“He was very frightened, mostly from the volume. My new amplifiers now go to infinity, and I think that idea was very scary to him”: Nigel Tufnel had plenty of volume when he jammed with Joe Satriani, but “couldn’t fathom” what the guitar hero was

Though he left Spinal Tap in a huff before they began experimenting with jazz odysseys, Nigel Tufnel has plenty of musical range – just listen to the beautiful, classically influenced instrumental piano piece he performed (if I wrote the name of it here I might lose my job) in the classic film about his totally real band, This is Spinal Tap.

With that sort of versatility, and Tap’s undisputed place in the halls of rock kings and queens, it makes sense that Tufnel once found himself sharing the stage with one of guitar’s great virtuosos, Joe Satriani.

It’s a pairing that makes for a fascinating meeting of the musical minds. So, what was it like?

Recounting Satriani’s guest appearance with Tap, Tufnel said in an interview, “He was very frightened, mostly from the volume, because he plays a bit lower than we do. My new amplifiers now go to infinity, and I think that idea was very scary to him, because most amplifiers go to 10, but I made the jump to infinity.”

The intimidation Satriani felt was understandable. After all, this was the guitarist who had already broken new ground in amp volume with a Marshall fitted with volume controls that went up to 11…

Despite having the upper hand in volume, though, Tufnel felt nothing but admiration for Satriani’s skill.

“Sound and technique, obviously, are two different things. He has got both. I have volume.”

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Watching the Ibanez-toting virtuoso play, Tufnel said, “I did have a chance to slow it down on a video once, and it was still too quick. So I don’t really know what he’s doing. Otherwise, you know, I would do it.

“I look at it, [how] his fingers move, and I say, ‘Yeah, yeah, but where are they going?’ You can’t really be jealous of something you can’t fathom. And that’s my situation.

“You see, if I was close to doing what he could do, I would feel some envy, I suppose, but I just don’t understand it a lot of the time. I mean, I hear what he’s doing and I like it, but I can’t copy it.”

These humble quotes aside, it does make us wonder if we’ll see Spinal Tap recruit any other guitar legends for a stage or studio collaboration in the future.

Guess we’ll find out in Spinal Tap II…