What makes a "shredder"?

[Hard Max]

I checked out your myspace page, totally awesome!

[smithju]

Shredder is a very broad term in my dictionary. You can shred with a lot of things. A sick snowboarder is a shredder, causing destruction in the weight room is shredding, tearing up guitar hero on expert is even shredding, and of course playing the guitar in an aggressive manner, with talent, is shredding. My opinion is that you are "shredding" anything that you are bad ass at. Whether it's playing the violin or nailing chicks. We're all shredders at something.

[TonyB]

Spandex!



Sorry couldn't resist!

Fast, and most importantly....clean and accurate!

[brandondrury]

When I was starting out, a "shredder" was a mildly pejorative term to describe someone who could play a million miles an hour and did so in order to camouflage the fact that he had no earthly idea what he was doing, musically.

This sums up my formative years as a guitar player! Mission accomplished!

Now that I'm older I realize that I actually have to be able to play.

I've never been big on sweep picking and I can't recall Van Halen ever doing it (maybe I'm forgetting). I think Van Halen is THE shredder.

As for why I don't understand sweep picking, check out the Yngwie 7th Sign album. The first song's solo is nothing but sweeping. The entire thing! It just basically sounds like you hit a chord on a synth with a fast arpeggiator or something. It had no balls and just sucked in my opinion regardless of the dexterity needed.

I don't consider Angus a shredder personally, but he's not too far off and probably can, but just doesn't.

A big thing I'm not hearing in many younger shredders is vibrato. Where I come from vibrato is IT! I'm talking screaming, wicked vibrato.

Brandon

[cakewalkgg]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

A big thing I'm not hearing in many younger shredders is vibrato. Where I come from vibrato is IT! I'm talking screaming, wicked vibrato.

Brandon

Totally.. note control and flavor give far more of an impressive impression than speed or density of notes.
I do think that very articulate riffs can sound really badass also, when used in an artistic way.
But work on vibrato.. and vibrato at the top of bends.. half step, whole step, and hole+half step. This takes work to get the strength and control but get that nice smoothe and big vibrato.. vibrato is a big deal to be a percieved a shredder.. I got a guitar mag that had a vid from John Petruccie and they asked him this very question and the first think he said is to get that big gnarly vibrato down.

[Danny Danzi]

I'll give ya my take for what it's worth Max. Long read here, but well worth it and I'll explain the clip I've supplied. Read all this first though.

I started playing guitar years ago because I felt like being able to grab an acoustic at a camp fire and play and sing songs. Started playing at 4, and didn't touch it again until I was like 11 or 12. By that time, Van Halen was just coming about and I was lost for life once I heard him. From there, Randy Rhoads was discovered and then the Mike Varney guys started hitting the scene with Yngwie, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Stephen Ross, Richie Kotzen, Gilbert, Becker...and I was a totally lost soul.

Each time I thought I was a pretty decent guitar player, someone else came out of the woodwork and smoked me like a blunt. This made me really upset to where it pissed me off and I'd go and learn their material and then use it my own way. Years of this went on...over 15 years...and one day, I woke up and said to myself "why do I play guitar?"

All I did for 15 years was use guitar as a sport....a speed crutch. Nothing more than a shredder with nothing to say other than licks and scales that sounded like I was just practicing in every song. My old guitar teacher calls me on the phone one night and asks me if I want to go see Eric Clapton. Pff...Clapton...how boring, lifeless, no speed, no technique.

For the heck of it because I loved that teacher and it wouldn't cost me anything, I went with him. LOL! The show was fantastic. Clapton won me over that night because of what he didn't play. Now, here's where it gets REALLY good man.

After the show, my teacher and I went to this little bar not far from the place Clapton had just performed. We were in Philly. So we go to this bar, full of smoke, only 5 patrons or so in the bar. We walk up to the bar to get a drink...I look at the guy next to me, it's fekkin Eric Clapton all by himself!!!!!

My teacher and I bought him drinks, he bought us drinks and talked to him for nearly 2 hours. What an incredible guy! So me being mr shredder....I had to ask him..."ok, so you locked yourself in your room for 7 years....why didn't you come out shredding or playing jazz or classical or something?" He raises a drink and says something to me that I'll never forget "young Danzi, when played correctly, one note can crush 1000!"

It really hit home for me. We talked further about guitar and other stuff and he further explained what he meant by the one note thing...it was a killer night and one that taught me so much, I'm glad I went. When I got home, I decided to play one note and really listen to what that note sounded like. How could I make that one note have a distinguished sound? How crafty can we be with one note and achieve an identity based on how that note is played? If that one note sounds bad by itself, how will 300 per second make things any better?

So my mission was to listen closely to my execution...not my technique, not my speed, not my lick choice, but my execution and conviction. Vibrato is soooo important....the right touch, the right pressure...all of this made such a difference. From there, I worked on making little things sound better instead of the huge technique and speed oriented things. They helped me more than any type of shred and also helped me to gain my own unique voice for the simple fact that I had to slow down enough to where it could now be heard. LOL!!

From there I started to not appreciate shred as much. Everyone was doing it at that time. I was becomming just like them. What could I do that would allow me to be me? I decided that no one would write songs like me, so I gave up all the shred stuff and worked on writing tunes that would make more of a difference than the solo's inside them. If you listen to any of my material, the solo's are still pretty decent I feel, but if you took the solo's out and all the production and put me on a stage with an acoustic guitar and my voice, I'd have everyone singing along with me. That to me is success moreso than ANY shred lick could ever give me.

I don't miss the competition of trying to keep up with shredders...and most of all Max, though I have no regrets from my past or how I play to this day, I do cringe when someone refers to me as "just another shredder". The key in my opinion is to shred when you need to, yet have good enough phrasing the entire time. Phrasing, note choice, using speed and technique as a weapon instead of a crutch...the right vibrato...this is all the stuff that needs to be done. This makes you a GUITAR PLAYER not just a one-dimensional "shredder". You'll see man....you may want that label right now, but when you get older....it's not something you appreciate as much, trust me when I tell you.

I respect those that play 1000 mph, sweep like a 36 inch garage broom and can alt pick or run legato like banshee's. However, if they can't sing me a song within the solo that has a purpose that also tells a story, it just sounds like a dude sitting on the end of his bed practicing and running scales. It's not impressive at all anymore to me. I respect it because I know the work that goes on with stuff like that, but it just sounds like a practice regiment that has no soul, no feel and is notes for the sake of notes. I'm still a shredder, but I do my best to put feel and a purpose in every solo I do. If the phrasing isn't there, it's just a voice for the sake of a voice.

As for sweeping, I've always been a fan of it but not in the sense that most people are. I like to come up with my own things instead of the regular sweeps people use. I can do them like everyone else, but like to do them slow to be melodic inside a song most times. I did come up with my own thing that sort of stuck with me through the years that people like. It's not really something I created because everything has pretty much been done before, but I set out to do legato arpeggios without the rake effect. This comes in the form of a very smooth sounding arp that resembles a sweep....but to me, is much more pleasing to listen to as well as being more melodic and a much different sound than the standard major/minor stuff everyone does.

Supplied in the little clip I've given you is what I call "Roll Sweeps" which are basically major 7th forms and minor 7th forms done legato to give that smooth sound. There are a few little taps within them, but it basically simulates legato arps so to speak. The clip is the intro from my last album. Hope ya dig it.

You also have one of the best sweepers in the world living right near you in CO. His name is K.C. Jones and he goes by the name of The Jonezter on the internet. Search for him on google and myspace/youtube...he's freaking insane for this type of stuff and is a great teacher as well. A personal friend of mine...so I can probably hook you up with him if you feel you may want to learn from one of the best. Hope this helps you a bit....stay true to yourself man, but just remember....everything in moderation.