Last month, Joe Satriani hosted his G4 V6.0 Experience – a star-studded guitar camp for which he recruited Steve Lukather, Eric Gales, Mateus Asato and many more A-list electric guitar heroes for five days of tuition workshops and jams.
Now, further footage from the event has emerged online, capturing the four guitar heavyweights locking fretboards over a Miles Davis classic for one of the best jams of the year so far.
Backed by Satch’s house band – featuring drummer Kenny Aronoff, bassist Bryan Beller and keyboardist Rai Thistlethwayte – the quartet deliver perhaps the finest 15 minutes of live guitar playing 2023 has had to offer as of February, serving up a range of mouth-watering exchanges that highlight their individual playing strengths.
Lukather, wielding his Ernie Ball Music Man Luke, calls his compadres to the stage, and after a brief line check and left-hand limbering warm-up, the quartet get cooking on their own individual efforts.
As the event’s host, Satch takes the spotlight first, using his Muscle Car Red-finished Ibanez JS2480 signature guitar to set the jam’s high six-string standards, which are duly followed up by Asato’s own stellar solo effort.
With his Classic S Suhr signature model in tow, the neo-soul virtuoso harnesses an edge-of-breakup clean tone to accommodate his own fingerboard pyrotechnics, which are characterized by dizzying chromatic runs and full-blown blues licks.
Lukather, seated up until this point, is next in line, standing for a million-miles-per-hour fretboard exploration that flexes the Toto maestro’s evergreen six-string stamina for what is without a doubt the fastest solo contribution from the whole jam.
Gales is a player whose jam reputation precedes him – he turned in one of 2021’s most astonishing live solos with Gary Clark Jr., after all – and his fine form continues here, with the blues titan bringing the rondo to a close in blistering fashion with the help of his Magneto U-One RD3 signature guitar.
The best part? The fact they do the whole round all over again for a second time, before converging into a show-stopping finale.
Elsewhere throughout the G4 V6.0 weekend, Satch called upon the likes of Cory Wong, Nili Brosh, Peter Frampton and Steve Morse to lead activities, with Alex Skolnick and John 5 – the latter of whom is busy rehearsing with Motley Crue – also joining the fray.
It’s the second jam from the G4 we’ve seen so far, after footage emerged of Satriani and Gales joining forces with Steve Morse for an extended rendition of Going Down.
