what is 'shredding'??

Alex Skolnick (Testament)
Jason Becker (Cacophony, solo)
Jeff Loomis (Nevermore)
Michael Romeo (Symphony X)
Christofer Malmstrom (Darkane)
John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
Steve Vai

Among others.
 
Yngwie Malmsteen is the god of sensless shredding...

Most people on this forum think lots of shredding=no emotion, but that's not always true...
 
A few of my favourite shredders:

Alexi Laiho & Roope Latvala (Sinergy, Children of Bodom)
Glenn Tipton & KK Downing (Judas Priest)
Wojtek Lisicki (Lost Horizon)
Randy Rhoads, Jake E Lee & Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Ozbourne)
 
Manga-San said:
Yngwie Malmsteen is the god of sensless shredding...

Most people on this forum think lots of shredding=no emotion, but that's not always true...
Its ridiculous isnt it, i think it may be that they just suck, and wish they could shred. Sweeping makes me cry on the inside, the sound gets to me bad. :)
 
Pedro said:
Its ridiculous isnt it, i think it may be that they just suck, and wish they could shred. Sweeping makes me cry on the inside, the sound gets to me bad. :)

It's that first crazy riff in "The Glass Prison" Then the insane solo. It makes my heart jump everytime...

Oh, and nobody can touch the "Smoke and Mirrors" arpeggios by Mikey Romeo. And the riff right afterward is just so badass...
 
Shredding-
A form of guitar playing that involves hyper fast, finger twisting, mind boggling solos.
It's not uncommon to hear:
-liquid legato squences(hammer and pulls done fllawlessley at high speed)
-machine gun warp speed picking
-tapping done in every way, with multiple fingers
-sweeps that boggle the mind

The golden age was the 1980s-Players such as Malmsteen, Gilbert, Friedman, McAlpine, Becker,Satriani-Record lables such as Shrapnel and Relativity(before they became a rap label).

The big problems with the style were that 1.your average listener could care less about being able to do 32nd notes. and 2.Most players of the genere had NO feel..they sound like machines.

There are, of course, some of those who do-Satriani, Vai, Friedman(later on), and a few others. This is the ultimate-the ability to play about ANYTHING you can think of, and do it w ith feel.
Most players did not however.

This style of playing, or any sort of technical ability, died with the rise of "grunge", and those who can play now are almost frowned upon.
 
Sweep picking is basically done when playing arpeggios. It's much like strumming a chord... Instead of articulating each pluck of the string with a pick, you literally "sweep" it across the strings.