Joe Satriani recently reflected on the complexities behind the solo of Eddie Van Halen on “Jump.” He noted how Eddie’s way of playing it never stopped evolving.
Joe Satriani opens up on Eddie Van Halen
Satch’s participation in “Best of All Worlds,” Sammy Hagar’s career retrospective that also served as an unofficial Van Halen tribute, followed closely on the heels of the discussion about Alex Van Halen’s tribute to his late brother Eddie, in which Satriani was also involved. At the time, Satch acknowledged that filling Eddie’s shoes felt like a daunting task, and some fans appeared to share that sentiment.
However, the tour proved Sammy Hagar was right in saying that recruiting Satriani for the cause was “probably the smartest move [he] made”, as the Long Island native managed to pay homage to the late guitar hero while having enough sense and humility to avoid attempting to copy Eddie’s playing from note to note.
The latter seemed to be impossible, as Eddie would rarely play something in the same way twice. Using the solo from “Jump” as an example of how Eddie’s parts would evolve in a live setting, Satch told Guitar World in a recent interview:
“It’s obvious that solo is a comp. It’s basically four or five phrases, and they’re all rushed. Some players have learned it from manuscripts and are comfortable pushing it, but my whole career has been trying to sell a melody on the electric guitar.”
“I’ve taught myself to sit way in the backbeat like a singer, and this [approach] is the total opposite of the solo in ‘Jump’ [laughs]. It’s composed of separate ideas that don’t go together. But when you hear the whole thing, you’re like, ‘I love that solo. It’s one of the best I’ve ever heard.’ The artistry is still there.”
“I often think about that because I’ve made so many albums. I’ve done first-takes, done labored punch-ins, and I’ve just had to try and get it to work. And then you eventually play it live and it’s going to change a bit.”
He also recalled a story that involved Jennifer Batten explaining to Eddie how to perform the iconic solo, Satriani went on:
“You know, there’s a great story where Eddie and Jennifer Batten were hanging out, and he says, ‘Can you show me the solo for ‘Jump’? I forgot how to do it.’ And, of course, Jennifer learned that main version and had it totally organized. She didn’t know how many takes it took or the different ways he played it. So she said, ‘Well, you go like this, and then you go like this…’ Eddie was like, ‘Oh, okay. All right!’ And then you watch Eddie play the solo in different clips and it’s totally different [laughs].”
“If you watch him, he does the first high note, he does the second blues lick, then he goes down low and does the tapping, and then he does the minor 9 arpeggio, and then he does the nonsensical thing that he’d done from the very first Van Halen record. But it’s perfect, isn’t it?”
Satch further recalled:
“So when I started doing that solo in rehearsals, Sammy stood right next to me, looking at me, like, ‘What are you doing?’ He was laughing because he’s seen so many guitar players try to meet up with that challenge and they all have a different way of doing it. Either they try to follow it or they memorize it, or they deconstruct and reconstruct it for their own sensibility.”
“I can tell you that every night I realize as I’m playing it, ‘You did it again, Joe. You slowed everything down.’ Because I always put it in the backbeat. So I say, ‘Okay, tomorrow night, I’m going to speed it up like Eddie.’ I don’t know if I’ll keep that promise to myself…”
