Originally posted by aiwass
I agree that one shouldn't criticize other guitar players (unless they really suck, like for instance the dude in Green Day:) ), but I'm fed up with people saying "Oh, only a guitarist can think that you need good technique! You only need chops for Yngwie-style wanking, and Yngwie is bad, cuz my personal hero, the guitarist in f*cking Linkin Park told me that solos are just for showing off, and that you don't need skill to be famous!"

If classical musicians were like today's guitarists, there would be noone who could play Chopin, Vivaldi, etc.

Did anyone say Vivaldi was a showoff?

I think what people are getting at when they say things of that sort is that people will allow the demonstration of technique to interfere with the song itself. Nobody says that Vivaldi was a showoff, but by the same token that's because his instrumentation made the song. The same with Zappa - look at how complex The Black Page is vrs many of his other compostions. It's a matter of knowing what to play and when. I mean, there's a reason why I can't listen to Dream Theatre but love Symphony X; the Taste Factor.

But I'm a bassist, what do I know?