What hasn't been said 'bout Guitar Shredders. That they just shred, that they don't feel nothing at all, that they just, are showing off. I include myself on that list. Back in the days I was learning guitar at first, all I wanted to do was to play as fast as I could, but looking back now, I didn't really know why I wanted to do it...
Seriously. I don't know if I just wanted to show off, or just, play as good as I want. I prefer to think that I just wanted to be as good as I could, according to my own standards at the time. And they were *and still are* pretty high. I wanted to be as good as a classical-driven musician, but creating my own music. Not just reading sheet music.
With the advent of Youtube and the Twenty-First-Century-Schizoid human, where he/she wants to be known by all expenses, one day I went through it and started viewing guitar videos. My friends, how dissapointed I was that, 99% of the guys I heard, sounded exactly the same. With a few respectable 0.01% which, I'm glad I found it...
All of them, wanted to sound like Yngwie Malmsteen, or either like John Petrucci, or Steve Vai, or Joe Satriani, to name a few. In other words, it's like they have been prescribed with the same medicine...Shred-So-Fast.
While I try to figure out why people start the ''Rip Off'' act, the first thing that strikes my mind is ''They want to be like their heroes''. I mean, that's good. You find someone who inspires you. I did found an inspiration at first, so what. Everyone does... but I don't wanted to be HIM, I wanted to be as TECHNICALLY PROFICIENT as him. Not using his technique or his approach to the instrument.
While I try to figure out what made my heroes what they are now, what comes to my mind is that they had the guts and the balls to completely study their instrument, to learn and unlearn, to mess the songs of their heroes and learn them in their own way. In other words, they had really clear that they wanted to just be THEMSELVES. That's a big bucks thing folks... Believe me.
In fact, Jason Becker *Another of my Musical Heroes, I'll talk 'bout him soon* in the video ''The Legendary Guitar of Jason Becker'' states clearly the following:
''This video might be a little different from other instructional videos you may have seen. Although I do explain many of my ideas, there's a lot of me just PLAYING or IMPROVISING. There's a reason for this. When I was growing up and learning how to play the guitar, I didn't use instructional videos or written music to figure out what my favorite players were doing. I used my EAR. I think this was beneficial in man ways. It helped develop my ear, which helps me to hear and write many-layered counterpoint and chordal things. It also helped me to come up with my own ideas, because when I was trying to learn a Clapton, Beck, Hendrix, Morse, Van Halen, Bach, Mozart, Debussy or Stravinsky lick I would make mistakes, which eventually became my own licks, which I wouldn't have stumbled upon if I had been show how to play the notes exactly. I remember coming home from concerts of B.B King, Roy Buchanan, Yngwie Malmsteen and the Berkeley Symphony and being so inspired to come up with my own ideas. Not by their LICKS. But by their vibes and energy''
-What I mean with mess is actually, sucking major balls and making a lot of mistakes...Just as Jason Becker said... What a wise guy, isn't he?-
Personally I've always had a reluctant attitude against instructive videos. I mean, I like to hear what my heroes have to say but, I don't pay attention to their licks and whatsover... I just hear, and be amazed by the skills they display. Maybe that's the answer to my own question of ''Why there are so many RIP OFF guitar players 'round the world''. Because they watched the same guitar instructive.
- Clearly he is SHOWING OFF, but he surely could play.
So, do you really understand guitar shredders, or just, rip them off?
- Note from the author: I didn't used the word ''Virtuoso'' because being fast doesn't mean that you're a virtuoso. Beethoven was a virtuoso, and yet, his Moonlight Sonata was so slow, and captivating.
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