SCHOOL OF SATRIANI

Guitarists Wiki

JOE SATRIANI: Descended from Italian immigrants, Satriani was born in Westbury, New York.[1] He was inspired to play guitar at age 14, after hearing of the death of Jimi Hendrix.He has been said to have heard the news during football practice, where he then announced to his coach that he was quitting to become a guitarist.[6] In 1974, Satriani studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and with reclusive jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. The technically demanding Tristano greatly influenced Satriani's playing. Satriani began teaching guitar, with his most notable student at the time being fellow Long Island native Steve Vai (both also went to the same high school). While he was teaching Vai, he was attending Five Towns College for studies in music.

In 1978, Satriani moved to Berkeley, California to pursue a music career. Soon after arriving in California, he resumed teaching. His students included Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows, Kevin Cadogan from Third Eye Blind, Larry LaLonde of Primus and Possessed, Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt (ex-Exodus), Phil Kettner of Lääz Rockit, Geoff Tyson of T-Ride, Charlie Hunter, David Turin and Eric Kauschen.

STEVE VAI: Vai mailed Frank Zappa a transcription of Zappa's "The Black Page", an instrumental for drums, along with a tape of Vai's guitar playing. Zappa was so impressed that in 1979, he hired him to transcribe a number of his guitar solos, including some on the Joe's Garage album and the Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar series. These transcriptions were published in 1982 in The Frank Zappa Guitar Book. After being hired as a transcriber, Vai did overdubs on many of the guitar parts for Zappa's album You Are What You Is. He became a full-fledged band member, going on his first tour with Zappa in the autumn of 1980.

One of those early shows with Vai on guitar, was released as Buffalo in 2007. While touring with Zappa's band, Vai sometimes asked audience members to bring musical scores and see if he could sight-read them on the spot. Zappa referred to Vai as his "little Italian virtuoso" and listed him in the liner notes as performing "stunt guitar" or "impossible guitar parts".

LARRY LALONDE: LaLonde was born in Richmond, California. Originally inspired by guitarists such as Frank Zappa, Snakefinger, East Bay Ray, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, and his teacher Joe Satriani, LaLonde eventually became interested in early thrash metal bands such as Metallica and Slayer. LaLonde formed his first band in high school, a speed metal band called Blizzard. LaLonde left the band later on to join the first generation death metal band Possessed. Possessed's landmark first album, Seven Churches, was released in 1985 when LaLonde was just 17 years old. LaLonde then joined experimental thrash metal band Blind Illusion, appearing on the 1988 album The Sane Asylum, through which he became friends with bassist Les Claypool. At around the same time LaLonde was also a member of Corrupted Morals, with whom he recorded the album Cheese-It, released the following year. At the start of 1989, LaLonde left Blind Illusion and Corrupted Morals when Claypool invited him to reform the funk metal outfit Primus.

RICK HUNOLT: He is best known for being the longtime guitarist in thrash metal band Exodus. He joined the band in 1983, replacing Mike Maung who had been hired to replace original guitarist Kirk Hammett who left to join Metallica. He subsequently performed on all their albums in the 1980s and 1990s, sharing leads with original member Gary Holt (together known as the "H-team") until the band's hiatus in 1993. He performed with the band again during their reunions in 1997 and 2001.

Shortly after the 2004 Tempo of the Damned album, he left Exodus in order to spend more time with his family. Hunolt reunited with Exodus in the summer of 2012 for their European tour, but did not officially rejoin; he filled in for Gary Holt, who filled in for Jeff Hanneman in Slayer.

KIRK HAMMETT: Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.In 2009, Hammett was ranked number 5 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.

He attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California. While attending De Anza High School, he met Les Claypool of Primus, and they remain close friends. After purchasing a 1978 Fender Stratocaster copy, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts, eventually buying a 1974 Gibson Flying V. Hammett also took a job at Burger King as a youth before quitting once he saved enough money to purchase a Marshall amplifier.

ANDY TIMMONS: As guitarist for glam metal band Danger Danger, he toured the world opening for Kiss and Alice Cooper, sold over a million records worldwide, and had two #1 videos on MTV, and amassed a discography that includes seven solo releases that range from guitar instrumentals, to blues, and even a Beatles/Elvis Costello-inspired collection of pop tunes.

As a session player, he has been featured on CDs by drummer Simon Phillips, a live CD with Olivia Newton-John (Timmons has been her music director-guitarist for several U.S. tours), two albums by Kip Winger, recording sessions for Paula Abdul and Paul Stanley, and radio and television jingles. He has also played alongside Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Mike Stern, Ace Frehley, Ted Nugent, Reb Beach, and Pierre Bensusan, as well as some of his favorite 1960s singing stars such as the Beach Boys, Lesley Gore, and Gordon Waller.

CHARLIE HUNTER: Hunter was born in Rhode Island. When he was four his mom packed him and his younger sister in an old yellow school bus and headed west. After several years living on a commune in Mendocino County they settled in Berkeley, California. Hunter graduated from Berkeley High School and took lessons from famed guitar teacher Joe Satriani. At eighteen he moved to Paris. Hunter has stated that it was his experience busking on the streets of Paris that provided him with "on the job training" because he busked for 8 to 12 hours a day to make ends meet. Returning to the Bay area, Hunter played a seven-string guitar and organ in Michael Franti's political rap group, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. In 1992, they were one of the opening acts for U2's Zoo TV Tour.

Since the debut of his self-titled Charlie Hunter Trio (which included John Ellis on sax and Jay Lane on drums) in 1993, Charlie Hunter has recorded seventeen albums. He co-founded Garage A Trois, a jazz fusion band with Stanton Moore and Skerik. He has collaborated with Bobby Previte for an ongoing project entitled "Groundtruther." He also recorded and toured for Bobby Previte's The Coalition of the Willing in 2006.He appears on acclaimed jazz bassist Christian McBride's Live At Tonic. On both The Coalition of the Willing and Live at Tonic he plays 6-string guitars. His earliest known released recording without unusual guitars is as a guest bassist for the band Sweet Potato from California's East Bay.

KEVIN CADOGAN: He is a founding member of the band Third Eye Blind. He performed with the band from 1993[2] to 2000. Cadogan co-wrote some of Third Eye Blind's most notable hits, including "How's It Going to Be", "Losing a Whole Year", and "Graduate", He co-wrote 10 of the 14 songs on the self-titled Third Eye Blind debut album. Kevin Cadogan along with his co-writer Stephan Jenkins signed a recording contract with Elektra records in May 1996 which was later reported as the largest publishing deal ever for an unsigned artist and launched Third Eye Blind into stardom. In 2011 Cadogan was honored on the show "Pensado's Place" by successful record producer Eric Valentine. Valentine cited Kevin Cadogan as his favorite rock guitarist that he has ever recorded; "Kevin is such a pleasure to work with..his whole thing is just amazing."

ALEX SKOLNICK:  Alex was a member of the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal band Testament from 1983 until his departure in 1993. He returned briefly to re-record some old material for the band's First Strike Still Deadly release, as well as the "Thrash of the Titans" all-star performance in 2001, before returning full-time four years later.

After his first departure from Testament, Alex joined the band Savatage in 1994 for the recording of Handful of Rain, as well as its follow-up live album and home video release Japan Live '94. In 1991 he recorded and toured with the Stu Hamm band. He also played guitar for Ozzy Osbourne in 1995. In 2004, Skolnick made a guest appearance on Lamb of God's Ashes of the Wake album, recording a solo for the album's instrumental title track.

During the mid to late 1990s, Skolnick fronted several projects in the Bay Area, including Skol-Patrol (a funk band exclusively dedicated to cop-show themes, both covered and original, featuring Michael Manring). He also recorded two albums with Attention Deficit, a 3-piece featuring Tim Alexander from Primus as well as Manring. In the late 90s, he collaborated with electric violinist Joe Deninzon (who he met in New York City at the New School) in Stratospheerius, recording The Adventures of Stratospheerius album. He also appears on their Live Wires album.

In 1998, Skolnick relocated to New York City and began devoting all of his energy to jazz, enrolling in the The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music and graduating with a BFA in jazz performance. Since 2002, Alex has been touring and recording with the Alex Skolnick Trio.