im completely self taught on the guitar, and have been playing for about what 6 or 7 years now i think - on and off. Its only recently last two years or so i really knuckled down and started to really *play*. Ive been discovering all these guitarists for that time and yeah they blew me away to begin with but these days malsteen et although v talented kinda bores me now, but hey the guy plays what he wants to play so its no big thing - if he wanted to do like layla or something im sure he could play it in a replica clapton way, if that makes sense. But he likes doing his own thing, and so do it he does.
Anyway having said that one of my main aims of late has been trying to crack into the whole shredding thing.. not because i just want to do that all the time, but im figuring that if i get the speed going and get it going properly - nice clean sound, clarity .. not just one big blurred mess with too much distortion like you get from a lot of shred wannabes, which from what im reading isnt the kinda dude you find on this board anyway. Anyway my theory is that if i can play like malmsteen (for example) or that guy from symphony X (i forget his name - sorry) then im never going to be limited physicaly. nothing else should pose an athlectic or 'technique-al' problem.. logical?
Example: I once read an interview with steve vai, and learned something i never forgot - what makes his playing (and satch too IMHO) unreal is the fact that he has removed all the barriers between his heart / soul / brain (call it what you will) and the guitar. He doesnt have to worry EVER about whether he can play it, he just has to think of the sound he wants and he can make the guitar make it, or no not even that.. he just has to feel an emotion and his hands brain fingers etc just translate that for him. Thats my interpretation anyway, and is now my goal as a guitarist and has been for some time. after all whats it really all about?
Expression.
(and some good old blood sweat and tears.)
so if you wanna shred, shred, if thats what 'expression' makes you do / wanna do. If you dont want to shred, maybe its still a useful thing. But then again most of you guys are so far head of me that you are proberbly all ready there with the ability thing - at that imortal level where you simply dont ever have to worry about if you can play it or not... NO MATTER WHAT 'IT' IS. Hehe i hope to get there someday too.
Like i said, just getting my 2c worth in.
Cheers all,
PS if ive ofended anyone, its totally not meant to be offensive.
"This is way too much pressure!"