The song was performed during his famous “Strange Beautiful Tour” (Satriani.Com 1) in the year 2002. Here in this performance he is seen in slightly different mood and amidst a different set up as compared to his other concerts. He is seated with his guitar with a microphone set in front of him. Joe Satriani sings and simultaneously plays the guitar with as much equal ease as he would play breathtakingly soulful and extremely complicated guitar portions. He uses a slightly different guitar tone in this song compared to the original recording.
This tone as it sounded has less dominance of the chorus effect and the clean tone. It is a more natural sounding tone with which he begins the piece, playing the signature line of the song. The song has other artists backing it up with drums, bass-guitar, keyboard and backing-guitar. The refreshing sound of a dominant bass guitar adds to the magic of the overall performance. The bass guitar is played in a different style with more drag and delay in its tone, relaxing the temperament of the song and giving it a laidback and peaceful sound.
The experience of having Joe Satriani perform one of his most popular songs and that to this particular composition: “I Believe” was indeed a rare and memorable experience. . Acclaimed for his innovative “picking” through the plectrum strokes and delicate yet clean fret-board finger movements, he shows his impeccable timing and variation in his playing style based on the mood of the song. After the completion two bars (as in the recording) Joe accompanies his guitar with his voice as well.
Indeed playing a complex riff whose notations and track timings do not synchronise with the metronome strokes of a four-by-four beat, and singing simultaneous requires mastery over both art forms. Joe good at both makes it look effortless as he proceeds to the short 1-bar interlude where he plays produces the octave effect by stroking the 1st and 5th string of the guitar simultaneously and gliding his fingers over the fret board. He manages the vocal part and the guitar riffs in a very clean and effortless style, switching back and forth from playing to singing and guitar accompaniment and vice versa.
The chords that he plays in the main portion of the song: “I believe, there’s a reason for everything; I believe we can change” reveal the basic chord progression of the piece and sound unique and innovative. Joe makes the performance even more interesting by playing an impromptu guitar solo in between that had slight similarities with the original interlude guitar solo. The drums only enter after the first eight lines, i.e. at the end of “There’s just no other place”. The combined sound of Joe’s guitar (with delay and chorus effects), the low whining base guitar and the drums was wonderful.
Joe’s deep sense of music, his aesthetic thinking and creativity are yet again reflected through his unique solo. He deviates from the original composition for the interlude, but weaves a well rounded,
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