What makes a good guitarist? When you hear a solo that blows you away, what is it about that solo that makes it so impressive? Is it their skill? Is it their knowledge of theory? Or is it the heart and soul that they put into their playing? The answer is all 3, but skill and theory alone will never make for a good performance.

You need heart and soul in your playing to access the very essence of music: the ethereal yet living spirit that touches us and moves us. When you play, you’re not just operating a machine, you’re pouring your emotions, your experiences, your life lessons, your passion into the music, and you’re sending that music out there like a signal, hoping it will be picked up and received with all of the magic you sent it out there with.

There’s quite a lot of “mechanical” playing these days which is technically impressive, but it lacks soul. Fingers moving around the neck at blinding speeds, all sorts of new and inventive techniques, precision that can only be paralleled by a few. But when I hear that playing, I don’t feel anything. It doesn’t stir up any emotions in me, just an admiration for the practice it must have taken.

Now think about Albert King, and how simple his blues licks are. He often plays in such small boxes on the fretboard, lingering on a certain few notes, reaching out to his audience not through the notes he plays, but through the notes he doesn’t play. He embodies the spirit of heart and soul in his music, and it’s why he’s revered as one of the greatest blues players of all time. Whilst he has a great deal of technical skill, he uses it sparingly, and instead goes for a ‘less is more’ approach that knocks people off their seats.

To me, the most impressive solos are ones that deliver that spirit of music to me, the ones that take me on a journey not just of sound, but of emotion. Different guitar pieces will move different people. What moves me may not move you, but one thing is for sure. Whatever moves you will be played with heart and soul, not just technical skill, and that’s why technique alone will never make you musical.