I knew a little of this (very little as I am not a player) ... I was looking for a really short video to explain to NittPicc what a divebomb was. Most are overly complicated and long.

Andrew Hellebrand

I'll have a hunt as well and see if there's anything suitable to link to that's relatively succinct. If not I'm almost tempted to dust off and restring my Ibanez and make an unlisted YT video for the purpose, though that would be an extreme solution. With the descriptions above I figured I could throw in a few music theory terms that NittPicc would understand the shorthand of but that frequently unschooled guitarists wouldn't necessarily use.

Andrew Hellebrand

As much as I enjoy Hendrix's interpretation in that performance, I would say it's more a masterclass in how a traditional Fender strat trem and tuners won't stay in tune under significant abuse; that and the Univibe modulation makes it trickier to illustrate the pitch manipulation in the more subtle moments.

Mike Holmes

OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, OK... so... here's my Joe Satriani story. I'm at a show of his at Summerfest (here in Milwaukee... largest music festival in the world... by far... no, really... ), having already been a huge fan of his in, I'm guessing something like 1992. And he's in the midst of playing, if I recall correctly, Summer Song, which isn't his hardest song, but it sure as hell ain't easy. Now... I can't say that he did this on purpose like Paganini, but that actually makes it more impressive when he breaks a string in the middle of the song... and finishes it solos and all playing *around the missing string* having to figure out the new guitar lines on the fly and play far more difficult versions of them. He missed, I dunno, maybe two notes in the whole piece playing this way? Absolutely crazy level of skill on this man. The only reason Vai is in the running for best rock guitarist of all time is because he started with Satch as his teacher (I believe it was at the Guitar Institute in California) learning fantastic chops and lightning speed, and then finished his tutelage under Frank Zappa, where he learned to break all of the rules he'd just learned. Satch's limitation is that he's very strictly bound by the rules of musical theory. He's just amazingly good within that space. You noted that he has a huge "wingspan" as you put it when noting his handspan. Well, as it happens, Satch had another student (I think... he was there at about the same time) at the guitar institute whose name is Paul Gilbert. Paul is an extremely rangy 6' 4" tall and guitars look small in his hands. Gilbert also has considerable limitations as far as stretching musicality goes, but, good lord, the stunts he can pull off on a guitar. Maybe your friend introduced you to him as well? A fun one from Paul Gilbert to check out is Scarified by his early band, Racer X. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdSZhpXyHjg