Vaiyen said:
Agree with all your points but you are missing the point. I am talking strictly about technique. Neoclassical metal is really peanuts compared to jazz fusion, not that I can play any of it.
Ok- fair enough; you are debating purely around technique - but careful, because this is a very difficult thing to define, let alone measure. Even so, Yngwie does many things that I haven't seen other guitarists do - one example being playing licks in very wide intervals up and down the neck, like in the pre-solo break on "Rising Force" (Odyssey) where he does the same licks with superb accuracy in the 1st, then 12th positions (then ascending) at hyper speed. Anyway, it's horses for courses at this point, where the argument breaks down and things begin to get very subjective. Personally, I love Jason Becker - he has it all; technique, feel, a masterful compositional ear (Air, Altitudes are breathtaking).
The point I was trying to make about "nobody does Yngwie better than Yngwie" was around musicall personality, individuality and expression. I believe this is something that all musicians should work on over and above all other things such as technique, theory, etc. There is too much emphasis on being 'better, faster' etc. especially with the beginning guitarist, which is almost unavoidable unfortunately and everybody has to go through it at some stage, but the dangerous trap is this: after a while, you'll begin to realise that it's futile to try to be like another guitarist - you can never be like them anymore than you can actually *be* them. At this point, a lot of people give up and the guitar spends more and more time in the cupboard. What people should realise is that there is nobody who can be better at being *them* than they themselves. It is this realisation that marks the turning point into lifelong 'musician'.
Don't get me wrong, technique is great - everybody should have some, but only as a tool to support what it is that they want to say.
Great post in the other thread btw.
BTW: my favourite guitarist of all time - Allan Holdsworth. Everybody should hear him. *He* shits over everybody else from a very, very great height.