Of course musicians have been able to splice their parts together since multitrack came into wide usage, eg. the guitar solo in Stairway to Heaven. But I kind of feel like use of digital correction is a bit overdone right now.
I appreciate I'm stepping into mostly subjective territory here though. It's like if somebody said to Hendrix, "hey Jimi, tune your guitar man". Or told Knopfler to stop playing dead notes, or Slash to stop missing notes altogether while not jumping off a drum riser. They could do those things but then to me it wouldn't feel like them.
I don't think I'm the only person who feels this way, but it's definitely personal & subjective.
I definitely understand your point about Hendrix, Knopfler and Slash. There's something beautiful about virtuoso playing that still sounds "raw", you know what I mean? I grew up obsessed with shred guitar, and there was a lot of that in the 80s/90s. There are younger guitar players on youtube these days who are miles ahead in terms of technical proficiency and production/effects but some of that authenticity is lost.
I recently saw a video of Ritchie Blackmore talking about Satriani's playing and how it's almost too technically perfect and loses some of the soul. I tend to agree. I have great respect for both of them though.
