Joe Satriani: “Anyone can make decent music at home, which is good for people who – because of their sex or appearance – have been cut out of the music scene”Technology has made the barriers to entry in music production lower than ever. Nowadays, Google can be your music teacher, music tech equipment is affordable and social media can get your name out there fast. In the eyes of guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, that’s definitely a good thing.
Of course, while modern musicians have to fight to get their name out their in a more saturated market, Satriani acknowledges that the industry has been “democratised” and is keen to emphasise its benefits.

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The topic came up during an interview with Terrie Carr of WDHA, during which Satriani discusses how technological advances have helped musicians from marginalised backgrounds.
“If you happen to listen to Alyssa Day, she can shred any guy out there,” he says [as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar]. “There’s no difference in aptitude and technical prowess… The opportunity is so important. I don’t think it’s any different for any other art form or business form, if society, either locally or on a bigger scale, doesn’t provide an opportunity for someone to grow into that niche, that business, that art form, then it it sits dormant. And I think, with the digital age, music production has become democratised.

“Everybody can pretty much make a decent musical product at home with their laptop, or their iPad, or something like that. And this has been a good thing for people who, maybe because of their sex or their appearance, have been cut out of the music scene, because they don’t fit. They don’t have a TV look, or they don’t have the right sound for a particular radio station.”
Satriani goes on to talk about how you can find “the most amazing guitar players” on Instagram, who are breaking boundaries in terms of the skills they’re showing off.
“That’s all broken down; the artists and the fans connect without the need for the music industry infrastructure. This has been great for music. If you go to Instagram, you just see the most amazing guitar players from ages eight to 18. They’re just playing better than guitar players have ever played before in the history of the world. So this is a great thing.”
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