OK, I'm gonna weigh in here again....

Originally Posted by: Dictionary.comtech·nique (n):

1. The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.
   


2. also tech·nic (tek·nek')
   





1. The way in which the fundamentals, as of an artistic work, are handled.
   


2. Skill or command in handling such fundamentals.

Here's the link

So, the question, as I understood it was not "Should a great guitarist be able to play xxx or xxx (e.g. "32nd notes at 200 bpm", "an F#b32rsqrtyo" or "standing up")". Rather, the question was whether a great guitarist should have great technique, or a great "systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished". That is, a great guitarist should have a great method of accomplishing the act of playing guitar. That is a given, and the obvious answer is "Yes".

A great guitarist will not necessarily play cleanly, fast, theoretically astoundingly, or anything else. A great guitarist is one whose approach to the instrument rises above the approaches taken by all other guitarists, who, again by definition, are "not great".

For example, Jimi Hendrix (or Jimmy Page, or BB King, for that matter) was obviously not the world's fastest or cleanest guitarist, and most likely didn't know much about theory (esp. if compared to, say, Vai). However, he can still be called "great", since his approach to he guitar was unique (in that it is instantly identifiable and was novel), accomplished what he wanted musically, etc.

There's no real argument here about the original question: A great guitarist must, by definition, have great technique. Technique is, again by definition, the means by which they accomplished their goal of playing the guitar.

Now, a side argument that was brought up was whether a great guitarist should be knowledgable theoretically, be able to play at certain speeds, play cleanly, etc. This is nonsense. Start a list of the greatest guitarists and then see how many live up to those criteria.





Boy, I'm giving PonyOne a run for his money as king of long-winded posts!