You gotta' hear this guy! Fastest ? Great technique!

I slammed John Jaunese,(hard) in a email after reading on a forum the title of a demo album he put out called"The Fastest Guitar On Earth". I've always felt Malmsteen was and is the fastest since he came on the scene. To my complete suprise John responed very nicly to my attacks, which speaks volumes for his character.
So I listened to some of his soundbites on the net and was BLOWN away. Completly unique, effertless meshing of several unique styles and WAY sooo fast.I'm talking blistering speed, accuracy and technique.

This guy is one of the very few, who has in my opinion the any chance to go to the top with the likes of Malmsteen,Via, and Satriani. May take awhile, but we'll be debating him soon enough.

Here is his response to my scathing email to him, defending Malmsteen as the fastest/technicaly best in the world:


hello,
im gonna type in small print since you slammed me so hard. i loved the letter
you wrote. it was good, i have to admit. i do agree that yngwie would blow me
off stage. when i see him play live, it is almost majical. he inspires me
more than any guitarist i can think of. i cannot do that on stage like he
does. i dont even try to do what he does. he is to good at what he does to be
copied by anyone. yngwie is a very close friend of a friend of mine, and
because of that i had the honor of meeting him, he actually played one of my
guitars. preety cool. i dont think yngwie liked the title to my demo either.
as a matter of fact i dont even think he likes me at all. that doesnt change
my opinion of him. i respect him for his talent. i have been inspired by alot
of players- van halen,randy rhoads, vinnie moore, tony macalpine, all of whom
who were shredding in thier own style before they heard of yngwie
malmsteen(including myself). i was a shredder before i heard of yngwie. when
ynwie came out alot of guys ****in quite playing. one close friend of mine
said quote"this guy is playing the style i have been perfecting" he was an
awesome player, and he quite. you have to understand that yngwie was not the
first guy to shred. ask yngwie, he would tell you go listen to frank marino,
or especially uli roth, whom yngwie absolutely worships. do your homework.
dont believe me, find out for yourself. go to any search engine, and you
could verify what im saying.

as for the name of the demo"fastest guitar on earth". i knew that might raise
eyebrows, and i dont care. the cd is dedicated to the fastest guitarist on
earth whoever that may be. it even says that on the cd. am i the fastest
guitarist in the world? i doubt it. am i faster than yngwie? yes , who give
a ****. thats not why yngwie is so great. he is great because of his style.
why do you think yngwie is so insecure? i dont know, but maybe its because he
knows he is not the fastest. truth hurts. personally, i think he is ****in
paranoid. i mean if i was that famous, and rich, i would not care who was
faster than me. what a joke! maybe that paranoia helps him and others stay on
their toes. i dont know. i do find your opinion very interesting. thanks for
the honest letter. i respect someone who has a strong opinion.

take care,
JJJ

soundbits:
http://www.guitar9.com/undiscov31a.html

[Edited by rh287 on 01-11-2003 at 06:54 PM]

and where can we get some mp3's to base our humble opinion on? :)

One day people will realise that speed is only a question of how many hours you spend playing the same scales over and over again.

I was a big fan of Satriani until I heard Randy Roads and thought man he's fast. Then I heard Yngwie and I said man he's fast than I heard Paul Gilbert and I said .... do you see a pattern forming here?

There will always be fast guitar players, and they will always fall into the same pattern of giving too much importance in been faster and will losse the feeling in their music.

I try to get faster because it helps my general technique.

With time I realise the importance of feeling and transposing this into music. Speed doesn't impress me anymore, in fact when I see a new face trying to be faster than everybody else, I don't even listen to him. It's all the same thing to me.

I wouldn't even trade 10 Yngwie for one David Gilmour and I don't even listen to Pink Floyd! But the guy has more feeling in is music than most guitarist out there and I respect that a lot.

Maybe it's an age thing but as I grow older I let go of those fast empty solos and trade for emotion charged songs. Maybe it's just me.

The guy you're talking about seems to be an good fella at least.

The futur will show us if he makes the cut :)

[Edited by Benoit on 01-11-2003 at 02:13 PM]

and where can we get some mp3's to base our humble opinion on?

http://www.guitar9.com/undiscov31a.html

Benoit - here, here. Another big difference (along with your points) is - speed is impressive to other guitarists, who buy about 5% of the marketed music. Gilmour appealed to the masses with his melodic riffs and solos. It comes down to the all mighty dollar - if you want to get rich, the speed licks aren't going to cut it. Satriani, Vai and Yngwie have all had troubles marketing their stuff over the years. They're great - but in a very small arena.

Yes, but truly great guitarist aren't in it for just the money. It's the playing.

And all those guys you mentioned are doing very well financialy I assume. I know Malmseen is. He has sold triple platinum albums in Japan and The UK. Do you realize how much money that is?(his share) That guy is filthy rich. And he sell out stadiums in most parts of the world. Yep, Speed and showmanship is good for something, if you know how to use it. It can draw a overseas crowds like flies to s***.

I have to agree with Benoit on this subject. I too was once a speed worshipper, but I also saw the same pattern. As I started listening to other music other than metal and rock. Which was what I was into those days (I still am). I found others like classical music and all those guys were incredibly fast at what they did too. Speed has been around for countless years, and probably will stay forever. Speed is a powerful tool in music.

Now, I find those who base everything on speed uninteresting anyone. Music is about feeling and putting your heart and soul into your music. It's not a competition to see who is better, or who is faster. Those who do it for those reasons, I think are missing the point. Those who just sell cd's based on their extraordinary guitar talent don't sell as many cd’s because there's no real musical connection with the listener. It's a just a showcase of look what I can do on the guitar. The only ones who can appreciate it are the guitarists; especially the ones who hope to be like that one day. I respect all musicians, even those who choose a different path, and because that's the path they have chosen. I am not one to judge another, never have and never will be. I have chosen my path, which has more to do with feeling and emotion. My goals are too be able to make my audience feel my music, not to say wow he's a great guitarist. That's also what I like in other guitarists. My opinion stated!

Where can i get Jaunese's email.



i've heard him before he is quite good. if you want other fast guitarists check out Jason Becker, Shawn Lane, and Marcus Paus.



Benoit - i agree speed isn't everything. although i tend to respect those that can play fast a little more because, like you said, it usually means that they've practiced a lot more and put a lot of hardwork into their instrument. malmsteen for example practiced 12 or something hours a day for many years.

i'm not putting down those who don't play fast. i love gilmour and definately would place him on a level as malmsteen and others. i just think that there's also a counter-belief that overgeneralizes speed. people say its just showing off that i carries no emotion. i would definately disagree. there's emotion in all music. and people like Shawn Lane and Jason Becker have written some great songs, while using their amazing speed.

speed, to me, is a tool like bending that should be used to accentuate a song. i think there are some songs that definately over do it. but there are songs that definately make it work. Black Star is a good example. Petrucci is another awesome guitarist that uses speed well.

i think you're right. speed is not everything and some people judge guitarists based on that. but speed can be good.

anyway, sorry for ranting.

I've noticed the patern, but speed is still the most important for me because I simply think that speed is much more interesting than any other guitar-skill.
Now back to the subject:

I heard John Jaunese for the first time maybe 1,5 years ago, and man that guy is just awesome.
I wrote to him saying I liked most of his music, but you know
you could change this and that, and that really sucked, this was ok but this was just embarrassing etc.
(I didnt actually think it was embarrasing but
what the hell, I wasnt going to get an answer so why not sound like an annoying neoclassical expert?)
I was really surprised when I had recieved an email from
him the following day saying he appreciated my email
and my opinions.
He seems like a nice guy and he knows his way around the fretboard.
If I was a woman I could marry him. For sure.

True speed can be a great tool, some songs requires fast licks. I just hate people who put a ultra fast lick in a song that doesn't require it.

I feel like some fast guitarist are not willing to let there fast speed go for the good sake of a song in fear that someone tells them 'you can do better than that sissy solo'. I think, that' s my own opinion, that when you're consider one of the fastest player, you tend to only do fast lick to stay in that category.

I did take a listen at this guys music. I hate myself when I kepp a close mind. You can see that he does master his style but I wasn't caught by his song. It's technically good but I don't know it misses something. I can't get my finger on it but there's something in his songs that doesn't catch my ear. I must admit that he has a great technique, but in my opinion is not that fast. At least not enough to name his cd "that fastest guitar on earth".

Yeah man, I'm not bashing on any guitarist who uses speed. Or saying that speed is needed, because it is absolutely accentual to any guitarist. Those you make an entire solo on speed, with very little melody, don't really get anything acrosst. I'm sorry but I'm tuned off man. I mean how much talent is in it, any idiot with a couple of years to waste can easily accomplish that kind of speed. All those solo's sound the same too, the same pentatonic lick played extremely fast, or whatever scale a particular artist uses. Does alot of thought really go into it. Take any scale, make a 3-4-5-> note pattern out of it. Play it as fast as you can, and randomly go through different modes of that scale. Or play really fast up or down a scale. Then they hit a note and bend the whammy bar or string. Then repeat the same thing again and again. When a guitarist uses tools for speed like this, I can't say much more. I like guys who add alot of melodic value to it, since the melody is the most paladiable to the ear. People can understand it and feel it more than a blazing fast riff. Fast licks in solos are great when needed, but when overused it's B.S. That guy john jaunese, nice melodic values but resorts too much to speedy licks. When thats all a guitarist has, thats only one dimension in talent. It's hard to say much more. To me, melody (feeling) is more powerful than speed.

Every idiot in the world could've painted picassos paintings,
but people still like them and pay millions of $ for them.
People have discussed this speed vs feeling on 100000000
pages at least, so lets just end the discussion with:
Some people like speed alot, some people like it less,
some people dont like it at all, and theres not much
anyone can do about it.
Presto, problem solved.

Sorry dewd. Just trying to express my opinion on the matter. I haven't been here since august of last year, so I wasn't able to be involved in any of those discussions. So I'm gonna say it here, if you don't like it. Then don't get in it. Why get so concerned over something like this? Us new guys are probably gonna say the same things you older guys said before, you don't need to remind me about it. Lighten up man.

I think Randy Rhoads did one hell of a job combining neo-classical speed licks into his (Ozzy's)songs. George Lynch (Dokken), also did/does a fine job.

Im not concerned, its just that I've seen the exact same discussion many times, and I think its like discussing whether vanilla or chocolate is the best flavour.
Its not going anywhere.

I know man, and it's probably going to be debated for as long as music is around. There's really nothing you can do about it, people are going to voice their opinions. I'm also not gonna read old threads just to see if someone else has written about it before. I'm only concerned about the present discussions. So man, If you've said your piece then just let it go. I'm not gonna discuss it anymore either. Unless something new is brought to my attention.

If people are going to debate whether chocolate or vanilla is better, just let them go at it. :)

Hell yeah

Where can i get Jaunese's email.



i've heard him before he is quite good. if you want other fast guitarists check out Jason Becker, Shawn Lane, and Marcus Paus.



Benoit - i agree speed isn't everything. although i tend to respect those that can play fast a little more because, like you said, it usually means that they've practiced a lot more and put a lot of hardwork into their instrument. malmsteen for example practiced 12 or something hours a day for many years.

i'm not putting down those who don't play fast. i love gilmour and definately would place him on a level as malmsteen and others. i just think that there's also a counter-belief that overgeneralizes speed. people say its just showing off that i carries no emotion. i would definately disagree. there's emotion in all music. and people like Shawn Lane and Jason Becker have written some great songs, while using their amazing speed.

speed, to me, is a tool like bending that should be used to accentuate a song. i think there are some songs that definately over do it. but there are songs that definately make it work. Black Star is a good example. Petrucci is another awesome guitarist that uses speed well.

i think you're right. speed is not everything and some people judge guitarists based on that. but speed can be good.

anyway, sorry for ranting.......

Click on sound bites, and when you get to the site click on hi email

Originally posted by rh287

Yep, Speed and showmanship is good for something, if you know how to use it. It can draw a overseas crowds like flies to s***.

Malmsteen has a superstar bonus - nothing more - its because he was the first gutiarrist that was realy sold for his speed. noone back in the early 80´s when malsteen went on stage was that fast (at least noone famous). and he still carries that reputation - THATS why he´s a megaseller - there are hundreds - THOUSANDS of guitarrists out there that can play malmsteens sh*t with one arm on the back - why are they not selling double platinum albums?

Fact: if you set fame and sales 1:1 with quality in music, then you didnt get whats goin on in music industry.

Malsteen was not MADE popular because his music is so brilliant - its just a plain ol´ bach-copy - he was sold because he did somethin noone has done before - and THAT can be sold very easily - he was basically an eye-catcher.

[Edited by Azrael on 01-13-2003 at 01:02 AM]

OK,
I don't know what the Malmsteen bashing here is all about/ don't really care, but let's take a look.
Put aside his insramental work for a minute, and just take a look at his SONGS.
Now the songs don't have "welcome To The Jungle" quality lyrics, but then, for mid 80s aren't that bad. But the thing is, listen to the guitar on those songs. You want variation in speed? You want very good harmonic balance INJECTED IN A SONG? Many times you wonder how one could inprove on the increadable guitar within those songs. You want to hear the best guitarist of that time,and for years after? By a long, long shot? Then quit slamming Malmsteen, and give him the credit he deserves.

If you don't like his istramentals, then listen to a few of his better SONGS and crank up the guitar solos, they are truely amazing , even today. THEY FIT LIKE A GLOVE. He is slowing down,and has tendonitous. Many give plenty of well deserverved credit to Steve Via, who like John J. is a hell of nice guy. Satriani too. Just because Malmsteen can be a jerk sometimes, doesn't take away from the fact that he is the most successfull istramental guitarist of all time.