News: What is Shredding?


“SHREDDING” What is it???!!

SHREDDING. What is it? Who does it? Who does it RIGHT? Who does it WRONG? How can I tell the difference? How can I be sure to do it right? Why should I give a shit? Why is shredding so bashed on? Why is shredding so misunderstood?
Shredding is a subject that is the biggest debated, most heatedly argued about subject in all of the guitar world. People who actually totally suck are held up as guitar hero’s. Real players who are truly legendary are at best glanced at, then forgotten, but normally ignored. Why is this? How and why has this reversal occurred? From the 17th century towards the end of the 20th century (1991 or so to be specific) a musician was treated with the highest respect if he was of an incredible ability. The most well known and relatively recent examples of this are: Nicolo Paganini, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin. And these legends seem to have faded.
These and so many countless other musicians of a supernatural caliber have been ignored with almost no exception (Coletrane is one modern day musician occasionally talked about). Some guitar players who’ve had their day in the sun to varying degrees are Edward Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and, Joe Satriani. There are others….. just fill in the blank.
Here are some of my thoughts as to why we have this continuing problem. WE as Americans are pathetically fuckin’ stupid. And sadly, it’s not limited to music. So, we have illiterate morons in varying degrees all over the country graduating and not graduating from high school with no way to tell the difference. Today when someone is gifted at something and their at a typical school k-12, the scumbag-puke, low-life students of the school will insult, berate and relentlessly harass these people and treat them as outcasts, just for using their minds. This is what we have still. But, with music we have championed mediocrity like I still can’t believe.
more: http://crappystruth.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/shredding-what-is-it/

Plus Liquid Note CEO Matt Williams got a number of views on What is Shred from his guitar book: The Modern Guitarist: A history of rock guitar since the seventies

'Shred'. It's a term used, misused and abused by nearly every musician and non-musician in the world of modern guitar music. And for all the attempts magazines and individual players have made at defining this ambiguous term, few if any have arrived at a satisfactory, let alone definitive definition. To confound this further, the following represents several guitarists' personal interpretations of the term whose answers only go to show that they don't know what 'shred' means either!

Nathan Doyle

'Shred is a technique performed at mind-bending speed, when your fingers start melting and your wrist flexor group feel ready to explode you're rippin', when your playing so fast that you can't see your fingers move -- I guess that's pretty O.T.T., but real shredding has to be about stamina as well, the ability to keep shredding, just when the listener is feeling dizzy with the demi-semiquavers riveting them to their wall, you strike again with your best shot that literally tears their head off, it is also about fitting as much as you can in to a "sentence" with no punctuation!'

Todd Duane

'Hmm ... the Harvard Dictionary of Music describes a virtuoso as the following: "a performer who excels in technical ability. The term is sometimes used as a derogatory reference to one who excels in technique only, lacking comparable understanding and musical taste". I think this describes shred pretty good.' view on shred

More : http://homepage.ntlworld.com/shredder2001/shredeh.htm

Comments