Originally Posted by: quickfingersright on, man. i can relate to how frustrating it would be to practice your ass off with precision and tenacity and have little payoff like that. if you ask me, though...playing 3-note-per-string licks and shredfests aren't nearly as gratifying for the soul as playing with feeling, and i'm not getting into a "gilmour versus gilbert" argument at all. i'm more leaning towards a jazz approach to thinking about your instrument. if you have physical handicaps that are holding you back, continue working on them- obviously. but branch out! the best think i ever did for myself was to learn jazz changes, learn how to really feel music. maybe jazz doesn't do it for you but i dunno, i got bit by the bug after "playing" jazz in big bands for three years, and seeing it in a different light made me re-examine my priorities. and you don't need lighting-quick hands to play beautifully.

You know, I've been doing alot of thinking on this exact same thing! To use Gilmour as an example, a friend of mine who is phenomenal at guitar can shred with the best of them...but like Gilmour, his focus is on feeling and note selection itself. I've been thinking about this alot....I've even examined Shawn Lane, even though he could play lightning fast, he didn't all the time, it was mores so used as phrasing to create a tension point in his pieces I think. So in that regard although he could do it, I think it was just another tool in his arsenal that he learned along the way.

I'm not exactly a huge jazz fan, but I do like the stylings of Django oddly enough, especially pieces like minor swing. I even got a chance awhile back to see Bela Fleck and the Flecktones live, and that was probably the best show I've ever attended, ironically compared to shows like Morbid Angel, Incantation, Krisiun, Malevolent Creation and bands like that that I normally go to. So yeah I've realy wanted to add some jazz techniques and stylings to my playing, but I'd like to do something different in that I wouldn't want to mainly play in major tones and scales...maybe not neccesarily sadder and depressive, but a darker, more foreboding form of jazz haha...problem is, I have no clue where to start with my journey into jazz