Does Technique Limit Expression?, what does everybody think? Options

[lcsdds]

What do you guys think about this? I know of a few artists that seem limited when it comes to certain techniques and it seems that they are still able to express themselves quite well. There are quite a few instructors on this board who seem to have limitless technical ablilities and it seems like they use it to really enhance their playing. What do you guys for instance think of the following players and their technical abilities:

Joe Satriani- Probably my favorite instrumentalist to listen to but I have never heard him do any sort of alternate picking or sweep picked arpeggios like most of us think of when we think of those techniques. Satch is probably the reason my legato/tapping is so far ahead of my alternate picking, LOL!!

Alan Holdsworth- Not super familiar with his playing but from what I have seen/heard it is all legato. Does anybody more familiar with his playing know if he uses alternate picking at all?

Bret Garsed- Same as Alan Holdsworth, never heard/seen any alternate picking runs in his playing.

Frank Gambale- I remember Emir saying that Frank is a true master of his instrument. Here is a guy that only economy picks from what I can gather from his playing. He has a good legato technique as well. One of the biggest knocks on economy picking that I have seen is that you have to "plan" out your licks more than if you alternate pick. This "technical deficiency" doesn't seem to have stopped his progress though.

All of these players don't seem to have problems expressing themselves but they all seem to be "technically limited" in some respects. What do you guys think?

Monte

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[Andrew Cockburn]

When I heard the story, it was the saxophone that Holdsworth was trying to emulate - not that it changes the point that was being made. In addition to crazy legato, he also gets involved in the creative use of techniques like volume swells to change the usual attack that you hear on a picked string. Such an innovative guy!

Yes, Sax, that was it - sorry!

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