LARRY LALONDE

Joe Satriani’s other students Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett are better-known, but Satch also taught Primus’s Larry LaLonde a thing or two back in the day. Unusually for a rock band, LaLonde’s formidable, catholic guitar skills have always played second fiddle to the bass of Primus linchpin Les Claypool. “It forces you to be more of a textural player,” LaLonde told Guitar World. “You end up trying to find holes to fit in. It definitely takes away from being a traditional rock player, but it can be pretty inspiring too.”

LaLonde’s left-field aesthetic is a many-headed beast: impressionistic, Hendrixian salvos, avantgarde, Fripp-like arpeggios, fleet-fingered, surfy psych-blues and more come at you filtered through imaginative tones. His oblique approach is as valuable as it is inimitable. As with Vernon Reid or Tom Morello, you’re never sure what he’s going to do next. GM

Listen to this: Tommy The Cat (Primus, Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, 1991)