It's safe to say Joe Satriani is a guitar legend. Amongst guitarists he's fondly revered as Saint Joe, to his less musically inclined fans, Satch. Teacher to some of the most famous guitarists out there (Metallica's Kirk Hammett, Steve Vai and Primus's Larry Lalonde to name but a few). Joe's 1987 album Surfing with the Alien was one of the first instrumental albums to break into the US top 40. Joe 's sold over 10 million albums and been nominated for 14 Grammys.

I spoke to him about practising, touring and his new album.

Three's A Crowd - Hi Joe, how's it going?

Joe Satriani - Very well thanks, I'm in my house in San Francisco

TAC – So, my first question is what makes a good guitar player?

JS - Wow, that's a huge question. I like music that I can't put my finger on why I like a certain track. Some of the stuff you listen to sounds suspiciously practised, but I tend to avoid scalular music. Some of the stuff you hear, like Dragonforce for example has to be like that because it's the only way you can play that kind of music and there's nothing wrong with that but I grew up in an different age where the emphasis was more on self-expression. Basically you started with Jimmy Hendrix and Jimmy Page and worked from there. I was a great admirer of 2nd generation blues players like Albert Lee, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. And I loved Wes Montgomery, he was a huge influence.

I became a big fan of Allan Holdsworth, who was a superb innovator and influencer. When I write songs I do have Allan's music in my mind quite a bit when I do so. Popular success has eluded him but I wish there was an award for best innovator or most influential.

TAC - Do you know the Dragonforce guys then?

JS - I've had Herman Li from Dragonforce on stage – great guitarist, he played a song with us which was fun.

TAC - What's your favourite track to play?-

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