Satch Boogie - Satriani cover song using Peavey JSX amp and Ibanez S420 guitar

Just messing around with my new axe :)

I learned the intro to this song way back in the late 80s, but never took the time to learn the whole song. It really is not as difficult a song as I thought it would be. It's really all about getting the blues-rock phrasing down right that Satch plays so fluently. Probably because he grow up learning all of the classic rock stuff in the 60/70s like Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Clapton, etc.

A few weeks ago (well, a few weeks before I did this video), I bought an Ibanez S420. It's the base model in their S series, and retailed for around $500 USD at Guitar Center. It's got the signature S series mahogany body, which is very lightweight while maintaing the nice thick tone of such wood, and a maple neck. The pickups are Ibanez INF pickups, and actually are better sounding than I had anticipated based on reviews (I might replace the bridge pickup down the road though with something less edgy sounding). The guitar is made in Indonesia, as opposed to Japan like the high end Ibanez guitars, and definitely is much simpler aesthetically (no fancy high gloss finish, or figured top). I believe these factors are why Ibanez is able to offer the guitar at a much more affordable rate. It's also lacking the middle pickup (which probably factors in the cost a little), and that was actually a selling point for me, as I hate the middle pickup on guitars. I prefer two humbuckers, and the ability to use both humbuckers simultanesouly in full humbucker mode at the same time (the 3 pickup guitars in the S Series do not allow that). Despite these differences, the S420 comes with the same Wizard III neck, pickups and the ZR tremolo as the other S series guitars that cost more. The ZR tremolo stays in tune incredibly well, and has a cool feature - there's a knob on the back of the guitar that allows you to adjust the tension without removing the back plate and grabbing a screwdriver. The guitar is also noticeably absent of all but one inlay on the neck. At first I was a little concerned it might make the guitar more difficult to play, but after a few minutes it didn't make a difference because fortunately the neck still has the dot markers on top of it (on the edge) and that's all you really need. Plus, the absence of inlays, in my opinion, makes the guitar kind of menacing looking :)