Tribute to Shredders

I wanted to spend some time writing about those who shred. These are the people that made me want to put the guitar down forever from time to time because I didn't think I could ever do what they do. I haven't been listening to their new stuff for several years, but I still like the stuff that I used to listen to.

First, there is Joe Satriani. This guy is so good. A couple of my favorites are Flying in a Blue Dream and Memories. His legatos are so smooth and flawless. I've seen him live and he does it live too! Stuff that I've heard from him are pretty straight forward arena rock (without vocal) kind of stuff. Actually, he did sing but not so well. But it doesn't matter because he make the guitar sing. From what I've read about his more recent stuff, I understand that he's done some techno rock kind of stuff too.






















Steve Vai is another one who seem to be able to do anything and everything on the electric guitar. Compare to Satriani, Steve Vai's music is not so straight forward. He uses scales and modes that are not commonly used in rock music. I used to listen to his album Passion & Warfare all day long and For the Love of God and Erotic Nightmares from it are highly recommended.
























Nuno Betterncourt is the most band oriented shredder of them all. He is not known for instrumental guitar music. He was able to tastefully mix up super technical solo and rhythm guitar playing with commercially successful music with his band Extreme. I am sure that you have heard More Than Words if you listened to popular music in the 90's. Their 2nd album Pornograffitti is a hard rock masterpiece and the guitar solo from Get Funk Out contains this impossible lick that has sweep picking and tapping all rolled in one.
























Yngwie Malmsteen is the shredder that started it all. While masters like Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhodes already were tearing up the rock scene with their godly fretwork in the early 80's, when Yngwie came out with all cylinders full blasting in 1984, he change the world of guitar playing. Heavily influenced by Baroque composer J.S. Bach and classical violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini, he made harmonic minor scales, diminished triads and sweep picking must learn tools for a whole generation of six stringers. Any album that he's ever done contains at least two or three guitar solos worth mentioning, so I don't know which ones to recommend. I must admit that sometimes I find myself fastforwarding through the songs only to listen to his solos....



















If your are a rock guitar player who haven't heard any of these shredders, do yourself a favor and pick up some CD's from these guitar masters. You can spend 99 cents per song on iTunes too. You won't regret it. There are many others that I should have mentioned like Steve Morse, John Petrucci from Dream Theater and Eric Johnson, but I've got to go to sleep. Don't forget to PLAY GUITAR NOW!