At 33 you feel like that?

 

Yeah I'm not suprise, the older you get you know that widdling isn't everything, hell I meet many players who's an exceptional shredder stray away to jazz when they get older. They say jazz is the best!

 

Metal as a whole has been pritty much dead for the past, oh, 15 years (Yeah, thanks Kurt, I think you killed yourself when you realized what you did to the Guitar and music in general). We only had/have a few bands left thats barely able to keep it on life support thanks in part to loyal fanbases. (i.e. Pantera, Megadeth, etc..)

Theres a few glimmerly shards of hope out there with bands like Trivium and CoB trying to revive a new technical guitar era in pop/rock/metal music. But it will most likely not happen because the mass public, in general, are retarded and would rather watch Americal Idol.

 

I'm only 18 and I'm over the "only incredible technical playing is good" phase. I used to be obbsesed with becoming a shredder with infinite chops. Now I'm not.

Feel, expresion, mood are all a lot more important to me than how many 16ths at what bpm. I think to constrict yourself to that kind of mentality is extremly limiting.

That's not to say it does not still impress me to some degree, it's just that I'm a lot more interested in the MUSICAL side of things now

 

That's not to say it does not still impress me to some degree, it's just that I'm a lot more interested in the MUSICAL side of things now

That's the excuse we all come up with when we understand that we can't be has technical has Steve Vai

BLAKK:JAKK

 

Yup, you can still be fast in a melodic way and stuff.

 

I suppose it's just a personal thing.

I started playing guitar almost exactly 3 years ago, and at first I was really into Dire Straits (my favourite band), Mark Knopfler's style was what I wanted to do. Then about a year after I'd started that's when I moved away from that whole thing and got into the technical shred. I've been really into that ever since. Although I still like MK's style, shred is where it's at for me. I suppose it's just my personal taste. I think we all go through phases - it's just part and parcel of being a musician!

As much as I love it shred can get a little naff and cheesy at times, although if it's played in the correct context, it's okay.

 

Yeah definately it's phases people go through until they find what they want to do.

 

That's the excuse we all come up with when we understand that we can't be has technical has Steve Vai

BLAKK:JAKK

You took the words out of my mouth.

I am 32 and I am only "over" wanting to shred because I can't. However, in my old age I am finding that learning how to play is much easier. I am much more patient and confident in my playing.

 

I suppose it's just a personal thing.

I started playing guitar almost exactly 3 years ago, and at first I was really into Dire Straits (my favourite band), Mark Knopfler's style was what I wanted to do. Then about a year after I'd started that's when I moved away from that whole thing and got into the technical shred. I've been really into that ever since. Although I still like MK's style, shred is where it's at for me. I suppose it's just my personal taste. I think we all go through phases - it's just part and parcel of being a musician!

As much as I love it shred can get a little naff and cheesy at times, although if it's played in the correct context, it's okay.

Exactly! When I started I was really into David Gilmour type of phrasing and Jimmy Page, and now, when I ear what I'm playing I find interesting that I can notice lots of Dimebag Darrell, Kerry King, Kirk Hammett influence.

People change...Who knows if in 2 years I will be sitting in a tree with an acoustic guitar playing BB King stuff...

BLAKK:JAKK

 

Shredding wasn't big with the general populace even in the 80's. Yes, every band had a "hot" player, but other than the guitarists in the audience, the fans didn't have a clue as to who was REALLY good. They liked whatever player was in their fave band.

Fretboard masturbation is impressive, but even as a player it gets pretty boring pretty fast to me - and it did in the 80's, too. This list is biased, having many Vai & Satch fans, but it's a copout to say anyone who thinks "shredding isn't all that" is just making excuses. Sometimes it's true, sometimes not. It'd be as valid to say those who shred do so to cover the fact that they write crappy tunes (that is to say, not very valid).

 

Hehehe shredding is awesome, but to me it's too vague of a term.

I'm from the side that likes slower more melodic shred that builds up into frenzy momentarily but then comes back down to earth (a la for FTLOG)

I can't STAND that Michael Angelo "1 million notes a second" crap now.

 

Makes me think of the saying "you don't know what you've got 'til its gone" !!
It might not be to everyones taste,including me for some of it,but surely its better that its there as an alternative music to listen to rather than narrow down musical styles so everything sounds the same!! It all has a place in the giant musical stew!!

 

I hate saying this, but the music that I find to be extremely expressive, melodic and original is all highly technical. I mean, take Allan Holdsworth, Brett Garsed, Guthrie Govan or so many more on the jazz side of things. Beautiful melodies, extremley expressive, and hella technical. Then in the rock vein, take Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert or one of so many more. They're melodic, they're original, they're expressive. I don't like mindless widdling either, but there is fantastic technical music there too.

 

Oh yeah definitely, I've said it a million times now... there is good excess and bad excess

 

I don't particularily enjoy "guitar music" that much anymore - it got old pretty fast for me. These days, I am generally more interested in electronica, jazz, ambient, modern classical etc...

 

i know what you mean. at 34, i'm not hungry for it like i was. i can't listen to vai or satriani more than 15-20 mins most of the time. it just annoys me. i listen to most styles and lately, although i gotta have my racer x!!!, i have been listening to miles davis and cab calloway and louis armstrong with a little robert johnson thrown in there as well. there are many more jazz names. also i have been spending way more time with mozart and bach and vivaldi. those guys took a backseat for the last few years but they are back up front with the jazz guys now.

about 3 years back i noticed i would drive in the car with absolutely no music on at all. that is how i like it. when i'm in the mood for metal.....i still love a great shred.....rhythm wise that is. nothing like a killer kick drum with that queensryche-sounding bass riding on top of a killer mesa stacked rhythm!!! although i like soloing....i only do it when the solo part comes. i much rather enjoy playing or listening to a great rhythm when metal is concerned. rhythm makes you say hell yeah and jump in your car seat. that's great.

i think as we get older, it just happens. we keep our inspirations in smaller bottles.

steve

 

Anyone else think that Rock/Metal guitar is gonng to dissapear up it's own ar*shole?

Melody, feel, originality rules.

Sorry for my rant, it must be the age (33)

good thread... this has alot of truth to it... i call it age and (musical) maturity. Melody takes over or becomes a priority (where it should have always been). i agree with steve on the 15-20 minute most of the time thing. It's nice having a low threshold for "stunt guitar" as it opens alot of doors to other music you might not have liked or appreciated previously... glen

 

actually, seems like rock and metal solos are actually starting to make a comeback. there's a whole lot more on the radio than 5 years ago. i don't think it'll ever be like the heyday of the 80s (which is probably a good thing), but i think it shows how cyclical popular music is. even if it wasn't on an upswing, there's always a market for those guitar heroes of yesteryear. they've all managed to survive one way or another and most of them are still playing in the same vein as they did back in the day, but with some modern touches.

i say different strokes for different folks. it's not everyone's cup of tea, but that's what makes this big beautiful world go round. i personally like 'tasteful' use of technique (i understand how subjective that term is, which is why it's in parentheses) and think that a properly utilized display of technique can really add a lot to a musical passage. of course not every style of music calls for it, but on the other hand, some styles of music seem to only call for it. i can't imagine hearing a santana solo over a nevermore song for example...

 

I always giggle when I see the "Cobain Killed the guitar, man ... " argument.
Complete BLX. Rock music had, in the word of Zappa "gotten far to preposterous".
It had become emotionless technical show pieces without any real feeling, and cheesy sentiments about how many women you could bone (go listen to Coverdale squawking about lurrrv). The listeners were crying out for something with real passion behind it. Cobain did kill off widdly guitar solos, and that was, IMHO, a good thing at the time. What he put back was music with passion behind it, rather than 10 hour per day wood shedding behind it. There is room for both, and they are certainly not mutually exclusive, but rock had gone far too far towards "stunt guitar". Cobain was just taking things to the other extreme, and as that probably helped rock survive, we all owe him our thanks, whether or not you like his music.

Punk did the same thing in the UK 20 years earlier.

We are, I believe, back at the beginning of exactly the same cycle.

To answer the first post, you are just experiencing the same thing, 15 years later.

ps, I'm 30 something too.

 

have you seen this site? pretty cool.

http://www.bnrmetal.com

metal is definately in, as usual in europe. not much good in the states. i guess it's progressive metal....everything has a name. have you heard that band edguy? a friend just turned me on to them. there are so many hundreds of bands out there! the garbage on the radio that you might kinda like is only the tip of the ice burg and can't compare as far as metal is concered. there is so much great metal out there! bands such as stratovarius and kamelot, damn, there are soooo many others with unknown guitarists just as good or better than gilbert and yngwie in their prime. avenged sevenfold is another good one.

 

As long as it's stylish, in tune and non-chromatic everyone's allowed to play as fast as I like....errr they like hehe.

 

Shredding is relativly easy. I can "shred" i.e fast alt picking/sweeping/economy picking/string skiping all cleanly. So what? Years of practise to a metronome and anyone can do that.

What I'm A LOT more interested in these days is developing my OWN sound and not desperatly trying to emulate a guitar god. Shred is boring for me now. It's usfull to be able to do and occasionaly use when the moments right. Music can be highly technical without being mindless shred. Jazz is my new direction.

 

That is what my guitar teacher taught me; I went for lessons on modern "stunt guitar" rock techniques, and his opening line was, "in that case, you need to learn jazz".

I'm a terrible jazz player, but he was right about the value of studying it.

 

Jazz schmaz, I WANNA RAWK!!!