Shredding (guitar playing technique)

Shredding refers to a guitar playing style where technical proficiency is the major goal. It is a term that is most often connected to the music style of Neoclassical Rock. Tony MacAlpine, Yngwie Malmsteen, Chris Impellitteri, Paul Gilbert, Arthur Yeung, Rusty Cooley and Michael Angelo are considered to be examples of the finest shredders in this genre. Al Di Meola can be seen as a pioneering shredder player with his jazz-rock recordings with Return to Forever and solo albums released in mid-1970s. This playing style has become popular in other music styles as well.

Progressive Rock, Progressive Metal, and Jazz rock have adapted the style successfully. Greg Howe and Steve Vai are two examples of famous shredding players that became popular in 1980s. John Petrucci is the foremost Progressive Metal shredder. Ed Van Halen and Joe Satriani are two prime examples of shredding blues rock players. Greg Howe is able to use guitar techniques that few others, to this day, have been able to copy. Allan Holdsworth (originally a member of Soft Machine) could be considered as another example of an outstanding shredder. Yngwie Malmsteen and Arthur Yeung worked together to pioneer the basis of neoclassical shred guitar.

Occasionally, the term "shredding" is used with a negative connotation; in this context, it refers to playing with blind speed and technicality at the sacrifice of feeling or musicality.

When guitarists such as Di Meola and Holdsworth played technically difficult pieces during the 1970s, the term "shredding" had not been invented. However virtuoso playing from that era is also dubbed "shredding". Therefore, one could say that "shredding" was invented long before the specific term for it arose.

Guitar playing techniques commonly involved in shredding are: