Joe Satriani discusses his thoughts on Ritchie Blackmore's guitar playing

Joe Satriani is undoubtably one of the nicest guys in rock music.
He's also one of the greatest guitar players that has performed to live audience.

Joe spent some time playing with Deep Purple when Ritchie left in 1993, and he can speak with great authority on the technique and style that has made Ritchie Blackmore such a great performer.

[stanleywissmar]

Yes, Ritchie deserves much more cred than he officially is given. Apart from being among the 5-10 best rock guitarists of all time, his superb songwriting, arrangements, width in dabbling in several genres; given us the best vocalist of all time (Dio, Coverdale, Gillan etc.), Drummers etc. it is safe to say Rock music would not be what it is today without him! Love you, Ritchie 🙏🎼

[FastHemi]

Blackmore's solos just make me melt. He is the best out there.

[repetitivemotion]

I had the great Pleasure to see Ritchie perform live in Chicago beginning in 1975 and every tour till the present time, whether with Deep Purple, Rainbow and Blackmore’s Night. I’ve seen many performances from other top tier musicians during that time, but nobody could rile up an audience like Blackmore. He has this charisma on stage that compels you to watch him. His musicianship and stagecraft are at the top of the list of great musicians. He was always exciting to watch and listen to

[Stitsel]

Thank you Joe for setting the record straight about Ritchie's importance, and your overall feelings about him.I got so tired of that internet trash from a couple years ago when they were trying to create controversy about something he said, regarding you. To me it was all blown out of proportion & while he will always be my # 1, you sir are certainly right up there with all the greats.Actually, you're in a class of your own for sure. I think the haters just had their "Aha!" moment, comparing you two.Really quite stupid....Ritchie's earned the right to be honest about whatever, but I don't think I've ever heard him slag truly great guitarists that much; he usually has something complimentary to say about them.Whatever.I own & love every Satch album too, so hey!

[WillyCLARKE-gc]

Got to see Deep Purple in their prime 1968. Blew we away - every player in that band was phenomenal

[FastHemi]

I was lucky enough to see Rainbow in 92 @ MSG for my first concert, I was 12. The Scorpions were the opening act. What a great concert.
Also saw Deep Purple 2x in 1985

[ChicagoBeaver]

I'm still hooked on the "Burn" album plus "In Rock, " Richie has always been the mysterious 'Man in Black, '

[zancraft]

And he is still alive man! Richie rules!

[gmbydjd]

I saw Richie Blackmore in the late 70s played for half an hour.didn’t smile threw his guitar down walked offstage and never came back

[michaeldipietro]

yeah, i kind of noticed the cleanness of Ritchie's tone through the years.
the thick, dirty bass sound of the 70s and the reverb centricity of the 80s, he was clean through it all.
even Blackmore's Night continues that trend.

[rogercardenas]

Master of the stratocaster 🔉🎛️🔉🎛️👍🎸🎸🎸🤘🎸🎸🎸🎸

[rashidrani]

Nobody makes me enjoy listening to rock guitar music than Ritchie Blackmore..
Other guitarist 🎸 i enjoy are mostly Jazz guitarist. Make sense?

[WhoDaFoksThatGuy]

Ritchie Blackmore has always been my favorite guitarist with Janick Gers in second who is basically just like if Ritchie was thrown into the metal scene. Seriously, check out Janick’s work with Gillan and Bruce Dickinson, it sounds like the king himself!

Obviously no one is as good as Ritchie but there’s a reason I look up to those two so much. The energy and emotion is unmatched!

[SpenceCurry]

You both are great. What is your opinion of the late April lawton

[marknieuweboer]

Blackmore is, unlike Clapton and Page, not originally an electric blues player. He started out as an Hank Marvin (from The Shadows) epigone. His pre Deep Purple recordings demonstrate that.

[AlfaV]

the thing with Ritchie is that he got known during the time of Clapton Beck Page and Hendrix, and he used Zeppelin as example ... 

And Zeppelin with Page was a powerfull “machine” and a hard act to follow, although they lifted a lot from old blues they played it very well, and did have some amazing songs .


Ritchie became really good ad the end of DP mark i don’t, probably mk 5000 😂

and than : enther Elf and he became amazing ,

[Olegstuff]

Blackmore still has much more subtlety in his playing than 97% of the "shredders" out there. Just listen to his work.

[riasgremory]

He look like a kind Voldemort~ Excellent guitar player in my opinion :)

[jbass]

Whoa. Satriani looking like Voldermort.

[daviddoran]

Agree completely!!! Only 1 other guitarist was more expressive...Gary Moore.