Quote:
Originally posted by face of glass
... is he deliberately trying to impress some people this way or not? Is he trying to seem like a "natural" acoustic player when in fact he's playing with an electric? Is this another topic for ideological debate? 
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If you want my opinion (which clearly you do, since you asked me for it
), Lindsey is much more setting out to impress folks with his ELECTRIC playing this tour.
Technically, certainly on electric, he's *not* on a par with the likes of Steve Vai or Joe Satriani for sheer blinding speed and mindblowing technique - he rarely uses his little finger (pinky to the transpondials amongst us) when playing lead, and the fact that he's playing with fingers probably precludes the dazzling levels of speed that Vai or Satch can get with a pick.
Having said that, lead guitar isn't all about technique. What he does do is play with a level of emotional intensity that a lot of others don't, and, these days, he also makes a point of drawing attention to it with his body language and general demeanour.
As far as his acoustic playing goes: he's a damn fine picker
I know a number of guitarists who would p*ss all over him in terms of notes/second on electric lead, but wouldn't know where to START on an acoustic: it's a markedly different ballgame. Yes, a good chunk of what he does isn't as hard as it perhaps seems once you understand the techniques at the core of his playing: yes he's prettying up the sound with effects, but.. even so, the basic stuff he does isn't three-chords-round-a-campfire picking, not by ANY stretch of the imagination.
To be honest, what's so good about Lindsey is that he's Lindsey
It's not just the technique, although that is pretty unique to him; it's also as much in what he plays as how he plays it. I can't, to be honest, think of many guitarists who are as good as he is on both acoustic AND electric, and make a career of it. Lindsey's somewhat rare in being publicly not so much an acoustic or electric guitarist, but simply a guitarist.
And yes, I'm a fan, but he's probably not my favourite guitarist, quite.