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The Forgotten, Part II; Joe Satriani; Living In A Blue Dream; 1989 Strange Beautiful Music Publishing Ltd.
Joe Satriani pays homage to Carlos Santana with this Middle Eastern-flavored tune, based on the C Aeolian mode (also known as natural minor), spelled: C,D,Eb,F,G,Ab,Bb. The tune begins with a slow melody which features many sustained tones, remeniscent of Santana's "Europa." Notice Joe's subtle use of tremolo bar vibrato, used to enhance the vocal quality of the phrases. Supporting the lead guitar are two rhythm guitars split left and right in the mix, both with a clean tone; these two rhythm guitars are arranged here for one guitar. Notice also Joe's frequent use of "rakes," downpicking across muted strings into the target note, and his use of pinch harmonics, articulated by getting the edge of the pick and part of the thumb into the pick attack. Joe displays a beautiful vibrato during the melody section, both with and without the tremolo bar, and I suggest close listening to the recording in trying to recreate it.
Joe begins his solo with a riff based on C pentatonic minor (C,Eb,F,G,Bb) reminiscent of Jeff Beck's "Highways," before moving back into C Aeolian. The real beauty of Joe's playing is that all his phrases have great fluidity and conviction, and his playing here rarely sounds "scale-y." His lines combine precision with spontaneity, creating a spirited soloing style that most chops-oriented players fail to achieve. Joe returns to the second half of the melody after the solo, this time perfoming it with slight variations. When playing this tune, feel free to "hear" the melody in your own way, as I'm sure Joe does each time he performs the tune.
For the final section, Joe establishes a repeated rhythm pattern to solo over, moving from Cm to Fm7add4/Ab. Notice the hammer-ons used in the rhythm part and Joe's use of unusual chord voicings. Overall, this isn't a hard song to play and contains many of the techniques Joe is known for.
PS: This write-up does not belong to me, I don't know who wrote it. I find it to be quite correct and satisfying to my taste, so I posted it here. If you know to whom it belongs, please let me know so I can properly source it. -icy
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