Friends (Joe Satriani song)

"Friends" is the first track on the 1992 album The Extremist

The Extremist

The Extremist is an instrumental rock album released by Joe Satriani in 1992 and re-released in 1997 with his entire Epic Records catalog....

by American guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani

Joseph "Joe" Satriani is an American instrumental rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, with multiple Grammy Award nominations...

. The track, noted for its anthemic style is notable for the use of the harmonics technique by Satriani.

The chord progression is generally I-IV-V pattern (with the exception of the bridge sections) in the key of D (occasionally D flat when played live), with heavy use of power chords in the accompaniment. Satriani performs the track using a drop D

Drop D tuning

Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...

and when performing the track live most often uses a different guitar.

In a GftPM magazine interview, Satriani states that he originally composed the song on bass guitar while looking through a book of photographs of smiling children.