"Chops are a luxury item, but if you use them responsibly, they can add a lot to your music. For example, I never wanted to play fast for fast's sake. But once I was onstage with Blood, Sweat and Tears while everyone was playing aggressive, burning solos. I tried to play this slow, melodic thing, and Jaco (Pastorius) told me I needed to learn how to 'hit up against the time' and nail faster tempos".
Anyone who's any good at the guitar puts feeling into what they are playing, and to suggest otherwise is fairly callous. Not everyone can express the feeling of the music very well, but it is something that one learns with time, and listening to other musicians. However, there is no point learning how to express the feeling of the music if you can't play it. Sometimes you just need to be able to play fast to keep up - as I have experienced a lot recently while jamming with others much more competent than me; I just couldn't keep up with them and so my ability to play good and meaningful solos was diminished. In fact, my ability to express how I was FEELING was reduced, because I couldn't play the damn music. Listen to Hendrix: he's a blues (serious Hendrix fans would know why I call him a blues player I'm sure) palyer with some serious chops and I have a feeling (there's that word again, ever think that it has a fairly ambiguous meaning?) that if you told him he didn't need to play so fast he'd have a bit of a chuckle.
"Dozens of people spontaneously combust each year, it's just not that widely reported".