Are you a shredder?
A shredder is an instrumentalist (most of the time a guitarist) who possesses superb technical skills and likes to show it. Things associated with shredders are for example Ibanez guitars, harmonic minor and diminished scales played at greased lightning speed, extensive whammy bar abuse and sweep arpeggios.
Like it or not, everybody’s got an opinion of it.
I used to be a shredder
Yes, back in my late teens to early twenties (a time when mullets, spandex pants, refrigerator-sized effects racks and hockeystick-style guitars were not entirely uncommon) I listened a lot to guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and a whole bunch of other metal/fusion guitarists whose names escape me at the moment. Speed and sheer technique were what mattered most, and I could spend days trying to figure out how to play my guitar heroes’ coolest licks and techniques perfectly. I followed all the exercises in Guitar Player Magazine and bought every album released by Mike Varney Productions. I practiced day and night and soon got really fast, and I was proud of it.
I’m now 40, and only a tiny fraction of the technique that I once possessed remains in my fingers. I don’t listen to shred records anymore, and I certainly don’t pretend as if I can play it. I almost never practice and as a result my playing gets increasingly sloppy every day. Do I miss it? No. I believe I’m a better composer, arranger and overall musician today than I was 20 years ago – and that certainly makes up for my inability to play diminished scales at 200 mph. But once in a while, it’s kind of fun to dig out those CD’s and (gasp) LP’s and listen to those fast runs up and down the fingerboard.
Shredder guitarists and shredder drummers
Playing shred music is difficult, and as a shredder guitarist you are reliant on the talents of other musicians, especially a great drummer who can really roll those bass drums when needed. And those can be hard to find. Not to worry though, we got you covered in that area. Just stay tuned and we’ll have a smokin’ hot shredder drum loop pack ready for you in a couple of days. And as usual, there will also be some free stuff 🙂
What are your thoughts on shredder-type guitarists? Please write a comment below!
Per
P.S. Here are some [intlink id=”1075″ type=”post”]sound clips from the Shredder Pack[/intlink]
Buy [intlink id=”761″ type=”page”]metal drum loops[/intlink]
I love the shredders! I was never a shredder but a good eared hack. In HypNoXIOUs I sing and play guitar yet I am only a rythmic guitarist with some compositional licks to sweeten the sound. Listening to the shredders is like children listening to classical to improve their inteligence and understand spacial reasoning. From the sweeps to lightning fast licks, shredders have my vote! Keep on rocking, I’ll always love Steve Vai, Moore, Satch, Rhodes, MacAlpine, Gilbert, Malmsteen and Becker!
Rock on Thanks for asking.
@pwajdeur
A note: Jason Becker did a cameo solo on my disk “High Gear” and he is an awesome person to be around. Unfortunately he contracted ALS and is not mobile. Greg Howe is still in touch with him, and my local area here in PA is looking to do an ALS benefit for a treatment soon. Involving Greg and other shredders.
Vern Parsons, Bassist
speed comes from practice.. its not magic.. it sounds that way but its not 🙂
if i m out of ideas while soloing… i shred..
i shred a lot hahahaha
hardest thing is to get that FLOW at highspeed..
anyways,
cheers
d
I’ll be honest, I am jealous of ANYONE who can do that! I have been playing almost 30 yrs and can come close (god bless delay pedals!! LMAO!).
I do metal instrumental music for haunted houses (but can be jammed in your car etc) and most of my stuff? No solos at all. Melody lines etc, sure. Only the slow stuff have solos. I have tried fast stuff over it and… it’s just noise (maybe it’s my playing).
I’m more impressed with the structure of the song & solos than how many notes you can cram in. Just me. Check out my tunes sometime, ya might dig them.
I will only buy this pack if you can absolutely guarantee that neither Magnus nor yourself were at any time during the recording process sporting mullets, wearing anything spandex related, drinking cans of TAB, wearing over-sized mirrored shades or, and this is most important, flying to and from the sessions on personal jets surrounded by groupies.
Leigh.
I like a few shredders (Vai, especially Buckethead) but for the most part the 80’s metal scene was the main reason I went back and started learning keyboards cause ther is NO way I would have looked good in spandex…trust me. 🙂 . Good thing too because when I started playing guitar again in the 90’s (i put together a prog rock-grunge band) my Carpell Tunnel Syndrome came back with a vengance (both hands this time) and the operations did not help. So thanks to all those 80’s players…because for whatever reason my CTS does not bother me when I play keys…hmmmm
Something else I feel is important to note: shredders are not all the same. Personally, I don’t sweep pick (and neither does Al diMeola) and I don’t rely too heavily on speed. Yes, I can play fast though 🙂
The good “shredders” have taste- and some flash, yes. I have fun and laugh at myself quite often, but try not to get too cliche with a valid, hard-earned genre.
I have been labeled as a shredder for most of my life and currently sport an instrumental group- no mullets, no spandex. It is really nice to see attention and such given to the genre here! I love what I do. Come out to Walnut Creek this Sat nite and see us play! Check my link for details.
Hi, Per.
Shredders… that’s a tough one. It is not obvious for everybody which guitarrists just play exercises on stage and which ones play from their heart.
To my taste Marty Friedman is the most amazing guitar player of all times. His style has melody all over the place, his notes are all meaningful and distinct, and his notes have clarity -always.
That level of virtuosity comes from practice, but practice as Steve Vai thinks of it: practice to make scales, arpeggios and progressions become sencond nature so that when you play you do not have to think, just let go. Ywngwie kind of fits there as well, and so does Greg Howe.
On the other hand there are players that, in my opinion, all you can feel is this kind of swarm of notes like Michael Angelo Batio, George Bellas or well… it is better not going on because those are not recomended listens.
There are many players out there, there are many players that can play fast. Not so many that can make every note come out clearly and without noises -and sometimes those are a bit “robotic”. And very few have flash, technique, feeling & taste all together: Howe, Vai, Kotzen, Petrucci, Friedman, Van Halen, Holdsworth, Malmsteen, LaRoque, Blakk, Wylde… those are all worth a listen.
So… will you surprise us with a new batch of midi files in the style of such geniuses? That would be great!
Cheers!
PS: pls make a Virgil Donati styled pack!!!
I used to be a shredder but after 3 or 4 years of trying really hard to become one, I got bored of it. I started listening to all genres of music I could lay my hands on and became more insterested in feeling, expression and experimentalism than speed.
I used to listen to all those guitarists mentioned here and many more, but now they all fail to impress or grab my attention. I still find Joe Satriani awesome and he’s definitely an exception, he’s got great taste and is definitely the most listenable of the bunch. A lot of this guys keep pushing the boundaries technically but unfortunately the music remains the same.
Unfortunatly, my skills are limited, but it won’t bring me down. I’m a little bit sad about it, maybe i was to old when i started playing guitar. All our heroes started at a young age. I started at the age of 21!
but I try, try, try… until i die!
p.s: great stuff that you’ve done here. Thx Per!
Cheers
Mac