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G4 EXPERIENCE: G is for GOBBLE this weekend, but come early January it means Joe Satriani's The G4 Experience, featuring Steve Morse, Steve Lukather, Peter Frampton, Eric Gales, Cory Wong, Mateus Asato (I’m playing with everyone I just mentioned, along with Kenny Aronoff and Rai Thistlethwayte as house band - holy moly I’m learning a lot of material in December!) *and* also Alex Skolnick, John 5, Nili Brosh, Andy James, and more. Just a few slots left!
Here’s a wacky promo video to celebrate the occasion. Joe did this in one take backstage during intermission of the last gig (Dallas) of the North American EARTH Tour. Now that’s show business, people! *starts tap dancing*
Happy Gobble everyone.
HEADING HOME: Sending gratitude to everyone who saw The Aristocrats or Joe Satriani live this year, from an airport lounge at DFW.
I might not dye the goatee for a little while. 😉
GEAR APPRECIATION POST: Like the pic shows, we’ve got one last show tonight in Dallas. It’s been an amazing year and I’m grateful to play such amazing gear. Thank you to:
Mike Lull Custom Guitars & Guitarworks Basses: The power trio of the black/quilted top BBMF5, the sunburst P/J 5, and the red 1998 Modern 5 continue to slay everywhere and anywhere.
Gallien-Krueger Amplification: For the tone, punch and clarity to hit the mark on my fussy high gain monitoring requirements on stage, it’s gotta be GK All Day.
D'Addario and Co. Strings & Accessories: Since 1996, they’ve been on every bass I’ve ever used, and every time out I remember why all over again. Plus the XPND XL pedalboard just earned it’s first 100-shows stripe!
Jim Dunlop Guitar Products Pedals: My pedalboard has more and more Dunlop/MXR on it. The Volume (X), the original Bass Wah, and now two incredibly musical MXR 6-band EQ’s for two different purposes.
Xotic Guitars & Effects: The classic Bass BB Preamp and EP Booster remain absolute key elements of my signal chain for drive and level management.
And I also want to give honorable mention to:
Zon Guitars Basses: Having possession of one of the late Doug Lunn’s treasured two Zon Basses made me realize that I really wanted to try a Zon Fretless. Joe Zon made me a beautiful Legacy Elite 5 fretless that I’ve used live on the bass spotlight Satriani tune “E 104th St. NYC 1973”, and it’s the best sounding fretless I’ve ever played.
Bananas At Large: When I realized I needed a bright rocking Fender P bass with a maple fingerboard to get the classic Satriani rock bass tone on a few tracks, I knew I needed a MIM model with the hotter pickups. As with any mass production model, some are good, some are just ok, and a select few are great. The folks at Bananas At Large picked out an absolute banger, and having that strung with D’Addario Pro Steels is a whole new bright and chimey world for me. Thank you Bananas! (Of course, since I used that bass for the first three songs of the Satriani show, it ended up in a lot of pictures! But I played my Mike Lull BBMF5 for most of the show.)
I have tremendous appreciation for all of these folks. I am notoriously finicky about gear and tonal issues, and without all of this great equipment, I’d still be onstage thinking “well it sounds good but it really should sound like this other thing…” and I’d be distracted from being in the moment, which is the seed corn of a great live performance. Luckily for me, I get to play all of the gear I just described, which gives me the best possible shot at delivering something honest and true to what I’m trying to musically project. And like I said, I’m deeply grateful.
📸 Al Linkous / San Antonio
TWO SATRIANI SHOWS LEFT: House Of Blues Houston tonight, Majestic Theater in Dallas tomorrow. My last two shows of the year after nearly 100 since July 1.
Let's sprint across the tape, Texas!
📸 Norrsken Photography and Design
Joe Satriani
Mike Lull Custom Guitars & Guitarworks
Andor was amazing. Fave review kicker: "This rebellion is ready to kill fascists." (Sabina Graves for Gizmodo AUS). You're GD right.
Hotter take- This is what movie Ep. 9 *should* have been: A galaxy-wide rebellion. After TLJ, it was the only way forward that woulda worked.
