Personally I can't stand technical guitar playing, sure I can respect their talent but I just have no desire to listen to intricate guitar solos or any band like Dragonforce of Malmsteen...ugh. I prefer creativity or even not so great musicianship, gives the music the raw quality that I really like.

Hendrix was unorthodox...
 

Because of his lefthandedness, being self-taught and his devotion to blues masters (who were also usually self-taught), Jimi didn't always play the "right" way, but he played the right way for him. He doesn't have the same speed or precision of a classically trained player such as Randy Rhodes and others, but he had serious chops--he pushed guitar beyond the boundaries in ways few have been able to duplicate. I think the closest anyone has come is Robert Randolph with his lap steel.

I think personality comes into it greatly. I've played in a few bands, and everyone has something to project from inside with their playing. It's a very unique thing.

There seems to be a misconception here. I own Dragonforce's entire discography and have attended several of their concerts, and have never encountered anything much more than random running of the fingers up and down the frets. You are perfectly entitled to say that you don't like them (and props for doing so!), but please don't grant them the status of technical talent. The appalling nature of this comes through in one of their slower songs "Trail of Broken Hearts". It's not as unbearable as most of their stuff (although still very, very cheesy), but the guitar solo shows a total absence of any real ideas. They just seem to know how to vary pitch, but I've never found any evidence that they can make that into a tune.

The only technical ability a guitarist needs is to know how to plug the thing in and make some noise.

^ This, basically.

If I wanted to spend my time fawning over technical ability, I'd have studied music in college.

You're right. I'll take Mclaughlin over Satriani or Vai any day. I'll take Les Paul and Chet Atkins over Vai and Satch as well.

Buckethead is one technical guitarist that I find to be pretty interesting. Definitely more interesting than Malmsteen, Vai, and Satch. I think he has a lot more style and creative ability than those guys. He has the ability to play a million notes a minute, but he doesn't do it all the time, because he has some style.

I'm a bit worried that Sun Lagos Jew Sun Ra will turn up and start blaring about how good Keiji Heino is.

There isn't really anything interesting about playing a million notes a minute, to be honest. If you don't believe me, I'll defy you to point me towards an interesting Dragonforce track. Brian May in my opinion was one of the best for this, he would noodle when the time was appropriate, and the result was some very subtle but engaging sound. Buckethead may well be another for all I know, I haven't found time to check out his better albums you recommended, Blastingas.

I haven't seen the Jew Sun Ra in a while. Maybe he blocked me, I don't know. :laughing:

I agree, there is nothing interesting about playing that fast. All the notes just start blending in and there's really no distinguishable melody to it. Buckethead is one of those guys. He can shred extremely fast, but he doesnt do it all that often. He's more than just a shredder. His playing is pretty melodic. He has a lot of slow, melodic songs. i certainly put him above Satch and Vai.

Is technical ability everything?

The short answer: no. A lot of great music has been created by people who are not particularly technically proficient. On the other hand, technical ability does open doors for musicians to express themselves in a wider variety of ways. Plus there are some styles of music which just simply do not work unless the person making the music is fairly skilled with their instrument. I would put everything from jazz to flamenco to classical to most types of metal in this category.