Joe Satriani has recruited a host of the world's top guitarists for his G3 tour over the decades – among them, Steve Vai, Robert Fripp, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, and Steve Lukather, to name just a mere few. However, there were a couple of guitarists on his bucket list who managed to slip away.
“The one that was so close to really happening was me with Jeff Beck and Billy Gibbons,” he admits in a recent interview on the UCR Podcast. “I think we were a week away from actually putting it in ink in the books. It was so close to happening. Then, Jeff bailed at the last moment.
“He used the excuse [that] he thought it would be better if we toured with Prince. I took that as a really good joke, like, he just didn't want to do it, so he came up with the most ridiculous suggestion.”
In terms of his relationship with Beck, Satch goes on to reveal he can't really say that he knew him, as he only met the late guitar great twice.
“So there was no way for me to ever talk to him about it, like, ‘Why didn't it happen?’” he explains. “But yeah, I've always thought in my mind, ‘Let's call up Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck,’ you know, let's get all of your favorite guitar players out there.”
As for why Beck rejected the G3 gig, Satch wonders whether it could have had something to do with the fact he was from a different generation of guitarists – Beck’s era preceding his and Steve Vai’s, and theirs in turn preceding the “classic rock group” of the likes of Slash and Tom Morello.
“I could see them just wondering, ‘Who is this kid? We don't know who he is. [He] plays instrumental guitar, who cares.’ So I never really thought it would happen, but I'd ask anyway,” he adds.
“Once in a while, somebody would agree or just show up and say, ‘I want to play.’ And it would be [guitarists] like Brian May, Neal Schon, or Robert Fripp. So we've been really fortunate in that respect.”
Satch and longtime collaborator Steve Vai recently announced they would be forming a band together – the first time they've ever done so – with a lineup comprising Pete Thorn on rhythm guitar duties, veteran bassist Marco Mendoza, and drummer Kenny Aronoff.
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