Last year, Joe Satriani assembled the original G3 trio and hit the road with Steve Vai and Eric Johnson for what turned out to be one of 2024’s most notable guitar tours.
The tour saw the three electric guitar greats reunite under the G3 banner almost three decades after Satch first initiated the long-running format back in 1996. As per tradition, each show saw the three players headline their own sets, before joining forces for a finale jam.
G3 2024 was recently delivered to the masses via the new G3 Reunion Live album, and to celebrate the highly anticipated record’s release, Guitar World has teamed up with Vai, Johnson and Satch for three personal lessons breaking down some of their favorite instrumental tracks.
While Johnson offers a whistle stop tour of the verse section of his Ah Via Musicom acoustic classic, Desert Rose – particularly the crucial muting technique he deploys – Vai serves up a bespoke insight into Avalancha, from his most recent studio record, Inviolate.
“I was looking for a song to open the show with,” Vai says of Avalancha’s origins. “This melody is like a Clarion Call of sorts. That’s what I was looking for.”
For his own lesson, Satch breaks out both his Ibanez JS1CR and Ibanez 12-string to walk through the micro-tonal hook, main melodies, and accompanying lead sections of Sahara.
“Playing the melody on top of that was the real challenge,” Satch says of the opening motif, before giving players a close-up look at the wild whammy bar techniques he uses to amp up the central lead line.
Head over to the Guitar World YouTube channel to watch all three lessons. G3 Reunion Live is out now via earMusic.
