Joe Satriani emphasizes Eddie Van Halen’s incredible unique talent by sharing his obstacles attempting to play like him. According to Blabbermouth, Satriani appeared as a guest in a new interview with Ultimate Guitar’s Justin Beckner, where he mentioned his plans to play Van Halen’s parts on the upcoming 2024 tour with other talented artists. 

Later in the interview, Satriani shows his authenticity and vulnerability by being frank with himself and the rest of the world on the challenges he is facing with his attempt to play Van Halen’s parts. For instance, Blabbermouth shares Satriani’s comments on his desire to play in his own way and with as much distinction and uniqueness as possible for the majority of his career. Nevertheless, the artist goes on to explain how sometimes it is difficult to completely do that when other people want you to play certain songs or styles of other artists that do not follow his own style. 

Within the interview, Satriani explains certain challenges he has faced playing Van Halen’s parts such as timing. For example, he mentions, “That’s the first thing I noticed, like the difference between Eddie’s sensibility in timing and mine in terms of timing”. Evidently, Satriani is admitting there are some nautical differences in Van Halen’s and his own style, which has its obvious benefits along with challenges. Moreover, he details, “And Eddie did all of it. The way that he would do the tapping, when he would use it, [was] totally opposite of the way that I had forced myself to go with it”. By sharing the different styles between Van Halen and himself, Satriani is making it clear that every artist in the industry has a different way of going about their work, and it can be difficult to replicate that even if both artists are successful in their own way. In his time on the interview, Satriani did find something that he shared similar to Van Halen, which was their vibratos. Again, Satriani’s motivation to play Van Halen’s parts in the upcoming tour regardless of the challenges he is faced with shows his resilience and passion for music.