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

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"It wasn't until years later, when I went to Japan - I was around 20 years old or so - that I joined up with a Japanese Hendrix tribute band. I saw them playing in a club one night, and I thought they were pretty good, but something wasn't quite right. They just weren't 'getting it.'

"So I ended up talking to them - there was something of a language barrier, but we got past it - and I took out my guitar and I showed them some stuff and they took me on. That was the first time I ever played songs like Little Wing live. It was so liberating! Maybe I had to go all the way around the world to discover that I could play Jimi's music without ruining it. It's crazy how things like that happen.

"I've picked apart Jimi's music and analyzed it so much over the years, and there's still things he did that astound and mystify me. When I watch footage of him playing at the Fillmore East, when he's playing Machine Gun, I'm blown away by his musical choices. And that's the thing: it wasn't about his gear, his guitar, it wasn't about what mic he was singing into it, it wasn't about anything but his own brilliance.

"I'm pretty sure you could have handed him any guitar and any amp and he would've blown the roof off the place no matter what. His impulses, his intuition, what he did one second to the next, how he moved his hands, knowing to play this note after that note…it was deep.

"It wasn't about his gear, his guitar, it wasn't about what mic he was singing into it, it wasn't about anything but his own brilliance."

"If I had to pick an album that truly sums up Jimi Hendrix, to me it's Electric Ladyland. It's a double-album, but it's like lots of little albums in one package. Take Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - it's ridiculous how fantastic that song is. If anybody wants to play the guitar, they want to play guitar like Jimi on that track. Talk about a performance that is so together. The tone, the intonation, the phrasing...it's spine-tingling.

"And then you have 1983...(A Merman I Should Turn To Be), I mean, what's that? He sounds like three guitar players on that song! Electric Ladyland has everything: great pop songs, wild experimentation and just out-and-out throwin' the guitar down like no one else. He really nailed it on that one.

"You know, at the end of the day, a guitar is just wire and wood, but when you can create sounds like Jimi Hendrix did out of those simple components, that's a remarkable achievement, and it's one worth remembering - and celebrating."

Joe Satriani is a multiple Grammy-nominated guitarist and songwriter, as well as a member of the band Chickenfoot.

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