Exclusive Interview: Guitar Legend Eric Johnson Talks G3 Reunion & His Iconic Career
Join us for an exclusive interview with guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson, one of the original members of G3, the legendary guitar supergroup formed by Joe Satriani. With the release of the highly anticipated G3 Reunion album—bringing together the original trio of Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Steve Vai—Eric takes us on a journey through his six-decade career in music.
From his early days in the 1960s to his breakthrough success in the 1980s with classics like Cliffs of Dover, all the way to his current projects, Eric shares his experiences, influences, and thoughts on the evolution of guitar playing.
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Eric Johnson: The Life and Career of a Guitar Legend
Eric Johnson is one of the most respected and technically gifted guitarists of all time. With a career spanning over six decades, he has built a reputation for his flawless technique, impeccable tone, and genre-blending musicality. Whether playing rock, blues, jazz, or classical-influenced guitar, Johnson’s style is unmistakable.
Early Life & Musical Beginnings (1954–1970s)
Born on August 17, 1954, in Austin, Texas, Eric Johnson was introduced to music at a young age. His father, a whistling aficionado, encouraged his musical curiosity, and by the age of 11, Johnson had picked up the guitar. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins, and Jeff Beck, he quickly developed a unique style.
By his teens, Johnson joined a psychedelic rock band called Mariani, but his first major exposure came in the mid-1970s with the jazz-rock fusion group Electromagnets. Though the band didn’t gain widespread success, it showcased Johnson’s extraordinary playing and attracted attention from the music industry.
Breakthrough Success (1980s–1990s)
In 1984, Johnson signed a deal with Warner Bros. and released his first studio album, "Tones" (1986), featuring the song Zap, which earned him a Grammy nomination. But it was his 1990 album "Ah Via Musicom" that truly made him a star.
"Ah Via Musicom" & 'Cliffs of Dover'
This album featured the instrumental masterpiece "Cliffs of Dover", which became Johnson’s signature song and won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
The album also included "Trademark" and "Righteous", further cementing his reputation.
Johnson became known for his clean, violin-like tone, achieved through meticulous playing and a refined approach to gear.
During this time, he also became a sought-after session musician, working with artists like Cat Stevens, Christopher Cross, and Carole King.
G3 & Continued Success (1990s–2000s)
In 1996, Joe Satriani invited Eric Johnson to join the first-ever G3 tour, alongside Steve Vai. The tour became legendary, featuring three of the greatest guitarists of their generation.
Following this, Johnson released "Venus Isle" (1996), an album that pushed his musical boundaries with more jazz and world music influences. Although not as commercially successful as Ah Via Musicom, it showcased his evolving artistry.
He continued releasing albums, including:
"Souvenir" (2002)
"Bloom" (2005)
"Up Close" (2010)
Throughout these years, Johnson remained a perfectionist, sometimes taking years to release new music due to his meticulous recording process.
Recent Years & G3 Reunion (2010s–Present)
Eric Johnson has remained an active performer, recording artist, and guitar educator. His recent work includes:
"EJ" (2016) – A mostly acoustic album showcasing his softer side.
"Collage" (2017) – A mix of original material and covers.
"EJ Vol II" (2020) – A sequel to EJ, continuing his acoustic exploration.
In 2024, Johnson reunited with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai for the G3 Reunion album, celebrating their original lineup and over 25 years of G3 history.
Legacy & Influence
Eric Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, known for:✅ Pristine Tone – His tone is often called one of the most beautiful in rock history.✅ Flawless Technique – His playing combines precision with incredible fluidity.✅ Musical Versatility – Blending rock, blues, jazz, country, and classical.✅ Enduring Impact – Inspiring guitarists like John Petrucci, Andy Timmons, and more.
With a career still going strong, Johnson continues to push the boundaries of guitar playing while staying true to his unique voice.
🎸 Eric Johnson’s influence on guitar music is undeniable, and his journey is a testament to the power of dedication, passion, and musical excellence. 🎸
Tim Caple
I was trying to think of how to sum up your status and I came across a great quote and it said, I can't think of a greater guitar icon than somebody.
who has the musical intellect to change what was there before and take music in a different direction. Now that to me seems to sum you up completely. And that by the way was Jimmy Page.
Eric
Well, I appreciate you saying that. It's hard for me to think that. mean, somebody like Jimmy are, you know, and Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix, those guys really made a change, you know, because I think these guys had very few books to, manuals to resort to to do their thing. You know, somebody like me had a lot more library books to find to create my own thing. So I really think the credit goes to
people like, you know, obviously way long ago, Charlie Christian and Les Paul and Wes Montgomery and all these guys, if we're considering blues rock and rock guitar, you think about what the small amount of information Jimi Hendrix had and Jeff Beck had to create this whole new thing.
And you know, think also in the 80s, obviously, or late 70s, 80s, know, Eddie Van Halen, when he reinvented the way you approach the fretboard. I think those kind of people made more of a monumental change. I mean, I have my own little things that make my signature. But I think I had a lot more manuals to resort to to create my own thing that, you know, these pioneers of blues rock really deserve a lot of the credit, I think.
Tim Caple
Guitar in particular is an instrument that can intimidate. I remember a great quote from Lemmy, from Motorhead saying, he was asked, what did you learn from Jimi Hendrix? and he said, yeah, well, I learned give up the guitar and actually rely on bass. But the opposite, was true for you then growing up, it was a source of great inspiration. The first guy that I think I'm writing saying that had a big effect.
on you was Floyd Edwards before you moved on to all of the Beatles and Stones.
Eric
Well, Nokie Edwards, because he had killer riffs, he was a great guitar player and he great sound, you know. And when I grew up in that period,
guitar was pretty much, wow, listen to that. That's a sound you've never heard before, you know? And nowadays you've heard, it's, you know, it's like if you were at the grocery store and somebody, oh, look, we went around across the world and got this kiwi fruit. Oh my God, a kiwi fruit, you know? And nowadays they have a kiwi fruit, you know, we can get them anywhere. I mean, it really is a little bit like that, you know what I mean? It's like that was the beginning and you heard Nokie play and then when I heard the Yardbirds and I'd
I was like, wow, some of that guitar playing I was like, wow, it sounds like a saxophone or a violin. that really, and it's just a great sound, you know, it lured you in sonically so that you were interested in hearing what somebody had to talk about. But initially it was the sound and then that gave you the desire to be attentive to what they had to say.
Tim Caple
And that obviously led to Hendrix, Cream and the Yardbirds what was interesting about your approach, even in those very early days, was the fact that your ear was open to everything. James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder was a big influence. So you have all of these big mixture of sounds rather than just the one style.
Eric
Big time, yeah. Yeah.
Eric
I think they all, if you look behind the curtain on all of them, it's just good music. And it's deep technique, but the technique is subordinated to create good music. It's the fuel, but it's not the focus as much.
Tim Caple
You'd listen to a varied selection of music because I think you said at the time, you know, if I only listen to guitar players, then you'll only ever emulate a guitar player. That is why I was open to everything.
Eric
Yeah, yeah, and I started actually started on piano. So my first love was all sorts of piano music and my dad loved music and when I was really like three, four, five years old, I would see how he would just laugh and cry he'd be transported by music. And I thought, wow, what is this music thing that's so magnetic and so uplifting to my father? And so
when I'm three years old I hear Elvis Presley, and Scotty Moore and you started, that was your zero point of starting, yeah, guitar's supposed to sound to be played like that, and so it's a good alphabet to be introduced to music in.
Tim Caple
You had six years, didn't you, playing the piano from the age of five before you got that guitar. And you've said on many occasions, you said, listen, every guitar player should learn how to play the piano.
Eric
I kind of feel every musician should and it doesn't mean they have to become a great pianist, I think well I don't think they they have to but I think it's an opportunity because when you sit at the piano you know if you were you know you were building a house and you had a chance to go up in a you know get a balcony view and with the piano, kind of, you have the ability to get a balcony view of, the bass and the rhythm and the lead and you can kind of, and it doesn't quarantine you into the limitations of the instruments much. I think a piano's laid out one of the most unlimited instruments there is. You can play chords, you can play three parts at once, and you certainly can do that on guitar like people like.
Eric
Dole Dykes and Tommy Emmanuel and Richard Smith, know, those guys can play three parts at once on the guitar. But I think that the piano really is a great writing instrument and a great balcony view tool to kind of see what you're trying to do.
Tim Caple
This is actually then, when you think about it, your 60th year playing guitar. what do you remember about that day that you picked up the Fender Music Master? That was the first one, wasn't it?
Eric
Yeah. Yeah
Eric
Oh man before I did that, I was like looking at all the catalogs. Of course I wanted the Jaguar, you know, that was the swinging, swinging surf instrument. You see these guys on the surfboard with Jaguar. said, Oh, that's it. I mean, I got to get a Jaguar, you know, but I started on a music master and that was cool. I mean, yeah, just the, the paint and the case and the way they smelled and the whole persona and advertisements that Fender, it was like a whole nother generation of, of swinging.
Tim Caple
Was it Christmas present or a birthday present or just because you were a talented musician that you got it?
Eric
Well, I just hounded my dad to go to JRE Music Company downtown Austin and say, I want to buy a guitar. And so he finally relented.
Tim Caple
and the first song that you learned to play, Cheating Heart by Hank Williams.
Eric
Yeah, that was before I got the guitar. My dad took me over to a friend's house. It was the first time I ever got to even pick up a guitar. And he had a Stella acoustic and he was teaching me, you're cheating heart. Yeah.
Tim Caple
Now, like so many kids you used to sneak out of the house when nobody was looking, when you were in your teenage years, down to the Jade Room on a Tuesday night to sit in there and just stay out of the way of everybody to just watch live music
Eric
it was great. There was a guitar player named Johnny Richardson and he was great. I owe a lot to him on learning to play guitar. I don't think if he knew it, but I'd go down there Tuesday night and hear him play in this band and just marvel at his playing. He's one of the best players in Austin. yeah, I was just, you know, I was 14 years old, but the club would let me in if I'd just stay in the back, you know, and just like, you know, listen.
Eric
They didn't want me up at the bar dancing with all the older women, I guess. I don't know.
Tim Caple
Literally within 12 months, you're already in a band, Mariani it was at the time, and you end up jamming and hanging out with Johnny Winter. I mean, most kids would have been so starstruck, they wouldn't have been able to actually speak or pick an instrument up, but you're up there jamming together
Eric
Well, that was a big holiday for me getting to meet him. Yeah, it was great. And I had seen him play live before. He was amazing, amazing. You know, when he first came out, he was so raw blues, too. He played just a guitar straight in the amp and sang, and it was just very, very different for the time.
Tim Caple
And what was it he said about you? he said, when I heard him play when he was 16 years of age, this is him talking about you, I wished I'd been able to play like that when I was his age.
for somebody of his stature to say that must have made you feel like you're walking on air.
Eric
It was a great night for me when I got to meet him. He played my guitar and stuff and I was like, this is pretty cool.
Tim Caple
When you think about it, you're one of the hottest talents around. You're written about. everybody had heard about you everybody knows who you are. This is the era without social media as well. So you're having to do extraordinary things to get into magazines, on radio and television did the fact that you were...
likened by so many people to a young Jeff Beck or a young Johnny Winter did that intimidate you at all or did you just feed off of it?
Eric
Well, I think you go through a period where you kind of live in your own legacy. You're like, I'm this, I'm that. And then all of a sudden, if you're lucky, you get that whole thing cracked in half and busted, and realize, wow, what the heck was I thinking? It's OK to be confident. You've got to believe in yourself. You've got to love yourself. That's the compass by which we perform in life
You know, like if I come, look at this thing I'm doing, that, this is cool. Nobody else done this. And then all of a sudden I'll hear somebody, not only have they done it, did it 30 years ago, yet twice as good as I did. And that's the reality it's just whether you want to live in reality or live in your comfortable bubble, you know? And that's pretty limiting, you know? And at some point, if you can break that, you remain a student. You remain...
childlike not childish but childlike and a student and I think it's essential no matter what job you do, no matter what you do, you know, it's really, it's the best place to be because you open your eyes and you're seeing what reality really is instead of having to go and retreat into this thing, you know.
Tim Caple
You worked as a session player with some real A-list talent, Cat Stevens, Carole King, Christopher Cross. How did that enhance your musical education at the time? Or were you viewing it as just something that you had to do?
Eric
No, it was great I've always loved, you know, like you were mentioning, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel, Bert Jantsch and Stevie Wonder, of course, the songwriters. I mean, there's such a list of people that just write great songs. So working with Chris or Carol or Cat, I was able to
observe great songwriters. And that was huge for me. I remember sitting around once when Carol started just playing piano by herself and she went through all these tunes and they were all like number one hits. was like, wow, did you write that? And wrote like 50 number one hits that a lot of them she never did herself. She wrote for so many other people,
Eric
And she'd do this song and go, oh wow, I remember that. And every time, just over and over again, it's like she wrote them all. I was like, I didn't know you wrote that, you know? It's amazing, you know? But I mean, yeah, so it was great to be a fly on the wall and see people like that. And it's fun to, I enjoy backing other people up. I actually enjoy it. think it's not a matter of wanting to be centre stage, but.
you want to feel like you're being utilized, you so at one point I felt like, I guess I'll just go study guitar and do my own thing, you know, and try to learn more, you know?
Tim Caple
So that brings us to G3. How did your involvement in the original line-up back in 96 come about? Because it was a very different concept at the time.
Eric
Well, Joe called and just, I had done a couple of tours with Joe, warming up for him on US tours. So I knew Joe a little bit and he calls and, hey, I'm thinking about doing this thing with three guitar players, Steve and you and me, and we'll do this combined thing. I thought, well, that's cool. So yeah, we did like three tours together, the original lineup, I think. And made a record. Yeah.
Tim Caple (21:56.112)
I remember him saying part of the reason why he put it together was when he first started out in the music business, he thought that it would be fabulous. You'd do a record, then you'd go out on tour, and then at end of the night, you'd all sit down and swap stories and talk guitar. The reality was completely different. You'd do a record, you'd go out on tour, you'd finish the gig.
You'd sit in your hotel room on your own, you'd be talking to nobody, and it was a very solitary existence. And so this was part of it, to get together with friends so there could be a camaraderie that brewed between the three of you.
Eric
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I think so. think you're right. And people like seeing that. They like seeing that language and that communication between people. know, when you go see, you know, when you used to, I remember seeing like Pat Metheny with Lyle Mays, know, playing counterpoint piano is so beautiful there's that thing that happens when you get more than one person focused on.
Eric
And I think it's really admirable of Joe. Joe has consistently put himself with other guitar players that, you know, he's very secure in his playing. He's a great player. He has every reason to be secure. But a lot of players maybe would not want to just jump in and have all these other guys that are really good, you know, like that he's done over all the years, you know. But he's cool with that. And I think that that and people appreciate that. I think they feel that.
Eric
and like hearing that.
Tim Caple
And so many of these super groups, if you want to call it a super group, will be put together. will, if you're lucky, they'll last a tour and an album and then it will be musical differences they fall out and split up but it has never happened with G3 you seem to feed off each other's genius.
Eric
Well, yeah, we're inspired by each other and it's nice to listen to those guys and hear stuff that, wow, that's cool, maybe I can learn that. It's nice just to be in that atmosphere where you're being inspired and stimulated and that kind of
Tim Caple
And so, as said, you've been together before two, three times then. And was this just a question of you picking out the phone? And then you say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be there. And you walking into the room, plugging in, and you pick up where you left off. Is it that easy to do when the three of you get together?
Eric
Well, not quite. mean, Joe said he wanted to do a couple of dates. We were going to do a few dates. I think he wanted to film, and his son Zizi, who's a cinematographer in Los Angeles, does really well with it. They wanted to make a documentary of the original G3. And so we were going to do a couple of dates. And then the couple of dates turned into a three-week tour. And that's how that happened. But we did get together. We decided what
things we do for the encore and we all try to design our set around what people might like for that that would come to that show.
Eric Johnson in full can be watched on the website or via YouTube or Facebook
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