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Satriani sues Coldplay


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I'm not a Coldplay fan, but...

 

You can hear the Satriani track here. Yeah, I can hear where he's getting this idea, but it's such a small snippet that I don't buy the "plagiarism" charge.

 

I've always thought Satriani was a major douche, though, so I may be a tad biased.

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When I was in Lima earlier this year, the whole city was plastered with Joe Satriani posters, since he was coming to play a big venue or something. I don't really think he's hurting for money, so why go through the bother of suing Coldplay?

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Satriani always struck me as a guy with amazing technical chops but zero soul. A machine. It seems he was only saved from Guitar Center obscurity because he happened to be Steve Vai's guitar instructor.

 

I wouldn't go that far. For an instrumental album, Surfing with the Alien was an enormous hit. Steve Vait didn't have anything to do with that. I agree about his music, though. It's pretty bland.

 

I've never heard the Satriani or Coldplay songs in question, so I guess Thanksgiving comes twice this year.

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I wouldn't go that far. For an instrumental album, Surfing with the Alien was an enormous hit. Steve Vait didn't have anything to do with that. I agree about his music, though. It's pretty bland.

I would argue Vai had a LOT to do with that. Vai was enjoying the biggest mainstream success of his career, seen as being David Lee Roth's "next" Eddie Van Halen. Satriani's Surfing with the Alien came out amidst that interest in Vai. If there wasn't that interest in Vai (and subsequently the guy who teaches Vai), that album would have likely only been heard by a few, if it would have even been made at all.

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Satriani always struck me as a guy with amazing technical chops but zero soul. A machine. It seems he was only saved from Guitar Center obscurity because he happened to be Steve Vai's guitar instructor.

 

Exactly. I went to school with a lot of guitar players like that. Incredible chops, but there's just nothing there.. Just notes...

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All kidding aside, his students also included Kirk Hammett (Metallica), David Bryson (Counting Crows), Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind), Larry LaLonde (Primus, Possessed), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Rick Hunolt (Exodus), Phil Kettner (L

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All kidding aside, his students also included Kirk Hammett (Metallica), David Bryson (Counting Crows), Kevin Cadogan (Third Eye Blind), Larry LaLonde (Primus, Possessed), Alex Skolnick (Testament), Rick Hunolt (Exodus), Phil Kettner (L
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Perhaps. But I was a fledgling guitarist in the mid-'80s and I vividly recall Satriani first coming into the public eye due to being Vai's teacher. Of that there is no doubt in my mind. It was guitar magazines that sort of outed him.

 

hmm... as a fledging guitarist in the late 80's/early 90's myself, i got into Steve's music with Flying In A Blue Dream, then revisited Surfing With The Alien, all before hearing Steve Vai (my first exposure was seeing him play with Whitesnake in 1989, then his Passion & Warfare record the next year). i was a pretty avid guitar mag reader too, so maybe i just missed the boat and got into them in opposite order of most, idk ;)

 

as a guitarist, while he doesn't have the feel of say a Neil Young, i don't think i'd go as far to say that he's "all notes" either, especially if you're not familiar with his vast catalog. He def has way more feel than Vai, that's for sure.

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as a guitarist, while he doesn't have the feel of say a Neil Young, i don't think i'd go as far to say that he's "all notes" either, especially if you're not familiar with his vast catalog. He def has way more feel than Vai, that's for sure.

Vai got a lot of pub around being selected by David Lee Roth when he went solo. As for Vai, I'm certainly not saying he is any better. Zappa hired him as "stunt guitar" and I think that pretty much sums up my feelings about him.

 

But hey, different strokes. I don't like those types of players but that doesn't mean others don't. That's what makes music great!

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Perhaps. But I was a fledgling guitarist in the mid-'80s and I vividly recall Satriani first coming into the public eye due to being Vai's teacher. Of that there is no doubt in my mind. It was guitar magazines that sort of outed him.

 

True, the articles did provide the launching pad. But that kind of acrobatic playing would have surfaced sooner or later. IMO

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True, the articles did provide the launching pad. But that kind of acrobatic playing would have surfaced sooner or later. IMO

Well that's kind of my point. That sort of acrobatic playing is on display at just about every Guitar Center nationwide. Not to mention YouTube clips (search "amazing guitar" or "fastest guitar solo" and see how many you find). Without the stage that was set by Vai's success, I doubt people would have paid it much mind.

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as a guitarist, while he doesn't have the feel of say a Neil Young, i don't think i'd go as far to say that he's "all notes" either, especially if you're not familiar with his vast catalog. He def has way more feel than Vai, that's for sure.

 

Yeah, it's hard for me to give a good opinion when I have only heard his popular songs.. But hey, some folks really dig the "all technique" players.. I used to be into players like him (Vai, Eric Johnson), but now I tend to choose feel over technique.. Players like David Gilmour. Yeah he's not the fastest, but all you need is one or two notes and you know it's him...

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yeah, i stopped listening to guys like Satch around '92-93.

 

that said, even though i don't listen to them anymore, i know the enjoyment i got out of a handful of those players and records, and even still love "Always With You, Always With Me" to this day, so i could never write them off completely.

 

Vai got a lot of pub around being selected by David Lee Roth when he went solo. As for Vai, I'm certainly not saying he is any better. Zappa hired him as "stunt guitar" and I think that pretty much sums up my feelings about him.

 

But hey, different strokes. I don't like those types of players but that doesn't mean others don't. That's what makes music great!

 

oh for sure... not denying that, or that Vai talking about him didn't help (heck, even Wikipedia agrees! :stunned ) just saying that Satriani had a bit of buzz going on his own :thumbup

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