He is the master. All styles, techniques, effects, everything.

Amazing guitar skills of this master. Ranks above Vai and Malmsteen IMO.

Annoyingly boring

Great melodic player, great speed player, master of many styles. should be one of the top 20

he have the best albums,great techniques, i love his slurring techniques,the best rock guitarist i've ever seen.

Satriani is the best. He is a virutual encyclopedia of guitar knowledge. Heard him live on the radio and they threw the most off the wall songs at him, he played them one by one flawlessly. The unbelievable thing about him though that sets him above the rest is that he is so modest. Vai literally bowed down to him at a G3 show during a face off and Sat was pulling riffs out of no where. You can measure skill and practice, but not talent.

hes good but the people that he taught kirk hammett , steve vai they both got better than he did after he taught them so he needs to work on it

Changed music so much...elite

I listen to his stuff alot. Looney, unbelievable stuff at times.

lol off course satriani is in the top 5 its a fact.. i hate this when someone votes with 1 becouse he wants his fav to be 1st on the list :(

he sucks so bad

The greatest instrumental guitar musician - great feel, incredible original legato phrasing, whammy wizard, big round organic wah tinged sound, feedback master - the surfing king of space rock/metal and a super great guy too!!! Thanks for sharing your great music with us Joe Chris Hong, Malaysia

satriani is a great guitarist not as talented as steve vai but beautifully oriented in the area of melody. He taught Vai back in the day and Vai surpassed him in skill and found his own voice but satriani is still able to produce his unique form of rock.

Wizard!

Simple is good, he makes tones that are simple yet musical

Cosiderng the fact that JS taught Hammett and vai, 2 people who are hailed as modern day guitar icons, and that he as equally brilliant ingenuity as Jimi, in addition to flawless guitar techniques(especially pentatonic drills),......He should be No. 1...

In these days of snobbery towards virtuosity it's a great shame Joe Satriani has been largely overlooked by the general public. This is because unlike many top metal guitarists who shred for its own sake, JS has come up with some damn fine memorable tunes with strong melodies. Although he can let rip and burn the fretboard he also knows when to kick back and keep it simple. IMO he's the best all round rock guitarist ever.. bar none.

Wake up people,Satriani and Vai are not just exremely technically proficient,they are also extremely beautiful songwriters,Kind of like Mozarts genius meets john lennons beatiful songwriting,Satch and Vai are more than guitar gods they are MUSICAL GIANTS.

Joe Satriani's technical skill level may be unparalleled. His command of the instrument is just amazing. And what is very impressive is that his songs have (with a few exceptions) no lyrics. So in a typical 5 minute song, you may get 30 seconds - 1 minute of guitar playing with a solo and outro. But with Joe's songs, there is guitar playing from beginning to end, non stop. I'd reccommend the DVD Joe Satriani Live in San Francisco.