Okay, the Japanese just won the award for best guitarists.

[Shaleblade]

Or something.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF4LTyqThcA&feature=related
Ignore the random pictures.

[X_Hero]

... I'm so going to play like that someday. XD

[major tom]

Shredding like crazy =/= best guitarist. There is absolutely no thought, no soul, to that. It's just a guy playing like crazy. Yeah, it's hard as poop to play like that. But for a naturally skilled player, it's easy to throw out a bunch of random notes and make them flow together.

To be the best guitarist, you can't just be a batpoop madman at shredding. You need to be able to write something that can move someone. Something that turns the guitar into your third arm, something that your heart turns into. Sure, someone like, say, Herman Li, could beat Stevie Ray Vaughan at shredding, but can he take a simple two minute Hendrix song, extend the length to six, adding guitar solos and making it an instrumental masterpiece? That's what SRV did to Little Wing, and few men could do something that brilliant.

[Zovistograt]

Shredding like crazy =/= best guitarist. There is absolutely no thought, no soul, to that. It's just a guy playing like crazy. Yeah, it's hard as poop to play like that. But for a naturally skilled player, it's easy to throw out a bunch of random notes and make them flow together.

To be the best guitarist, you can't just be a batpoop madman at shredding. You need to be able to write something that can move someone. Something that turns the guitar into your third arm, something that your heart turns into. Sure, someone like, say, Herman Li, could beat Stevie Ray Vaughan at shredding, but can he take a simple two minute Hendrix song, extend the length to six, adding guitar solos and making it an instrumental masterpiece? That's what SRV did to Little Wing, and few men could do something that brilliant.

It's all about your opinion on what makes a good guitarist, in my opinion :P  Some people could agree with you and say that being a good guitarist is to be able to be masterful with creating moving works with the guitar, but others may say that a good guitarist goes out of his way to let the music take control of him (or her).  Sometimes the best inspiration is improvised, and if it gets quite fast, so be it.  In that same thought, what if the guitarist finds his or her true calling to be shredding?  Since I listen to a ton of speedcore and breakcore, I tend to pick up on subtle almost-artistic touches in the middle of a crazy fast part of a song, and if you think of fast music as expressionism or some kind of abstract art, you can feel and even see in your mind the swirling barrage of colorful madness that is, say, a shredding guitar solo.  Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I think I make sense.  Maybe...

[Riosan]

dragonforce most hardcore guitar ever

Shredding like crazy =/= best guitarist. There is absolutely no thought, no soul, to that. It's just a guy playing like crazy. Yeah, it's hard as s*** to play like that. But for a naturally skilled player, it's easy to throw out a bunch of random notes and make them flow together.

I agree, music that flows incredibly smoothly sounds much more real than guitar played fast just for the sake of playing fast.

[major tom]

It's all about your opinion on what makes a good guitarist, in my opinion :P  Some people could agree with you and say that being a good guitarist is to be able to be masterful with creating moving works with the guitar, but others may say that a good guitarist goes out of his way to let the music take control of him (or her).  Sometimes the best inspiration is improvised, and if it gets quite fast, so be it.  In that same thought, what if the guitarist finds his or her true calling to be shredding?  Since I listen to a ton of speedcore and breakcore, I tend to pick up on subtle almost-artistic touches in the middle of a crazy fast part of a song, and if you think of fast music as expressionism or some kind of abstract art, you can feel and even see in your mind the swirling barrage of colorful madness that is, say, a shredding guitar solo.  Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I think I make sense.  Maybe...

Being a fast shredder makes you a good guitarist. Connecting the guitar to your soul makes you a brilliant musician.

I bet that if the OP's song was played at half the speed, no one would find it amazing.

[Zovistograt]

It's all about your opinion on what makes a good guitarist, in my opinion :P  Some people could agree with you and say that being a good guitarist is to be able to be masterful with creating moving works with the guitar, but others may say that a good guitarist goes out of his way to let the music take control of him (or her).  Sometimes the best inspiration is improvised, and if it gets quite fast, so be it.  In that same thought, what if the guitarist finds his or her true calling to be shredding?  Since I listen to a ton of speedcore and breakcore, I tend to pick up on subtle almost-artistic touches in the middle of a crazy fast part of a song, and if you think of fast music as expressionism or some kind of abstract art, you can feel and even see in your mind the swirling barrage of colorful madness that is, say, a shredding guitar solo.  Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I think I make sense.  Maybe...

Being a fast shredder makes you a good guitarist. Connecting the guitar to your soul makes you a brilliant musician.

I bet that if the OP's song was played at half the speed, no one would find it amazing.

Neither would a soulful song played fast.  Speed IS a factor of feeling.  There's a reason why songs have a set tempo; it's what makes the song.

[Tupin]

Being able to play fast does not make a guitarist automatically awesome.

Speed's a factor, but it needs to have flow.

[Metalbott]

What makes a good guitarist depends on your perspective. If you look at it from a technical point of view, without question it will be the faster players, doing sweep tapping and what not. However, technical players don't necessarily make the best music, which is were opinion comes into play. When choosing my favorite guitarist, I opt to just listen to the music, without caring to much about speed or technique. That said, I like speed.

But really, the only unbiased way to award these prizes is to look at them from a technical stand point.

[major tom]

But really, the only unbiased way to award these prizes is to look at them from a technical stand point.

Wrong.

Many guitarists can throw random notes down, make it fast, and call it genius. Though it is really hard to do that, playing fast is not the only thing. How is that unbiased? That'd basically be like saying "CLAPTON, FUCK OFF, METAL IS SUPERIOR."

[Zovistograt]

But really, the only unbiased way to award these prizes is to look at them from a technical stand point.

Technically, music can't be looked at technically :P

It all depends on taste and asthetics...a guitarist could be amazing but play songs you hate; likewise, a guitarist could be mediocre but play music you love anyway.

[Jono2]

is this the dragonforce guy?  I expected as much...

[Zovistograt]

is this the dragonforce guy?  I expected as much...

no...he's from Texas.

[major tom]

no...he's from Texas.

Nope.

DragonForce comes from the UK.

[Jono2]

the crazy guitarist from dragonforce is japanese, isn't he? o_O