A Viewpoint

    More than a week ago, Rolling Stone Magazine had released their coveted ‘250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time’ list, which you may have already heard or read. As per as being a compilation that honours the most eloquent and influential musicians to ever pick up the Guitar, this list is a definite improvement over their last ‘100 Greatest Guitar Players’ list, which felt like it only toyed around it’s theme and barely even scratched the surface, consequently leaving out many greats who more than deserved to be featured. On the other hand, the new list is far more diverse and includes a lot more players who have genuinely made their mark in playing the instrument that simply can’t be ignored by anyone, and it’s a real treat seeing so many virtuoso players featured alongside other musical innovators who’ve explored whole new sonic territories on the Electric Guitar. But still, the new list can’t completely avoid the pitfalls of being part of the forefront media outl...

  Calling anyone the Greatest Shredder of all time is certainly obnoxious and downright pretentious, but for someone like Yngwie Malmsteen whose playing embodies the whole essence of ‘shredding’ like no other Guitar player in history, is perhaps an apt metaphor. First off, it’s a pretty well known fact that Yngwie Malmsteen is by no means, the fastest Guitar player on Earth. In fact, there’s LOTS of players who can play waay faster and dare I say, cleaner than Yngwie. If you look at strictly NPS scaling, Yngwie at his absolute best goes about 15 NPS. Now there’s tons of players who can go even farther beyond. But here’s the thing—in case of all the other players, when they’re in the ‘lightning fast’ zone of alternate picking superhighway, it just sounds more and more mechanical and pretty much devoid of any emotional content. But here’s exactly where Yngwie’s playing stands out—it has an innate and very real sense of ‘fury’ in each of his pickstrokes (there may be tons...

  More than being a great songwriter and virtuoso Super Guitarist, it’s Satriani’s ability to tell a story or convey an emotion through notes, chords, legato runs or any other musical passages that makes him such a great artist and composer on the Electric Guitar. And all the 5 songs listed here are testaments to this fact. 5. Lost in a Memory: The most emotionally powerful deep cut in Satriani’s discography, Lost in a Memory is a fever dream inducing track that can pull you in a labyrinth of strong emotions. There’s a great amount of emotional storytelling going on in this track, and the organic sounding notes, the dreamy chords, the cathartic riffs, the wavy synths and the plaintive solo—all of them contribute towards drowning you into the song. Even the brief chord section at the end feels magical. This is one of those rare tracks that you just bask into, as even after the song ends, the feeling stays on in you.     4. Flying in a Blue Dream: Mystica...

  It’s been over 15 years since I first heard a Joe Satriani track, and until that point, I had never imagined that the Electric Guitar would be able to translate complex human emotions so vividly--how lush chords and technically intricate guitar solos could express delicate feelings while at the same time, sound musically immaculate. As one of the pioneers of the modern instrumental Guitar genre, Satriani has crafted some of the most musically rich, imaginative and diverse pieces of music to ever grace the Electric Guitar. What sets him apart from most other great Guitar Heroes out there, is that his playing, even when it gets unbelievably technical, is always in service of the songs. There’s almost always a ‘musical storytelling’ aspect to his compositions and a central theme that every element of the ‘songs’—from the riffs to the solos, serve as essential contributors instead of being self indulgent. It’s this element of ‘restraint’ that makes Satriani a virtuoso musician ...