Originally posted by Djentizm
speed is somewhat important, but i personally hate it when a guitarist is playing a solo and just shreds all over the fretboard. to me that shows the player cant think of anything and has no songwriting abilities at all. playing a solo in a song should be melodic, something you can hum. playing a solo by yourself is more appriate to shred. but it IS important to learn to play as fast as possible, so you are not limited at all!!:)

Even Marty Friedman said that speed is a good starting point. And many types of music require spped to be effective, can you imagine a Testament or Pantera song with a slow "melodic" solo? It wouldn't really work. But I can only take so much Yngwie. A guy like Vinnie Moore is just as fast but uses speed tastefully.