Are you a Shredder?

December 9, 2010 Blog 10 Comments

Are you a shredder?

A shredder is an instrumentalist (most of the time a guitarist) who possesses superb technical skills and likes to show it. Things associated with shredders are for example Ibanez guitars, harmonic minor and diminished scales played at greased lightning speed, extensive whammy bar abuse and sweep arpeggios.

Like it or not, everybody’s got an opinion of it.

I used to be a shredder

Yes, back in my late teens to early twenties (a time when mullets, spandex pants, refrigerator-sized effects racks and hockeystick-style guitars were not entirely uncommon) I listened a lot to guitarists like Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and a whole bunch of other metal/fusion guitarists whose names escape me at the moment. Speed and sheer technique were what mattered most, and I could spend days trying to figure out how to play my guitar heroes’ coolest licks and techniques perfectly. I followed all the exercises in Guitar Player Magazine and bought every album released by Mike Varney Productions. I practiced day and night and soon got really fast, and I was proud of it.

I’m now 40, and only a tiny fraction of the technique that I once possessed remains in my fingers. I don’t listen to shred records anymore, and I certainly don’t pretend as if I can play it. I almost never practice and as a result my playing gets increasingly sloppy every day. Do I miss it? No. I believe I’m a better composer, arranger and overall musician today than I was 20 years ago – and that certainly makes up for my inability to play diminished scales at 200 mph. But once in a while, it’s kind of fun to dig out those CD’s and (gasp) LP’s and listen to those fast runs up and down the fingerboard.

Shredder guitarists and shredder drummers

Playing shred music is difficult, and as a shredder guitarist you are reliant on the talents of other musicians, especially a great drummer who can really roll those bass drums when needed. And those can be hard to find. Not to worry though, we got you covered in that area. Just stay tuned and we’ll have a smokin’ hot shredder drum loop pack ready for you in a couple of days. And as usual, there will also be some free stuff

What are your thoughts on shredder-type guitarists? Please write a comment below!

Per

P.S. Here are some [intlink id="1075" type="post"]sound clips from the Shredder Pack[/intlink]

Buy [intlink id="761" type="page"]metal drum loops[/intlink]

Per Ulfhielm on Google+

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