Motivation...

G3 - Satriani, Vai & Malmsteen

Guitar Gods – love em, hate em, envy em – whatever you choose, these are the guys who set the bar and they set it exceptionally high. Guitar Gods are those extraordinary few who motivate the rest of the pack to try and emulate them. They provide us with a target to strive for and an image to aspire too. They’re heroes because that’s how ‘Joe Public’ sees them. These are people born into this world the same as the rest of us and yet achieve incredible feats we can only dream of. How do they do it…? What makes them so special…? Why can’t everybody excel at everything they want to do…? 

Maybe it’s because we’re all so different, we’re all unique. Plus, we all have very different motivational levels and these maestros are obviously old music souls born over and over, bringing their vast talent with them on every life journey. Sadly, only the dedicated few amongst us will come close to these pioneers. Although if you check out ‘YouTube’, there are some young guns playing unbelievably effortless guitar and they have bucket loads of talent. The internet is virtually littered with musical prodigies in all genres. The thing is – they all started at the beginning, listening and watching their heroes. This was their motivation and still is for thousands of musicians the world over. For everyone, there has to be a beginning, no matter what it is you choose to do in this life. Even when you’re born, you begin - living…! 

Joe Satriani, a Cancerian, (born July 15, 1956) is a multi-instrumentalist. In his earlier days he was in high demand as a guitar instructor, with many of his students achieving international acclaim – Steve Vai; Kirk Hammett; Andy Timmons; Alex Skolnick; and others. Satch, also enjoyed a very successful solo music career, earning fifteen Grammy Award nominees and selling in excess of ten million albums, making him the biggest selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time. As a young gun, how motivated was he to achieve and reach these incredible highs…? He claims the indomitable Hendrix, as his motivator. It figures…

                                                                              The Satch – Finger Tapping Modulations…!


In 1988, Satriani was recruited by Mick Jagger as lead guitar for his first solo tour. Satch also briefly toured with Deep Purple, joining shortly after the departure of gifted guitarist, Richie Blackmore in November 1993. In 1995, he achieved global fame when he created the G3 and subsequent G4 tours with the ‘Best of the Best’ guitarists. In 2008 he started the supergroup, ‘Chickenfoot’. He’s rated as one of the greatest guitarists to grace this planet and he’s still touring and selling out concerts worldwide, still highly motivated. 

I had the pleasure to catch him live at the Hammersmith in West London some time ago. It was a sold-out show, not a seat left in the house. The who’s who of Brit guitarists turned out to see him play. Was almost as much fun trying to spot the big names in amongst the audience…! I guess 90% of the audience were probably all guitar players. Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big) opened the concert, he was insane but when Satriani came on with his band, the crowd went apeshit, electricity levels soared through the roof, the vibe was intense. That night, Satch rocked the Hammersmith with explosive, lightning licks, playing all his old songs as far back as ‘Surfing With The Alien’ to more recent work and the crowd loved every intense second. For me, it was beyond, far exceeding my initial expectations of what I’d heard on his albums (I have them all…!) and seen on his DVD’s (also have them all…!). With a lot of speed guitarists, the notes are often blurred. Not with the Satch, you hear everything and you can see, he loves what he’s doing, he gets so into the zone. His complex lightning licks and seemingly effortless flow are awe-inspiring, to say the least. It's not like he just blitzes everything, far from it, think of the way David Gilmour so fluidly arpeggiates a chord beyond the twelfth fret, well the Satch sweeps in a similar manner but you hear every note and he always returns on the button, to the root note. When you see him play live, he plays way beyond what you hear him play on his albums. He goes off the stratosphere, seldom even glancing down his fretboard, such a pro. It was a huge motivation for me - a little hedonistic boy from Africa, sitting on an invisible silver cloud amongst the Brit guitar heavies, watching his idol shred an Ibanez signature series from top to bottom and back again faster than he could even think…!

Dictionaries define motivation as – ‘A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way’ – a little too abstract for me. I see it more as a mental issue that plagues one, i.e. – I should have done it yesterday when I had the time; I’m just not in the zone today; Love my music but practicing scales is boring; I’m just not motivated, and so on…

To escape these doldrums when it comes to music, there have to be disciplines. One of the easiest ploys is to play or write songs with a good buddy. It then becomes a shared commitment and it’s always rewarding because you motivate each other. Subliminally competing, the result is usually a whole lot better than had you been on your own. It’s especially good if you’re both playing different instruments like piano and guitar or similar. There are no limits to the creative output as you creatively push each other, often into uncharted territory, crossing musical boundaries you would never have thought of on your own. When two vibrant right brains connect there’s usually a creative explosion – hopefully of musical ideas…!

     Sgt. Peppers in Full Colour…


A prime example is the fab four, or in this instance the fab three – John, Paul and George. To briefly recall - in early 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a Skiffle group with some friends in Liverpool. They called themselves the ‘Blackjacks’, before changing their name to the ‘Quarrymen’ after discovering a respected local group was already using the name. Paul McCartney joined them as rhythm guitarist, shortly after he and Lennon had previously met. They shared similar musical tastes. McCartney then invited his good buddy, George Harrison to audition for the band. George impressed them with his playing but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young for their group. George persisted and after performing some funky guitar on the popular instrumental song ‘Raunchy’, on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, they enlisted him as lead guitarist. The rest, as they say, is history…!



Had George not persisted he would never have joined what was to be the most successful group of all time. But this is the cruncher – although George was younger, he was the better musician, at that particular time, with some fancy guitar skills under his belt, compared to John and Paul, who were very aware of this. Even though Paul and George were best buds, it was John (the Alpha male) who Paul connected with to begin writing songs together, maybe because musically they were on a similar level. It didn’t take long before they both surpassed George and this was all because they continually motivated each other, constantly striving to produce better melodic melodies and timeless lyrics. By bouncing their creative talent off each other, they exploded globally with number one hits at every run.

One must imagine here for a moment, what would have happened if Paul had chosen the quiet George to write songs with instead of John because George was no slouch, he wrote some of the Beatles greatest songs that became all-time classics, i.e. Something; My Sweet Lord; While My Guitar Gently Weeps; Here Comes the Sun – to name but a few. George’s style of writing was softer, more personal, spiritual, very melodic. How would George’s style have fitted in with Paul’s style - Hey Jude; Blackbird; Yesterday; Let it Be; A Day in the Life; and so on. I think it would have fitted incredibly well…! George probably would have also fitted in just as well with John, had they collaborated. Interesting food for thought. No doubt a popular dinner discussion topic and probably will be for evermore.

To have secured his seat at the writing table with Paul, George would have had to display a more aggressive nature to face up to the all-powerful Lennon but that wasn’t his thing. George was more than happy just to be a part of the band, to belong, to do his own little muse thing, writing the odd beautiful song to contribute to the plentiful table of Lennon & McCartney. History clearly shows that too many bands have come adrift because of too many Alpha males in a band, all demanding their share whereas with George and even Ringo they were quite content to let Paul and John do what they did best and they were so damn good at it…! They really did motivate each other beyond all our imaginations. What would music be today without Lennon & McCartney’s contribution…? 

A similar scenario happened with the Rolling Stones. When the late Brian Jones initially started the Stones, placing an ad in ‘Jazz Weekly’ for bandmates to join his blues band, back in 1962, he was the multi-instrumentalist, the main writing talent, he was the Stones - writing iconic songs like ‘Paint It Black’, ‘Under My Thumb’ and ‘The Last Time’, to name but a few. These songs kinda defined the Stones bluesy rock sound for that period and for the future to come. Mick and Keef were still into playing Southern Blues covers, a little in awe of Brian Jones’ musical ability but fortunately Mick and Keef were musically on the same page so they began writing together. A Jin & Jang combo if ever there was…!




                                                             The Rolling Bones…Still Rolling...



Anyway, the motivation factor kicked in. Keef started producing mesmerising licks and Mick wrote really good lyrics and knew how to sing them. The Stones took off, leaving Brian Jones in the dust and some say, to his sad demise. Two is core, three is a crowd but had there been no Brian Jones to compete against or each other for stimulated motivation, would Mick and Keef have produced all those incredible Stones classics…?


Fact is, musicians need the motivation factor to get rocking, to unlock that hidden talent we have somewhere deep in our Subconscious recesses, just waiting to be released. Every time you pick up a guitar or sit at the piano or any instrument, you should ideally be writing a song. For most of us, it’s so uplifting, fitting all the jigsaw pieces together - the riff, the verses, chorus, refrain and so it continues, onward and upward. It’s a really good personal high.

Writing a song is a blessing, not everyone has the talent. Some musicians are incredibly talented with their instruments but ask them to write a song and you get that blank, vacant stare. Most musicians require some serious motivation but once the bug bites there is no stopping the creative flow, you just keep on writing. You may change your style, delve into different genres, play with different artists (which is always a good motivation and learning curve) but you’ll keep on writing as long as the motivation is there.




                                                                                   The Joys of Writing Alone…


As already defined - writing and playing with other people is more rewarding than going solo because of the motivation factor. However, for some and there will always be those musicians, solo is what they enjoy because, with groups, inflated egos typically get in the way and raise their ugly heads, which really screws up the creativity. Writing and playing on your own can be very creative, it’s just you and your instrument but you still need to touch base with someone you respect to get honest feedback.

All musicians want to arrive and thrive. It’s in our genes to be competitive but with a little help from like-minded music souls, you actually have a better chance. Many successful solo vocalists have writers who write all their material so they’re not really solo artists. Music can be lonely on your own but when you’re young, it’s so much more fun when shared with like-minded buddies with similar music tastes and you all motivate each other. The high is the jam, playing songs live you’ve created, enjoying a positive audience reaction and if people actually fork out their hard-earned coin and purchase your music, it’s electric – then you’re seriously motivated…!




                                                                                                                                 Robin Morris







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