Also can we please stop justifying why we don't like shred? Isn't saying "I don't like really fast guitar playing" good enough? This is a pretty subjective thing, after all - there's no use in trying to convince people who like guitar shredding that it is not good music, and there is no point in trying to convince people who do not like guitar shredding that it is good music. The entire discussion is really silly and gets old really fast.
That's not the issue.
The issue is simply the fact that people come up with ridiculous reasons as to why they don't like shred, or needlessly stereotype and judge the genre when they don't know shit about it. Both of those require justification, otherwise they're just silly.
I mean, "I don't like shred" is the best reason for not liking shred. "I don't like shred because it has no emotion" and "I don't like shred because it is meaningless" are just two arguments that are utter bull and that no-one who views music with on open mind should accept. I will stop having problems with people who give negative opinions about shred when they can either give their opinion eloquently and/or can validate any claims they make about it. Here's a good reason for not like shred:
"I don't get much out of instrumental music, and I feel that faster sections go right past me"
Those are fantastic reasons for not liking shred.
Let me apply the kind of anti-shred sentiment to another genre, just for the sake of an example.
"Country is all boring"
That seems pretty uninformed to anyone, ever. That's because I don't know utter shit about country music and don't really like it in the first place, therefore I am largely ignorant of what it is, its musicians and its nuances. Just because I like the blues, which is a fairly similar genre, doesn't give me license to talk shit about country. It seems utterly ridiculous that someone of any intelligence would say something like that.
My key problem with 'guitar wankery' has evolved beyond the wankery aspect. Admittedly, that was my major problem with it for a while but it's since been pointed out to me that most of them do have some feeling in there, etc. etc. The thing is, I have to ask - would Vai, Satch or Yngwie have record deals if they couldn't play that fast? If you took away the fact that they're awesome guitar players, would their songs alone be strong enough?
You can't just take away a musical element from a player and question their relevance. It's like asking, "Would Mozart still kick ass without a choir backing him up?". Mozart sometimes wrote music with a choir as a major articulation. Speed is just one of many musical articulations and the general thought that speed only serves as a wow factor perplexes me to no end. You wouldn't say "Well, let's drop Darkness Descends to 120 bpm and see if it still kicks ass", because the speed of Darkness Descends, like in much of thrash, relies on speed as one element of the music.
Just like anything else, preferred speed is just that - preferred and subjective. Every culture has different standards of speed in their music, so the implication that speed is a less important musical element than others is the musical equivalent of saying that maybe Renaissance art was shit. That is, completely subjective and, well, subject to the culture of the time and area.
Secondly, such a post reveals one's inexperience with the less-than-aptly named genre of "shred". It should read "instrumental hard rock/metal", because speed isn't a necessary factor in the music. Just about every recording "shred" artist can and sometimes does annihilate the fretboard, but many of their songs have a stronger relationship with pop rock than, say, progressive rock. Satch and Vai are perfect examples. Both of them are well-known for pushing technical boundaries, but plenty, perhaps more than half their songs are mid or low tempo with only short bursts of virtuosity, if any.
P.S. To DynamiteKid: I think you are one of the cooler people on this forum. I am saying this because I disagree with
everything you have to say about music, but I like you personally. Just in case you think I'm on your case or something, but I can see how you might think that.
