Any Shredders On PH?
Discussion
I love the idea of being able to really shred, but I find it a very slow process to get used to efficient picking (rather than alternate), sweep-picking and tapping.
Can you shred and if so, how did you go about learning the art? Do you base your shredding on scales and is each run new or a set piece that you throw in every now and then?
When improvising, I find that I end up falling into common runs that I know and am well practiced at and I'd love to move my game on a bit.
Can you shred and if so, how did you go about learning the art? Do you base your shredding on scales and is each run new or a set piece that you throw in every now and then?
When improvising, I find that I end up falling into common runs that I know and am well practiced at and I'd love to move my game on a bit.
There are a couple of shredders on ph, or at least fans of that sort of thing.
The best way to start shred, is sort of in two parts,
Firstly realising where you are in terms of your technique, playing tricky techniques can be rather pointless if youre only really grade 3! As you may well learn to sweep pick, but it will take forever and you will be a rather poorly rounded player.
So be sure to have a good base of techniques.
Secondly, start off by isolating the licks you want to learn, so your favourite shreddy parts of songs, then its easier to get tabs, see covers on youtube, hear the live version. You can really start to see and hear how to play it, how others approach it in a purely mechanical way, and if you are up to speed, fluent enough compared to the song, rather than just seeing some tabs for sweeping on ultimateguitar without a audio or video.
Without knowing your level at the moment its a little tricky to give advice that will really help, but heres some general advice I give on varying techniques you mention.
Sweeping -
Start off by leaving your fretting hand out of it, practice sweeping muted strings, get your right hand used to the feel of sweeping. Just use the top three strings, so g b e b g, just get the action really smooth at first.
Then start off with an easy patter, don't worry about more interesting fingering at first, the key thing is the sweep feeling and motion rather than getting it all right first off.
Take this
G-----7-
B----6--6
e---5----5
It falls naturally to the hand so isn't to stressfull, practise that nice a clean, just use a clean amp setting.
The key thing is the not chord the position, each finger should come off as another goes on, don't bar or cheap, you don't get that nice harpy sound like that!
Once you cant do that move on to a different fingering,
G ---6----
B--7---7
e-5-----5
Then you can start to put the pull off on it, at first just get used to the position with out it, then add it, so if your learning some Jason Becker sweeps, first get the position sorted then the pull off.
So same position as before but
G----6-
B---7-7
e8p5---5
Pretty hard to get the rhythm of sweep, but once it comes its rather easy, but then isn't everything!
Alternative picking and fast picking, go to paul gilbert on you tube, he has a video not to long on it,
its this pattern, start slow, each note nice and clear, then you can speed up.
B 8 6 5 6 8
e 5
Tapping, start of easy leave the two handed stuff for moment! learn something by Randy Rhoads/EVH.
Get some nice musical patterns in your head for a year, then move on to mad stuff, although in my opinion tapping is really easy compared to other shreddy techniques, of course two handed tapping is a rather tricky, but youll get that in time, and you can do it easily enough on one string.
If that's what your after youtube tap that axe, great video series.
For legato shred, there is a good set of videos, all using Ionian mode, youtube satriani legato lick, and vai legato lick, guys middle aged with blue custom ibenez I think, or ESP I cant remember.
Learning theory wise, the modes are what many players rely on, although they are not the end of shred patterns more a good way to start and a nice way to break up pentatonic bluesy styles that most players have as a base, google modes made simple ultimate guitar, they did a nice piece on it.
Hope that helps, and just practise, obviously if you are still struggling with you blues scale youll have to wait to get up to speed before you start learning trickier stuff, but if your grade 7-8 youll find with the right approach the techniques are not that difficult.
Start slow, don't rush, if you are a real beginner (or lazy player!) keep to pentatonic licks, legatos is a easier place to start, Guitar techniques magazine is a great mag, really good pieces for all levels, really rcommend it.
The best way to start shred, is sort of in two parts,
Firstly realising where you are in terms of your technique, playing tricky techniques can be rather pointless if youre only really grade 3! As you may well learn to sweep pick, but it will take forever and you will be a rather poorly rounded player.
So be sure to have a good base of techniques.
Secondly, start off by isolating the licks you want to learn, so your favourite shreddy parts of songs, then its easier to get tabs, see covers on youtube, hear the live version. You can really start to see and hear how to play it, how others approach it in a purely mechanical way, and if you are up to speed, fluent enough compared to the song, rather than just seeing some tabs for sweeping on ultimateguitar without a audio or video.
Without knowing your level at the moment its a little tricky to give advice that will really help, but heres some general advice I give on varying techniques you mention.
Sweeping -
Start off by leaving your fretting hand out of it, practice sweeping muted strings, get your right hand used to the feel of sweeping. Just use the top three strings, so g b e b g, just get the action really smooth at first.
Then start off with an easy patter, don't worry about more interesting fingering at first, the key thing is the sweep feeling and motion rather than getting it all right first off.
Take this
G-----7-
B----6--6
e---5----5
It falls naturally to the hand so isn't to stressfull, practise that nice a clean, just use a clean amp setting.
The key thing is the not chord the position, each finger should come off as another goes on, don't bar or cheap, you don't get that nice harpy sound like that!
Once you cant do that move on to a different fingering,
G ---6----
B--7---7
e-5-----5
Then you can start to put the pull off on it, at first just get used to the position with out it, then add it, so if your learning some Jason Becker sweeps, first get the position sorted then the pull off.
So same position as before but
G----6-
B---7-7
e8p5---5
Pretty hard to get the rhythm of sweep, but once it comes its rather easy, but then isn't everything!
Alternative picking and fast picking, go to paul gilbert on you tube, he has a video not to long on it,
its this pattern, start slow, each note nice and clear, then you can speed up.
B 8 6 5 6 8
e 5
Tapping, start of easy leave the two handed stuff for moment! learn something by Randy Rhoads/EVH.
Get some nice musical patterns in your head for a year, then move on to mad stuff, although in my opinion tapping is really easy compared to other shreddy techniques, of course two handed tapping is a rather tricky, but youll get that in time, and you can do it easily enough on one string.
If that's what your after youtube tap that axe, great video series.
For legato shred, there is a good set of videos, all using Ionian mode, youtube satriani legato lick, and vai legato lick, guys middle aged with blue custom ibenez I think, or ESP I cant remember.
Learning theory wise, the modes are what many players rely on, although they are not the end of shred patterns more a good way to start and a nice way to break up pentatonic bluesy styles that most players have as a base, google modes made simple ultimate guitar, they did a nice piece on it.
Hope that helps, and just practise, obviously if you are still struggling with you blues scale youll have to wait to get up to speed before you start learning trickier stuff, but if your grade 7-8 youll find with the right approach the techniques are not that difficult.
Start slow, don't rush, if you are a real beginner (or lazy player!) keep to pentatonic licks, legatos is a easier place to start, Guitar techniques magazine is a great mag, really good pieces for all levels, really rcommend it.
Edited by Fantuzzi on Monday 6th January 13:28
As above, without knowing where you are at in terms of ability it's difficult to give any specific advice; you might be an experienced and knowledgeable player who just needs to make a few tweaks to reach the "shred zone", or you might be a beginner who struggles to knock out a few chords and you've got a long, long way to go.
While Fantuzzi has given some good advice on sweeping, and it can be useful as a party trick, it's very difficult to use as an improvisational tool unless you are very fluent in theory and the notes on the fretboard. I'd recommend learning economy picking - it's much more versatile than strict alt picking, though alt picking has it's place, economy picking will make you faster, smoother and help you play more complex runs, which will enable you to break out of the "same old runs" trap. Breaking out of playing the same old shapes is most easily combated by becoming a bit more proficient with theory and learning to use "modes", which are essentially major scales built off the different degrees of tones, more on that when you are ready!
Instead of aiming to become a "shredder", instead see "shred" as a technical ability level, and set your goal on becoming a confident and exciting improviser. I learned to see technical ability as merely a means to an end; you should aim to be able to play anything that comes into your head as the ability in your hands will not hold you back. Realistically, you will never achieve this (unless you have a terribly uncreative mind), you will always be able to think out more complex lines that you can't play yet, but by working on your technique and seeing it as a tool, the music you make will become more and more exciting. The music is the product - not the technique! Make your goal to become the best musician you can be. If you focus on nothing but technique, you'll become Rusty Cooley, technically incredible but musically dull. Focus on the music and use the technique as a means to allow the music to happen, and you'll progress much faster both musically and technically. Shawn Lane as faster than Rusty Cooley, and in terms of complexity, could play circles around Rusty with one hand - because his focus was the music, not just impressing people with speed.
Ask yourself, would you be happy being a halfway-there guitarist like Michael Angelo Batio, or would you rather go all the way and become Frank Gambale or Tony Macalpine?
With regard to guitars, you can shred on anything, from a Gretsch, to a Les Paul, to an acoustic 12 string. You could run a hundred metres in a pair of hobnail boots, but you'd be able to run it faster in proper running shoes, so if you are serious about your technique get serious about your gear. Something with a thin neck and a flat fretboard is best for me, though some people like a bit of fretboard radius, but any of the superstrat options from Ibanez and Jackson in particular are belters. 24 frets is preferable, especially for tapping as you'll miss having two fretted octaves on each string if you go for a 21 or 22 fret guitar. A double locking trem is a fun bonus but not essential. 25.5" scale length is generally the preferred scale length for superstrats, giving the best balance of having enough tension to resist the pick during fast picking (shorter scale length guitars can flub out, where the string does not have enough tension to resist the pick and sound dire, this can be countered by using heavier strings but then tone suffers, as does general playability).
Either way, let us know a bit more about where you are at in terms of ability and we can offer advice more personally tailored to you.
While Fantuzzi has given some good advice on sweeping, and it can be useful as a party trick, it's very difficult to use as an improvisational tool unless you are very fluent in theory and the notes on the fretboard. I'd recommend learning economy picking - it's much more versatile than strict alt picking, though alt picking has it's place, economy picking will make you faster, smoother and help you play more complex runs, which will enable you to break out of the "same old runs" trap. Breaking out of playing the same old shapes is most easily combated by becoming a bit more proficient with theory and learning to use "modes", which are essentially major scales built off the different degrees of tones, more on that when you are ready!
Instead of aiming to become a "shredder", instead see "shred" as a technical ability level, and set your goal on becoming a confident and exciting improviser. I learned to see technical ability as merely a means to an end; you should aim to be able to play anything that comes into your head as the ability in your hands will not hold you back. Realistically, you will never achieve this (unless you have a terribly uncreative mind), you will always be able to think out more complex lines that you can't play yet, but by working on your technique and seeing it as a tool, the music you make will become more and more exciting. The music is the product - not the technique! Make your goal to become the best musician you can be. If you focus on nothing but technique, you'll become Rusty Cooley, technically incredible but musically dull. Focus on the music and use the technique as a means to allow the music to happen, and you'll progress much faster both musically and technically. Shawn Lane as faster than Rusty Cooley, and in terms of complexity, could play circles around Rusty with one hand - because his focus was the music, not just impressing people with speed.
Ask yourself, would you be happy being a halfway-there guitarist like Michael Angelo Batio, or would you rather go all the way and become Frank Gambale or Tony Macalpine?
With regard to guitars, you can shred on anything, from a Gretsch, to a Les Paul, to an acoustic 12 string. You could run a hundred metres in a pair of hobnail boots, but you'd be able to run it faster in proper running shoes, so if you are serious about your technique get serious about your gear. Something with a thin neck and a flat fretboard is best for me, though some people like a bit of fretboard radius, but any of the superstrat options from Ibanez and Jackson in particular are belters. 24 frets is preferable, especially for tapping as you'll miss having two fretted octaves on each string if you go for a 21 or 22 fret guitar. A double locking trem is a fun bonus but not essential. 25.5" scale length is generally the preferred scale length for superstrats, giving the best balance of having enough tension to resist the pick during fast picking (shorter scale length guitars can flub out, where the string does not have enough tension to resist the pick and sound dire, this can be countered by using heavier strings but then tone suffers, as does general playability).
Either way, let us know a bit more about where you are at in terms of ability and we can offer advice more personally tailored to you.
You might find enlightenment at The Mountain Of The Tapping Dwarves
I'm not a shredder but, in addition to the above one of the tricks to fast pick use is to angle it relative to the strings - i.e. don't just hold the face of the pick parallel to the strings put it at an angle. It doesn't matter which way (i.e. with it pointing down or up towards the bridge) but it really helps. (I'd also recommend you check out some of Guthrie Govan's stuff)
Meteor Madness said:
You might find enlightenment at The Mountain Of The Tapping Dwarves
Haha I love that website. Mr Fastfinger, aka Mika Tyyskä, is a really good guitarist. He is clearly a huge Steve Vai fan, but he is big on one of Frank Gambale's fundamental of being good at lead guitar - subtleties. If you play tone boggle, take a a starting note and an ending note and select a random selection of tones in the middle and play the sequence from start to finish making it as musical as possible, you start to learn new and interesting ways of linking the notes. Play it again and again finding different ways to group the notes, and get from note to note. Watch someone like Gambale or Mika play and you'll note they rarely play anything "straight", there are always loads of little vibratos, bends, letting certain tones ring out together to create diads that complement the chord tone etc, focusing on those little inflections makes a big difference to the quality of your playing.Mastodon2 said:
As above, without knowing where you are at in terms of ability it's difficult to give any specific advice; you might be an experienced and knowledgeable player who just needs to make a few tweaks to reach the "shred zone", or you might be a beginner who struggles to knock out a few chords and you've got a long, long way to go.
While Fantuzzi has given some good advice on sweeping, and it can be useful as a party trick, it's very difficult to use as an improvisational tool unless you are very fluent in theory and the notes on the fretboard. I'd recommend learning economy picking - it's much more versatile than strict alt picking, though alt picking has it's place, economy picking will make you faster, smoother and help you play more complex runs, which will enable you to break out of the "same old runs" trap. Breaking out of playing the same old shapes is most easily combated by becoming a bit more proficient with theory and learning to use "modes", which are essentially major scales built off the different degrees of tones, more on that when you are ready!
Instead of aiming to become a "shredder", instead see "shred" as a technical ability level, and set your goal on becoming a confident and exciting improviser. I learned to see technical ability as merely a means to an end; you should aim to be able to play anything that comes into your head as the ability in your hands will not hold you back. Realistically, you will never achieve this (unless you have a terribly uncreative mind), you will always be able to think out more complex lines that you can't play yet, but by working on your technique and seeing it as a tool, the music you make will become more and more exciting. The music is the product - not the technique! Make your goal to become the best musician you can be. If you focus on nothing but technique, you'll become Rusty Cooley, technically incredible but musically dull. Focus on the music and use the technique as a means to allow the music to happen, and you'll progress much faster both musically and technically. Shawn Lane as faster than Rusty Cooley, and in terms of complexity, could play circles around Rusty with one hand - because his focus was the music, not just impressing people with speed.
Ask yourself, would you be happy being a halfway-there guitarist like Michael Angelo Batio, or would you rather go all the way and become Frank Gambale or Tony Macalpine?
With regard to guitars, you can shred on anything, from a Gretsch, to a Les Paul, to an acoustic 12 string. You could run a hundred metres in a pair of hobnail boots, but you'd be able to run it faster in proper running shoes, so if you are serious about your technique get serious about your gear. Something with a thin neck and a flat fretboard is best for me, though some people like a bit of fretboard radius, but any of the superstrat options from Ibanez and Jackson in particular are belters. 24 frets is preferable, especially for tapping as you'll miss having two fretted octaves on each string if you go for a 21 or 22 fret guitar. A double locking trem is a fun bonus but not essential. 25.5" scale length is generally the preferred scale length for superstrats, giving the best balance of having enough tension to resist the pick during fast picking (shorter scale length guitars can flub out, where the string does not have enough tension to resist the pick and sound dire, this can be countered by using heavier strings but then tone suffers, as does general playability).
Either way, let us know a bit more about where you are at in terms of ability and we can offer advice more personally tailored to you.
True, although I'd disagree about sweeping being a party trick perhaps you need some tips from me Mastodon... While Fantuzzi has given some good advice on sweeping, and it can be useful as a party trick, it's very difficult to use as an improvisational tool unless you are very fluent in theory and the notes on the fretboard. I'd recommend learning economy picking - it's much more versatile than strict alt picking, though alt picking has it's place, economy picking will make you faster, smoother and help you play more complex runs, which will enable you to break out of the "same old runs" trap. Breaking out of playing the same old shapes is most easily combated by becoming a bit more proficient with theory and learning to use "modes", which are essentially major scales built off the different degrees of tones, more on that when you are ready!
Instead of aiming to become a "shredder", instead see "shred" as a technical ability level, and set your goal on becoming a confident and exciting improviser. I learned to see technical ability as merely a means to an end; you should aim to be able to play anything that comes into your head as the ability in your hands will not hold you back. Realistically, you will never achieve this (unless you have a terribly uncreative mind), you will always be able to think out more complex lines that you can't play yet, but by working on your technique and seeing it as a tool, the music you make will become more and more exciting. The music is the product - not the technique! Make your goal to become the best musician you can be. If you focus on nothing but technique, you'll become Rusty Cooley, technically incredible but musically dull. Focus on the music and use the technique as a means to allow the music to happen, and you'll progress much faster both musically and technically. Shawn Lane as faster than Rusty Cooley, and in terms of complexity, could play circles around Rusty with one hand - because his focus was the music, not just impressing people with speed.
Ask yourself, would you be happy being a halfway-there guitarist like Michael Angelo Batio, or would you rather go all the way and become Frank Gambale or Tony Macalpine?
With regard to guitars, you can shred on anything, from a Gretsch, to a Les Paul, to an acoustic 12 string. You could run a hundred metres in a pair of hobnail boots, but you'd be able to run it faster in proper running shoes, so if you are serious about your technique get serious about your gear. Something with a thin neck and a flat fretboard is best for me, though some people like a bit of fretboard radius, but any of the superstrat options from Ibanez and Jackson in particular are belters. 24 frets is preferable, especially for tapping as you'll miss having two fretted octaves on each string if you go for a 21 or 22 fret guitar. A double locking trem is a fun bonus but not essential. 25.5" scale length is generally the preferred scale length for superstrats, giving the best balance of having enough tension to resist the pick during fast picking (shorter scale length guitars can flub out, where the string does not have enough tension to resist the pick and sound dire, this can be countered by using heavier strings but then tone suffers, as does general playability).
Either way, let us know a bit more about where you are at in terms of ability and we can offer advice more personally tailored to you.
Mastodon is right, Vai described shred as some burst of energy, and that comes from your musicality not your speed or numerous techniques, sometimes, just like Gandalf said in the hobbit, its about knowing when not to shred as much as when to... Ok bit of a stretch but you get the idea...
I'll hold my hands up to being s
te at sweeping, it's not something I've put a huge amount of time into. My point was though, that there are loads of guitarists who can do some interesting sounding sweeps, look at "Empyreal" by Sylosis, sounds crazy when you hear it but the guitarist playing it can't improvise like that on the fly. To me, a skill is only truly learned when you can improvise with it - sweeping as a compositional tool can be useful but the goal to me is to be able to incorporate a technique into an improvisational piece on the fly. Many guitarists, even ones I like such as Yngwie Malmsteen, revert to the same old shapes they know and can slot in perfectly, usually a minor arpeggio in the key they are playing in, or a minor arpeggio from a relevant interval to the key they're playing in. Malmsteen is often playing in Eb minor and is always going on with those A minor and Eb minor arpeggios - he can drop them into an improvised solo pretty well, but compare that to someone who really knows their theory, they've got the sweeping technique nailed down and have a knowledge of arpeggio construction that allows them to create sweeps of any mode, chord etc and knows it will work with the key of the piece and sparks can really fly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XzgKO6uQsY - solo starts about 02:30, it really starts getting wild by 03:30.
Frank Gambale does a good example of what I consider to be the top level of sweeping - just amazing. He is one of the few guitarists who has the incredible technical ability but also the musical imagination to really produce jaw dropping music.
te at sweeping, it's not something I've put a huge amount of time into. My point was though, that there are loads of guitarists who can do some interesting sounding sweeps, look at "Empyreal" by Sylosis, sounds crazy when you hear it but the guitarist playing it can't improvise like that on the fly. To me, a skill is only truly learned when you can improvise with it - sweeping as a compositional tool can be useful but the goal to me is to be able to incorporate a technique into an improvisational piece on the fly. Many guitarists, even ones I like such as Yngwie Malmsteen, revert to the same old shapes they know and can slot in perfectly, usually a minor arpeggio in the key they are playing in, or a minor arpeggio from a relevant interval to the key they're playing in. Malmsteen is often playing in Eb minor and is always going on with those A minor and Eb minor arpeggios - he can drop them into an improvised solo pretty well, but compare that to someone who really knows their theory, they've got the sweeping technique nailed down and have a knowledge of arpeggio construction that allows them to create sweeps of any mode, chord etc and knows it will work with the key of the piece and sparks can really fly.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XzgKO6uQsY - solo starts about 02:30, it really starts getting wild by 03:30.
Frank Gambale does a good example of what I consider to be the top level of sweeping - just amazing. He is one of the few guitarists who has the incredible technical ability but also the musical imagination to really produce jaw dropping music.
I can find some sweeping quite fatiguing to listen to. I can listen to Serrana in one go, but when Rusty Cooley is doing 6 string sweeping patterns continually, it can grate a bit. I love the way Frank Gambale and T-Mac do it, because they just fire in phrases so fluidly, sometimes often just three or four notes either way but it sounds amazing. Of course, they are both absolute masters of the technique with the subtlety to deploy it as a appropriate. Again, think back to any music store Saturday afternoon where someone is sweeping pentatonics endlessly - how quickly does that become st; like endless paradiddles or mindless funk slap in E?
Allan Holdsworth is also a master of sweeping, his swept phrases can sound so clean and even you'd think they'd come from a synthesizer!
On the subject of becoming a shredder, it's really just a case of perfecting your art to the highest level. That is when you can shred, and by that I mean really shred, not just play really fast, hollow flashy stuff. If you want to play fast, it's merely a technical exercise in muscle memory until you reach your upper limit. And depending on whether or not you were born with transcendental technique, you might find your hands just never feel fast enough to play some things. So play to your strengths. Always remember your phrasing too, if you just blaze out fast 'up-down-up-down' alternate picked lines over a 4/4 beat you'll find everything starts to sound the same fairly quickly.
Regarding how to take your improvisation further, I say go to the modes. It will expand your playing and your musicality. If you've ever been improvising and felt like everything you were coming out with was old hat, you could probably have tried improvising over a progression using a different mode to bring a fresh sound and some 'new' notes to your playing. Don't expect modes to make sense straight away, but eventually they will fall to hand. If you've ever found yourself soloing through a progression and you feel like you've run out of notes, a change of mode could bring you 'back to pattern' but with more space to progress. And if you do stick mainly to pentatonics, check out some of Shawn Lane's rhythmic groupings. He uses some odd patterns to deliver pentatonic notes in an off-kilter style; unlike a great many player he could make pentatonics sound great simply because he could arrange the notes in a way that sounds fresh and interesting.
t; like endless paradiddles or mindless funk slap in E?Allan Holdsworth is also a master of sweeping, his swept phrases can sound so clean and even you'd think they'd come from a synthesizer!
On the subject of becoming a shredder, it's really just a case of perfecting your art to the highest level. That is when you can shred, and by that I mean really shred, not just play really fast, hollow flashy stuff. If you want to play fast, it's merely a technical exercise in muscle memory until you reach your upper limit. And depending on whether or not you were born with transcendental technique, you might find your hands just never feel fast enough to play some things. So play to your strengths. Always remember your phrasing too, if you just blaze out fast 'up-down-up-down' alternate picked lines over a 4/4 beat you'll find everything starts to sound the same fairly quickly.
Regarding how to take your improvisation further, I say go to the modes. It will expand your playing and your musicality. If you've ever been improvising and felt like everything you were coming out with was old hat, you could probably have tried improvising over a progression using a different mode to bring a fresh sound and some 'new' notes to your playing. Don't expect modes to make sense straight away, but eventually they will fall to hand. If you've ever found yourself soloing through a progression and you feel like you've run out of notes, a change of mode could bring you 'back to pattern' but with more space to progress. And if you do stick mainly to pentatonics, check out some of Shawn Lane's rhythmic groupings. He uses some odd patterns to deliver pentatonic notes in an off-kilter style; unlike a great many player he could make pentatonics sound great simply because he could arrange the notes in a way that sounds fresh and interesting.
Thank you all for contributing so many tips and so much information! I'll try out Your suggestions and see where that takes me. Looking at the modes intrigues me since making my current pentatonic based solos more interesting really would be good.
In terms of my level, I've been playing for about 25 years now and been in covers bands for most of that time. I solo a lot, but it's usually all based on pentatonic bluesy stuff with various extra notes thrown in and variations on pentatonic with the base note on the 5th string instead of the 6th unless it's a simple set solo (Hotel California or Can't Get Enough of Your Love for example).
Gear wise, I've got a modded Epiphone LP and a Gibson SG standard (both with SD pups), so not the easiest for shred, but not too horrendous (I think) either.
Economy picking is something that I've tried a bit, but it seems very difficult to re-teach my picking hand not to alternate pick. I guess that will just come with time, it's a tricky habit to adjust though.
In terms of my level, I've been playing for about 25 years now and been in covers bands for most of that time. I solo a lot, but it's usually all based on pentatonic bluesy stuff with various extra notes thrown in and variations on pentatonic with the base note on the 5th string instead of the 6th unless it's a simple set solo (Hotel California or Can't Get Enough of Your Love for example).
Gear wise, I've got a modded Epiphone LP and a Gibson SG standard (both with SD pups), so not the easiest for shred, but not too horrendous (I think) either.
Economy picking is something that I've tried a bit, but it seems very difficult to re-teach my picking hand not to alternate pick. I guess that will just come with time, it's a tricky habit to adjust though.
I wouldn't have said Randy was an especially fast player, but when you see Rowan on his Les Paul, you can tell his tone is massively processed through some heavy duty tech, and his action is super low too. It would take a wizard to get the average LP playing as low and clean as his seems to play...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcr3PktmSe4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcr3PktmSe4
Baryonyx said:
I wouldn't have said Randy was an especially fast player, but when you see Rowan on his Les Paul, you can tell his tone is massively processed through some heavy duty tech, and his action is super low too. It would take a wizard to get the average LP playing as low and clean as his seems to play...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcr3PktmSe4
I suppose it depends on who your compare him to naturally.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcr3PktmSe4
Mr parker has a rather tasty Charvel Model 6 in backround...
Baryonyx said:
I wouldn't have said Randy was an especially fast player, but when you see Rowan on his Les Paul, you can tell his tone is massively processed through some heavy duty tech, and his action is super low too. It would take a wizard to get the average LP playing as low and clean as his seems to play...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcr3PktmSe4
Handy to have that shorter scale length when you are doing those monster stretches too. Shawn was ripping those shapes on 25.5" like it was nothing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcr3PktmSe4
While we're at it, another cool video of wild guitar playing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlqobLyCIoo
Mr Fastfinger playing a lick from one of his songs. I love his phrasing, and his tone and touch are incredible, he is freakishly clean and sharp.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X48DXt8Jn7M
Frank Gambale destroying it as usual. His solo starts about 5 minutes in. One of the underrated greats - easily one of the most talented living guitarists.
I've just been checking out some Frank Gambale videos on YouTube and I'm finding them phenomenal.
Even something like this sweep that starts off sounding very simple when played slowly, but then Frank turns the speed up somewhat and it sounds incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6aPsJpU564
Even something like this sweep that starts off sounding very simple when played slowly, but then Frank turns the speed up somewhat and it sounds incredible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6aPsJpU564
Ive just listened to Yngwies first album fully, really rather good, (not such a fan of the singing parts though), really don't understand how people can say he is soulless, bloody great stuff.
Also need to get my hands on a hard copy of erotic cakes by Guthrie Govan, might try and see the Aristocrats this year, pretty awesome stuff.
Also need to get my hands on a hard copy of erotic cakes by Guthrie Govan, might try and see the Aristocrats this year, pretty awesome stuff.
Santana is one of the best fast players imo, guess this counts as shredding, amazing playing anyway:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrLEuzVCVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BrLEuzVCVQ
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