Some people are classed as 'amazing' musicians, even though they aren't as talented on an instrument as others. We were discussing what kind of attributes gives people this kind of name.
One word that came up was 'Innovator'. There are some musicians in the world that have pushed their instrument further than other before. Jaco Pastorius is said to be one of, if not THE, greatest bassist of all time. This is because he took what bass was originally, and completely changed it. He put his own flare on it, and people started using his techniques, meaning he changed the instrument.
'Feel' comes in to play a lot as well. You could be the most technical player, but without having a feel for the music and having your own sound, you would just be shredding notes over some chords (which no one really wants to hear). This ties in nicely with Phrasing. Again, if you were to fill in every single note with licks, it would sound too busy and people would loose interest. Instead, if you pick the perfect spots and notes in a bar, you will gain a lot more than playing 100 notes a second. Although it's much better to pick perfect spots for a solo, there still has to be some technical ability. Putting in little parts of shredding or fast playing can be really effective, to add some flavour.
Probably the most important thing to have is charisma. Having an out there personality will gain you a lot of respect. People love hearing stories of rock stars trashing hotel rooms or something, which gives them more of an opinion. If someone was plain, they would be rated only on their playing. In some cases, like Alan Holdsworth, he is rated only on this. This is a good attribute, because that way that's all that's focused on.
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