YEARS BEFORE HE became one of the most celebrated guitarists on the planet, Joe Satriani was a club-gigging musician who paid his bills — sometimes barely — by teaching other aspiring players. His famous alumni includes the likes of Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Alex Skolnick and Primus’s Larry LaLonde, among others.
“It was a great experience,” Satriani says of his teaching days. “No matter what abilities my students came to me with, I always tried to give them their money’s worth and build their musical knowledge in ways they could grasp and use. And I tried to make the lessons fun, because I knew that if things got boring, they’d tune out and stop coming.”
In his own life, Satch considers himself ever
