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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[coffeeman]

Great topic Monte.

Reading all posts now I wonder a few things. All the guys you mention are true masters and what I think is most important is that they create great music in their own styles. In my case thats why I am a member of GMC , I want to create gret music, in order to do that I need to have a good and strong technique. Now reading all of your posts I wonder , should I concentrate on one techinque more tahn another. Im a beginner so I really have a long way to have a decent alternate picking, legato, sweeping, hybrif picking etc.....

I think it really depends on the spot you are at the moment , I really want to focus on fusion , I want to have a very smooth sound , but if at this moment I only concentrate les's on legato and hybrid picking , I think Im going to have an unbalanced playing in the future , another thing it would be if a this moment my techinque were very strong in all fields , and I would like to develope a smoother sound.

So my conclusion is , if you are a beginner like me , firts concentrate on developing a strong techinque , when you reach that, go for your favourite one.

After reading my post, I said a lot of things and said nothing at the same time, anyway just wanted to share my point of view.

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