Shred guitar
Encyclopedia
Shred guitar or shredding is lead electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 playing that relies heavily on fast guitar solos. While some critics argue that shred guitar is associated with "... sweep-picked arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...

s, diminished and harmonic minor scales, finger-tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...

 and ... whammy-bar abuse", several guitar writers claim that rather than being a musical definition, it is a fairly subjective cultural term used by guitarists and enthusiasts of guitar music. It is usually used with reference to heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 guitar playing, where it is associated with rapid tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...

 solos and special effects such as whammy bar "dive bomb
Dive bomb
Dive bomb is a guitar technique in which the tremolo bar is used to rapidly lower the pitch of a note, creating a sound considered to be similar to a bomb dropping. One of the most recognized pioneers of this technique is Jimi Hendrix. Other notable musicians who are widely known for using this...

s". The term is sometimes used with reference to playing outside this idiom, particularly bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

,.

It includes "sweep, alternate and tremolo picking; string skipping; multi-finger tapping; legato, [and] trills." Speed Building, Legato, Tapping, [and] Sweep Picking techniques shredders need to know—sweep picking, tapping, legato playing, whammy bar abuse, speed riffing, [and] thrash chording. Shred guitarists also use two- or three-octave scales, triad
Triad (music)
In music and music theory, a triad is a three-note chord that can be stacked in thirds. Its members, when actually stacked in thirds, from lowest pitched tone to highest, are called:* the Root...

s, or modes
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...

, played ascending and descending at a fast tempo. Often such runs are arranged in the form of an intricate sequential pattern
Sequence (music)
In music, a sequence is the immediate restatement of a motif or longer melodic passage at a higher or lower pitch in the same voice. It is one of the most common and simple methods of elaborating a melody in eighteenth and nineteenth century classical music...

, attributing to a more complex feel. This run or lick
Lick (music)
In popular music genres such as rock or jazz music, a lick is "a stock pattern or phrase" consisting of a short series of notes that is used in solos and melodic lines...

 can be played by individually picking all, or a selection, of the notes, using techniques such as alternate picking
Alternate picking
Alternate picking is a guitar playing technique that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, and is the most common method of plectrum playing...

 or economy picking
Economy picking
Economy picking is a guitar-playing technique for a guitarist who uses a pick. A hybrid of sweep picking and alternate picking, economy picking involves using alternate picking except when changing strings...

. Alternatively, the lick can be played by multiple-picking notes (tremolo picking
Tremolo picking
Tremolo picking, also known as alternate picking or double picking, describes the musical technique of picking on a guitar or other string instrument in which a single note is played repeatedly in quick succession. It can be achieved either with the fingers or with a pick...

), or picking just the first or second note of a string followed by a rapid succession of hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...

s and/or pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...

s (legato). Rhythmically, a shredder may include precise usage of syncopation
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

 and polyrhythms.

Sweep picking is used to play extremely rapid arpeggios across the fretboard (sometimes on all strings). The tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...

 technique is used to play rapid flourishes of notes or to play arpeggios or scalar patterns using pure legato with no picking. Various techniques are used to perform passages with wide interval
Interval (music)
In music theory, an interval is a combination of two notes, or the ratio between their frequencies. Two-note combinations are also called dyads...

s, and to create a flowing legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...

 sound. Some performers utilize complex combinations of tapping, sweeping, and classical-style finger picking
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....

. This increases speed by reducing the motion of the strumming hand.

History

In 1974, the German band Scorpions
Scorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...

 used their new guitarist Ulrich Roth
Ulrich Roth
Ulrich Roth , more commonly known as Uli Jon Roth, is a Germanguitarist and one of the earliest contributors to the neo-classical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Academy and inventor of the Sky Guitar. He is the older brother of fellow guitarist and artist Zeno Roth.-Career:In the early...

 for their album Fly to the Rainbow
Fly to the Rainbow
-Personnel:Scorpions*Klaus Meine – lead vocals*Ulrich Roth – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Drifting Sun" and co lead-vocals in "Fly To The Rainbow"...

, for which the title track features Roth performing "... one of the most menacing and powerful whammy-bar dive bombs ever recorded". A year later, Roth's solo guitar playing for the album In Trance
In Trance
-Personnel:* Klaus Meine – lead vocals* Ulrich Roth – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Dark Lady" and "Sun In My Hand"* Rudolf Schenker – rhythm guitar, backing vocals* Francis Buchholz – bass guitar, backing vocals* Rudy Lenners – drums, percussion...

"... would become the prototype for shred guitar. Everything associated with the genre can be found on this brilliant collection of songs — sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished minor harmonic scales, finger-tapping and ... jaw-dropping whammy-bar abuse". In 1979, Roth left Scorpions to begin his own power trio, named "Electric Sun"; his debut album Earthquake contained "... heaps of spellbinding fret gymnastics ... and nimble-fingered classical workouts." In 1978, a "heretofore unknown guitarist named Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

" from Los Angeles released "'Eruption
Eruption (song)
"Eruption" is a guitar solo written and performed by Eddie Van Halen. Eruption often appears on many 'greatest guitar solos' lists. It is often played together with "You Really Got Me", which follows the song on the album Van Halen....

', a blistering aural assault of solo electric guitar" which featured rapid "tapping
Tapping
Tapping is a guitar playing technique, where a string is fretted and set into vibration as part of a single motion of being pushed onto the fretboard, as opposed to the standard technique being fretted with one hand and picked with the other...

", which "had rarely been heard in a rock context before." Chris Yancik argues that it is this "record, above any other, that spawned the genre of Shred."

This fast playing style combined with the heavily distorted tone of heavy metal music resulted in a new nickname, "shred" . Progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

, heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

, hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

, and jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...

 have all made use of and adapted the style successfully over the past two and a half decades. In general, however, the phrase "shred guitar" has been traditionally associated with instrumental rock
Instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...

 and heavy metal guitarists. This association has become less common now that modern, evolved forms of metal have adopted shredding as well. In the 1990s, its mainstream appeal diminished with the rise of grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...

 and nu metal
Nu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...

, both of which eschewed flashy lead guitar solos. Nevertheless, underground acts like Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane
Shawn Lane was an American musician. Although piano was his first instrument, he quickly became a noted player in underground guitar circles and joined Black Oak Arkansas when he was just fourteen years old....

 and Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...

 developed the genre further.

In 2003, Guitar One Magazine voted Michael Angelo Batio
Michael Angelo Batio
Michael Angelo Batio also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is a guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. His work has encompassed many genres, notably metal and its subgenres. Batio was voted the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003...

 the fastest shredder of all time.

In the same year (2003), Guitar One Magazine voted Chris Impellitteri
Chris Impellitteri
Chris Impellitteri is the lead guitarist and founder of the heavy metal band Impellitteri. In 2008 Guitarworld Magazine officially named Chris Impellitteri as one of the Fastest Guitarists of all time...

 the 2nd fastest shredder of all time followed by Yngwie Malmsteen as the 3rd fastest shredder.

In 2011, John Taylor, a guitar teacher from Colorado, set a world record for playing the fastest guitar rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee
Flight of the Bumblebee
"Flight of the Bumblebee" is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. The piece closes Act III, Tableau 1, during which the magic Swan-Bird changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich into an insect so that he can fly away to...

 at 600 BPM.

In an Interview Filmed in Encino, CA - March 2011, Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

 described 'shred' as: "The terminology use for someone who can play instrument, and has a tremendous amount of techniques that what they do seems completely effortless, is like a burst of energy that's comes out in an extreme fast way of playing with the notes that actually connects"

Equipment

Shred guitar players often use electric solidbody guitars such as Ibanez
Ibanez
is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass produce...

, Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

, Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...

, Kramer
Kramer Guitars
Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock and heavy metal musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation...

, Carvin, Jackson
Jackson Guitars
__FORCETOC__Jackson is a renowned brand of electric guitar that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson.-Early years:Grover Jackson obtained ownership in Charvel's Guitar Repair of Glendora, California in the 1970s with a promise to bolster Charvel's business...

, Charvel
Charvel
Charvel is a brand of guitar originally founded in the 1970s by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California and then later, Glendora, California. Charvel guitars became popular in the 1980s due to their association with famous rock guitarists such as Edward Van Halen , Richie Sambora , Warren DeMartini ,...

, Schecter, B.C. Rich
B.C. Rich
B.C. Rich is a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars founded by the late Bernardo Chavez Rico in 1969. Currently, most B.C. Rich guitars are manufactured in Asia, but luthiers of the company's custom shop continue to hand-make instruments. The Hanser Music Group, based in Kentucky, operates B.C....

 or ESP
ESP Guitars
, located in North Hollywood, California, is an American-based, Japanese-owned manufacturer of electric guitars and basses.- History :In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products in Tokyo. It provided custom replacement parts for guitars. In 1976, ESP gained a reputation...

. Some shred guitarists use elaborately-shaped models by B.C. Rich
B.C. Rich
B.C. Rich is a manufacturer of guitars and bass guitars founded by the late Bernardo Chavez Rico in 1969. Currently, most B.C. Rich guitars are manufactured in Asia, but luthiers of the company's custom shop continue to hand-make instruments. The Hanser Music Group, based in Kentucky, operates B.C....

 or Dean
Dean Guitars
Dean Guitars is an American manufacturer of guitars. It was founded in 1976 by Dean Zelinsky in Chicago, Illinois and is currently under the ownership of Armadillo Enterprises in Tampa, Florida.- History :...

, as well as modern versions of classic radical designs like Gibson
Gibson
Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

's Flying V
Gibson Flying V
-External links:*, , , , and , from the Gibson website*, a June 2001 article from Guitar Collector magazine*, a tribute site that lists all models and re-issues and most notable players**...

 and Explorer
Gibson Explorer
The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar that made its debut in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its sibling, the Flying V. The Explorer was the final development of a prototype design which years later Gibson marketed under the name Futura.The...

 models. Guitars with double-cutaways give performers easier access to the higher frets. Some shred guitarists, such as Scorpion
Scorpions (band)
Scorpions are a heavy metal/hard rock band from Hannover, Germany, formed in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, who is the band's only constant member. They are known for their 1980s rock anthem "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and many singles, such as "No One Like You", "Send Me an Angel", "Still...

s' Ulrich Roth
Ulrich Roth
Ulrich Roth , more commonly known as Uli Jon Roth, is a Germanguitarist and one of the earliest contributors to the neo-classical metal genre. He is also the founder of Sky Academy and inventor of the Sky Guitar. He is the older brother of fellow guitarist and artist Zeno Roth.-Career:In the early...

, have used custom-made tremolo bars and developed modified instruments, such as Roth's "Sky Guitar, that would greatly expand his instrumental range, enabling him to reach notes previously reserved in the string world for violins."

Some shred guitar players use guitars with seven, or eight
Eight string guitar
An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings instead of the commonly used six strings. Such guitars are not as common as the six string variety, but are used by classical, jazz, and metal guitarists to expand the range of their instrument by adding two strings.-History and variants:There...

 strings to allow a greater range of notes. Most shred guitar players use a range of effects
Effects unit
Effects units are electronic devices that alter how a musical instrument or other audio source sounds. Some effects subtly "color" a sound, while others transform it dramatically. Effects are used during live performances or in the studio, typically with electric guitar, keyboard and bass...

 such as distortion and compression to facilitate the performance of shred techniques such as tapping, hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...

s, and pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...

s, and to create a unique tone. Often, shred-style guitar players use high-gain
Distortion (guitar)
Distortion effects create "warm", "dirty" and "fuzzy" sounds by compressing the peaks of a musical instrument's sound wave and adding overtones. The three principal types of distortion effects are overdrive, distortion and fuzz. Distortion effects are sometimes called “gain” effects, as distorted...

 vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...

 amplifiers such as Marshall
Marshall Amplification
Marshall Amplification is a British company, founded by drummer Jim Marshall, that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, brands personal headphones/earphones , and, after acquiring Natal Drums, drums and bongos. Marshall amplifiers, and specifically their guitar amplifiers, are among the most...

, Carvin, Peavey
Peavey Electronics
Peavey Electronics Corporation is one of the largest audio equipment manufacturers in the world, headquartered in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States.- History :...

, Mesa Boogie
Mesa Boogie
Mesa/Boogie is a company in Petaluma, California that makes amplifiers for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969....

, ENGL
Engl
ENGL is a German company that makes high-end tube amplifiers for electric guitars. Over the years ENGL has succeeded in becoming a global player in this market...

, Laney
Laney Amplification
Laney Amplification is a British brand of guitar/bass guitar amplifiers and cabinets, and also public address systems.-History:Laney Amplification officially began on September 1st, 1967....

, Hughes & Kettner
Hughes & Kettner
Hughes & Kettner is a German brand of guitar and bass amplifiers, cabinets and effects processors. It was founded in Neunkirchen in 1984 and is based in St.Wendel since 1987....

, Krank
Krank Amplification
Krank Amplification is an American company based in Arizona that designs and manufactures guitar amplifiers. Krank manufactures tube amplifiers and recently a hybrid amplifier.- Amplifiers :...

, and Randall
Randall Amplifiers
Randall Amplifiers is a manufacturer of guitar amplifiers, a subsidiary of U.S. Music Corporation. Its products are/were used by artists such as Chuck Schuldiner, Dimebag Darrell, Metallica, King's X, Nirvana and Anthrax...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK