So many these days practice technique as a religion. I keep reading posts where guys have gotten bored and are stuck in a rut. They wanna push beyond the boundaries of their current state of the art playing into new frontiers.
You'll be surprised to discover than many of the God-like guitar heroes that so many have come to admire have the same human weaknesses as the rest of us mere mortals. Yes, I'm speaking of the venerable Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. I purposely failed to mention Johnson cause IMO he's like a guitar non-entity! LOL! I know how disrespectful that sounds but I'm entitled to my opinon. I respect his spirit and effort but to me he's the G3's weakest link.
What can I say? When Vai and Satriani do their own thing they are in total and complete command of their element. However, as with all musicians the moment of truth arrives sooner or later. Keep in mind as I speak that these two gentlemen are head-cutter supremicists. So this is no DIS!
The moment of truth came in the final set of the first G3 concert when all three guitar players took the stage and decided to take on some electric blues. It was painfully obvious IMO that all three came up lacking when faced with the standard blues repetoire. The emotion and fire of true blues playing was never approached by either party. This just goes to show that it takes more than mastery of what Frank Zappa refered to as "Stunt Guitar" to make a complete guitarist.
Like I said, this is not a DIS! I would just like to point out the fact that even the untouchables of the industries have their weaknesses. Keeping in mind that the sum of their weaknesses is often greater than many of our own strenghts, let me venture on to say this point is offered as a point of encouragement for those who are stuck in that rut. The point illustrates that even the greatest among us also struggle to improve. It also illustrates and hopefully inspires those who practice to seek that intangable "something" that is beyond mere technique and theory to arrive at that human/emotional place that makes the guitar the greatest spiritual instrument.
You'll be surprised to discover than many of the God-like guitar heroes that so many have come to admire have the same human weaknesses as the rest of us mere mortals. Yes, I'm speaking of the venerable Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. I purposely failed to mention Johnson cause IMO he's like a guitar non-entity! LOL! I know how disrespectful that sounds but I'm entitled to my opinon. I respect his spirit and effort but to me he's the G3's weakest link.
What can I say? When Vai and Satriani do their own thing they are in total and complete command of their element. However, as with all musicians the moment of truth arrives sooner or later. Keep in mind as I speak that these two gentlemen are head-cutter supremicists. So this is no DIS!
The moment of truth came in the final set of the first G3 concert when all three guitar players took the stage and decided to take on some electric blues. It was painfully obvious IMO that all three came up lacking when faced with the standard blues repetoire. The emotion and fire of true blues playing was never approached by either party. This just goes to show that it takes more than mastery of what Frank Zappa refered to as "Stunt Guitar" to make a complete guitarist.
Like I said, this is not a DIS! I would just like to point out the fact that even the untouchables of the industries have their weaknesses. Keeping in mind that the sum of their weaknesses is often greater than many of our own strenghts, let me venture on to say this point is offered as a point of encouragement for those who are stuck in that rut. The point illustrates that even the greatest among us also struggle to improve. It also illustrates and hopefully inspires those who practice to seek that intangable "something" that is beyond mere technique and theory to arrive at that human/emotional place that makes the guitar the greatest spiritual instrument.
I mst say i like the idea of forgingh ahead and not getting caught up in satch-ism or vai-ism as you put it. I don"t know most of those jazz artits you mentioned but what your saying does click with me. I am currently studying satch and will likely study vai soon too. I howevwer want to aquire thier tools they have and use them in my own way. For me as a player technique is important. I love shredding but i also realize that the players i admire are doing good enough at being themselves and whats the use of trying to be them. I also want the freedom to play something slower if i feel that in a song and i also don't want to feel like every song has to have a guitar solo. yeah our favorite players all have weaknesses as do we all. Creativity before speed. For me i want it with speed , at least when speed is appropriate.
