MusicRadar

For Satriani, Hendrix's death was a rebirth - his own (© JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT/epa/Corbis)

View in gallery

"It's funny: I had already toyed around with the drums, but it was pretty clear to me that I was a terrible drummer. Same with piano - we had a piano in the house and I banged on that a bit, but there was no magic; whatever it took to be a great pianist, I didn't have it.

"But when I heard that Jimi Hendrix died, it was a defining moment for me. Something told me that I had to try to pay tribute to him somehow, and the only way to do that was by becoming a guitar player, a great guitar player, and for some reason, I knew I could do it.

"I wound up getting that guitar with my sister's first paycheck. It was a white Hagstrom 3 with black detail. I didn't know anything about guitars at the time; I didn't know what a Fender Stratocaster was. To me, the Hagstrom looked like a Jimi Hendrix guitar. It was $120 and I was absolutely thrilled to have it.

"Once I got it home, of course, I immediately realized the horror that playing the guitar was not going to be easy. Back then, there were no instructional DVDs, no tapes, no YouTube, none of the things that exist today to make learning the guitar easier. The only music books were these Mel Bay things that were very confusing. It was discouraging. For a while, the path I had chosen didn't seem so rosey.

"I loved Jimi's music so much that I would never perform it for people. I didn't want to defile his magic in any way."

"All I had was myself, my Hagstrom, a reel-to-reel tape recorder that I used as my first amp, and that was it. Every bit of progress I made on the guitar was through sheer determination.

"You would think that my parents would have tried to stop me, but they seemed to realize that my dedication to the guitar was unstoppable. And it all came from Hendrix. I even had a ritual: I would go into my room, light a candle to get into my 'Jimi Hendrix vibe' and I would practice and practice and practice. Before long, I grew to love the work. I loved that playing the guitar wasn't easy. It was pain, but it was my pain. And then it became joy. My joy.

"Here's something weird though: I loved Jimi's music so much that I would never perform it for people. Throughout my teens and playing in various bands, I refused to play Hendrix songs. I know that sounds strange, but Jimi's music was so special to me that it was like works of art that shouldn't be touched or altered. I didn't want to defile his magic in any way."

Around the web: