Satch sounds a lot like

[dex]

Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)

Here’s what it is in a nutshell.
I grew up listening to Iron Maiden day and night, knew all their songs end to end (until the X Factor came out) and really loved them.
Listening to Iron Maiden and trying to play guitar I soon noticed that Adrian Smiths solos had more soul than Dave Murrays solos.
Don’t get me wrong, Dave is very, VERY good. He does come up with these great simple but catchy melodies and his legato is very smooth and fast, so smooth in fact you don’t realise how fast the guy is until you try to play a solo like him but I digress…..

I noticed that Adrian’s solos have this point to them like they are going somewhere and the way he builds them you can almost always guess what note will come next.
His love for blues is very apparent in most (if not all) solos and songs, he’s got the boogie.

So I’ve always seen the similarity between Joe and Adrian and always heard the same blues structure in both players but just thought that Adrian was a Satch fan and he’s borrowed some boogie from Joe which is understandable…….but then I was listening to Somewhere in Time (Iron Maiden ’86) and hearing all the solos on Wasted Years, Sea of Madness and Stranger in a Strange Land and then it hit me like a ton of bricks……
Adrian had been recording these songs and solos before Joe was famous and before he had an album out so it must be Joe who’s borrowing from Adrian..or at least they are both emulating someone else.
This Adrian Smith influence is especially apparent in the Extremist 1:21 – this solo is and Adrian Smith solo.
If you are not familiar with Iron Maiden or can’t tell appart who solos when (Dave/Adrian) just listen to the Extremist carefully and you’ll be able to tell from now on.

So what I’m saying basicalluy is that Satch is greatly influenced by Adrain Smith and it’s quite easy to hear if you are into Iron Maiden/Satch and into guitars.

ilia

[Eggy]

I agree! Adrian Smith is my favourite of the Maiden guitarists as well.

However I doubt that it is Adrian who greatly influenced Satch. I would imagine that they were both influenced though by Blackmore (technical skill, use of minor modes and love for blues pents).
Although Yngwie was realy into Blackmore and he sounds nothing like Adrian Smith............

........*shrugs*.....Who knows eh?

Ben

[Flobanez]

X FActor I never got into that album.
Now that I think about it, There is a little resemblance.
Satch is got his own thing goin' though and has for a while.

[JTM45]

Yeah,Adrian Smith is a great guitarist!

I bought my metallic red Ibanez Destroyer II in '83 because (as well as it being an awesome guitar!) Adrian played one quite often with Iron Maiden.

[dex]

Just for the record I have every album Deep Purple have put out (including the ones with Steve Morse.........yes, Bananas as well) and neither Adrian nor Satch sound anything like Ritchie Blackmore............nor does YJM for that matter (although Rory Gallagher does a bit).
Satch on the other hand plays just like Adrian Smith - he's like his clone (faster and more legato but the melody build is identical) and I can't remember hearing anyone else that sounds like them enough to point out.
Peter Green has the boogie, so does Gary Moore and so does Lindsey Buckingham and they do play the same flavour of blues.....
Now I'm really intrigued who it is that both of them have borrowed from and I'm going to stick some Jeff Beck records and some Rory Galagher on tonight and listen to see if they sound similar.........

Still if you're into Satch and want to hear something cool get Power Slave or Somewhere in Time and just listen to Adrian wail........

ilia

[MehYam]

I doubt Satch ever listened to Maiden much, or picked up on Smith as an influence, but I agree that the similarity is there. In fact, "Wasted Years" shuffled on my iPod two days ago, and I was struck by how similar the rhythm guitar sound in that song is to Satch's tone on Not Of This Earth. They both got that bright, mid-rangey, over-saturated sound, although from very different rigs (I think Smith was using a solid-state GK amp at the time, same thing Lifeson from Rush used).

The other point of similarities are: 1) the blues basis in their soloing - they both do the pentatonic shape hyper-speed legato thing, and 2) they both mix up fast licks with juicy melodic phrases (like the last nine notes of the Wasted Years solo, although that's almost too fruity).

Smith is a very underrated player, he's one of those guys that plays a lot of notes but doesn't waste any.

[Eggy]

Originally Posted by dex

Just for the record I have every album Deep Purple have put out (including the ones with Steve Morse.........yes, Bananas as well) and neither Adrian nor Satch sound anything like Ritchie Blackmore............nor does YJM for that matter (although Rory Gallagher does a bit).
Satch on the other hand plays just like Adrian Smith - he's like his clone (faster and more legato but the melody build is identical) and I can't remember hearing anyone else that sounds like them enough to point out.
Peter Green has the boogie, so does Gary Moore and so does Lindsey Buckingham and they do play the same flavour of blues.....
Now I'm really intrigued who it is that both of them have borrowed from and I'm going to stick some Jeff Beck records and some Rory Galagher on tonight and listen to see if they sound similar.........

Still if you're into Satch and want to hear something cool get Power Slave or Somewhere in Time and just listen to Adrian wail........

ilia

I didn't say they "sound like" Blackmore. I said they were influenced by Blackmore.
Not sure about Satch but I've done some reading up on Smith and he has listed Blackmore as an influence over the years. Malmsteen lists Blackmore as a guitarist who was a major influence on his playing, (speaking about Fireball) " I suppose it was without a doubt, the biggest impact rock music ever had on me." YJM
Guess you don't listen to much Yngwie ?

Ben

[AirGuitarHero]

I think most people, at some point or another, sound like Maiden LOL

: thread hijack mode on, for a good reason: praising Maiden:

They were such innovators and they set so many standards in rock and metal, it's amazing. You don't notice their influence until you listen back to their albums and look at the release date. They sound timeless (well, except Killers maybe).

When you listen to the solos you think 'mmmh, nice stuff, very classy and melodic. Not too original though', until you realise the trifling detail that they were the first ones to do it

I wouldn't be surprised if there were some book out there: 'metal soloing 101: Dave Murray's choice of notes, tone and solo structure'. He has to be one of the most imitated guitarists in the 80s. I think Smith's style was less imitated because it's more 'out there' than Murray's

: thread hijack mode off:

[ryanb]

I think I read that Adrian was once a student of Satch. Remember that Satch was playing and teaching for many years before he got famous.

[dex]

The only thing is Adrian is from London and Satch lived in Berkeley, CA at the time......
Also Adrian joined Iron Maiden - a very busy touring and recording band in late 1980 to record the album Killers (released '81) so I really doubt that a 24 year old Londoner in a massive band at the time (They promoted Killers by opening up for Kiss in 81 ) would know about Satch who at the time was teaching at "Second Hand Guitars" in Berkeley, CA (this has nothing to do with Berklee which is in Boston, MA) and wasn't famous in any way, shape or form.
By the time Steve had the weight behind him to tell people about Satch (1986 after the Eat'em and Smile came out), Adrian had recorded on Killers '81, The Number of The Beast '82, Piece of Mind '83, Powerslave '84, been on an 11 month world tour to promote Powerslave (Called funnily enough "The Powerslave Tour" and later released as a live double album called "Live After Death") and Somewhere in Time '86.
There's absolutely no way that Adrian borrowed from Satch as these Iron Maiden recordings were made years before Satch ever had anything out.

Also I didn't mean to jump on the Blackmore - YJM thing, I do listen to YJM enough and he is way more structured and melodic than Blackmore ever was.
In fact YJM sounds more like Jon Lord than like Blackmore and if you want to hear someone who was HEAVYLY influenced by Blackmore just get any Rory Gallagher record - he's practically copying Blackmore.
Doesn't matter - I know YJM lists Ritchie as a major influence but then again Satch lists Jimi as a major influence and I can hear more Jimi in Lenny Kravitz than in Satch but again.....who cares.........

Anyway, after listening to couple of Jeff Beck albums last night I couldn't hear anything similar so I'm still looking for the common "boogieman" that influenced both Adrian and Satch.......

ilia

[zEr0]

I've always thought Steve Lukather sounds remarkably close to Satch!

[jem7vwh]

Personally, I always thought the guys in Iron Maiden did a great job of being melodic and fun in their soloing. I don't necessarily hear the similarity between Satch and Adrian Smith, but I think Dave Murray does some great stuff. "Judas My Guide" is a cool song...