The Art of Shredding - can you dig it?

[JayKeeley]

Alright disciples of the shred! Time for a roundtable. Let's honor the shredders - long may they reign!

Some of my fave albums:

Tony MacAlpine - Maximum Security
"Hundreds and Thousands" anyone? I mean, can I get a 'hell yeah'?
"Tears of Sahara" (playing against George Lynch!)

And here's a question: Should it be allowed for someone as gifted as MacAlpine to ALSO be able to play Chopin on the grand piano? I think not! We are all Ralph Wiggins in his presence!!

Vinnie Moore - Minds Eye
Great album, and the hair is unbelievable! It defies gravity I tell ya!

Does anyone know the song that Vinnie Moore did which was a variaiton on a theme by J S Bach ('Air on a G String' I think it was...)?

I know this one is obvious, but the album isn't....

Steve Vai on Slip of the Tongue
Sorry but I think this is the best Whitesnake album ever, and some of the best Vai material available (next to "Eugenes Trick Bag" from Crossroads). Steve Vai outdid himself on this one (granted, much of it was written by Vandenburg but still.....). THAT solo in "Cheap n' Nasty"?? The whole epic named "Sailing Ships"???? He and Coverdale rip their hearts out for that song!

 

[lizard]

Alright disciples of the shred! Time for a roundtable. Let's honor the shredders - long may they reign!!

okay. as requested, the strange and peculiar Michael Schenker.

cut his teeth with the Scorpions as a teenager, recruited by UFO to fill their guitar slot, the young German hotshot immediately transformed UFO from an acid scorched space jam band to a precursor of metal to come. First album was Phenomenon. clearly a template, but it included their two best loved classics, Doctor Doctor and Rock Bottom (frequently stretched to 10-12 minutes in concert). then followed, in incorrect order, Force It, No Heavy Petting, Lights Out, Obsession, and culminating in what is considered by many to be one of the finest hard rock live lps ever made, Strangers in the Night. Schenker had had strange bouts with inner spiritual quests, and was known to leave the band in mid tour, a stunt he has periodically pulled during the band's reunions.

He was replaced by Welshman Paul Chapman, just before the time of the Doctor Doctor long beach show.

Schenker went on to form the Michael Schenker Group which seemingly at one time also included half of the rock musicians in the free world, including Cozy Powell, Graham Bonnet, Joe Lynn Turner. At various times, Schenker has been rumored to be a potential replacement for Joe Perry in Aerosmith, and Whitesnake's revolving guitar door.

Schenker is capable of amazingly fluid and melodic solos. not generally a shredder in the currently accepted sense of the word, he is nonetheless capable of it when he wishes. In a very real way, he is the birthplace of the German tradition of hard rock guitar, unless you want to try and state a case for Klaus Hess of Jane.

recommended:
UFO - Lights Out (perhaps their finest studio album)
UFO - Strangers in the Night
honorable mention : Force It, for the cool cover.

Michael Schenker Group - Michael Schenker Group
" - One Night at Budokan

footnote: UFO bassist Pete Way is something of a legend himself. After UFO he was to form Fastway with Fast Eddie Clark, but then formed Waysted. He was at one time a brief member of Ozzy's band.

 

[NAD]

Michael Manring, bass shredder.
I can play Claypool, I can play Burton, I can play Ellefson, but dear lord I would need some serious discipline to play Manring.

His only solo album that I have is Thonk, featuring Steve Morse, Tim Alexander, Alex Skolnick, and Steve Smith. Works with Alexander and Skolnick with Attention Deficit, HIGHLY recommended band for those in love with technical/fusion/jam music.

 

[lizard]

p.s. if you visit http://www.peteway.net, he has a very cool discography with front and back album covers from his many years of recording, and downloadable mp3s, so you won't need to spend money and then say, that damn lizard, this music sucks!

 

[Ayeka]

Man, I so totally worship Michael Schenker well, not quite like that, but the first two M.S.G. albums are totally class. There's about only one duff song between 'em, and the fretwork is sublime...

I should dig out that Whitesnake album with Vai...I love 'snake, but I never really dug that album cos (a) I ain't too keen on the polished sound and (b) Vai seems to start half the songs in exactly the same way, and it's kinda all....huh?

 

[Demonspell]

Macalpine has been kicking ass in Planet X lately.

 

[JayKeeley]

Man, I so totally worship Michael Schenker well, not quite like that, but the first two M.S.G. albums are totally class. There's about only one duff song between 'em, and the fretwork is sublime...

I may need to hunt these down then! I of course know MSG's work, but I don't actually own any, and I haven't heard any in absolute years.

I should dig out that Whitesnake album with Vai...I love 'snake, but I never really dug that album cos (a) I ain't too keen on the polished sound and (b) Vai seems to start half the songs in exactly the same way, and it's kinda all....huh?

I admit, it's polished sounding if you prefer the John Sykes era. However, if you like shredding, then it's a great album. The last three minutes of Sailing Ships is incredible - turn up the volume and hear all the stuff Vai is doing on his 7 string baby. And Coverdale just pours his heart out.

By the way, I have a tape (somewhere in the world) of Whitesnake when they headlined Donington in 1989 (along with Aerosmith). At this point, Vandenburg was back in, so to have him and Vai on stage together was astonishing.

 

[Papa Josh]

I also dig all eras of the 'snake.

I have a 9 lot of tapes i won off of ebay on the way from them.

The only MSG I have are the Robin McAuley years. I used to love Perfect Timing.

And as far as Michael Manring, check out his work on Jim Matheos' solo album, "Away With Words."

 

[Ayeka]

I may need to hunt these down then! I of course know MSG's work, but I don't actually own any, and I haven't heard any in absolute years.

Well, if you're sending Kreator over, maybe I can sort out a copy of one of the albums, and then we're even, eh?

 

[Chris Brooks]

Vinnie Moore - Minds Eye
Great album, and the hair is unbelievable! It defies gravity I tell ya!

Does anyone know the song that Vinnie Moore did which was a variaiton on a theme by J S Bach ('Air on a G String' I think it was...)?

That would be "April Sky". He starts with Bach's Piano Concerto #5 (2nd mvmnt) then goes into "Air". I love that song, and the whole TIME ODYSSEY album. Very inspiring stuff!

 

[JayKeeley]

That would be "April Sky". He starts with Bach's Piano Concerto #5 (2nd mvmnt) then goes into "Air". I love that song, and the whole TIME ODYSSEY album. Very inspiring stuff!

Perfect - that's the one. So much better than the Malmsteen attempt on his most recent 'effort'...

 

[JayKeeley]

Steve Vai's releasing a live DVD finally - with Tony MaCalpine on second guitar duty. Can you imagine those two trading licks? Billy Sheehan's on bass - shame it aint Stu Hamm, but Sheehan's still cool. Hopefully it'll be good:

01. Shyboy
02. Giant Balls of Gold
03. Erotic Nightmares
04. Blood & Glory
05. Dave's Party Piece
06. Blue Powder
07. Crying Machine
08. The Animal
09. Bangkok
10. Tony's Solo
11. Bad Horsie
12. Chameleon
13. Down Deep Into the Pain
14. Fire
15. Little Wing
16. Whispering a Prayer
17. Incantation
18. Jibboom
19. For the Love of God
20. Liberty
21. The Attitude Song

Imagine Vai and MacAlpine playing "Liberty" and "Fire"....

 

[NAD]

Ever see that movie Crossroads with Steve Vai and Ralph Macccchio? It was cool watching them trade licks at the end. Well, Vai was the only one really playing of course.

 

[JayKeeley]

Yeah I've watched the ending of Crossroads 100 times. I had that on VHS once just for the last 15 minutes. That neo-classical piece that Vai plays is called "Eugene's Trick Bag". I have that transcribed somewhere - really good guitar exercise because it sounds shit hot when you can play it fast.

You know that Vai played both parts right, and he had to purposely play one of the sections wrong just to make his character, Jack, lose the battle - this was made more obvious because they had the Karate Kid 'play' the same piece with his fingers. Yeah right.

All the bluesy stuff was played by Ry Cooder. He's very good also. I have the soundtrack actually.

 

[NAD]

I figured Vai played both, but thanks for da history.

It pisses me off when non-musicians pretend to play in movies, to me it's as stupid looking as lip synching in a different language. Worst I have seen is in Dark City, the drummer in Jennifer Connely's jazz band?! Not even TRYING to mimic the beat! UGH!