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the players 
the bridge
Alex Skolnick
My Fellow Astronauts
Alex Skolnick
1997 — Attention Deficit
Prove You’re Not A Robot (2026)
((( >>> )))
Alex Skolnick Trio
“Lazy” (2020)
Alex Skolnick (guitar) wiki
Nathan Peck (bass)
Matt Zebroski (drums)
Testament (LIVE IN LONDON 2005)
Planetary Coalition
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Metal Allegiance
SAVATAGE (STORY)*
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Ozzy Osbourne
Frank Zappa (Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar)
Larry Coryell
Moods & Modes
On his popular podcast, Moods & Modes, Alex takes his listeners (viewers) on an enjoyable ride. Meeting the people, seeing the places, and experiencing the Art & Cultures around World, or as he calls it in his Planetary Coalition, ISLAND IN THE SKY.
LIFE ON THE ROAD with one of the World’s finest, Electric Jazz guitar players, or Metal Shredder, if you prefer.
Also visit Alex at his home in Brooklyn, New York, where Moods & Modes began in 2020, during the depths of the Covid.
“Manhattan”
Eric Johnson
1996 — G3 LIVE
w/ Joe Satriani* / Steve Vai
((( >>> )))
— yZ.
[ELECTRIC GUITAR]
SEPTEMBER 30, 2025
“Up From The Skies” — Alex Skolnick* invited friend Vernon Reid* to play the Jimi Hendrix’ Axis Bold As Love song, to close the show, Skolnick played to announce the release of his new record, Prove You’re Not A Robot (2025)
QUEENSBORO BRIDGE / BERNARD FOWLER*
Crossing into Manhattan at 58th Street
Moods & Modes*
Episode #47
A friendly conversation with the original G3
In the first episode (#47) of 2024, Alex welcomed to his podcast (Moods & Modes) a trio of guests who are among the most important and influential players of the electric guitar:
Joe Satriani*
Steve Vai*
Eric Johnson*
The three are the original lineup of the iconic G3, a tour organized in 1996 by Satriani, that over time has featured legendary players like Steve Morse, Robert Fripp, Ynwgie Malmsteen, Phil Collen, and many more. Ahead of their 2024 (reunion) tour, the original three sat down with Alex to discuss the origins of G3, what they’ve learned from the experience of performing together, and weigh in on how to keep egos in check when playing alongside fellow giants. They commiserate over growth moments that resulted from musical projects created during the pandemic, and do a deep dive into the equipment they’re using, from string gauges to amp modelers.
Conceived in 1995 by Satriani, the inaugural G3 Tour took place in 1996, bringing together three of the most iconic and virtuosic guitarists of their time: Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Steve Vai. Known for their incredible technical prowess, musical innovation, and individual styles, the guitarists’ G3 tour was a celebration of the instrument, and proved extremely popular, captivating audiences worldwide.
Though the line-up continually changed over the 29 years since its inception, Satriani re-united the original trio in 2024 to celebrate G3. The tour began January 23 in Tucson, AZ, and hit eleven cities before winding up with a pair of shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, CA.
Brooklyn Guitar Festival (2006)
f/ AL DI MEOLA*
VERNON REID*
ALEX SKOLNICK*
Alex Skolnick, recently acquired Chuck Wayne’s historic 1949 D’Angelico Excel archtop guitar on a one-year loan.
“Western Sabbath Stomp”
Alex Skolnick
2007 — Last Day of Paradise
Straight Ahead Black & Blues
((( >>> )))
“Island In The Sky”
GEEK TO GUITAR GOD*
After successfully leading his first (Thrash Metal) band Testament to international acclaim, Alex Skolnick, at 25, entered New School University in New York City. While studying Philosophy and Creative Writing, he also earned a BFA in Jazz Performance, and made the Dean’s List, to his academic parents’ pleasure. Both BC Berkeley professors, Alex’ mother and father were less pleased with their son’s earlier decision (while still in high school) to pursue his career as Rock N Roll guitar player.
“Dream On”
Alex Skolnick
2025 — Vienna @ Porgy & Bess Music and Jazz Club.
((( >>> )))
Voyager
THE GOLDEN RECORD
1977 — Cosmic Message In A Bottle.
Contact (Novel) 1985
Contact (Movie) 1997
PLANET EARTH (PLAYLIST)
When Carl Sagan created Sounds of Earth, a playlist to send into outer space aboard Voyager, NASA’s exploratory satellite, hoping it would be discovered by Extraterrestrials.
In it’s two hours of audio chosen to represent the sounds of Earth, Sagan selected Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” (1958) as the sound to represent Rock N Roll.
Cool#9
Joe Satriani
Save Pluto
ALEX SKOLNICK INFLUENCES:
SHOWS
Kiss
(10 years old, with older brother)
Weather Report @ at Yoshi’s (Seattle)
Eddie Van Halen
Jeff Beck
Jimi Hendrix
Eric Clapton
Johnny Winter
Randy Rhoads
Michael Schenker
Yngwie Malmsteen
Scorpions.
“Trump Sucks”
Alex Skolnick
2020 — A song written (improvised) in a few hours, while sheltered at home in Brooklyn during the Covid 19 pandemic.
((( >>> )))
ZOOM
Starting in 2020, when playing live was out of the pandemic question, many musicians, including Alex, took to steaming their time spent at home, writing, practicing, and talking (like a DJ [or VJ] would) from their homes. Trump Sucks was the result of Alex’ new creative environment at the time.
At first, the “new” way of communicating remotely grew out of necessity, but after the virus crisis, many kept, and often increased what they produced online, and with the use of social media. Podcasts, Instagram, Reddit, or whatever digital platform became popular.
“B.I.G. L.I.E.”
Alex Skolnick
W/ HU$H MONEY
2020 —
((( >>> )))
“Nitroglycerin”
Alex Skolnick
w/ Alphonse Mouzon
2013 — Anaheim, California @ NAMM
((( >>> )))
—yZ.
JIMI HENDRIX
PRINCE
YARDBIRDS
A Lighter Shade of Blue
1992 — The Ritual
1993 —
1994 — Savatage
Handful of Rain
Japan Live ’94
Thonk
w/ Michael Manring
1995 —
1996 — Tupac Shakur
1997 — The Skol-Patrol
Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls)
1998 — Attention Deficit
1999 —
2000 —
2001 — The Idiot King
TESTAMENT
First Strike Still Deadly
360° — Straight-Ahead Turn
2002 — Goodbye to Romance: Standards for a New Generation
Adventures of Stratospheerius
w/ Stratospheerius
2003 —
2004 — Stratospheerius
Live Wires
THE ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO
Transmormation
LAMB OF GOD
Ashes of the Wake
2005 — Numbers from the Beast
An All Star Salute to Iron Maiden
“Wrathchild”
Ofri Eliaz
Ya salio de la mar – Ladino Songs
2006 —
2007 — THE ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO
Last Day In Paradise
2008 — TESTAMENT
The Formation of Damnation
2009 — Chair In The Doorway (Living Colour*)
2010 —
2011 — The Alex Skolnick Trio
Veritas
2012 — TESTAMENT
Dark Roots of Earth
San Francisco Bay Area — Alex started playing guitar when he was nine years old, and put together his first band, Testament, when he was 18. When asked, he’s quick to say who and what influenced his style of play. Considering how eclectic his taste has always been, his evolution from a Thrash Metal shredder, to a Straight-Ahead, hollow-body, Jazz “cat” isn’t a surprise. And that he’s still shredding today shouldn’t be either.
2013 — w/Alphonse Mouzon
2014 — PLANETARY COALITION
2015 — METAL ALLEGIANCE
2016 — TESTAMENT
Brotherhood of the Snake
2018 — The Alex Skolnick Trio
Conundrum
2019 —
Titans of Creation
Azusa
Loop Of Yesterdays
Savatage
Metallica
Megadeath
Anthrax
Slayer
Deep Purple
Black Sabbath
“Western Sabbath Stomp”
Kiss (Ten years old, first concert with older brother)
Weather Report (Most Memorable Show at Yoshi’s Seattle)
Stu Hamm
Jonathan Mover
Joe Satriani (teacher)
Alex Skolnick
Armand Sabal-lecco
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke Live 1976-1977 (w/Ray Gomez)
Yellowjackets w/Robben Ford/ Jimmy Haslip
Jeff Lorber Fusion (1980) w/Kenny G
“Black Dog”
Larry Coryell
2005 — Electric
((( >>> )))
“Runnin’ With The Devil”
Van Halen
1978 — Van Halen
((( >>> )))
Alex Skolnick: “Going from metal to jazz is like going from tackle football to figure skating”
Testament legend Alex Skolnick on discovering his inner jazz cat, different rigs for different moods and the influence of Eddie Van Halen.
By Joe Bosso
November 20, 2020
As has been the case with every working musician on the planet, Alex Skolnick’s gigging schedule came to an immediate halt when the COVID pandemic hit last spring. Since then, the guitar virtuoso has staying close to his home in Brooklyn, but he’s hardly been staring at the walls.
“In a weird way, I’ve been busier than ever,” he says. “When you adhere to the strict kind of touring that I usually do, your schedule is more of less planned out for you – you’re traveling to a show, playing the show, then heading to the next one. There’s not a lot of time for much. Being home for much of this year has forced me to explore new avenues of creativity, and I’m really enjoying it.”
Skolnick has taken part in “quarantine-style” recordings with his pals Charlie Benante and Ra Diaz – the three recently tracked a crackling version of Rush’s YYZ from separate locations. He’s also hooked up with the Patreon membership platform; on his Skol Team page, users can access performances and tutorials that aren’t available to the general public. And he’s now a fully fledged podcaster: on his ‘Moods & Modes’ talker is a highly entertaining, freewheeling music commentary show that has been a consistent audience favourite since it debuted over the summer.
In addition, he’s performed a few live streamed jazz gigs at Brooklyn’s ShapeShifter Lab. Since the mid-90s, jazz has been Skolnick’s passion – even while maintaining membership in the Bay Area-based metal titans Testament, he’s pursued a dual career as leader of his own jazz-oriented group, the Alex Skolnick Trio. Over the years, the outfit (which also includes drummer Matt Zebroski and bassist Nathan Peck) have toured the world and have released a string of stellar recording.
“At this point, I think of myself as an all-around guitarist, or maybe I should say I’m an improvisational player, because jazz can be such a loaded term,” he says. “Some guitarists are happy to categorise themselves – blues guitarist, country guitarist, metal guitarist, whatever – but for myself, it feels limiting. I’ve always wanted a career that reflects my listening tastes, which includes metal, jazz and a lot of music that is unclassifiable.”
He thinks, then adds, “A good part of me is eyeing the rest of my career – I won’t be the guy with his foot on the monitor; I’ll be the older guy playing in a chair. But that doesn’t mean I won’t ever play with a distortion pedal. I like doing it all.”
Geek to Guitar Hero
Alex’ memoir was written in 2013, and tells a story of a guitar player who’s come to many more than one crossroads, and in his travels, he has taken many. Thrash Metal to Straight-Ahead Jazz. He’s played, and still plays it all.
Alex is an awkward, introverted child growing up in 1970s Berkeley, California – a confusing vortex of shifting values, rampant drug use and social confusion. Misunderstood by his family and taunted mercilessly by classmates, he suffers from a paralyzing lack of confidence and low self-esteem. His existence is made tolerable when he discovers a superhero-like rock band, KISS, which inspires him to learn the guitar. While in high school, he auditions for Legacy – a group of hard partying, working class, twenty-something metal heads from the East Bay suburbs. After recording his first album with the group at age eighteen, he defies his Ivy League parents’ rigid academic expectations by forgoing college and hitting the road with the metal bands that were defining a new, more aggressive brand of Rock N Roll: Slayer, Megadeth, White Zombie, and Judas Priest.
As his own band, now known as Testament, rises through the ranks of thrash metal, the world begins to take notice of the young guitar prodigy who, despite being fawned over by autograph-seeking metal heads, guitar fanatics, and adoring female fans, still feels the pain, awkwardness and ghosts of his past. Soon, a blooming interest in jazz and literature reshapes his values and strengthens his musicianship, bringing further accolades from fans and media but causing resistance and tension from within his inner circle. These experiences cause a realization to unfold: that the scene in which he had first sought his freedom and self-identity is fraught with its own perilous limitations, while the education he’d so fiercely resisted from his family can be invaluable when sought on one’s own terms..
Geek to Guitar Hero
A surprisingly personal book about his evolution from pained adolescent to one of the most remarkable guitarists in hard rock history. Alex Skolnick holds nothing back in this excellent memoir that describes the passions, pleasures and pains of being a professional musician.”
– Brad Tolinski, Editor-In-Chief Guitar World Magazine”
Alex Skolnick’s journey from introverted outcast in hippie country to metal/jazz/any style guitar virtuoso is singularly awesome. The Bay Area metal scene comes alive in these pages, from teenage Skolnick’s guitar lessons with the legendary Joe Satriani to all manner of war stores with Testament. Written entirely by Skolnick, the man’s humble yet confident, sensitive and opinionated observance of life shines through like a well placed note on the high E string.”
– Anthony Bozza, author of four New York Times bestsellers including Whatever you say I am: The Life and Times of Eminem and Slash, co-written with Slash; writer and editor for Rolling Stone
If every child of sixties Berkeley Jewish intellectuals quit playing piano after a brief period of frustrating lessons, Alex Skolnick might not be the guitarist he is. After deemed to never be a musician by his critical parents, Alex turned fate on its ear to end up not just a prodigy metal guitarist, but one of the world’s most agile rock/jazz virtuosos. Alex’ memoir wouldn’t be the inspiring read that it is if he hadn’t. Here is an honest, raw, articulate story of a life whose problems were forged in the crucible of music into something triumphant.”
– Bradford Morrow, author of The Diviner’s Tale and The Uninnocent
If you come to Alex Skolnick’s memoirs simply expecting the thrash-metal version of Motley Crüe’s ‘The Dirt,’ you’re going to be challenged. Skolnick is a searching, opinionated, and fearless thinker. He opens up the Bay Area 80’s metal scene, shedding light on Metallica and Megadeth and crystallizing the strange moment when major labels were willing to risk money on burnouts pushing the boundaries of speed. Besides, no one in Crüe to my knowledge ever made love to a woman on a bowling-ball return machine.”
– Ned Vizzini, author of It’s Kind of a Funny Story and The Other Normals
Alex Skolnick became the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Testament at age 16. He was the band’s youngest member, and by the time he was 18, they had their first record deal. By age 19, he was touring the world. Today, naturally, he fronts a titular jazz trio. He tells the wild tales of his transition to jazz in his new biography, Geek to Guitar Hero, which he wrote without a co-author. About the book’s title: Onstage, Skolnick shreds with confidence. Offstage, he has struggled his whole life with feeling out of place and socially awkward. Alex Skolnick, revered the world over as one of the greatest living guitar players, is painfully shy….Skolnick’s choice not to work with a co-writer is similar both to his independent pursuit of guitar and to his entry into the jazz world…. There might be writers who look at a guitarist who writes his own book with a jaundiced eye. However, Skolnick’s words are eloquent and insightful—and frequently entertaining. Geek is an engaging read, and, in the context of the author’s dutiful, DIY personality, it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense that he chose not to use a co-writer. The story is his, after all. And for someone who has battled insecurities for as long as he can remember, it’s fearless.”
– The Village Voice, December 2012
Born of brilliant left-leaning academics into a family fraught with parental inhibition and sibling rivalry, and coming of age amidst the “social experiment gone amuck” that was ’70s-era Berkeley, California, the precocious Master Skolnick negotiated a perilous trajectory culminating in redemption by guitar and a revelatory induction into the Kiss Army. That experience, his subsequent ascension to teen maestro in Testament, and related adventures are detailed in this engaging memoir—including milestones such as the guitarist’s discovery of Miles and Coltrane, and his disillusionment with the music business. Personal photos, pithy pronouncements, and behind-the-scenes disclosures provide context, fun, and occasional titillation.”
– Barry Cleveland, Associate Editor Guitar Player Magazine
Those guitarists who Alex cites as having been influential are as eclectic as he is. Early on, with his brother, he was attracted to Kiss, and then Eddie Van Halen, as expected. He started taking lessons with Joe Satriani when he was 14, and two years later he started his own Thrash Metal band, TESTAMENT, and established himself alongside ANTHRAX, MEGADEATH, SLAYER, and METALLICA.
January 17, 2013 — Alex played a Planetary Coalition set at the release of his “Geek to Guitar God” book at Tammany Hall in New York City.
— yZ.
Los Angeles
Bill Hicks (Rodney King / LA Riots)
SUNSET STRIP
EAST v WEST
BIGGIE SMALLS
TUPAC SHAKUR
DECLINE OF THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION
GUNS N ROSES
METALLICA
ANTHRAX
TESTAMENT