Arjun Menon wrote:
While i'm not entirely guilty of this one, IMO speed applied at the right moment(s) can add a different level brilliance to a piece of music.
As Al Di Meola mentions in a GuitarPlayer interview, too often people diss speed just because they can't do it.
I totally agree with your first point here, but not the second. I'd really like to be able to play fast (although I have other development priorities at the moment) and it's great to hear a flurry of notes played by a great guitar player like Mclaughlin or Di Meola (and I've recently decided that I rather like Paul Gilbert). But most of the dissing comes from the fact that some players are elevated to household names (among guitarists) who play ugly, tasteless music, but are still revered because they can play fast.
It may be true that as a result some guitar players dislike any speed. But it stems from these dorks who play hideous music and yet are still revered in certain quarters because they can play really fast. The "shredding-as-sport" school of thought is what people hate. It comes from when you're a teenager and someone says," Malmstein's so great. He can play faster than anyone." And you're like, "But you're missing one thing." "What?"
"He sucks."
