What Is The Definition Of A "Shredder"?

the shred I like best is the kind that plays to it's knowledge of classical and modern music.
classical in the sense of scales or harmonic structure, and of the virtuoso like quest to play fast, melodic, and dimed.
it is best when the tone is really good. lots of head room. most times all I hear is the sound of angry bees shredding meaningless stuff over and over. one trick after another. mids set to negative eternity and the tone dry as toast.

shred is cool in that it is a genre growing out of speed metal, heavy metal, metal, Black Sabbath, rock, be bop, Chopin,
and Mozart.etc.it will be interesting to see where it goes next.

Stevie Ray Vaughn sure could tear up his guitar. he sure could shred.
he wasn't a shredder however.
for me there's the difference.
a shredder plays intellectually.
shredder=cerebral
SRV=visceral.

me like visceral

+1 for Dog's definition.

To me, what classifies you as a shredder is mainly: (1) a shredder has an extensive knowledge of and utilizes many scales, (3) is usually technically very proficient on the instrument, and (3) usually plays very fast and precise leads, etc.

+2. yeah i would view a shedder not just as someone who plays fast but who its superior technically to 'lead guitarists'
using odd modes and scales

I'm not bothered about whether you like/dislike shredding. I just wanna know what you think it is.
When the temperature of the strings increases by 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) from the friction of your fingers on the strings and you are producing anything that can be considered music, you are shredding.
Therefore, a shredder is anyone who can do the above.
Really, Sara, I'm disappointed in you. I thought everyone knew this.

lol, kr2.

yeah, I think of 'shredding' as heavily involving scalic runs, fast tempos, and the 'music' tends to be pretty incidental, its all a platform for the guitarist. sometimes (i.e. mid-15-mintues-solo) there'll be some rhythmic variation in the backing. and I don't think of shredding as having much to do with improvisation, or musical interplay, either.

but then, when people try to defend shredders by pointing to slower stuff, more melodic stuff, more improvisational stuff, I don't really consider that shredding, so I don't get how it works as a defence. its a bit like saying, "yeah rapping isn't just talking because Lauren Hill does it and she can sing." i actually like (some) rapping, but pointing to rappers who can sing as justification of rapping is a poor argument. likewise trying to justify shredding because "they can play slow, too." imho.

I also think of shredding as mindset, a very competitve and athletic mindset, with an emphasis on being "the best" where "best" is defined as fastest.

but I await further enlightenment. :wink:

yeah, I think of 'shredding' as heavily involving scalic runs, fast tempos, and the 'music' tends to be pretty incidental,

Perhaps it's your personal definition of "music" that is fallacious.

Zen and the art of shredding.

How about puttin' the guitar shredder inside that one ? :lol:

yeah, I think of 'shredding' as heavily involving scalic runs, fast tempos, and the 'music' tends to be pretty incidental,

Perhaps it's your personal definition of "music" that is fallacious.

Quite possibly, hence my question. :wink:

I should have been clearer, lol.........by "music" as I put it there, I meant the music as a whole. There seems, to my experience, a lot ofthought and care put into the music played by the shredder, but less so to how it interrelates with that of the backing band (hey, that is what they often are) or to what the backing band does generally. Hell, I'm sure shredders can (and do) get away with performing to backing tracks a la Britney Spears. I think, with shredding, the 'band' is often little more than an elaborate metronome for the shredder, and maybe that's part of my chagrin with "shredding" - the "shredding" seems to be considered almost without or free from context. But, as we all know, in music context is everything.

it is time for this link to reappear.

http://www.guitarshredshow.com

have fun.

There seems, to my experience, a lot ofthought and care put into the music played by the shredder, but less so to how it interrelates with that of the backing band (hey, that is what they often are) or to what the backing band does generally.

That's often the case, but not always. Dream Theater is a prime example otherwise. Outstanding musicians all around, and they really gel as a unit. In my opinion. :wink: And they certainly can, and do, improv. Now, some might call them "prog" or "prog metal" and not shred, but there's no doubt that John Petrucci is a guitar shredder, or that John Myung shreds on bass. If keyboardists can be called shredders, then put Jordan Rudess in that camp.

Satriani is an example that supports your view; on his studio records, it's mostly him, his drum machine, and his rudimentary basslines (performed by him.) But in live situations, he's been smart enough to complement himself with bassists like Stu Hamm and Dave LaRue, who really take things to a new level. And again, they do improv.

Also, the fact that not all shredders shred all the time doesn't mean they're not shredders. Andy Timmons straddles the gap between visceral and cerebral quite well, imho. Eric Johnson - some say not a shredder, some say he is, but either way he can play circles around most of 'em.

Maybe my view of "shred" is too broad. :lol:

Slej,

Agreed. Likewise, Clapton isn't always playing blues, but I think most would agree that he can, and often does. I just don't think the blues can be justified (in a hypothetical non-specified debate here, lol) by pointing to Clapton's ability to write rock/pop tunes. Same goes for trying to justify shredding by pointing to shredders doing something other than shredding.

Dream Theater is/are one I keep hearing about, but never managed to check out. Musically, not just in terms of "shredding." Could you suggest a suitable album for me to try? I've been meaning to do this for a while, and prefer trying albums than just random songs. Cheers.

All in all, this seems to be supporting (although not wholly) my view that "shredding" is a pretty vacuous genre, musically speaking. Aside from what the shredder is doing (and here the def. does seem to essentially be scalic and fast, often with tapping, that seems to be a pretty key shred ingredient however sparesly or judiciously employed), there's no other features. I'm still not convinced it's in any way as informative a descriptor as "blues" "prog" "classical" etc etc.

I'm still not convinced it's in any way as informative a descriptor as "blues" "prog" "classical" etc etc.

I totally agree; and that point underpins my reply in another thread to the comments about "all" shredders. Such generalizations don't hold up, unless you are starting with very restrictive definitions.

strong indicator?: 80% of a shredder's fan will be guitar players.

Shredding to me seems to be a technique that can be used during the making of music. It's the fast (perhaps even very fast) parts of some songs. As somebody posted on another thread John Mclaughlin doing Cherokee - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om6HDUKBbzE - was using shredding technique but it was not the whole of the song and it was musically part of the song.

IMNSHO a "shredder" is someone who takes the single technique of "shredding" and plays that exclusively or almost exclusively without regard for the actual music. As gnease points out above a large %age of a shredder's fans are guitar players because they are drawn to the display of technical skill. For everybody else it's irrelevant - you can't hum it nor can you dance to it.