Shred guitar

thumb|right|Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and John Petrucci at the G3 (tour) in December 2006 Shred guitar is a virtuosic style of electric guitar performance. Categorized by its use of advanced techniques, shredding is a complex art form. Shred guitar includes fast alternate picking, sweep-picking, diminished and harmonic minor scales, tapping, and whammy bar use. Often incorporated in heavy metal, guitarists employ a guitar amplifier and a range of effects such as distortion. This creates a sustained guitar tone and may facilitate guitar feedback. The term is sometimes used in reference to virtuosic playing by instrumentalists other than guitarists as well. The term "shred" is used outside the metal idiom, particularly by bluegrass musicians and jazz-rock fusion electric guitarists. Quotes about shred guitar Shred cannot be confined to one genre of music: it’s evident in rock, metal, neo-classical, jazz and fusion styles. It’s been around for a long time too. Total Guitar of MusicRadar (13 June 2011) When the so-called grunge revolution hit in the early '90s, it brought a backlash against shredding. Seemingly overnight, it became fashionable to make fun of guys like Eddie Van Halen, who, at 23, single-handedly launched a musical movement, while extolling the virtues of the Kurt Cobains. Granted, it could be argued that the whole tapping/whammy bar/shred thing started to become gratuitous and perhaps even cartoonish by the end of the '80s. Guitarists became divided over feel vs. technique, and those in the former camp would pillory anyone from Michael Angelo Batio to Steve Lukather, accusing them of having no passion or emotion in their playing. Matt Scharfglass of Guitar World (June 22, 2011) External links Category:Guitar techniques