Getting a peek into guitarist Joe Satriani’s brain is like opening up a musical wonderland where perhaps not everything makes sense, but everything is fascinating.

Songs are constantly forming in his head, and he was taught from a young age a very interesting way of dealing with it.

“Ever since high school I was taught to pay attention to the little noises and musical daydreams in my head, and to learn how to catalogue them mentally in musical terms so that I wouldn’t forget them,” the 54-year-old told andPOP. “You follow the creative musician in your head so you don’t have to depend on your fingers.”

Satriani does this by assigning each note in, for example, the classic “do re mi fa so la te do” scheme with a number from one to eight. He memorizes the specific number scheme, and then later relates each back to its respective note to retrieve his melody.

“If you’re sitting in a cafe and all you have is a napkin and your girlfriend’s eyeliner, it’s going to be tough to write that down,” Satriani said with a laugh.

Aside from being an amazing musician, Satriani recently tapped into another creative facet when he joined the team behind his latest DVD, Live in Paris: I Just Wanna Rock, which was released on Feb. 2 (a two-disc live CD was also released). Acting as producer of the DVD, he had a major role in its production.

“You don’t just want to be blown around like a leaf in the wind because then people will make decisions and people don’t know your audience like you do,” he said. “Doing something creative and pushing into new territory is very important for the soul of an artist.”

The DVD was filmed at Paris, France’s Grand Rex Theatre in May 2008 and, according to Satriani, is unlike any other live DVD he has made.

“We wanted this DVD to get the person at home to imagine the intensity of the feeling of actually being there,” he said. “It was very unique light show on that tour.”

For Satriani, the choice to make the DVD in Paris was easy. He said his best show ever was in Paris during his first tour back in 1988.

“We have just the greatest history with Paris,” said Satriani, a New York native. “We fell in love with the Parisians.”

Besides the intensity of the show, Satriani said the DVD also allows fans to see a different side of him. Instead of the usual silly behind-the-scenes footage featured on past DVDs, this one has an in-depth interview that highlights Satriani’s calmer side.

“It’s kind of an interesting flip flop,” he said.

In contrast, Satriani and his new band, Chickenfoot, are releasing a live DVD in a few months, with bonus features that he says are “like a comedy show.”

And though Live in Paris features a different side of the guitarist, it is still every bit as Joe Satriani.

“We had no preparation which was great,” he said. “Very rock n’ roll!”






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