Joe Satriani first gained attention as a six-string teacher in the late '70s, but that was only a stepping stone to platinum records and 15 Grammy nominations. "When I moved from New York to Berkeley, I was spending way too much time in this guitar store playing everything," Satriani says. "The owner said, 'You're not just going to sit here and play these guitars all day long. How about you give lessons?' I said, 'Oh, I don't want to do that again,' but he talked me into it. It was during that time when Kirk Hammett, Larry LaLonde, David Bryson, and Charlie Hunter were walking through the door. So I was the accidental but extremely lucky guitar teacher. During that period I also created my solo career."

Satriani returns to master classes with the G4 Experience (August 11-15, 2014), along with Mr. Big's Paul Gilbert, Danger Danger's Andy Timmons, and former Frank Zappa guitarist Mike Keneally. Fans can also dig into "Strange Beautiful Music: A Musical Memoir" (out May 6), which traces Satriani's career from teacher to legendary artist, and "Joe Satriani: The Complete Studio Recordings" (out April 22), a 15-CD box set that will also be issued as a limited-edition USB drive exclusively on satriani.com.

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