Feeling - what is it? Is it important? - General

I wonder... There seems to be a priviliged kind of people who can distinguish whether a musical piece is performed with "feeling" and what's not. As we all know, "feeling" is a must in music. You can have the most beautiful composition ever written, but it will not sound well if not performed with alot of "feeling". I say bullshit. I don't understand why everyone is so hyped about this concept. There's the classic question about who the best guitarist in the world is, and they usually end up the same. People agree that while someone like Yngwie Malmsteen might be the best [I]technical[/I] player, he does not beat Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix when it comes to "feeling". Because Yngwie plays fast. He plays alot of notes. And that automatically means you can't have feeling. Oh, and he doesn't bend notes over a blues scale. "But you can't define feeling, it's just something you gotta hear to understand." - uh ok? Or maybe we just like different things. If playing an arpeggio sweep solo at 180 bpm brings me alot of feelings, then that's "feeling" for me. Yet people try to convince eachother that there's an absolute thing called "feeling" and Yngwie hasn't got it. TL/DR Ok so basically what I want to ask is: Do you believe in "feeling"?

Feeling is just if the music evokes some sort of subconscious emotional response. Listen to John Petrucci, he can play a billion notes a second and still give it feeling. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njgZLQkIcP0[/media] 1:46-3:00 in this next one: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcG0dpBz7tc&feature=related[/media]

[QUOTE=Upgrade123;23506983]Listen to John Petrucci, he can play a billion notes a second and still give it feeling. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njgZLQkIcP0[/media][/QUOTE] Nice clip. Personally I think his solo in [I]Stream of Consciousness[/I] is the one with most "feeling" because I just like it the most.

It's just loving what you're doing for yourself rather than just doing it to impress people. That sort of simple thought process shows in music. It's fairly clear when something is just thoughtless and done without any love as compared to when it's done with heavy emotional input.

I see feeling more from live performances and stuff, where you can generally see whether the band is really giving it their all or not. That's my take on feeling at least, probably not very accurate or correct, and it's definitely not something that is measurable. I think in real non-bullshit terms, it's the use of dynamic contrasts and shit, and other little things that separate man from machine. I hardly think Malmsteen lacks feeling compared to the aforementioned blues players though, like the OP said, you don't have to be playing on the blues scale and using bends and vibrato to have 'feeling'.

Feeling can be described in technical terms just as anything can be. I have to say, the best guitar solos for me are the ones where emotion is conveyed in the sense that the guitar is replicating a feeling of some sort. The best way for me to describe feeling is to compare music with acting. Imagine a number of actors that all act out a few sad lines with the same timing and same words. A few actors will likely sound a lot better because they put a lot more feeling into the words that are being said, they give the words meaning. If someone were to say the sad lines in a monotone voice, in comparison to the one with feeling, it is dull and is lacking. In the same respect, a great guitarist will give the notes meaning. Now we can analyze both and figure out how the feeling is being produced, and with music it is usually through vibrato, bends, dramatic movements, but there is a lot more depth to it than that. A lot of solos and riffs aren't really meant to convey feeling, instead that is up to the singer and the lyrics, the music is more of a background which helps what is trying to be conveyed come out. Yes, feeling is pretty ambiguous, but most people can tell when it is there. A lot of solos in music don't have that much of connection with the song and instead is just a jam over the track, which I think is completely fine as long as it sounds good. If it sounds good it sounds good. A lot of the people that say that this or that guitarist is bad because they don't have feeling probably have the ears set on more emotional sounding pieces. Oh, and songs with a lot of fast guitar playing can have a tone feeling to them, for example Fade To Black, Cliffs of Dover, Dazed and Confused, In the Name of God, ect, ect. But of course feeling is subject in songs.

Feeling is for pussies.

I love feeling pussies. [editline]11:10AM[/editline] 6:17 onwards in this video: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOous91wrtE&feature=related[/media]