"There's no emotion in speed" (guitar playing)

Don't you kind of hate it when people use this argument? I think most people say this because they themselves can't play fast.

I think its a pretty ridiculous depending on how you look at it.

A guitar player will spend years on his technique, just for people to say "there's no emotion" in that.

Sure, simplicity (and emotion) shouldn't be over looked, but then that's just too easy.

Thoughts? Opinions?

John Petrucci

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John Petrucci

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akbar13

if i could play fast i would do it just to do it, because doing it is cool, i don't care if there's no emotion, you can't deny that it's cool.

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

Depends on how they are just playing it. Some guitarists just play really fast notes.

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

laser-pointer

This.

Artistic ability >>> Technical ability.

What pisses me off the most is when someone says something like "it has no soul".

But then again...

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

laser-pointer

Saying that "he plays with emotion!" or "he plays with no emotion" is one of the most overused and cliched criticisms of a musicians playing, it's not even funny. Truth is, not all music needs to have soul or emotion.

Don't you kind of hate it when people use this argument? I think most people say this because they themselves can't play fast.

I think its a pretty ridiculous depending on how you look at it.

A guitar player will spend years on his technique, just for people to say "there's no emotion" in that.

Sure, simplicity (and emotion) shouldn't be over looked, but then that's just too easy.

Thoughts? Opinions?

lonewolf604

[QUOTE="laser-pointer"]

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

JonnyEagle

Like this. :P

At any rate, obviously music is subjective... but I will say that I personally feel that music is one of the purest forms of expression in the world - it allows humans to say the ineffable - and as such I find music rather dead when I listen to it and don't feel as though the artist is speaking to me. And altogether too many times, I find guitar shredders to be saying effectively nothing other than "guys I'm awesome check this out".

I don't think there's necessarily no emotion in speed, but I think it certainly can be a crutch for those artists with fundamentally nothing to say.

[QUOTE="JonnyEagle"][QUOTE="laser-pointer"]

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

GabuEx

Like this. :P

At any rate, obviously music is subjective... but I will say that I personally feel that music is one of the purest forms of expression in the world - it allows humans to say the ineffable - and as such I find music rather dead when I listen to it and don't feel as though the artist is speaking to me. And altogether too many times, I find guitar shredders to be saying effectively nothing other than "guys I'm awesome check this out".

I don't think there's necessarily no emotion in speed, but I think it certainly can be a crutch for those artists with fundamentally nothing to say.

i believe that emotion can be conveyed with equal intensity with either slow or fast playing. think of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Riviera Paradise" or "Rude Mood" or "Scuddle Buttin'." Particularly, with "Riviera Paradise," he plays slow, delicate phrases, punctuated by lightning quick ones. you con feel the emotion in his playing, particularly when you can move with the current of the song itself, feeling the depth and breadth of the slow tempo; and sensing the more compact, dense, fast and ferocious waves of notes washing over you.

musical phrasing and improvisation are more or less the same for all instruments in western music. think of John Coltrane. he played incredibly fast, and moved with phenomenal dexterity; but with this incredible speed came a flurry of notes ("sheets of sound" is a common description of Coltrane's phrases); an intellectual, and emotional sound.

speed can be emotional, even if you're playing one note over and over and over again. even monotony can tell a person a great deal about how you feel. one could say the musician understands where a person would be anoyed with the droning of a single note, plucked at a constand high speed. on any given day, i might call it "masochistic music," (just for example anyway).

It depends completely on the type of music and quality of music being played. Anyone can shred without any type of rhyme or reason, but the true musical geniuses are the ones who can insert true feeling into the notes.

Megadeth would be an example of quality shredding, while Nirvana would be an example of a slower paced but still musically talented band.

Once again it all depends.

Mindlessly fast

Emotion

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

laser-pointer

As a guitar player, it is easier to shred then to play with emotion; but that doesn't mean that shredding has no emotion in it.JC346

Yea it's a lame argument. Mostly everybody plays with emotion, but some people think that only people that play slow and melodically do so. [QUOTE="laser-pointer"]

I think it's easier to shred than to play with emotion.

cyberdarkkid

well i haven't played guitar in about a year but when i had guitar class i almost had it down and it wasnt that hard.

[QUOTE="JC346"]As a guitar player, it is easier to shred then to play with emotion; but that doesn't mean that shredding has no emotion in it.cyberdarkkid

More often than not, there is no emotive "feel" in speedy playing. There are some people out there who are capable of expressing emotions through fast riffs (SRV), but the most emotive players usually play the slowest and the least amount of notes (depending on the speed of the song of course; a ballad is going to be slow, but "slow" for 150-175 bpm isn't going to be the same thing).

Why the hell can't fast be emotional? What if you just think that speed portrays what you want the best? What if in the middle of Angel of Death, King and Hanneman would try to portray you being totrured by a maniac doctor with a super slow solo?

It depends on the song...

I think it depends on the composition

Here are two examples of John Frusciante playing at home

This is him jaming Under the Bridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU_sxusyuoI

and this is him shredding some random Stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNPaR5xiwZc&feature=relate

Theres much more Emotion in the Under The Bridge jam while being much much slower. I'm not saying you can't put emotion in shredding but it's much much harder to do.

No, I don't think there's emotion in speed.

I really like shredding and often times it's way more emotive then someone playing slowly because you know those people are only trying to get you to "emote". For example the solo on Comfortably Numb is "considered" one of the best solos ever. I've treid listening to it like 10-15 times and I just don't see what's good about it. That doesn't move me or anything it's just a guy playing guitar slowly for a while (the song is decent but the solo is pretty whack) when compared to the "soulless" shredding of someone like Batio who I love. You can't really play with emotion because everyone emotes differently.

Don't you kind of hate it when people use this argument? I think most people say this because they themselves can't play fast.

I think its a pretty ridiculous depending on how you look at it.

A guitar player will spend years on his technique, just for people to say "there's no emotion" in that.

Sure, simplicity (and emotion) shouldn't be over looked, but then that's just too easy.

Thoughts? Opinions?

lonewolf604

There can be emotion in speed, just look at John Petrucci. Of course, speed can be emotionless as well. A mistake a lot of beginners make is over playing; they try to be fast for the sake of being fast.

I don't understand how one can sit down with a record and enjoy the lack of musicality in shredding.

"If it sounds good, it is good" - Duke Ellington

And shredding does not sound good. To me atleast.

I really like shredding and often times it's way more emotive then someone playing slowly because you know those people are only trying to get you to "emote". For example the solo on Comfortably Numb is "considered" one of the best solos ever. I've treid listening to it like 10-15 times and I just don't see what's good about it. That doesn't move me or anything it's just a guy playing guitar slowly for a while (the song is decent but the solo is pretty whack) when compared to the "soulless" shredding of someone like Batio who I love. You can't really play with emotion because everyone emotes differently.

whackedjob213

TBH, I'm not a huge fan of the Comfortably Numb solo either, and I love solos like that. Don't know why. Probably because of how many people told me how great that solo was. I thought Gilmour had much better solos, like in Dogs.

More often than not, there is no emotive "feel" in speedy playing. There are some people out there who are capable of expressing emotions through fast riffs (SRV), but the most emotive players usually play the slowest and the least amount of notes (depending on the speed of the song of course; a ballad is going to be slow, but "slow" for 150-175 bpm isn't going to be the same thing).

foxhound_fox

I can be fast and still have emotion, but when it's fast just for the sake of being fast is when it's lame.

Not trying to flood this topic with my posts, but I also want to say that one of the biggestgripes I havewith shredders is their tone. My god, that overdrive sounds awful. I don't mind moderate-fast playing on acoustic in genres such as Classical, flamenco, and other latin styles. Even "metal" acoustic guitar sounds good. As long as it isn't mindless playing.

Speed of music has nothing to do with anything.KHAndAnime

bands that have tremolo picking, drop tuning, weirdo screaming members that show little variety and never stray from that styl e are emotionless. they are walking posters.

i'd honestly get sick and tired hearing double bass and constant shredding. most of it is poorly made too. with FEW exceptions.yellosnolvr

Pretty much any song from this album will disprove the notion of "there's no emotion" in technicality.

I think the faster you play, the harder it is to put any emotion in your playing. So yes some very good guitarist can make really fast playing sound good and have emotion. Though when a lot of not so great guitarist play fast, it does end up sounding robotic and boring.

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of guitarist out there who don't play as fast as they trully can because they know when playing their fastest, the actual music isn't as good.

There can be emotion in speed, its just hard to do.