As a guitarist (since 1967) and music reviewer with a deep penchant for ultra-speed, smooth legato, time changes, stop-n-go acrobatics, and all that -- I still find my ears most pleased and falling back to the work of Allan Holdsworth. He is the master of effortless lightning -- hands down? fingers down? I dunno . . .
And I see nobody here has mentioned the new guy on the block -- Scott McGill. Trust me, that guy is fast, blisteringly fast and best of all he keeps it going and going and going. I saw him live once playing balls-to-the-wall fusion with a serious crunch factor as well and he was unbelievable. When people started clapping during his solo he just kept going until everyone stopped and had to sit in unbelief. Jaws on the floor . . .
Now here's another few points. How is the speed done? Picking, tapping, pull offs, sweeps or all of the above? What of phrasing? For me, speed with predictable phrasing is not very interesting to hear. Certain scales, runs, and phrases are very overused. What of the musicality of note speed? What of the listenability factor? What of the soul of the piece? First, last, and always -- the musicality must be honored above the technique.
You can only stand so much speed and flash and then your brain says, "Okay, way cool, that's impressive but howzabout some music now. Show is over dude."
If the fastest axe person just riffs into oblivion without touching the listener's soul he has completely missed the deeper language of the medium. It is robotic, muscle memory and reflex versus music.
Speed is good, def good but it needs balance, with direction, and MUST contribute to the song. Otherwise it is just revving the engine with no race to be won.
http://www.EER-MUSIC.com
PS: The world's fastest guitarist is very likely some unknown kid somewhere whanking in a Japanese pawn shop or playing in an obscure bouzouki band in some Grecian village.
http://www.EER-MUSIC.com
