which is more important speed or feeling

ive been having this argument with a few people latley about which is more important speed or feeling and its really pissing me off cause ive always played from the heart but peolpe are saying that im no good cause i dont play really fast do you have to play a speed driven solo to be classed as a good guitarist these days??????

I would say that it is more important to play with feeling than with speed. To be perfectly honest I do admire in a sort of sense those who are able to play fast leads and such things, yet music is much more, music is made to be enjoyed and felt, not necesarily to be slashed through. In my experience I would say that if you play a song with feeling, the correct timing will be reached no matter what, you just have to give it some time. I have had the same discussion several time, and I have reached the conclusion of fu.. whoever does not like my sound, as long as I am playing the song the way I like to play it, its fine with me. Generally I'd say go with the middle; I believe that both speed and feeling are important in their respective parts in playing the guitar, those who achieve this are the truly good players.

Speed is always more important than any kind of feeling. I mean, what were you expecting to hear? As someone who isn't much of a speed player I will say this: People waste their time trying to put some phantom idea of "feeling" into their playing. Feeling really has to do with two things: the notes played; and the phrasing. If you play music that has been written well, you've already got part of the magical "feeling", the next part is to develop phrasing so that you learn how to accentuate the important notes in a passage, and play smoothly. Do not fall into the trap of assuming that to play with feeling means to bend the bloody g stringand play with sloppy sentimental sounds. Listen to Bach; you will find tremendously rich music that relies on huge technical ability in order to bring out the important sense of the music. No amount of feeling will help if you don't have the technique to voice it properly, withouth cliches.

Feeling is more than just notes and phrasing, its YOUR emotions! thats the way you feel it, not just any dang old notes! every single note can make the person cry if you put feeling into it. Who's gonna cry from a Vai tune? not me. you wont see those emotions coming from me. Yet JG didnt play too fast, nor too slow, but he played with FEELING.

I can play fast, play 32 bars of crap, but i can also play 4 bars of absolutely beautiful music that anybody would like to hear. i'd rather play 4 bars of beautifulness than 32 bars of CRAP

i think ya gotta be able to do it all. practice
fast because sometimes ya need to be quick between
slow stuff and sometimes ya just need a fast thing,
ya know ? slow is good. fast is good.

Under 20 notes per second, I don't listen to it (I'm kidding of course)

Whole notes make me cry

Feeling all the way.

Better to shed tears than shred hears....

People cry when they hear me play, they beg me to slow down!! :D

I don't know if anyone could have put it better then Bardsley... right on man.

hmmm.. i'm in two minds... one saying "yeah, Bardsley's right"... The other side is putting a more intresting arguemtent...
I've been getting into Music theory (and some music psychology, but not much cos it's a pain).. Alot of what we do is very emperical ie we know if you do X Y and Z you'll get a certain result. We dont really know why, we simply use "feeling" to navigate us around... Secondly the western music system has cracks in it, that normal musicains like our sleves dont challenge (about your comment on the notes)... If you wanna understand what i'm talking about listen to the more intresting stuff by Philonious (sp?) Munk ... he really does get some odd sounds... About phrasing, hmmm... I'm sort of in agreement, I'm having serious trouble finding phrasing that hasn't been used to death.. but I do feel more natural writing in 5/4, simply by going by "feeling"... So i dont know...
I think it's important to improve your speed wether you use it or not, simply as it gives you more creative freedoms... but, here's where the but comes in, it's certainly not a substitute for a song that convays "feeling", and there is a limit as to how fast you can go and have people actaully get it, there's a minimum separtion between notes... but as was said before, it creats an EFFECT, rather than being a piece of music....
So i'm still undecided... but i'm agreeing a lot with Ponyone...

Originally posted by educatedfilm
but I do feel more natural writing in 5/4, simply by going by "feeling"

Listen to much Soundgarden? If not, then run out and buy Superunknown NOW.

You won't regret it.

Who's JG?

depends on the song...and the type of music you like.....if your playing a friggen song like Nights in white satin...your not going to jason becker the mother ****er and rip a blistering solo in it...your going to play it with emmotion...

but if your entertaining friends....and showing them "how good" you are...speed is where its at....

like that one guy said....you got to have em both :)
there is no right answer to that question cause its opinionated...but....

my two cents of advice would be FEELING.....:)

(cause thats all i have got :))

Ok, maybe I need to do some explaining.
If any of you ever heard me play, you would note something - I just can't play that fast. However, this is very much a limiting thing for me; i don't sit around telling myself it's good because I work on "feeling". The next thing you might notice is the stuff I listen to; Vai, Satch; Malmsteen? No, more like U2, Dylan, Hendrix, Coltrane, Miles, Radiohead. Most of the guitarists I listen to are fairly slow, but they play beautifully. Edge from U2 is one of my favourite guitarists and he only plays solos with three notes in it. So, I hear you say, it's the feeling that I am attracted to... No it's not. The reson Edge sounds good is a combination of the cool effects he uses and something that might come as a surprise: his choice of notes. If note choice is what you call feeling, as you have to use your "feelings" to play the right notes at the right time then fine, that is extremely important - but to worry about how much feeling you are putting into the actual notes is to miss the point in my opinion.

On the other side of the coin are people like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, Coltrane plays extremely fast, but he sounds amazing. He knew what to play - though each note in itself was not particularly important, the effect of them together created the right sound. He would have worked on his tone, sure, just as guitarists need to work ont heir phrasing or the eq on their amps, but it is what he played that made all the difference.

The reason I don't listen to Vai is because his music is boring, not because he doesn't have any "feeling". To suggest that he doesn't put feeling into his music is silly, because he obviously is extremely passionate about it.

Basically I agree with Ed, but I am coming from a different definition of feeling. To be able to paly ffast is very useful, and something tha tin my opinion should be sought after much more than the ability to think of the first time you got laid every time you play a unison bend...

you are missing the whole emotions part, totally - i played in front of some of my friends today, who were just blown out of the water by what i was playing- i was NOT playing fast, not really at all ( i can kind of but i dont like it ) and anyways- its not just your note choice. there are other factors other than simply the guitar. how you are feeling that day, how energetic the crowd is/people standing around, etc. its not just "i pick these notes, i play these notes" if you've ever hit that feeling of nirvana when some people and you are interacting...but you are interacting to them through the guitar, and they are sending you the signals to play! i swear it has happened to me a few times, and its the best thing in the world. i've played for some kids ( im a kid too...14) and they were impressed that i could come up with **** that sounds great, on the run, total improvisation, no structure really, until i make one myself. Now, i play with a whole lot of feeling, and people appreciate a lot of great feeling more than alot of speedy crap

I think it's feeling.
You can get speed with practice easily, but it's harder with feeling.

"To be able to paly ffast is very useful, and something tha tin my opinion should be sought after much more than the ability to think of the first time you got laid every time you play a unison bend..."
:) lol... so i take it you a bender?
I mean your right, steve via puts alot of passion into making his music, yet it doesn't convey it sooo well. Listen to some the earlier John lee Hooker stuff, and it is sooo emotional.. So I do think that your point about knowing which notes to accentaute is fair...
Rask: ok, I've only got 2 songs from that album ("black hole sun", and "super unkown")... Any idea why I play in an odd time signature?

Here's what Al Di Meola had to say when asked what he thought of people who put down speed players as having "no feeling". "That's ridiculous, they're just jealous. Tell that to a flamenco or classical player and they'll laugh at you.". It's so true.

Why is it that whenever some guitarists think of the word "feeling" they automatically picture some fat blues player bending a string up two frets? Don't get me wrong, I love blues, but to base your definition of feeling around ONE particular sound in one particular genre is just wrong. Like Bardsley said, "feeling" is a phantom term, it's relative and intangible. Who's feelings are you describing when you're talking about "feeling", your own feelings induced by the music or the feeling that you're picturing the musician experiencing? Maybe you're picturing B.B. King leaning into a huge bend with sweat running down his brow, eyes shut in passion, and this hits you as having more feeling then a classical player playing Pachabels Canon (spelling?).
Pachabel's Canon was just the first example that came to my mind; the fact is that beautifully intricate music that is both fast and has feeling very much exists, but people have to get over this so-called "blues complex" that makes us think that only slow, predictable bends can move us.

As for Vai, I never liked really liked him until I made a seroius effort to get to know him. The song "Tender Surrender and perhaps For the Love of God" are two amazing examples of emotion and speed working together. I felt it, and whats more HE felt it (I saw the video, the guy plays the guitar as if it's an extension of his body, very organically and VERY powerfully).

feeling is not a ****ing gift!!! how can you bring feeling to your instrument if you dont practice!? c'mon! if you cant ****ing play, then how can you put feeling into it! think!