Joe Satriani Talking About Young Kirk Hammett Remind of Tony Iommi

Fans think that Tony Iommi and Kirk Hammett‘s guitar playing styles totally different from each other. They are not alone in thinking that. But, Joe Satriani revealed young Kirk Hammett reminded him of Tony Iommi.

Without a doubt, Joe Satriani is the best guitar teacher in the world. He was the teacher of a few famous rockstars like Kirk Hammett. Also, Joe Satriani is an incredible guitar player. Besides his solo career in the music industry, Joe Satriani is a successful guitar teacher. He worked with many famous musicians to improve their guitar playing style. He gave them the necessary tools that they would use to become proficient guitar players and songwriters. With those lessons, they become better musicians. Also, sometimes rockstars came Joe Satriani to retake guitar lessons. For example, Kirk Hammet came to retake guitar lessons from Joe Satriani after Metallica recorded the “Kill ‘Em All” album. You can find more details about the story in this article.

A few days ago, Joe Satriani joined an interview session. In this interview, Matt Pinfield asked him various questions. However, one question reminds him of his teaching days. Besides the famous rockstars, he worked with young talents at the time. Those young talents are Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Alex Skolnick, and many others.

Joe Satriani Remembers Young Talent Kirk Hammett:

“I was super lucky that… When I first got asked to teach guitar, I was just a young kid, I just turned 15. And some kids who had seen me play at the car place high school dance or a party in someone’s backyard started knocking on my door and asking for guitar lessons. One of them turned out to be a young Steve Vai. Started as an accordion player, like most of us Italian Americans. He just turned out to be such a great student. And it taught me a lesson right away, which was you may think you’re cool, like the coolest guitar player in school, but tomorrow, someone else will come along, and they’ll be a lot younger and better, and they’ll seem fresher. And they’ll have better hands and fingers.”

“And sure enough, Steve was that guy. But it helped me sort of orient myself about really how to teach people and to just give them everything. Just to be as positive as possible and not to influence them with my style, but simply to give them all the information that I had received from the other adults in my life, the grownups that had been kind enough to give me information about music.”

Without a doubt, his music passion led him to Berkeley, California where he started to teach other young talents like Steve Vai. Joe Satriani said:

Joe Satriani started his career:

“I carried that on to when I moved to Berkeley, California. And I was living across the street from a place called Second-Hand Guitars. And I was in there every day, not buying anything, but playing everything. And Jim Larson, the owner got so sick of me being there.”

He said, “‘If you’re not going to buy anything, at least you could make some money for me. So how about giving some lessons?’ And I was reluctant because I left New York, I just didn’t want to give guitar lessons. I’m on a personal journey of discovery, whatever. But anyway, eventually I start giving lessons there. And, again my luck as a teacher just shines bright because of Alex Skolnick, Larry LaLonde, Kirk Hammett, David Price, and Kevin Cadogan. It’s just crazy. The talented people that come in… Even a little Charlie Hunter – I don’t know, maybe he was eight years old or something like that. It was amazing.”

“And not only did they keep me on my toes, but made me excited about the prospect of where the guitar was going. Because I could hear guys that would come in and I’d think, ‘Wow, that person is going to be a great songwriter because of their approach to understanding harmony.'”

Joe Satriani revealed young Kirk Hammett remind him of Tony Iommi:

“Or ‘Wow, Kirk’s got vibrato like Tony Iommi, it’s crazy.’ You know, he’s got the sound. He’s a full-on guitar player. Kirk at the time was already in Exodus so he could play. But he just needed that little lift to get to his final stage where he was no longer a beginner-intermediate, he was a full-on guitar player.

And Alex, his appetite for all kinds of music was just through the roof. And his technique was just insane. I mean, Doug Doppler and Geoff Tyson – amazing musicians. After I’d give lessons all day, I’d say ‘Wow, it’s like these kids are creating a new style of music.’ It was insane. Very exciting.”

You can watch Kirk Hammett‘s interview about Joe Satriani below!