Originally posted by PonyOne
Actually, if someone here was an obsessive Vai fan, or obsessive fan of anybody for that matter, I'd say the same thing.

And if all you do is try to be like them, then yes, you can specialize. That's like saying "i can't be an internet specialist, because the internet is everything." The Dead played their own interpretations of blues, bluegrass and country, so if you go off what they played, you're playing a third-generation rendition, why do that when you can just go straight to the source?

And you mentioned him 3 times... and i would have probably been like "wow" if you said that you were obsessing about trying to be as great a guitarist as The Reverend Horton Heat (now that man can play), but, no, it was Jerry...

there are alot of people who are obsessive about one band, until they get their fix and move onto another band. i think thats perfectly natural. there are alot of Vai/Satch/Yngwie fans on here, who listen to mostly those 3 'artists'.

no, but i think your misunderstanding me. I get my inspiration from the dead, but i don't sound like them that much at all, or try to.

What i merely meant to say in my post was "How can I improve my playing dynamics within what im playing now?" As in, "Are there any phrasing-type excersizes, example- play this lick really fast, then play it really slow, then play it this way, etc" It was regardless of any great guitarist i would have mentioned.