Joe Satriani recently opened up about the difficulties he faced while performing Van Halen songs on the “Best of All Worlds” tour. In an interview with Guitar World, he shared his thoughts on how Eddie Van Halen’s complex and varied sound was a key challenge to replicate on stage.
“Opening with ‘Good Enough,’ ‘Poundcake,’ and ‘Runaround’ is amazing,” Satriani explained. “I quickly realized that the order of Eddie’s embellishments is crucial for the fans. Even though Ed often mixed things up, the audience knows the studio versions inside out, so they expect to hear the scream here, the harmonic cascades there, and the finger tapping at that specific moment.”
Satriani also revealed specific songs that presented difficulties. “The ‘Poundcake’ drill is tough to master,” he said. “The intro of ‘Summer Nights’ is tricky because of the picking technique and gain structure. I don’t think I nailed it until halfway through the tour—it felt so unfamiliar to my fingers.”
Regarding Eddie’s legendary tone, Satriani reflected on the challenges of emulating it, explaining how Van Halen’s sound varied dramatically across his career. “Eddie had a million different sounds,” Satriani noted. “The jump from ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ to ‘Panama’ is huge, and then to ‘Summer Nights’—it’s a crazy leap. Eddie’s sound evolved from mono to stereo, with his use of Eventide effects widening the pitch, and full stereo in later recordings.”
Van Halen’s equipment also played a significant role in his diverse sound. “He used Marshall, Soldano, Peavey, and EVH amps,” Satriani pointed out. “That’s a major shift in terms of preamp gain and compression. Eddie went from a heavy midrange sound to something much more scooped. To capture that, I turned to Dylana Scott at 3rd Power Amplification. Together, we recreated the 1986 Live Without a Net tone, using all Marshalls but with a bit of extra stereo depth.”
This search for Eddie’s perfect tone resulted in Satriani’s DRGN 100 amp, born from a deep dive into Van Halen’s sound. Reflecting on the journey, Satriani shared, “A few years ago, when David Lee Roth and Alex Van Halen first reached out to me about the tribute, I really dug deep into Ed’s tone. His sound was lighter and thinner compared to my JVM, which I use to make my high notes fat.”
He went on to explain how his usual stage performance differs when playing with Sammy Hagar, where “95 percent of the time, it’s rhythm guitar, with just a few bars for solos—quick rips before getting back into rhythm.”
