Before I ever got into jazz, instrumental rock was one of the first genres that really piqued my interest. As a budding guitarist, rock music laid the foundation for the music that I was studying, and learning. Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Van Halen were all the bands that I was deep into.
Naturally, I start to wonder, who was pushing this music further? Did any one take it one step further? That led to some of the instrumental rock artists of the 80’s. I loved Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare, Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force and Joe Satriani’s Surfin’ With The Alien. I really felt that those albums set the bench mark for rock guitar playing that players still strive to meet.
These albums also hold a near and dear place in my heart because eventually they created the bridge that would lead me to artist like Miles Davis and the entire jazz realm. If you can listen to an album of instrumental rock, Kind Of Blue doesn’t seem like such a big jump, ya dig?
So it was a delight to whip up this chart for Joe Satriani’s “Satch Boogie.” A couple of notes: I did my best to notate the slurs in the head, but it’s really best if you check out the recording and try to match what Joe plays. I put the coda jump on the second page to save everyone the hassle of having to make any crazy page turns on the gig. For the tapping section during the bridge I just notated the tapped notes with the rhythm of the ostinato instead of doing a bunch of 32nd or 64th notes. Everything else you need to play the tune should be there.
Finally, I have to give bassist Noah Matthews a special shout out of doing a quick check of the bass figures throughout the chart.
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Our Man On The Ground 