During an interview with Masters Of Shred, guitar legend Joe Satriani was asked to define "shred." Check out his response below.

Satriani: "Part of the performance has to challenge the norm. I remember hearing Neil Young play the solo for 'Cinnamon Girl'. It's one note but it's a shred because of the attitude that goes into it. He probably thought you'd be expecting something that sounds like Jimmy Page and he goes, 'No, I'm gonna play this one note... and you're gonna love it,' and that embodies the spirit of shred."

 "The audience knows if you're just demonstrating something that's rehearsed, or are you connecting with them by saying, 'Check this out, I'm gonna do something that's gonna blow your mind and yeah, it's a bit edgy.'" 

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai's friendship with each other (and the guitar) started as kids in New York. It’s still going strong five decades later, and for the first time they have  joined up for the Satch/Vai tour. In anticipation of the tour, the duo collaborated on a new three-part piece of music, "The Sea Of Emotion".

The duo recently spoke with Guitar World about the collaboration. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Satriani: "When Steve and I decided the time had finally come for us to collaborate on an album I immediately thought of our humble beginnings, where we came from, and our teenage rock ’n’ roll hopes and dreams. To anybody else, it may look like just a field, part of the sprawling Carle Place Public School complex, but for some of us, back in the early ’70s, when the sun went down and the moon came up, (that field) became 'The Sea of Emotion'. We would hang out there late at night and share our deepest thoughts. The memories we shared at that location so long ago became the inspiration for a musical journey in three parts. Each part of the song has little reminders of what we were so into musically back then, including a chord sequence that Steve and I would sometimes jam over during guitar lessons."

Vai: "As young teenagers, we would sit overlooking this magnificent field and wax on generously for hours about the meaning of life and many other deep, rich discussions. We deemed this field 'The Sea of Emotion'. Connecting with Joe on this track, and the other music we are working on, is perhaps the most rewarding musical collaboration I’ve ever engaged in. Although we’ve toured and recorded jams together through the decades, for this music we are intimately bringing together our melodic impulses and playing techniques and creating something that is bigger than the sum of its parts."

Read more via Guitar World here.

Check out the official video for "The Sea Of Emotion, Pt. 1" below.

 

The Satch/Vai tour kicked off on March 22 at Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL. Tickets are available here.

Tour dates:

April
11 - Warner Theatre DC - Washington, DC
12 - Santander Performing Arts Center - Reading, PA
13 - MGM Northfield Park - Northfield, OH
14 - Kodak Center Theater - Rochester, NY
16 - Fisher Theatre - Detroit, MI
17 - State Theatre of Kalamazoo - Kalamazoo, MI
18 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL
19 - Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center - Cincinnati, OH
20 - Embassy Theatre - Fort Wayne, IN
22 - Murat Theatre - Indianapolis, IN
23 - Riverside Theater - Milwaukee, WI
24 - State Theatre - Minneapolis, MN
25 - Des Moines Civic Center - Des Moines, IA
26 - Gillioz Theatre - Springfield, MO **
28 - The Astro - La Vista, NE
29 - Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts - Salina, KS
30 - The Factory - St. Louis, MO

May
1 - Uptown Theater - Kansas City, MO
3 - ACL Live at The Moody Theater - Austin, TX
4 - Music Hall at Fair Park - Dallas, TX
5 - 713 Music Hall - Houston, TX
7 - Paramount Theatre - Denver, CO
8 - Delta Hall at Eccles Theater - Salt Lake City, UT
10 - Harrah's Resort Southern California - Valley Center, CA
11 - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Wheatland, CA
12 - Luther Burbank Center For The Arts - Santa Rosa, CA **