Satriani was born in Westbury, New York, the descendant of Italian immigrants. His paternal grandparents were from Piacenza and Bobbio, while his maternal grandparents were from Bari. He was inspired to play guitar at age 14, after hearing of the death of Jimi Hendrix. He has been said to have heard the news during football practice, where he then announced to his coach that he was quitting to become a guitarist.

Satriani started playing in a San Francisco-based band called the Squares, where he continued to network and make musical connections (Squares sound man John Cuniberti co-produced his second album). He was invited to join the Greg Kihn Band, who were on the downside of their career, but whose generosity helped Satriani pay off the overwhelming credit card debt from recording his first album Not of This Earth. In 1987, Satriani's second album Surfing with the Alien produced radio hits and was the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. The track "Crushing Day" was featured on the soundtrack of a low-budget film titled It Takes Two. Surfing with the Alien is his most acclaimed work, according to aggregator Acclaimed Music. In 1988 Satriani helped produce the EP The Eyes of Horror for the death metal band Possessed. That same year he also released an EP titled Dreaming #11, which featured the song "The Crush of Love". In 1989, Satriani released the album Flying in a Blue Dream. It was said to be inspired by the death of his father, who died in 1989 during the recording of the album. "One Big Rush" featured on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie Say Anything.... "The Forgotten Part II" was featured on a Labatt Blue commercial in Canada in 1993. "Can't Slow Down" featured in a car-chase sequence in the Don Johnson starring show Nash Bridges. "The Bells of Lal (Part One)" was featured for an eerie scene in the 1996 Billy Bob Thornton movie Sling Blade, while Carl is sharpening a lawnmower blade to kill the menacing Doyle Hargraves played by Dwight Yoakam. Joe Satriani also sang backing vocals on the self-titled Crowded House album. Satriani was a friend of Mitchell Froom. In 1992, Satriani released The Extremist, his most commercially successful album to date. Radio stations across the country picked up "Summer Song," which got a major boost when Sony used it in a major commercial campaign for their Discman portable CD players. "Cryin'," "Friends," and the title track were regional hits on radio. In late 1993, Satriani joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for departed guitarist Ritchie Blackmore during the band's Japanese tour. The concerts were a success, and Satriani was asked to join the band permanently but he declined, having just signed a multi-album solo deal with Sony, and Steve Morse took the guitarist slot in Deep Purple. In 1996, Satriani founded the G3, a concert tour intended to feature a trio of guitarists. The original lineup featured Satriani, Vai and Eric Johnson. The G3 tour has continued periodically since its inaugural version, with Satriani the only permanent member. Other guitarists who have performed in G3 include among others: Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Fripp, Andy Timmons, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Adrian Legg, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse and Steve Lukather. In 1998 Satriani recorded and released Crystal Planet. Crystal Planet was followed up with Engines of Creation, one of his more experimental works featuring the electronica genre. A pair of shows at the Fillmore West in San Francisco were recorded in December 2000 and released as Live in San Francisco, a two-disc live album and DVD. CANNOTANSWER

Answer the following question by taking a quote from the article: does he still play the guitar?

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