YOU may have never heard his name but chances are a Peter Northcote riff has entered your brain, often long outstaying its welcome.

Describing himself as "Australia's most recorded guitarist", the 47-year-old Northcote has performed with a range of Australian artists. He has also played in "just about every KFC and McDonald's ad since 1985" and has recorded background music for TV's Oprah and Dr Phil.

"Whether it's a McDonald's commercial or playing with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, I love music," he says.

Northcote was nine when he and his brother, Tony, were offered the choice of tennis or guitar lessons. "I picked guitar, he took tennis, the rest's history," he says, not referring to his brother's time on the Association of Tennis Professionals circuit.

As Northcote went on to become one of the country's most sought-after session players, he started performing with some of the musicians he'd listened to for years.

"When you get to a certain proficiency yourself, you see things differently," he says. "Most of the guys I've worked with couldn't even tune their guitars. Bo Diddley couldn't even tune his guitar."

However, some acts still impressed him. Northcote recently completed two support gigs for axeman Joe Satriani, an experience he found initially nerve-racking.

"I've played in front of 60,000 people with no problems but when you're supporting a major virtuoso guitar player and the audience is all guitar players, it's a bit spooky," he says.

Playing on the same stage as Satriani not only gave Northcote the chance to watch "an amazing musician" up close, it also exposed him to a wider audience. And playing to a room full of guitar-heads is vital for someone playing a musical genre with little mainstream radio support.

"Most of my sales are from gigs, the internet and word of mouth," he says.

Northcote has released his second album, Poindexter And The Genius Sex Act. This tells the story of a mad scientist, his girlfriend and some robot ponies — something you have a hard time imagining will pop up on Triple M between the Guy Sebastian and Jimmy Barnes tracks that Northcote is likely to be playing on as a session musician.

Northcote recorded the album in the studio he set up in St Peters with former Frank Zappa drummer Chad Wackerman. The album features a range of instruments, including a sitar, keyboards and some of the 40 guitars he owns. Despite his large collection, Northcote has a favourite instrument. "If I go away for a gig and I'm only able to take one guitar, the one I take is an Ibanez JEM," he says.

"I can play jazz, rock and funk on it. I've got about eight of them."

He believes there will always be a big audience for guitar rock. "The sound and the power of an E chord through a Marshall stack does something to the spirit and body that I love. You can't get that from a drum machine."