This kind of stuff used to impress me when Yngwie Malmsteen first came out. But more and more people seem to be able to play like that now. Now it just sounds like a bunch of shit to me and these guys never seem to be able to write a song or work well with other artists. They want their guitar work to be stage centre.
Here's a real guitar player.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oSQpKuY968&feature=related
Thank you for reminding me that past a certain point, the more technically proficient your playing becomes, the more mind numbingly boring it becomes.
Seriously. I hate this kind of wankery. I don't care to ever play like that. There are three rules of musicianship that this breaks:
1. Don't play too many notes.
2. Play only what the song needs and GTFO.
3. Don't be a wanker.
To echo other people in this thread, I am much more impressed with good songwriting (I dont care if its 4 basic chords as long as its good) and someone who can play with other musicians.
1. By whose definition? Yours?
2. Maybe the song needs a lot of notes
3. There's actually very little "wanking" going on in the OP's solo
People who *automatically* dismiss this type of music tend to take on an air of superiority, as though they have graduated to a higher plane of musical interest, when in reality they are more ignorant of music than they understand themselves to be. They simply cannot recognize the musicality in this, and cannot differentiate between the good stuff and the "wankers." What makes BB King and David Gilmour better than the guy at the local pub? It's the same thing that makes Petrucci, Malmsteen, and Vai better than the thousands of knock-off shred guitarists on youtube.
I like to listen to everything, from extreme shred/goth/death/noise metal all the way to Irish folk songs to Tupac Shakur. One of my favorite artists is Ol' Dirty Bastard who was known for being one of the most minimalist rappers you can imagine. Extremely raw and to the point. The early Beatles are incredible for their pop song writing ability. Early punk bands like Crass, GBH, and Exploited are incredible for their raw, cheap, dirty songs. I'm happy to be able to enjoy more music rather than less. But all of these musical styles can be exploited or abused or misapplied or simply copied too much. Same goes for "shredding."
I like the blues as much as the next guy, but jesus fucking christ, there are only so many combinations of the I-IV-V minor pentatonic scale that you can make!