stupid question to shredders...

I guess I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my technique. For me, the hardest things to play are the "sloppy Hendrix blues" kind of stuff. I can do it, but I'll admit I'm not much of a blues player. I lean more towards the Dimeola/V.Moore/MacAlpine side of the musical specturm.

Cavefish, who do you think is the best player of all time, and why? To me, (and many others, heh) its Hendrix. He is just so amazing. his sounds and style are more unique than any player ever. No, he wasnt the fastest or cleanest when it came to his solos and what not, but he had what a lot of those players didnt, and more important...He had soul. Like in the movie "white men cant jump", when they are listening to purple haze, wesley snipes asks woody if he hears jimi and is not just listening, hehe, great line.

Anyway, what do you think?

In my opinion, and that is all it is- Eddie Van Halen is the greatest, and Hendix is #2. Eddie inspired me to start playing in the first place, which is wierd because 20+ years later, I dont sound anything like him(unless I'm covering one of his tunes). Eddie was the first guitar virtuoso. I dont really listen to Hendrix that much, ...I respect Hendrix for what he did for the instrument and music in general for that matter(hence hes #2), but its not my cup of tea.

Yeah Picking can sound rough....I havent listened to Malmsteens late albums....and I dont have any on CD I only have mp3s....I thought the picking on the Voodoo solo was awesome.....heh, there ya go...

I've heard that kinda playing you talked about where the hands are not co-ordinated....that takes practice....most amature guitarists seem to do it to that to show that they can do sweeps and fast alternate picking solos before they have really mastered them.

You can listen to almost any live album from any band or soloist and find moments where they sound crap....but its all part of it sometimes....when Guitarist magazine did a review of Led Zep's BBC sessions ages ago they said: 'Sometimes Jimmy Page's playing sounds awful....but who cares?'

In the studio many people can alter things to get them perfect, even if its just removing a bit of fuz from a bum note....when you hear someone play live THEN you get the real guitarist.

Im 14 and I've been playin guitar for bout five months. I've done pretty good in that time, especially speed wise, but i decided to get a guitar techer and he plays totally wicked, but of course he wants me to read music and all that which i understand. the only problem, i want to well rock on, and actually play awesome riffs and licks, any one have any tricks that are medium to easy that u can spill? let me know, thanx. corporate crime, baby! later.

Hey RockerDCR, there are many songs that have a really hard sounding guitar part but in reality are quite easy. A prime example of this would be the song Thunderstruck by AC/DC it is just a series of pull off's throughout the whole song. Anyone that i play that song for is quite impressed. There are lots of other tricks that make a cool sound on the guitar such as basic tapping or pinch harmonics although they take some practice the result is definetely worth it. Peace.

I'd have to say I'm in the middle, I'm capable of playing shredder type music, and enjoy doing so (for instance when you're in a guitar store and some guy decides he wants to show he's better than you) I find that it's fun to listen to for 20 minutes or so, but it can be sterile. I admire players like Paul Gilbert and Al Di Meola, their technique is as close to flawless as *I* think it's possible to get. But I love players like Jimmy Page and Hendrix, they didnt have the methodical cleanliness to their playing, Hendrix was in my opinion, the greatest guitarist, in terms of soul, technique, influence and songwriting. After all, I heard Hendrix AFTER I'd heard other good players such as Eddie Van Halen, and he STILL stood out to me as an incredible musician. When I'm writing music, be it death metal (for which I find anything less than perfect technique can get in the way) blues, funk or some gentle actoustic playing to accompany my wife on her violin, that depending on how I want the song to sound at the end, the feel I want, I can switch to a more soulful style (Albeit with more mistakes and glitches) or a more clean, accurate style. I feel it totally depends on the song. The Hendrix Solo from hey joe, is full of soul and emotion, wheras in my view 'for the love of god' by steve vai is more sterile, despite being in a more emotional and sombre vein. I think we should stick to what we're good at, and try to learn to use different approaches.

14 year olds playing malmsteen though? strange things in the air methinks.....