shredding and shredders

[ged_ohagan]

i dont know what this means but ppl on here seem to mention it alot. can anyone tell me what this is as it would help me understand alot more of the posts.

[Simon3]

Shredding is inconceivably fast 80s heavy metal virtuoso style lead playing. Basically, a shredder is a metalhead who displays incredible God-like technical ability and breaks the sound barrier with the speed of their runs, if that is any simpler. :) Examples include Paul Gibert, Randy Rhoads ( listen to both or your life is a waste of time!), Marty Friedman ( again, listen to him or you haven't lived.), Dimebag Darrell, Kirk Hammet, Zakk Wylde. (these three are also very, very good and very, very, VERY fast!) and Yngwie Malmsteen. ( and so is he!)

Hope this helps and post any more questions you have on this or any of the guys I've mentioned. (I can even recommend essential listen if you want, how 'bout that. :) )

Simon.

[Simon3]

Sorry, I can't spell today.... that should be listening. ;)

[Simon3]

Also that should be Gilbert. Soz. :)

[Wyll_Watts]

Shredding has also taken on a more general useage that just refers to difficult, fast playing regardless of the style being played. But for the most part people are refering to the metal and rock lead style mentioned by Simon...

Wyll

[metaljustice83]

my thoughts exactly, playing technical stuff fast as hell! thats what I think of when I think of shredding. but ya should remember that that isn't always important. Its sure is fun thought!! :)

[d7th]

I thought Shredder was the vilain in the Turtles ninja :eek: :D

[EricV]

LOL... that too :)

Eric

[ged_ohagan]

can u give me the names a few songs i should listen to plz.

or any1 who thinks i should hear a certain song reply here plz

[szulc]

Listen to Mike Varney CD (Shrapnel).
Also Joe Stump, Yngwie, Chastain.

[EricV]

James mentioned Mike varney... his Shrapnel label released many of the "classic shred" CDs.
Here are some album recommendations:

Tony MacAlpine- "Edge Of Sanity"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "Rising Force"
Vinnie Moore - "The Mind´s Eye", "Odyssey"
Greg Howe- dto.
Racer X- "Street Lethal"
Richie Kotzen- dto.
Jason Becker- Perpetual Burn

Those are some "classic shred" albums released in the 80s.
Those are mainly in the "neoclassical" style ( the Greg Howe one isn´t IMHO )
Some other influential shredders: Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai ( check out "Passion & Warfare", or his work with David Lee Roth ), Joe Satriani ( "Surfing With The Alien" )...

If you wanna check out some more recent shred-stuff ( cuz that style of music is still around ), try these:

Racer X- "Technical Difficulties", "Superheroes"
Vinnie Moore- "The Maze"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "Alchemy"
Kotzen / Howe - Project

And some "new generation shredders": Buckethead, Rusty Cooley, Francesco Farerri, Darryl Gabel, Matthias Ia Eklundh...

www.guitar9.com is a good place to get some of those CDs...
Hope this helps
Eric

[Simon3]

yngwie malmsteen- you don't remember, rising force.
metallica- master of puppets.
pantera ( ie- dimebag darrell on guitar)-cowboys from hell.
randy rhoads with ozzy- crazy train, mr.crowley, over the mountain, ... or anything for that matter.
zak wylde with black label society- speedball. (acoustic shred... very nice!)

this will do for now as i'm in a rush... i'll post some more latter- tell me what you think.:)

Enjoy.

[ged_ohagan]

i love "Master of Puppets" its cool as !

i downloaded "beethoven's 5th" by "Yngwie Malmsteen" its really cool to !

[metaljustice83]

paganinis 5th caprice, AKA the cross roads duel!!


200 posts!!!!!!!

[EricV]

LOL... congrats :)

Eric

[metaljustice83]

I don't wanna post and mess up my post count!



wait a minute I just did!!! doh!!!!

[metallibeast]

What's up?

Here's a list of the top 10 fastest Shredders of all time by Guitar 1

10 The Great Kat...Never heard of her b4
9 John Petrucci
8 BucketHead
7 Rusty Cooley
6 Joe Stump
5 Shawn Lane
4 Paul Gilbert
3 Yngwie Malmsteen
2 Chris Impellitteri Dun know about him as well
1 Michael Angelo

-Beast

[ged_ohagan]

i just downloaded the video for "michael angelo" doing "speed kills" its one of the most impressive things iv seen!!!!

i thought steve vai and joe satriani were good this guy is on a level above !!!!!

any others by michael angelo u think i should see , post them here !!!!!

[EricV]

Hey,

well, we have mentioned Michael Angelo a few times at the forums. His technique sure is impressive. If speed is what you are looking for, he really delivers.
The thing is though that a lot of people don´t like his songs, or miss the melody-factor in that music.
See, it´s really impressive to check out some high-speed players for the first time.
But speed is only one aspect of music. Guys like Satch, Vai, Shawn Lane and others do play SONGS and include fast licks, so they use speed as one element of their music.
Anyway, Michael A. indeed is fast, and it is motivating for many to see him play.

Metallibeast:
"The Great Kat" is a person with a pretty wild image. She´s a Juilliard-graduate, and claims to be the fastest player alive ( "oh gee" ).
AFAIK, she released two albums with shred-instrumentals based on classical pieces. She actually was kinda popular in the early 90s, and once was voted "worst guitarist" in one magazine, along with CC Deville and Mick Mars.
I think she´s heavily into SM these days ( no, I don´t mean Steve Morse, I mean sado-maso )

Chris Impelliterri is quite popular in Japan ( I think he lives there ). His music is kinda similar to Yngwie´s music, Yngwie obviously influenced him quite a bit.
He released several albums, and an instructional video for REH.
If you get a chance to hear some audio clips ( Amazon ? ), try to listen to "17th Century Chicken Picking". Some really cool licks and a certain kind of humor in there...

Eric

[d7th]

:eek: OhMyGod :eek:
this guy is mad

[CaptainCarma]

some more to be mentioned:

reb beach
( winger, dokken and currently on tour with whitesnake - leftover david coverdale )

andy timmons
( I do love his work with simon phillips / btw. great duet with reb beach on "down to the wire" from his solorecording "ear X-tacy" )

dave uhrich
( "fretnotized" )

jeniffer batten
( "momentum" )

al pitrelli
( don´t like much of what he does, but he definately is a shredder. had the chance to listen to both, his good and his weak work.
STRONG introsolo to the t.m.stevens song "I´m a believer".
WORST solo of all times "can´t face another night" - joe lynn turner recording "hurry up and wait" )

victor smolski
( RAGE, MIND ODYSSEE )

and at least...

in the blue corner, with a weight of...
from wattenscheid, germany,
the king of shred...

axel rudi pell
:D

( anyone out there who knows him? )

[Oceano]

Yeah, one time back in 1995, my band played Foundations Forum (heavy music convention) in LA, and I happened to be passing by this booth (I believe it was the Washburn booth), when I heard this super fast guitar stuff, and saw a lot of people standing around. I got closer, and there was MIchael Angelo playing is infamous bouble neck guitar. He was playing with one hand on each neck, and doing all these super fast harmonized lines, etc.

It was really impressive, at least for about 10 minutes or so, then I went to see Motorhead.

[metallibeast]

What's up?

I really like Al Dimeola...ok...he may not shred as fast as Yngwie but still his stuffs are really nice...its juz so different from the rest of the neo classical influence stuff.

The way he combines latin, jazz and rock together is really nice and with some shredding as well. If any of ya like this kind of music or fusion in general...do check out Al Dimeola

He's GREAT

-Beast

[metallibeast]

What's up?

Forgot to add...if ya like John Petrucci alot...chances are you would probably like Al Dimeola's playing. I hear quite a lot of Al Dimeola's influences in JP's playing.


-Beast

[Oceano]

He is one of my favourite players for sure. Have all of his albums, and have seen him numerous times.
He may not be as fast as some other guys, but speed is not everything.
He writes some of the best guitar music, and he is so versatile. Also, he has the best, cleanest, and fastest right hand technique (I have ever seen) when it comes to chordal picking.

[Hanzo Hattori]

the guitar trio with al dimeola, john mcLauglin and Paco de Lucia, now that's some fast clean, totally awesome stuff, it's accoustic and spanish influenced stuff...... now that i think about it, i've gotta say imo, the fast players out there are flamenco guitarists.... but anyway....

Michael Angelo is pretty crazy, i think not only his speed but the fact that he sounds like a midi file because he's sooooooo clean. I happen to like his melodic styles in songs.

Yngwie Malmsteen... you've gotta listen to him, made neoclassical shredding what it is imo. (But he would probably say Paganini... which is another story ;))

Steve Vai - While not shredding all the time (good thing.) If you've ever seen him... defenitely up there.

I like the Rusty Cooley stuff I've listened to and there are really just so many people I'll stop now ;p ... Paul Gilbert too though :)

lemme also add that there are some people that just copy others like EXACTLY so you might as well stick with the original, Yngwie's got a bunch of clones, one being Joe Stump...

[Oceano]

Amazing nylon guitar stuff. I believe they both play with picks, but I could be wrong. Their early stuff from late 70's and troughout the 80's is my favourite, but every album has amazing guitar stuff on it.

[Hanzo Hattori]

yea, they do use picks, but still :) The spanish influence just reminded me of flamenco at the moment and i thought of some flamenco guitarists that I've seen that are soooo amazing. It's rreally technical but also a different style though...

[potshot]

Originally posted by Oceano
Yeah, one time back in 1995, my band played Foundations Forum (heavy music convention) in LA, and I happened to be passing by this booth (I believe it was the Washburn booth), when I heard this super fast guitar stuff, and saw a lot of people standing around. I got closer, and there was MIchael Angelo playing is infamous bouble neck guitar. He was playing with one hand on each neck, and doing all these super fast harmonized lines, etc.


Is that that four necked guitar? I've seen a video of him playing that. It was absolutely ridiculous :p

[Oceano]

I remember he was playing two necks at the same time. One neck on the right side, the other on the left. Impressive, but then it got funny after a few minutes. I am not a big fan of his music, but when it comes to technique and speed, he is second to none.

Back to the flamenco thing. I had the oppotunity of watching players like Paco De Lucia (with his band, and with the guitar trio), Paco Pena, and a few lesser know players, and they are amazing. Also, having studied flamenco guitar for a few years, I know how hard it is to achieve that level of musicianship, and even harder to FEEL the music.

[Simon3]

Who is Michael Angelo? Also, who are Buckethead and Sabastian Bach (not the composer-someone else) as I have heard of these names being mentioned around?

[Oceano]

Michael Angelo is a guitar player (rock/shred/metal), who used to play in a band called Nitro, but now I think he does solo stuff.

Sebastian Bach used to be the lead singer for a hard rock band called Skid Row, who had some hits in the early 90's. Now he does Broadway shows.

Buckethead is the current guitar player in Guns n' Roses. He wears a KFC bucket on his head. Prior to joining GNR, he put out some solo albums, etc, etc.

[paularve]

Ever heard about Marchus Paus? He's known as the fastest guitarplayer according to Guiness Record Book. It says he can play over 400 notes per minute! (What's the point really? You don't hear all the notes anyway! D'uh...) And he's Norwegian! :D
He has ADHD, and he used to practice 20+ hours a day, instead of sleeping. But I believe he has laid away the guitar now. (Not so strange though... I guess he just couldn't play any faster ;))

[Hanzo Hattori]

wow... well I guess if you mix ADHD with love for guitar your gonna be one fast dude!

OMG, Sebastian Bach does Broadway shows?? ;_;

[Oceano]

Never heard of that guy from Norway. I love fast playing, and slow playing, however, there comes a point when too fast will sound just like a blur of noise.

Sebastian Bach, I think did Phantom of the Opera, and lately he was doing Jesus Christ Superstar. He was fired from the last one because he was pulling a lot of "rock star" stuff, like not showing up, freaking on people, etc, etc. The producers said that he was only bringing in about 50 people (there because of him) in a 3,000 seat venue a night anyway.

[DepressedNazgul]

400 notes a minute isn't much... It's like 16th notes in 100bpm.

[EricV]

About speed: The thing is: yes, there are some guys who are just extremely fast, beyond belief. Often though, it´s just a blur of notes, and not very accurate. I mean, who really cares about "I can play sixtuplets at 210 !"- "Oh yeah, I can play them at 211" discussion.
I´d pick a Steve Morse solo over some of those drill-sounding blurs anytime ( Morse combines speed, taste, accuracy and a great sense for melody, IMHO )... if it would be only about speed, I guess PG would be the winner, using his Makita drill...

About Sebastian Bach: When it comes to hard rock, he still is my favorite "shouter". I mean, regardless of his attitude and everything, this guy has a VOICE... great range, great vibrato, lots of "dirt" if he chooses too... check out "I Remember You" ( studio and live version ), "Wasted Time", his cover-version of "Children Of The Damned"
Eric

Eric

[paularve]

Eric, I totally agree with you! I just mentioned Marcus Paus, since we were talking about shredding anyway...

[EricV]

I thought so.
I heard some people mentioning him before. AFAIK, he isn´t playing the guitar anymore, he focusses on composing these days...
Eric

[EricV]

Originally posted by potshot
Is that that four necked guitar? I've seen a video of him playing that. It was absolutely ridiculous :p

Yup, he sometimes used a guitar with four necks too. Neat show-effect, though :)
I remember him saying that he taught himself to play both the left-handed and the right-handed way. He seems to prefer right-handed playing when he uses a guitar with only one neck, but he can play the other way too.

Years ago, I saw some stupid 80´s horror-soft porn-movie... it was a bit like the story of "Crossroads", but set in LA, and with some additional really stupid 80s props. A real B- ( or maybe rather... Y-) class movie.
Michael Angelo played all the guitar parts in the movie... first he appeared as a demon with a doubleneck-guitar, and during the rest of the movie, when the "hero" of the movie ( he was wearing a wig so he´d look more like Michael Angelo ) played, it was actually Angelo´s hands you´d see.
Some insane guitar parts in that one, but still one of the corniest movies I have seen so far...
Eric

[Simon3]

Cool. Any other Sab. Bach you would advise to me to listen to?

[EricV]

Hmmm... well, I´d recommend pretty much the first two Skid Row albums ( s/t and "Slave To The Grind" ), some great vocals and cool songs on those.
My favorite Skid Row songs feat. Sebastian Bach:

"I Remember You"
"18 And Life"
"Wasted Time"
"In A Darkened Room"
"Monkey Business"
"Quicksand Jesus"
"Breakdown"
"My Enemy"

And, as mentioned before, hsi cover version of "Children Of The Damned" and the live-version of "I Remember You"
Eric

[CaptainCarma]

hey eric,

I saw this movie, too, I think.

was it the movie in which the hero first lives in a mobile home, meets a voodoo queen, sells his soul to the devil, wakes up as a cool looking guy with monsters chops and starts killing for example the vocalist in order to keep up his deal with the devil?

[Hanzo Hattori]

That does sound kind of corny... but I wanna see it anyway! mwuahaha, either of you remember the name of it?

[EricV]

That is exactly the movie I am talking about ! Remember the "Purple Haze" cover version with those high speed solos ? Kinda weird. As I said, the solos in that movie are impressive, the rest is...

Regarding the name, here´s a quote from his biography:
"Michael starred in the made for cable movie "Shock'em Dead". The movie played on Showtime, Cinemax, The Movie Channel and Pay-Per-View"

Here´s another link to the movie´s IMDB-page... dang, I didn´t recognize Traci Lords: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0102910

Eric

[CaptainCarma]

sorry, but I can´t remember the title. till eric mentioned this movie, I thought I was the only one who has ever seen it.

but I´ll try to find it on allmovie.com...

[EricV]

See the last post on the previous page...

[CaptainCarma]

oh sorry...

...this happens when you´re trying to reply to a post while talking via phone to your girlfriend a few hundred miles away.

but yes, thanks a lot for this info.

as I said I saw this movie a couple of years ago, right after I first touched a guitar.
this might be the reason why I never really became a shredder, maybe something like a "post - traumatical - shock - syndrome"... :D

Marc

[EricV]

Well, when I started out, I was at first listening to blues, BB King, JL Hooker, Clapton, Hendrix...
Then, a week or so after I got my first electric guitar, I saw the movie "Crossroads"...

.. this might be the reason why I became a shredder, maybe something like a "post - traumatical - shock - syndrome"... :)

Eric

[Thorsten]

The guy on the IMDB page talks about a movie called "Hard Rock Zombies"...I WANNA SEE THAT!!!:eek:

[CaptainCarma]

"hard rock zombie"...

I´m not sure, but the title sounds quite familiar to me.
what is the plot about?

[EricV]

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089254

IMDB is a great source to find information about a lot of movies, TV series, actors etc.
Man, the reviews of that movie sound even worse than the ones about the Angelo-movie...
Eric

[CaptainCarma]

thanks for the link eric.

I DO HAVE TO WATCH THIS MOVIE.

"A hard rock band travels to the tiny and remote town of Grand Guignol to perform. Peopled by hicks, rubes, werewolves, murderous dwarves, sex perverts, and Hitler, the town is a strange place but that doesn't stop the band's lead singer from falling in love with a local girl named Cassie. After Nazi sex perverts kill the band to satisfy their lusts, Cassie calls the rockers back from the grave to save her, the town, and maybe the world."

this definately is one of the freakiest stories I´ve ever heard.
for the case that paramount does offer me a multimillion budget for a remake, is there anyone of you willing to take place in it.

[EricV]

Dang, it´s too bad there already is a soundtrack to it... I would have loved to hook up with Thorsten and do a soundtrack for that one...

Just think of it... "Zombie Stomp in Eminor", "Molto Gore", "Shredded To Pieces ( Concerto in Three Movements )"...
Eric

[szulc]

Are you sure it wasn't a PORNO called "Rock Hard Zombies"?
Sorry I couldn't help it!

[abel_serra2002]

U can listen to a very nice album, its called 'Truth in Shredding' by the Mark Varney Project. It features Frank Gambale and allan Holdsworth, a very good album to know and feel what shred is... to me:D

[EricV]

...sounds a lot like "Centrifugal Funk", another Varney-project feat. Frank Gambale, Brett Garsed and Shawn Lane. That one rawks, too... Garsed burns on that one, and it´s pretty cool to hear the three of them jam...
The leads in "So What" are mind-boggling...
Eric

[abel_serra2002]

Centrifugal Funk is a very nice album, i think it too!!! It's more digestive than Truth in Shredding, cooler and funkier... oh yes. But the truth is that they are both great albums to listen to and pick up some ideas...

[Bongo Boy]

This may be starting to come together for me, I'm not sure. It seems to be predominately if not exclusively semi-repetitive ascending and descending runs along primarily (but hardly exclusively) pentatonic scales with occassional single-note embellishments for dramatic relief (and I suppose so the guitarist can get a grip :D).

An earlier post said "technical", which I take to be primarily diatonic, although when I say 'runs' I don't mean to imply step-wise or 'conjunctive', I think the term is. Non-melodic and fast also come to mind as a key components. Inventive scalar exploration might be this layman's description.

Is Bongo still missing it?

[tom_hogan]

i think its great that shred is coming back with bands like in flames and shadows fall finally somone can appriiacte my wiggling around on the guitar

SHADOWS FALL ROCK

oh that micheal antgelo guy is himarious but how does he reash that speed jeeeesus

however alan holdsworth is the original shredded as well as al di meola and good old eddie van

[Oceano]

it just went underground for a while.

It is very good that there are some bands that are once again focusing on good guitar playing, and are not ashamed to play solos.

However, what we refer to as shred, will never become a popular style of music. This music mainly appeals to other guitar players. It is music that is made by guitar players, for guitar players.

The players that manage to cross over into mainstream (Satriani, Vai) success, were players that were able to restrain themselves to playing catchy melodies (with the occasional shred solo in there) that the average listener can appreciate.

[Koala]

Originally posted by d7th
I thought Shredder was the vilain in the Turtles ninja :eek: :D

LOLOLOLOL

[evh_5150]

how can any of you talk about shredders and not mention Michael Angelo!!! This man can play faster than yngwie with his hand flipped over piano style. no joke here!!! try and find any of his work w/ nitro or his lessons. i still think yngwie is a muuucchh better muscian as a whole, but some of u you should check him out. just a warning he might make you hate your life :)

[EricV]

Uhmmm... and Michaelangelo was one of the Turtles... I can see a big conspiracy here, I think :)
Eric

[evh_5150]

i'mm serious about michael angelo check the april 2003 guitar one magazine he's ranked #1 fastest shredder

[tom_hogan]

PANAMA BUM BUM BUM BUM BUM PANAMAHAHA

[EricV]

Originally posted by evh_5150
i'mm serious about michael angelo check the april 2003 guitar one magazine he's ranked #1 fastest shredder

I know, I was only kidding... it was too funny, with someone mentioning Shredder of the Turtles, and then the mentioning of Michael Angelo...

I know, M.A. is incredibly fast. I know that "Fastest shredders" list. I don´t see the purpose of it, or how they are ranked, but there were some amazing players in that list...
Eric

[Shred Fan]

Hey guys, haven't posted in a while, been busy and all. How are things?

Anyways, on M.A, I've seen a clip of him playing and it was incredibly amazing. Quite impressive being able to play that fast with his hand upside down to.

Personally I'm not sure if he has any link to the Turtles, it may very well be true.

But while his chops are stunning I'm not sure how he is musically, as someone else said I'd still prefer the actual music of guys like Yngwie and Gilbert though. That said, I'm sure we all wish we could play like M.A.

NP : Satch - Lights of Heaven

[Oceano]

Wow, Didn't know guitar playing was now a sport.

[Greg]

I agree, speed should be a tool to help you express your musical ideas, not the goal itself.

[CaptainCarma]

Originally posted by Oceano
Wow, Didn't know guitar playing was now a sport.


...image liam gallagher, not fast, but wearing the perfect clothes for a sporting competition.

[EricV]

I can imagine that the question "Who´s the fastest" might be appealing to some people... I guess that´s why that magazine made that list.
Question is: How do you judge it ( how fast do you have to be ? And are we talking about one note picked fast or actual runs and melodies ? ) ? and what is the result ? I mean, does it matter ?
I think not.
Sure, a lot of people like to compare bpm´s ( "HEy, I can play that and that lick at X bpm... how about you ?!?" ), but eventually I think what matters is: Does it sound good ? Does it fit to your songs ?
See, I am definitely not saying that speed ain´t cool. I love shred-guitar and everything. The thing is just that I don´t see it as a competition ( the whole "Guitar Wars" idea seems pretty alien to me ), and I don´t think it deserves THAT much attention.
I mean, in classical music, speed is an equal part of playing, just like melody, harmony, dynamics etc.
But in rock-music, or shall I say, among electric guitar-players, there always is this discussion going on... "Who´s faster ?", "My favorite shredder is better than YOUR favorite shredder ?", "How fast can X play ?", "Speed or not ?", "If you play fast, you´ve got no feeling..."
All that re-occuring, repetitive boring stuff. And of course, since that magazine likes to sell, they give the people what they want.

But in the end, I think:
-You CANNOT judge who´s the fastest, unless you use some kind of electronic measuring thing, and have every contestant play the same lick at their top-speed.

- I know that the magazine wasn´t all that serious about it, that you should take articles like that one with a grain of salt... but I agree to the above statements... it´s not a sport, and top-speeds do not mean anything regarding musicianship, songwriting or expression.

- If I was FORCED to pick the "fastest shredder" ( i.e. if someone would put a gun to my head and tell me to pick one ) I´d look for someone who combines speed with cool ideas and melodic stuff. Meaning that I wouldn´t care about whether that dude is 10 % faster than the others, but whether the stuff he plays sounds good at a slower tempo.
This is something that Yngwie has mentioned several times... it has to sound good even if ya slow it down.
So I´d prefer a nice pedaltone-lick played in sixtuplets at 180 bpm over a chromatic "something" played as sixtuplets at 200+ bpm.

I am as bored and sick of the "who´s faster" discussion as I am bored and sick of the "shredders don´t have feel" discussion... both are pointless IMHO...
Both are hypes, created by music journalists and overeager fans who lost sight of the important stuff... the music, melodies, songwriting.
Again, I LOVE speed... love to hear fast stuff, love to use it. But I only love it if it´s equal to the other important aspects of music. Speed, combined with good songwriting, melodies, finesse, a sense of humor... that´s why I like to listen to Paul Gilbert ( check out his solo-records... wonderful pop- and rock songs with some very cool, neckbreaking leads ), Yngwie ( If you slow down a lot of his leads, they still sound good ), Andy Timmons, Satriani ( the joke is: today´s shred-fans don´t even consider him a shredder anymore, can ya believe that ? I mean... HELLO ! ), Thorsten Koehne ( if you could hear what I have heard ), Steve Morse...

But I guess I am just rambling, and this is only my opinion, anyway
Eric

PS: I have the uttermost respect for Michael Angelo, and he sure inspires a lot of people to practise... I am not saying anything negative about him or the other guys on that list

[Oceano]

I too love fast playing as much as I love slow playing. However, I would not listen to someone just because they play fast.

To me, the most difficult, and beautiful thing about playing guitar, is to have your own distinctive sound/style, so that when you play one or two notes, people know right away it's you. This to me is much more impressive than speed.

[Thorsten]

I think it´s very true what Eric said, that in classical music, speed is just one of many tools to express yourself on the instrument. Nevertheless throughout the centurys there always have been outstanding virtuosos (Mozart, Paganini, etc.) who were capable of things on the instrument nobody else was. So the phenomenon of the (guitar) hero isn´t that new. But these people were always able to combine instrumental virtuosity with outstanding musicianship. So I agree, speed alone means nothing!

Regarding Michael Angelo...I played with him twice and he´s an exceptional musician and guitar player as well as a very nice guy!

Oh, and Eric...thanx again for putting me up with the greats!

TK

[Shred Fan]

Eric, you hit the nail right on the head there man. Very true. There's more to shredding than just playing extremely fast licks. The whole competition thing is ridiculous, like you said I'd rather listen to something good at 9 notes a second than something boring at 12.

As Oceano said "To me, the most difficult, and beautiful thing about playing guitar, is to have your own distinctive sound/style, so that when you play one or two notes, people know right away it's you. This to me is much more impressive than speed."

Now I'm a huge fan of all the virtuosos but you gotta admire someone with a signature sound. Tom Morello comes to mind. When you hear a riff you can almost always tell it's his. I used to listen to RATM a bit and one day I turned on the radio and heard "Cochise", not knowing it was Audioslave yet (it was in the middle of the song) and pretty much the first thing I thought was "sounds like Morello".

Even though Tom is no virtuoso I can still dig his stuff because he is unique and while it may be simple it is effective.

Just thought I'd mention that :)

That said, I do tend to enjoy unique shred more (who could possibly forget the neoclassical stylings of Mr. Malmsteen).

Shred on,
-Shred Fan

[MetallicTheatre]

hey dudes,
i only just dicovered this thread so Im a bit behind so forgive me if im adressing points a few pages back.
Every one accuses Michael Angelo of being mindless zombie lacking soul, who is only capable of shredding, Hanzo Hattori
stated that he liked angelos melodies a few pages back (sorry) and i have to agree, no boundaries (aka speed kills) and Yngwie cant touch this have great melodies, and I believe he does have soul and rythm in his playing. Also while we're on M.A. ive seen pictures of angelos double guitar but I dont know how he plays it, by that i mean does he shred on one and harmonize with the other or does one hand play rhythm?
ok and now to the last part, does anyone agree that no matter how hard people try, no1 will make a better shred song than Speed Metal Symphony?

Regards Aaron

PS. If you got bored reading my fairly long post, sorry again.

[Thorsten]

He´s able to play both right and lefthanded. When he play´s on both guitars he basically does some harmonizied hammer on/ pull off licks as well as playing some classical stuff were he plays the bass line on one guitar and the melodie on the other.

Absolutely agree on "Speed Metal Symphony"! The whole album is like one big solo. I think both "Speed Metal Symphony" and "Go Off" haven´t been toped as far as guitar overkill and shredding goes. There´s some wonderful, mindboggling music on there. Two geniuses at their best!

TK

[punkerton]

hey.. i thought michael angelo was also one of the ninja turtles?
heehee...;) my thoughts on shredding.. i've been playing for about 2 years and i cant do any of that fast stuff cos i suck:) but i guess i'll just have to practise and get to that stage one day!
at the moment im focusing on chords and theory stuff, not so much technique. im also attempting songwriting and its not going well :( im sure you dont really care.. but there ya go.

[tom_hogan]

its all about expression dudes

satches expression is blues licks played very quick micheal anglos is playing anything real quick

so ****ing what if he doesnt phrase thats his choice but u cant deny his technique

its all about expression and perception

curt kobain?? perception (millions aspire to him he is a guita god in his own right)and thats how he expressed himself