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Photo credit: Tatum Hurley
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In the world of guitar playing, few challenges are as complex—or as misunderstood—as the balance between technical control and raw emotion. Technique can be measured, practiced, and refined. Emotion, on the other hand, is elusive: it lives in phrasing, touch, timing, and the willingness to be vulnerable. The true masters of the instrument are not those who choose one over the other, but those who learn to walk the tightrope between the two.
The Technical Challenge
Technical control demands discipline. It involves precision picking, clean fretting, timing accuracy, dynamic control, and the ability to execute complex passages consistently. Players who focus heavily on technique often spend countless hours with metronomes, scales, and exercises designed to remove inefficiency and unpredictability from their playing.
However, the very qualities that make technique impressive can also make it sterile. Over-quantized timing, overly symmetrical phrasing, and a fear of mistakes can strip music of its humanity. The technical challenge, then, isn’t simply learning technique—it’s knowing when to loosen the grip without losing control.
The Emotional Risk
Raw emotion in guitar playing often comes from imperfections: micro-bends that strain against pitch, notes that bloom a fraction late, vibrato that reflects the player’s inner state rather than a practiced pattern. Emotional playing requires risk. It asks the guitarist to be present, responsive, and sometimes reckless. The difficulty lies in expressing emotion without descending into chaos. Without sufficient control, emotional intent can become muddy, unfocused, or inconsistent. The listener may feel intensity, but not clarity. The challenge is translating feeling into sound in a way that remains communicative and intentional.
Where the Two Meet
Some of the most influential guitarists in history are revered precisely because they mastered this balance. David Gilmour is often cited as a benchmark. His technical vocabulary is relatively restrained, yet his control over bends, sustain, and dynamics allows him to extract profound emotion from even the simplest phrases. Every note feels deliberate, but never cold.
Stevie Ray Vaughan combined staggering physical technique with visceral intensity. His control over rhythm, touch, and tone enabled him to play on the edge—aggressive, emotional, and explosive—without losing coherence.
Jeff Beck blurred the line between technique and expression altogether. His command of the instrument was so deep that technical execution became invisible, allowing pure emotional intent to guide every articulation. What these players share is not just skill, but intentionality. Technique serves emotion, not the other way around.
The Inner Conflict for Modern Guitarists
In the age of social media and hyper-polished recordings, guitarists face a new challenge: visibility often rewards perfection over feeling. Mistakes are edited out. Performances are judged by speed, cleanliness, and novelty. As a result, many players feel pressure to prioritize technical display at the expense of emotional depth. Reintegrating emotion requires conscious effort. It means allowing space, embracing silence, and trusting instinct. It means accepting that a technically “imperfect” take might be the one that resonates most deeply.
Enter Cinde
This ongoing conversation about control versus emotion is precisely where guitarist Cinde finds their creative center. Known for a playing style that values expressive phrasing as much as precision, Cinde approaches the guitar as a voice rather than a device. Their work reflects a deliberate balance—technical fluency that never overshadows feeling, and emotional honesty grounded in control.
Rather than chasing excess or minimalism, Cinde focuses on intention: why a note is played, not just how. It’s an approach shaped by discipline, experience, and a refusal to separate technique from humanity. In the following interview, we sit down with Cinde to explore how they navigate this balance, how their technical practice informs emotional expression, and why vulnerability may be the most demanding skill a guitarist can develop.
ABOUT CINDE
Cinde is a guitarist driven by expression, tone, and authenticity. With a playing style that balances technical control and raw emotion, Cinde focuses on making the guitar speak—whether through soaring melodies, subtle textures, or powerful riffs. Influenced by a wide range of sounds and experiences, Cinde’s music is less about showing off and more about connection, atmosphere, and storytelling. Each performance reflects a deep respect for the instrument and a commitment to creating music that feels honest and alive.
INTERVIEW WITH CINDE AND GUITAR THRILLS MAGAZINE
Guitar Thrills: When you’re playing, how do you personally define the balance between technical control and raw emotion?
Cinde: To me, it’s understanding that ironically, technical discipline leads to emotional freedom when playing. I think hours and hours of practice and developing an in depth understanding of your instrument gives you an unmatched confidence that allows you to mess around with a vibe to the fullest extent when you feel it on stage. Relaying human emotion has the most impact when someone really learns how to communicate. In this case with guitar, raw emotion is the message and my technique is a big part of the vessel I use to get it all out.
Guitar Thrills: Was there a moment in your development as a guitarist when you realized technique alone wasn’t enough?
Cinde: I think it was the complete opposite for me. I was always a songwriter first so learning to play guitar as a kid was more of just a tool to help me write and process feelings. Then I started realizing the better my guitar technique became, the more I got out of the songs I was writing.
Guitar Thrills: How does your technical practice influence the way you express emotion, rather than limit it?
Cinde: At one point I realized that when I learnt new voicings, I subconsciously went to new creative places that I otherwise would not have even reached. Expanding on my songwriting ideas and stylistically evolving faster with a guitar is what led me to prioritize learning and refining my technique.
Guitar Thrills: Many players fear mistakes. How do you approach imperfection in live or recorded performances?
Cinde: I’m always aiming for “perfection” and there’s definitely an adrenaline rush that helps me lock in, but at the end of the day when I was a kid watching my favourite guitarists on live concert DVDs over and over again, the mistakes and off-script bits gave me proof it was all real and honestly connected me to them in a closer way. Watching my guitar heroes inspire tens of thousands of people shows me that a blip in a performance just bridges the gap between the magic they make on stage and the human that they are.
Guitar Thrills: Which guitarists most shaped your understanding of emotional phrasing, and what did you take from their playing?
Cinde: There’s so many but specifically Billie Joe Armstrong, Frank Iero, Dave Brownsound, Brad Delson, and Daron Malakian will forever sit on the “Guitar God” pedestals in my mind because there was always so much drama behind every melodic line and guitar solo. I think the thing they all share in my mind is the ability to create this big melody through a wall of sound unique to them, but universal in the way that so many people are moved emotionally by their playing. They all have this thing where when I hear their solos I am all of a sudden the most triumphant person in the world and I immediately wanna stand up and break shit. I want to make other people wanna stand up and break shit too.
Guitar Thrills: Do you approach writing differently than improvisation when it comes to expressing emotion through the guitar?
Cinde: Not really, I think one stems from the other. I think my favourite writing comes from pulling the best moments out of improvisation. All my writing starts with a bit of improv until a happy accident occurs and I begin building from there. When creating something I prioritize capturing a feeling first and the places I want to take the listener emotionally by 4 bar increments. Almost like creating a rough dynamic/emotional blueprint to tell the story. I then embellish specific moments from there.
Guitar Thrills: How do you stay emotionally present while performing technically demanding material?
Cinde: Similar to what I said before about putting in enough hours of practice to unlock emotional freedom. Once you have your muscle memory locked in, you have complete emotional freedom to bend in the way that you need and you can pay extra attention to the way that you attack each note. During a lot of performances, I’m also playing with really chunky boots and sunglasses and there’s a smoke machine, a fan, and strobe lights in my face so there are a lot of physical hurdles that I have to work with too. The best way to deal with all that is to play and practice with those same distractions at home. I will play in my little studio with the boots on, sunglasses on, a fan in my face and no AC in my room to create absurd conditions that are really not so absurd once you start touring haha. Exposure therapy is the best therapy.
Guitar Thrills: In an era of highly polished social media performances, how do you resist the pressure to prioritize perfection over feeling?
Cinde: The extremely polished stuff doesn’t always make me feel something. It does always sound great and I definitely use a lot of these polished videos as a reference of how to mix my guitars in recordings and how to EQ my guitars live. However, there’s something way more magical about a live guitar video that’s simply executed well, or watching two people jam and communicate musically in real time.
Guitar Thrills: Has there been a specific performance or recording where you felt you truly captured an honest emotional moment? What made it work?
Cinde: When I was on tour with Goldie Boutilier opening up for Katy Perry in October 2025 , our last performance was at the O2 Arena which has been a long time dream of mine to perform at. We were in awe that we were there achieving this moment altogether. During one of my guitar solos, you could see on the big IMAG screen that I was trying so hard to stay focused but Goldie and I smile at each other and I stick my tongue out and you could kind of see us feeling this mutual sense of “holy shit, we’re doing this right now!”
Guitar Thrills: What advice would you give to guitarists who feel torn between developing speed and precision versus finding their own voice?
Cinde:Although all are valuable components to focus on, I don’t think that speed is as important as precision is, and above all it’s your own voice that makes you the most memorable and gives you that special star quality. When you think of your guitar idols, you don’t necessarily think about who they are trying to emulate. They are typically your idol BECAUSE they embody their own unique aura, have their own unique tones, and play in their own way. Focus on practicing with music that ignites your spirit AND explore other styles too because you may learn new things about yourself!
Conclusion
The conversation around technical control and raw emotion will likely never be settled—because it isn’t meant to be. Guitar playing, at its core, is not a choice between precision and passion, but a dialogue between them. Technique gives emotion a language; emotion gives technique a purpose. When the two are separated, something essential is lost.
Artists who endure are those who understand this relationship deeply. They practice not to eliminate feeling, but to express it more clearly. They refine their control not to sound perfect, but to sound honest. In this sense, mastery is less about dominance over the instrument and more about trust—trust that the hands will respond when the moment demands vulnerability.
Cinde’s approach embodies this philosophy. By refusing to prioritize mechanics over meaning, or emotion over intention, Cinde reminds us that the most compelling guitar playing lives in the space between discipline and risk. It is in that space where music becomes more than sound—where it becomes communication.
As the guitar world continues to evolve, voices like Cinde’s offer an important reminder: the goal is not to impress, but to connect. And connection, in the end, is the most demanding technique of all.
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