I was going to say something, but quickly realised it was pointless and I'd just be dragged into a flame war. Laiho has chops, but can't songwrite or sing for toffee.

If you were suggesting that you'd get in a "flame war" with me over Alexi Laiho, don't worry. I'm not a mindless music fanboy who only goes in the direction he's pointed. I used to be a huge Bodom fan, but now I'm just a casual listener. My statement above wasn't meant to pledge my allegience to Mr. Laiho (or even Dev for that matter), but rather simply point out the vast difference between the two musicians and their individual takes on metal.

Well screw that ill start a flame war!! lol I recon the Dev would shit all over him at guitar playing/singing/song-writeing/metal hair-dos/anythin else you can think of!! haha

I was going to say something, but quickly realised it was pointless and I'd just be dragged into a flame war. Laiho has chops, but can't songwrite or sing for toffee.

If you were suggesting that you'd get in a "flame war" with me over Alexi Laiho, don't worry. I'm not a mindless music fanboy who only goes in the direction he's pointed. I used to be a huge Bodom fan, but now I'm just a casual listener. My statement above wasn't meant to pledge my allegience to Mr. Laiho (or even Dev for that matter), but rather simply point out the vast difference between the two musicians and their individual takes on metal.

Woah, no I meant I didn't want to get into a flame war with the guy on youtube about his Laiho comments

Oh.

Party on!

Has everyone heared Buckethead here? hes awesome, id love to hear a collab between dev and him that would be awesome!

I read somewhere that even though Devin can shred, he doesn't care for it that much.

This wasn't a quote from Devin himself or anything, so I can't verify. I've seen him do it in concert footage before (and certain songs like Wrong Side of course) and he rocks.

EDIT: Whoops, didn't realize this was an old topic.

That's it right there. Since he doesn't wack off on the guitar all the time, critics imply he can't or isn't very good at it.Totally missing the point of his musical choices.
Perhaps it was his time with Steve Vai,the ultimate shredder, that influenced him to down play the 'shredding' and get to the shapes, texture and emotion of the tunes which is, in the end ,what Devy's music is all about.....and heavyness.....can't forget the HEAVY.....

I read somewhere (I think it was the article with the long fingers) that Devin doesn't think of himself as a guitar hero or anything. He said he's pretty good at sweeping and tapping and that's about it, IIRC.

Has everyone heared Buckethead here? hes awesome, id love to hear a collab between dev and him that would be awesome!

Yeah Buckethead is amazing. What I DIDN'T know is that he did an album with Viggo Mortensen

I was going to say something, but quickly realised it was pointless and I'd just be dragged into a flame war. Laiho has chops, but can't songwrite or sing for toffee.

Well, I agree with you.

I was reading a interview with Gene from 2005 and he said "Dev is one of the best shredders in the world but no one knows it" or somthing along those lines ill find a link later its a really good interview

Does anyone know if that Nerd Alert song has been released anywhere at all? I heard it was on a compilation from magna carta records but its like finding shit in mud trying to find it. Oh yeah and in my opinion, Devy is one of the most talented guitarists out there, his diversity is awesome, how he is able to layer walls of sound and not make it cluttered to hell and back is genius, i seriously can't wait for this new stuff he's got coming. Long Live the Dev!

I think he's a great guitarist but personally i think his talent lies in the atmopheres he creates with his playing, and his writing... i've never really dug the sweep picking shit at all, which is why it probably rarely makes it to any of his albums.

I don't really care about any of that ego driven guitar wankage really. I guess Yngwie's playing is interesting for about 5 minutes... Steve Vai, maybe a couple tunes. Michael Angelo Batio, Rusty Cooley though... that shit is freakin terrible.

Has everyone heared Buckethead here? hes awesome, id love to hear a collab between dev and him that would be awesome!

Yeah Buckethead is amazing. What I DIDN'T know is that he did an album with Viggo Mortensen

Buckethead may be a good guitarist but he can't write a decent tune to save himself.

Has everyone heared Buckethead here? hes awesome, id love to hear a collab between dev and him that would be awesome!

Yeah Buckethead is amazing. What I DIDN'T know is that he did an album with Viggo Mortensen

Buckethead may be a good guitarist but he can't write a decent tune to save himself.

That is a ridiculous statement... Some of the songs off the record called colma are really cool and Nottingham Lace is just immense. Theres alot of songs by buckethead that are just so relaxing to listen to, Eletric tears and Population overide are good also. I wouldnt put him in the same league as Dev for song writeing but for what he does he does it very well and with extreme precision

i've never really dug the sweep picking shit at all, which is why it probably rarely makes it to any of his albums.

A little big-headed of you. Are you in terribly close with Dev? I kid.

Anyway, I saw an interview with Dev (it could have been a gear show-off or instructional video, come to think of it), and he admitted that for awhile, he had his aim set at being a shred-head, but then he wised up and decided that the music itself was more important than the note count in any given second. The weight of Devy's works, in my humble opinion, don't leave any room for frivolous wanking.

That having been said, one shouldn't discount an entire facet of music (here technical playing) because some idiots like Yngwie Malmsteen and Michael Angelo Batio are tasteless. If you look to guys like John Petrucci and Michael Romeo, you'll see the fun, intelligent examples of playing too fast. It's not that technical playing is inherently bad--just that some people aren't very creative. And a mixture of those two can be pretty abysmal (listen to Yngwie's Concerto Suite--it's one of the most awful albums ever released simply because there is absolutely no creativity or musicality in any of it). Again, this is all just my opinion: good music occurs when the artist can balance his creativity with his technicality.

And to get back on topic: Devin is an incredible guitarist, but thankfully, he is an unrivaled composer and musician before that.