X-rated Bob wrote:
Is the difference not the compositions?
That is a big part of it, production, arrangement and even recording are a part of it for me too. But I've also heard some great compositions ruined by some idiot machinegunning away over the top and mundane pop songs transported to a different level by the solo.
What sets the good shredders (DiMeola, Morse, Vai, Lane, Thal, Govan, et. al.) apart from the bad is
detail. Sure, they play fast, but nearly
every note is carefully crafted and, in most cases, you could slow it down to 1/10th of the speed and still have usable melodies and expressive detail like vibrato and bends rather than scale exercises.
I remember working through Vai's
The Attitude Song years ago and every single riff and phrase was a revelation, some simply because they were so different from anything I'd ever heard before but also many because they revealed themselves to be country, blues, reggae or other riffs that I could recognise as such only when I took them out of context of the composition.
Some players like Eklundh and Thal are just so unusual that I can't help loving what they do. I like being surprised and I like the hugely varied and obscure musical references they sneak in as musical in jokes that few people probably will get. That's probably the Zappa fan in me...
