The legendary Jennifer Batten, guitarist famously known for her eight finger tapping technique, speed, 
dexterity and amazing accuracy, took some time to talk with Rock Revolt after a two month European tour. In 1987, she was selected from hundreds of performers to play lead guitar for Michael Jackson at a time when female lead guitarists were virtually unheard of especially with her skill level. Jennifer in fact got the biggest gig in the world. Jennifer Batten with Michael Jackson performed for largest audience in television history at the 1993 Super bowl which aired in 80 nations to 1.5 billion people. But her story gets better. She was then invited by Jeff Beck to join his band and to work on an album.
Jennifer 
Batten latest solo effort Whatever (2008) is her third studio album along with a DVD of instructional footage. Jennifer Batten’s earlier days of performance she was fast and furious; nowadays she has slowed down her style being more specific about which notes to play. Jennifer’s current musical endeavors include touring, teaching guitar and doing workshops, an upcoming European tour with Steve Hamm (Joe Satriani) and Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa, Allan Holdsworth), and a possible Michael Jackson tribute show in China.
How was the tour in Europe?
It was too long. It was two months. I like to be out 30 days. I’m happy to work every single day and come home but two months is pressing it these days!
What was the tour like this time around?
There were some workshops. I had to do a photo film show and play with various bands.
You played 2013 Monsters of Rock in Portland, Oregon?
Yeah, that was a benefit, and they asked me to play 4 Jeff Beck songs.
Watch Jennifer Batten at the 2013 Monsters of Rock in Portland, Oregon:
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What’s so interesting about you is that you have played for two of greatest performers in the world and they invited you to play with them. And that’s pretty amazing!
Yeah! I have been pretty goddamn lucky! That’s for sure.
What like being a woman breaking into this male dominated art form back then?
Well, there have been some real haters along the way as I got success especially with the Michael Jackson thing. There were a lot of haters because it was the biggest gig in the world. They were jealous. You know, everyone wants the good gig. But there was nothing like what I got with Jeff Beck. I mean that was the ultimate guitar gig so… I heard things back from time to time. I didn’t really hang out with too many guitar players so it kept the jealous energy down to a minimum. But just the fact that Michael and Jeff hired me is a big sign of a big change a foot. Actually back in 1987 when I got the Jackson gig, I thought the change was going to happen then and women would be coming out of the woodwork and it didn’t happen. It just begun to happen in the last couple of years with the internet with some 17 or 18 year old girls.
After Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck invited you to play with him.
That was a dream-come-true. I have been a fan since I was 13-14 and they were playing the Blow by Blow album on the radio which would never happen these days. I’m not quite sure how it slipped in back then too because it’s an instrumental record, and it was playing on black radio. But I became obsessed with his playing, and I learned every solo on the records. I really followed him. I was just a fan. I just wanted an autograph. The second tour, the Dangerous tour, I made it my business to track him down and invite him to a show, and at that point I had two solo records out. After I gave him my first solo record which ….wait a minute…I’m getting confused. I must have given him that on the Dangerous Tour. Anyway, a couple of months after I gave him my first record, I received a phone call from him that he had a chance to listen to it properly and to do a record together which just completely blew my mind because it wasn’t even in my thoughts or it wasn’t a dream I had. In part because he never played with another guitar player since Jimmy Page in the 60’s. He always had keyboard players so I jumped into the synthesizer world. He was totally fine having a guitar player but I thought, “There is no way I can cover these sounds with just guitar sounds.” So I jumped into synthesizer world and that was at least half of what I did every night was synthesizer pads taking over the likes of monsters like Max Middleton and Tony Hymas. It was pretty goddamn daunting but he was very accommodating and appreciative of the time that I put in, and he was a real gas to hang out with, a really funny guy. We toured together for years. It was a good way to get to know him obviously being in the band and hours and hours on the bus. We still keep in touch. He’s really fun.
You went from Michael Jackson who was amazing pop to Jeff who is intense, intricate guitar instrumental music. He’s like you… more sophisticated musicianship. You got a better gig going from Michael Jackson to Jeff Beck.
Yeah right! It was like going from a theater production and the focus about Michael’s thing was about groove. And I learned a lot from playing with guys like Ricky Lawson and Greg Phillinganes at the top of the groove game.
Then going to Jeff’s I had a thousand times more responsibility. I was the harmony. It was all up to me. So if I screwed up it was pretty obvious.
You had more of a creative role with Jeff Beck.
A lot more pressure and a lot more creativity because his gig is about improvs. He thrives on having things different every night and it was just the opposite with Michael. He expected it to be the same every night. Both of them were serious growing periods in vastly different ways.
You got your first guitar when you were 8, and you wanted a guitar because your sister had one, correct?
Yes, I was extremely jealous.
Does your sister play anymore? Do you jam together?
No, she’s a book editor. She’s gone complete left-brain.
I listened to your stuff when you young and compared it to your sound now. You were really fast: you were into speed and a lot of notes, fast, accurate playing, and now you’re more mellow.
Yeah, that’s a fortunate change that happens with a lot of people. Early on, you want to prove yourself – I know I was! Like on “Flight of the Bumblebee” on the first record. I was surrounded by men you know in the Yngwie days. After a while, I think you just go for more meaning over chops.
I watched your video for ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’. How did you sit and have all those bumble bees land on you? You’re so brave!
Oh yes, but there is a trick to it. You have to take the queen bee away from the hive because that is what makes them defensive. If there is no queen around and also he put synthetic queen serum drops on me. So they thought I was the queen so they are not going to kick the queen’s ass basically. It was a mental slight of hand. With all that said and done, anytime a bee is trapped it’s going to sting. There was a bee that got caught in my pant leg, and it was all over and boom I got nailed. But considering there were about 150 thousand bees, one sting ain’t bad. Trying to sell records, right? Everybody needs a way to get attention when you’re trying to break out in the scene.
Watch video for ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’
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How many guitars do you have?
I’m not a collector. I have under 10, and I play 2 or 3.
The last couple years I have been working on a guitar. I call it the “Franken-strat” because the body and electronics are a Line 6 Variax guitar. That’s probably the highest technology there is right now. It’s got a lot of modern sounds inside of her, virtual sounds, so it can be a Strat or a Les Paul or a Telecaster, and it also has a sitar sound and a banjo in the third row. You can even change tunings with a switch of a dial. But that’s all I liked on it so I changed everything else the tuners, pick-ups, everything.
Are you building it?
No, I take it to a dealer with different ideas and parts. I played a Washburn guitar for about 15 years which I loved, and it got stolen. I got it back, but then I decided to retire it because it’s got the mojo from many, many years of playing. I’m keeping it safe in the house and then experimenting with this new guitar.
What amps are you currently using?
At the moment it’s Quilter Tone Block 200. The guy who built them is Patrick Quilter and he’s behind QSC power amps that you’ll see anywhere around the world. It’s one of the most popular power amps for PA’s.
They came up with a brilliant thing that I have been packing in my luggage. It’s a 4 pound, 200 watt power amp. It’s just awesome. So I took my Digitech processor with all my sounds in it and that power amp and I throw them it in my suitcase. That is what I have been using for a couple of years now.
Is your latest work the CD/DVD “Whatever”?
Yeah it is. It came out in 2008. That’s when the world crashed and digital changed the whole record scene. It just doesn’t make sense to put money into a record anymore when everybody can get it for free. So you’ll never be paid in a million years.
So the last couple of years, it put my energy into doing instructional DVD’s.
Anything in the works in the near future?
Well, I’m still doing instructional DVD’s. Two of them are out. I’ll be doing another one in March and another one in April. And it’s all different. The first course I did on rhythm and then a course on lead. The newest one coming out in the next couple of months is in a series called 50 Licks and I chose to do wide intervallic licks so it’s a bit on the athletic side. It’s really fresh sounding stuff.
Then the next one we’re doing a series that I’m really excited about is called 30 Licks, but it’s based on other players. So I’m going to do a 30 Jeff Beck Licks.
You know, I got my feet in a lot of different projects and honestly, until something pops I don’t even want to talk about it. I have a lot of things on the verge of happening.
The most exciting thing coming up is I will be playing with Stu Hamm and Chad Wackerman in March in Europe. That’s some high level playing so I’ll be spending the winter working on those tunes. Stuart Hamm is best known for playing with Joe Satriani as his bass player. He has a great two-hand tap style that he uses. Chad Wackerman is probably best known for playing with Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth.
We are going to be doing material from all our CD’s so it’s going to be a huge variety of music because our styles are very different.
What are you thinking about playing?
One of the ones I think about playing is called ‘You Ain’t Nothing Like A Fast Car’ which is a fast shuffle, kinda like ZZ Top on crack. I also want to do a ballad called ‘In the Aftermath’ that I like to play. I like the chord changes in that; they’re pretty groovy. There is going to be another guitar player that is going to be playing a MIDI guitar. He’s Italian, and we are going to start out in Italy. His name is Nazzareno Zacconi. Then probably Germany, you know the main markets.
Watch Jennifer Batten perform ‘You Ain’t Nothing Like A Fast Car’
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So, I have to ask you more about Michael Jackson. Were you guys close?
No. There were 100 people in the entourage. We only saw him at shows or at special events.
How were able to play with Michael Jackson dancing in front of you?
I had 2 different mic sets. When I was playing I really had to concentrate on what I was doing as well as what the choreographer told me what to do, you know, being in my place and doing this or that. But it really changed after ‘Billie Jean’ when I didn’t have to play anything and I can just stand there and watch him dance when it was just him and the drums. That was always such a joy every night. But when I’m playing you’re totally engaged in the left brain. So it was like 2 different worlds in the same show.
I saw on your website that you have a very nice tribute page for Michael Jackson. What do you think happened?
It was extortion. It is so obvious especially from Frank Cascio’s book (My Friend Michael, 2011) because he spent so much time with him. It just makes it clearer than ever. And there is no money in his innocence, and the press is extremely powerful. They just copy and paste from each other and it gets in all the papers. Millions of people will not be convinced. It’s just a real, nasty dark side of what journalism can do.
Do you know who Frank Cascio is?
No, I never heard of him.
Frank Cascio a guy that met Michael Jackson when he was 4 years old. Michael befriended his father. His father was 
taking care of him in the hotels in New York. He grew up with him. Michael used to go out there for holidays and whatever so they were lifelong friends. And then Frank ended up working for him for a number of years. In 2011 he came out with a book. It’s the most in detail look at Michael’s life you will ever get.
It sounds very interesting.
It’s fantastic. He knew more about Michael than I ever knew working with him for 10 years.
The whole world loved him and he wrote some songs that really united the people. I could imagine, like you suggested on your website, that these tabloids gave these questionable people thousands of dollars to lie about Michael Jackson so they could write an article. I would think that some of his songs you know like “They Don’t Really Care About Us” would possibly make some governments concerned.
As a matter of fact, “They Don’t Really Care About Us”… There is a possibility that I’ll be going to China with a Jackson tribute show and there is no way we can play that song there. So we have to streamline and take out any controversial lyrics out of the show.
Wow! Why is that?
It’s not a democracy, and they control everything. They are not going to want something that can stir people up especially at this time.
What do you think Michael Jackson liked about you? Why do you think he picked you?
It’s only a guess, because I never talked to him about it, but obviously my chops, and I knew the ‘Beat it’ solo. I was really into tapping at that time so a lot of what I improvised was tapping and that was pretty new to everybody at that time. There was a little bit at the end of the audition when I had to talk to the camera and reveal a little bit of my personality. God only knows what I said! I’m sure it wasn’t all that intelligent. But he must have picked up a vibe from that as well.
Wow! What an amazing career! Thank you Jennifer for keeping us updated on what you’re doing!
Connect with Jennifer Batten at the links below!
FACEBOOK | WEBPAGE
Interview November 26, 2014 by Jen Rubino, Rock Revolt Writer
