# How Do I Learn How to Shred?



## gnoll (Aug 16, 2019)

I never really played lead at all, but my songs could use some shred in them.

So... How do I learn how to do that? I need to go from zero to hero basically. What are the best resources to learn how to shred? What techniques should I look at mastering?


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## Mathemagician (Aug 16, 2019)

Specifically pick a solo you think sounds cool then just learn it slowly. Do that a few times and you’ll soon see the patterns emerge. 

But in general:

1) Practice slowly to a click
2) Speed it up a few bpm each time you perfect it
3) Realize that “shred” doesn’t have to be complex. Most cool sounding runs are effectively repeating patterns. Learn it slow then speed it up. 
4) Learning scales is very helpful, but so is just memorizing patterns like the “CAGED” method. 
5) You don’t HAVE to know theory to “shred”. For the most vanilla you just need a root note and a place you want to stop at. 

Now writing really pretty fast solos with melody and unique motifs that weave in and out is a whole different ball game. 

But just playing a scale super fast counts as shred.


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## neotronic (Aug 16, 2019)

^ Good advice

I'll just add: Practice until you hate it. And then some more, since you've just warmed up.

I'll tell you an anecdote to illustrate what I mean. I have a friend who pretty much mastered a guitar. I've never been even nearly as good as him. At one point I thought the universe is unfair. Then I remembered when I was visiting him when he was around 8 years old (we have been friends for a long time) and his mother was forcing him to play. He played while crying. And I realized: "man, I've never practiced nearly as hard as he did, and it shows". Never thought of the universe as unfair ever since.


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## Crundles (Aug 16, 2019)

Mathemagician said:


> 1) Practice slowly to a click
> 2) Speed it up a few bpm each time you perfect it
> 3) Realize that “shred” doesn’t have to be complex. Most cool sounding runs are effectively repeating patterns. Learn it slow then speed it up.



I agree with most of what Mathemagician posted, but an important note - if you haven't tried your existing picking technique at high tempos, the above might be counter productive.

Regardless of anyone's personal opinion on Cracking the Code, I've witnessed a lot of people asking for help on Troy's forum that show it's possible your current alternate picking technique mechanically doesn't allow for quick string changes at moderately high to high speeds.

Can you comfortably tremolo pick a single note on a single string? Now can you do this switching between two neighbouring strings? If yes, by all means, start practicing patterns slowly, and speed up gradually to reinforce control (I'd still floor it every so often); if no, you might want to first ensure you have a smooth and fluent basic alternate picking technique.

Other than that, I'd say your generic shred would be alternate and/or economy picked repeating scale pattern runs (like the evergreen Yngwie 13-10-12-13-12-10); sweep picked arpeggios; double-hand tapping. Pick one, and grind at it for a while.


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## jaxadam (Aug 16, 2019)

Buy Gambale’s Chopbuilder and Gilbert’s Terrifying Guitar Trip. Do both videos twice a day. By Christmas you will be the best guitarist on this forum.


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## Mathemagician (Aug 16, 2019)

jaxadam said:


> Buy Gambale’s Chopbuilder and Gilbert’s Terrifying Guitar Trip. Do both videos twice a day. By Christmas you will be the best guitarist on this forum.



Well I certainly don’t practice. So I would hope someone who actually PLAYS guitar instead of just buying and selling them would “git gud”. Lol


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## gnoll (Aug 17, 2019)

Thanks guys, taking all your advice on board.

I want to be able to play like this, but it's so fast it seems impossible 

(starts at 3:50)


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## Crundles (Aug 17, 2019)

gnoll said:


> Thanks guys, taking all your advice on board.
> 
> I want to be able to play like this, but it's so fast it seems impossible
> 
> (starts at 3:50)



So let's check out the tab (assuming it's correct, but it appears to be)

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/vektor/hunger_for_violence_guitar_pro_1800820

The very first section of the first solo, at 3:50, appears to be pick tapping, so that shouldn't be a problem. The really fast picked runs are patterns, and depending on what exactly your alternate pick mechanics are, you can either fully alternate pick the first solo, or you might need to throw some economy or hammer-on/pull-offs for the last note on each string. The trickier string changing runs are slower. 

The second solo has two-hand tapping, which is tricky if you don't practice it, but if that's the case, you can just... not do it. After that there's a double picked pattern which again, full alternate or economy on the string changes.

Solo 3 has sweep picking in it, and again, a slower string skipping part. And so on, and so on.

So you might need to pick and choose which parts you play, and depending on your practice schedule, you may never play some (for example, I don't really practice legato myself, so the tapped sections would be off-limits for me until I start putting in the effort), and it may take you quite a while to get to their exact speed, but I don't see anything that would prove outright impossible if you practice enough. 

It's not a Michael Angelo Batio ambidextrous 4-neck over-under monstrosity, it's just some well played patterns.


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## c7spheres (Aug 17, 2019)

One thing too is that when you actually are doing it properly it feels effortless. A lot of people use way to much pressure with both right and left hands (picking, tapping etc. ) Basically just use only enough force to make everything make a sound (pick hand and fret hand) while keeping it stable and under control. Approach and angle (right and left hand) are a big thing too. Also, don't move your wrist much at all, like unlocking door with a key type motion. The more time you spend doing it right and focus on doing it perfect the faster it will come. Occasionally though, you just gotta let it rip to see how you're doing. When you let it rip though, try to really really pay attention to what your hands are doing. maybe even video it and slow it down. The is an adjustment period though and you can't get around building up those twitcher muscles and muscle memory. For this make sure you're building the muscles right. It's like working out. You want to be tone and flexible and loose, not bulked up. So before you practice, do a light strerch and warmup. Be very careful not to over strech too. Warm up a bit by playing some easy normal stuff that isnt' to stretchy or strainful (like scales, especially the chromatic scale and normal major type scales) Here, focus on accuracy and pressure/ dynamics. Play everything perfect (it's actually hard to do) and consistantly in one flowing motion without stopping or pauses in between notes. Focus on alternate picking and make sure you're actually doing up/down properly, then reverse the alternate to down/ up etc. It's harder than it seems if you actually pay attention to everything at once. If your hands start to get fatigued (feelin the burn) like when you work out or cramped, then stop for awhile, maybe even a day or so on doing it and let those twitcher muscles recuperate. If you give it time and do it right it will come faster. Low tight action makes it infinitely easier too.


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## HungryGuitarStudent (Aug 17, 2019)

Here are my 2 cents.

Disclaimer: I’m no pro lead player as evidenced by the videos I posted here and on Instagram, but I’m slowly getting there.

*Advice 1:* I’d like to emphasize the « go progressively faster » advice.

Playing fast without sounding sloppy has a lot to do with left-right hand coordination as well as with left-right hand string muting.

Increasing BPM progressively ensures that your brain nails down the coordination aspects, which is crucial for all techniques, especially tapping arpeggios involving possibly multiple tapping fingers with string skipping.

*Advice 2:* remaining motivated.

Personally, my approach is to learn actual solos by guys I look up to (Paul Wardingham, Per Nilsson, Stephen Taranto, Plini, Syndrone) as well as practice exercise drills for each technique: legato, alternate/economy/hybrid picking, sweeps, tapping arpeggios.

To keep my motivation when I’m practicing solely for technique, I do about 60% exercises and 40% learning solos.

I always practice to a metronome, except when warming up.

*Advice 3:* Intonation is key.

I always try to improve my intonation. Bad vibrato and out of pitch bends make any solo unbearable to listen to.

*Advice 4:* solo writing and improvisation.

I keep telling myself that to write good solos, you gotta practice writing solos.

*Improvisation: *I use YouTube and other sources to practice playing solos on random backing tracks.

*Solo writing:* I sometimes choose a backing track and give myself a week or more to write the best solo I can on it and record a rough version of it so I can listen to it later and laugh at how crappy my writing is  Seriously, that really helped me improve my solo writing skills. I participated in solo contests as a means to practice this as well.

*Talking and sharing your stuff with pros and other enthusiasts*:

You’d be surprised at how some pros can make time to listen to your stuff and help you improve. Paul Wardingham and Syndrone (who uses this forum) were (and are) a great help. Long conversations on social media with other players also really helped me with their feedbacks

When I finished 2nd in two Master of Shred solo contests and Ed Garcia and other pros sent me private messages to discuss my solo writing and technical skills and congratulate me, it helped me keep motivated to continue. I’m not saying this to boast, on the contrary, I’m a very average guitarist and I have a looong road ahead to get better, but all the advice above helped me to get to a point where people are actually interested to listen to what I play (and don’t immediately run away when I do... well a lot still do).

Have fun and good luck !


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## budda (Aug 17, 2019)

It wont happen fast.

So if you need it to happen fast, keep dreaming.


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## Blytheryn (Aug 17, 2019)

Learn Metallica solos slow, then speed them up.


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## Joan Maal (Aug 17, 2019)

Try also speed mechanics book by Troy Stetina and Rusty Cooley speed picking video on YouTube.

Joe Stump has a pair of good books too


jaxadam said:


> Buy Gambale’s Chopbuilder and Gilbert’s Terrifying Guitar Trip. Do both videos twice a day. By Christmas you will be the best guitarist on this forum.


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## Winspear (Aug 17, 2019)

Backing up that mention of Cracking the Code. The chapter where he has the 'aha moment' and discovers how and when to changeover between up and down slanting of the pick is exactly what I needed. Just like him, it's the reason I had felt clumsy and been slowed down at high speeds. The core concept can of course be taught in minutes but it's worth a few hours to watch through the free introductory series as its nice info and history even if it is a bit slow.


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## gnoll (Aug 17, 2019)

Crundles said:


> So let's check out the tab (assuming it's correct, but it appears to be)
> 
> https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/vektor/hunger_for_violence_guitar_pro_1800820
> 
> ...



Sweet, thanks man, I'm gonna learn these solos!



budda said:


> It wont happen fast.
> 
> So if you need it to happen fast, keep dreaming.



Ouu, sounds like a challenge! Excellent!


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## HungryGuitarStudent (Aug 17, 2019)

I join my voice to the others suggesting “cracking the code” by Troy Grady for everything related to picking (maybe except sweeps). I had hit a plateau and Troy helped a lot to bust that ceiling.


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## wakjob (Aug 17, 2019)

Some say start off slow with a metronome and work up speed.

I just learned a five string sweeping arpeggio, and immediately started going as fast as I could...didn't care if it sounded good, and it eventually came around.


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## Crundles (Aug 17, 2019)

The general consensus on Troy Grady's forum right now seems to be that there are two separate things in play:

1. Fast, smooth and "sloppy" practice to ensure the mechanics of your picking motion hold up at higher tempos
2. Slower, deliberate practice to improve picking and fretting hand coordination, mostly involving chunking repeating patterns so you only think of the starting note of the chunk, rather than the entire pattern

edit: I realise I'm constantly talking about Troy's forum, but it's pretty much the only place focused almost entirely on understanding and improving the actual mechanics involved in good picking technique


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## iamaom (Aug 18, 2019)

Crundles said:


> https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/vektor/hunger_for_violence_guitar_pro_1800820


Why do those assholes have to use F tuning? Why do any bands do this? Just use E for fucks sake. I can't afford 20 guitars, do they really get any extra benefit from tuning up half a step?


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## chopeth (Aug 18, 2019)

Shut it and kneel to Vektor, they tune to whatever they want, you unworthy ... (not the only band, btw)


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## gnoll (Aug 18, 2019)

iamaom said:


> Why do those assholes have to use F tuning? Why do any bands do this? Just use E for fucks sake. I can't afford 20 guitars, do they really get any extra benefit from tuning up half a step?



Yeah, it is a bit annoying really. I was gonna set up a shred guitar to practise on, and now I'm gonna need two? Man...

Edit: I guess I'll just play the solos in e, and if it doesn't work to play a fret up I'll just transpose the gp tab. Meh.


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## Metropolis (Aug 18, 2019)

Bit on this topic... what kind of strings, picks and setup you have in your guitars? Generally somewhat lighter strings are easier to bend and do things such as legato or tapping. Sharper picks are better for having control with speed, and most fast players prefer medium to low string action.


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## gnoll (Aug 18, 2019)

Uhhmm yahh that's a potential problem.

I'm a pretty heavy handed player and I like thick strings and a high action. My main guitar is an old les paul copy that's got pretty small frets, which I also think is not ideal for shredding. I use jazz iii XL picks.

I have an ESP M-I lying around though, that I was gonna sell. I'm thinking that could be my shred guitar maybe. But yeah, I don't think I could ever have a guitar that works well for both riffs and shred, sadly.


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## Metropolis (Aug 18, 2019)

Maybe getting gauge or two lighter strings could be worth experimenting, and bigger frets. It doesn't really have nothing to do with someone's playing ability, and I'm not saying you should be using same gauges and same gear like everyone else  People shred on smaller fret guitars all the time.

For me personally "fast playing" guitar has thin neck, big frets, wide fretboard radius, light enough strings and low action.


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## c7spheres (Aug 18, 2019)

gnoll said:


> Uhhmm yahh that's a potential problem.
> 
> I'm a pretty heavy handed player and I like thick strings and a high action. My main guitar is an old les paul copy that's got pretty small frets, which I also think is not ideal for shredding. I use jazz iii XL picks.
> 
> I have an ESP M-I lying around though, that I was gonna sell. I'm thinking that could be my shred guitar maybe. But yeah, I don't think I could ever have a guitar that works well for both riffs and shred, sadly.


 Keep practicing on your high action big gauge strings guitar. When you finally pickup a "normal" guitar it will be really easy. I'm the same way, I have thick gauges and high really high action. There is a compromise at either extreme but I prefer the feel and sound of high action fat strings. To make it worse I have low profile frets too. I love everything about it, but the sacrifice is not being able to play perfectly at a million bpm. I can still do it, but not as clean on this setup and doing the total left handed legato thing and big bends is hard too. Since I play slower to moderate paced stuff and only occasional bursts of really fast stuff, it's not a big deal. If I was to most be playing the faster and left hand legato stuff all the time then I'd probably lower it a bit or use a different guitar. Going from fat strings and high action to low action is much easier than the opposite approach.


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## vilk (Aug 19, 2019)

How I leaned pentatonic minor/blues shred: Turn on Dopesmoker by Sleep and noodle around with the music for the entire duration.


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## Mathemagician (Aug 19, 2019)

Bro Zak Wylde was shredding in a Gibson with a fat neck and gauge 60 low string. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but the dude can play fucking fast. Practice on what you want to play on. 

Just play to a click. I wanna go back in time and punch 14 year old me.


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## c7spheres (Aug 19, 2019)

vilk said:


> How I leaned pentatonic minor/blues shred: Turn on Dopesmoker by Sleep and noodle around with the music for the entire duration.


 I dig those tones. Sounds a little like a Sun Beta Lead and RUP pedal my buddy had once.


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## BornToLooze (Aug 19, 2019)

Mathemagician said:


> Bro Zak Wylde was shredding in a Gibson with a fat neck and gauge 60 low string. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but the dude can play fucking fast. Practice on what you want to play on.
> 
> Just play to a click. I wanna go back in time and punch 14 year old me.



I've tried a set of those Zakk Wylde strings, they're...different. The E and A were like a 60 and 56 then the other four was a regular set of 10s, so it's like a 7 string set, but missing the A string.


But I've spent enough time trying to play Ibanezes and ESPs because they're "more metal" to realize, it's the Indian, not the arrow. I have some guitars that are harder to play, and some that are easy to play. Despite the fact that a super strat will sound different than a Les Paul, everything I play sounds like me, mainly because of that punching 14 year old me thing. It really helps with the gas because your know you'll sound the same through whatever you buy.


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## GuitarBizarre (Aug 20, 2019)

gnoll said:


> Uhhmm yahh that's a potential problem.
> 
> I'm a pretty heavy handed player and I like thick strings and a high action. My main guitar is an old les paul copy that's got pretty small frets, which I also think is not ideal for shredding. I use jazz iii XL picks.
> 
> I have an ESP M-I lying around though, that I was gonna sell. I'm thinking that could be my shred guitar maybe. But yeah, I don't think I could ever have a guitar that works well for both riffs and shred, sadly.


I reiterate the "It's the arrow, not the indian" thing. Gear certainly has an effect, don't get me wrong, but I consider it more of a "skill modifier". If you are a "level 20 guitarist" with the following stats:

```
Legato - 10
Picking - 10
Pinch Harmonics - 5
Fretting - 10
```
And you pick up a "Les Paul of Zakk Wylde +1" with the following description:

```
Enchantment of thick strings (-2 to Pinch Harmonics)
Enchantment of TOM Bridge (-2 to Picking)
Enchantment of Short Scale (+2 to Legato, Fretting)
```
That results in a total Skill Build of

```
Legato - 12
Picking - 8
Pinch Harmonics - 3
Fretting - 12
```

But the bulk of this is still you, your abilities, your stats etc, and if the skill check you're trying to pass only requires `Picking - 5`, it doesn't matter which guitar you use.


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## gnoll (Aug 20, 2019)

Hmm.

I'm writing a song right now that's about the same speed as the Vektor song (226 bpm) and I have "the fast solo" left to write. It needs 16th notes but I'm still kind of perplexed as to how to do that at this tempo.

Tapping is fine, it doesn't seem that difficult. The picking itself I feel is kinda fine too. I can more or less pick at that tempo and do string changes, or at least I feel that I will be able to with a bit of practice. BUT, the problem is the fretting hand. If it's groups of two or four notes then it's cool, no problem, but if it's continuously changing notes then it seems impossible. Like 15 14 12 e string 15 14 12 b string kind of stuff. The Vektor solos are full of that stuff. If it's 8th notes or 8th note triplets it's fine, but 16th notes at 226 bpm? Seriously, how does one do that? I don't understand. Is it even possible? Are they not actually picking the notes? It sounds like they do...


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## budda (Aug 20, 2019)

Practice, and start slow.


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## GuitarBizarre (Aug 20, 2019)

gnoll said:


> Hmm.
> 
> I'm writing a song right now that's about the same speed as the Vektor song (226 bpm) and I have "the fast solo" left to write. It needs 16th notes but I'm still kind of perplexed as to how to do that at this tempo.
> 
> Tapping is fine, it doesn't seem that difficult. The picking itself I feel is kinda fine too. I can more or less pick at that tempo and do string changes, or at least I feel that I will be able to with a bit of practice. BUT, the problem is the fretting hand. If it's groups of two or four notes then it's cool, no problem, but if it's continuously changing notes then it seems impossible. Like 15 14 12 e string 15 14 12 b string kind of stuff. The Vektor solos are full of that stuff. If it's 8th notes or 8th note triplets it's fine, but 16th notes at 226 bpm? Seriously, how does one do that? I don't understand. Is it even possible? Are they not actually picking the notes? It sounds like they do...


I'm not entirely sure how feasible that is. When I picked up guitar in the early 00's, Steve Vai was cited in a couple of articles I read, as the fastest recorded guitarist, with a peak speed of just over 21 notes per second in some sections of "The Riddle".

226bpm 16ths would be just over 15 notes per second, which is clearly feasible, but the question is, is it feasible to play that fast when it's those notes in that order on those strings? Steve isn't exactly playing those sections of the riddle as string skipping "outside licks" - they're patterns that are easy to play fast.


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## Drew (Aug 20, 2019)

jaxadam said:


> Buy Gambale’s Chopbuilder and Gilbert’s Terrifying Guitar Trip. Do both videos twice a day. By Christmas you will be the best guitarist on this forum.


Wait, people play guitar on this forum?


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## Metropolis (Aug 20, 2019)

Drew said:


> Wait, people play guitar on this forum?



There is few monster players in this forum, for example


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## Drew (Aug 20, 2019)

Metropolis said:


> There is few monster players in this forum, for example


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## jaxadam (Aug 20, 2019)

Metropolis said:


> There is few monster players in this forum, for example




So I see it’s not just Angel and Sfogli stealing my licks...


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## Metropolis (Aug 20, 2019)

Drew said:


>



I got the joke, but wanted to answer like I didn't get it... or something like that.

Did anyone suggest a guitar teacher for OP? Someone who really does know about picking mechanics and economy of movement. Another thing which could be useful is shooting a video of your playing or standing in front of a mirror, and see how it looks. Then compare it to players whom playing abilities you would want to achieve.


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## Drew (Aug 20, 2019)

Metropolis said:


> I got the joke, but wanted to answer like I didn't get it... or something like that.
> 
> Did anyone suggest a guitar teacher for OP? Someone who really does know about picking mechanics and economy of movement. Another thing which could be useful is shooting a video of your playing or standing in front of a mirror, and see how it looks. Then compare it to players whom playing abilities you would want to achieve.


In that case, the joke went over MY head.


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## Crundles (Aug 20, 2019)

Metropolis said:


> I got the joke, but wanted to answer like I didn't get it... or something like that.
> 
> Did anyone suggest a guitar teacher for OP? Someone who really does know about picking mechanics and economy of movement. Another thing which could be useful is shooting a video of your playing or standing in front of a mirror, and see how it looks. Then compare it to players whom playing abilities you would want to achieve.



Shooting a video with the "down the fretboard" angle for the CTC forums was the first thing that made me realise "wait a minute, I'm actually doing the exact opposite of what I thought I was doing", and it suddenly became a lot clearer why certain things were hard for me, and others easy.

In general taking a video of yourself playing and doing a thorough review of it later is one of the best tools you can use, IMO.

Getting a good teacher is, of course, the best course of action. In my case, however, while I had a wonderful teacher who really kept my passion for guitar going, he wasn't all that analytically-minded in regards to actual, physical, technique. I'm taking classical guitar lessons now, and it's the same thing - young, tallented and great at theory teacher, but he hasn't all that much to offer me in regards to improving the mechanics of my right hand.


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## gnoll (Aug 21, 2019)

I pretty much finished writing my solo yesterday! Yay!

But! As I was trying to play it, I realized that the parts on the higher frets (up to 20th fret) suck to play on a les paul. Upper fret access is just pretty shit.

Now I'm not sure if I should move to superstrats or something to make the shredding a bit easier, or if I should look for a 24.75 alternative to a les paul that just has a bit better upper fret access... Because I don't think I can do the shredding stuff on the les paul, the neck joint is just sooo in the way...


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## InCasinoOut (Aug 28, 2019)

gnoll said:


> I pretty much finished writing my solo yesterday! Yay!
> 
> But! As I was trying to play it, I realized that the parts on the higher frets (up to 20th fret) suck to play on a les paul. Upper fret access is just pretty shit.
> 
> Now I'm not sure if I should move to superstrats or something to make the shredding a bit easier, or if I should look for a 24.75 alternative to a les paul that just has a bit better upper fret access... Because I don't think I can do the shredding stuff on the les paul, the neck joint is just sooo in the way...


Have you never heard of Josh Middleton? Dude shredded many a Gibson before he went to ESP, and he also happens to be great teacher with insanely clean shred.


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## USMarine75 (Aug 28, 2019)

HungryGuitarStudent said:


> Here are my 2 cents.
> 
> Disclaimer: I’m no pro lead player as evidenced by the videos I posted here and on Instagram, but I’m slowly getting there.
> 
> ...



Wanted to read your post... but I had to doublecheck you didn't have the best profile profile name on here.




Signed,
GuitarThirstTrap


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## HungryGuitarStudent (Aug 28, 2019)

USMarine75 said:


> Wanted to read your post... but I had to doublecheck you didn't have the best profile profile name on here.
> 
> View attachment 72270
> 
> ...



Hahaha! I’m not sure if you mean that in a positive or negative way, but it’s pretty funny.

Just making sure: its HungryGuitarStudent, not stud lol.


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## budda (Aug 28, 2019)

Are you playing said LP sitting down?


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## gnoll (Aug 28, 2019)

InCasinoOut said:


> Have you never heard of Josh Middleton? Dude shredded many a Gibson before he went to ESP, and he also happens to be great teacher with insanely clean shred.




Well, yeah! Maybe he shreds on the lower frets? 



budda said:


> Are you playing said LP sitting down?



Sure, I am lazy after all...


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## ikarus (Aug 28, 2019)

Mathemagician said:


> 3) Realize that “shred” doesn’t have to be complex. Most cool sounding runs are effectively repeating patterns. Learn it slow then speed it up.





Crundles said:


> Other than that, I'd say your generic shred would be alternate and/or economy picked repeating scale pattern runs



Does anybody know some cool patterns or fragments out of solos. Not too complicated and suitable for a shred novice?

Also what is goal speed for 16th notes in modern metal?


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## HungryGuitarStudent (Aug 28, 2019)

For 6-tuplets alternate picking with three notes per (adjacent) string, I’d say 130 bpm is close to the body’s limit. I think Troy Grady actually talks about this.

My 2 cents:

That being said, uninspired scale runs are the enemy (I won’t name anyone). Picking-wise there are incredibly creative players that can also shred a storm (Stephen Taranto for example). There are also great technicians that favor slower passages with great phrasing (Per Nilsson for example).


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## ikarus (Aug 28, 2019)

ok thanks but do you know some good little licks that i can practice? maybe some solo fragments etc?


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## budda (Aug 28, 2019)

ikarus said:


> ok thanks but do you know some good little licks that i can practice? maybe some solo fragments etc?



Pick a solo you love and have at it.


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## ikarus (Aug 28, 2019)

the solos i love all have sweep picking, legato, etc. and are not 3nps. I just want something to practice my right hand to...


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## InCasinoOut (Aug 28, 2019)

ikarus said:


> the solos i love all have sweep picking, legato, etc. and are not 3nps. I just want something to practice my right hand to...


IMO, the solo to December Flower has a nice mix of shred technique staples (not a lot of sweeping though). If you've never heard it, it's awesome. Helped me a lot, because my technique favors sweeping and economy picking, so I wanted to work on something that got me out of that comfort zone.


solo at 1:26


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## HungryGuitarStudent (Aug 28, 2019)

John Petrucci will provide tons of simple examples, notably on the Images and Words album.

("Simple" when compared to the runs played by guys like J. Richardson or S. Taranto.)

Metropolis 1, bridge: alternate picking, 3 notes per string, adjacent strings.

Simple: i.e. no string skipping, no big stretches, no big horizontal position changes, etc.

*Tabs (starting at page 15):* https://lessonsthatrock.com/downloads/D/Dream Theater/Dream Theater - Metropolis Part 1.pdf?x68250

*See video at around 4:42.*



If you want more, try JP's Rock Discipline tutorial.


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## ikarus (Aug 28, 2019)

thanks dude, i will give it a try...


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## Mathemagician (Aug 28, 2019)

I don’t know how to tab it out but as an example any two adjacent strings, alternate picking starting with an upstroke. 

G String: 14-12, D string: 14-12, G string: 15-12, D string: 14-12

Then move it up a fret. 

G: 15-13, D: 15-13, G: 16-13, D: 15-13

And keep doing that. Super fun and super easy way to ascend to a different position. 

That one is as old as time.


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## MetalHex (Aug 30, 2019)

gnoll said:


> I pretty much finished writing my solo yesterday! Yay!
> 
> But! As I was trying to play it, I realized that the parts on the higher frets (up to 20th fret) suck to play on a les paul. Upper fret access is just pretty shit.
> 
> Now I'm not sure if I should move to superstrats or something to make the shredding a bit easier, or if I should look for a 24.75 alternative to a les paul that just has a bit better upper fret access... Because I don't think I can do the shredding stuff on the les paul, the neck joint is just sooo in the way...


Get a Gibson SG


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## gnoll (Aug 30, 2019)

MetalHex said:


> Get a Gibson SG



Unfortunately not an SG fan! I think I'm going back to super strats!! Or v's maybe, humm....


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## MetalHex (Aug 30, 2019)

gnoll said:


> Unfortunately not an SG fan! I think I'm going back to super strats!! Or v's maybe, humm....


Sorry but I'm not sure how that can be ;P

Well, why dont you like them? Have you ever played one? The fret access is incredible


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## gnoll (Aug 30, 2019)

MetalHex said:


> Sorry but I'm not sure how that can be ;P
> 
> Well, why dont you like them? Have you ever played one? The fret access is incredible



Haha I just don't like how they look! I'm sure they're great to play, but I kinda need my guitars to look right. I've found that even les pauls are kind of problematic for me, because they don't scream metal quite enough.

On the other hand, if I play a sweet ESP or Jackson super strat or v with a pointy headstock, I just get inspired to play metal as fuck! And I kinda need some of that feeling, you know??


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## GuitarBizarre (Sep 2, 2019)

MetalHex said:


> Sorry but I'm not sure how that can be ;P
> 
> Well, why dont you like them? Have you ever played one? The fret access is incredible


They also have legendarily weak neck joints and plenty of neck dive. No thanks.


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## MetalHex (Sep 2, 2019)

gnoll said:


> Haha I just don't like how they look! I'm sure they're great to play, but I kinda need my guitars to look right. I've found that even les pauls are kind of problematic for me, because they don't scream metal quite enough.
> 
> On the other hand, if I play a sweet ESP or Jackson super strat or v with a pointy headstock, I just get inspired to play metal as fuck! And I kinda need some of that feeling, you know??


Sure, you're going through a phase , I get it. But one day you will succumb to the godfather of evil metal guitars that is the SG. Bwahahahahahaaaaaaaa!


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## With Love And Light (Sep 30, 2019)

Mathemagician said:


> Specifically pick a solo you think sounds cool then just learn it slowly. Do that a few times and you’ll soon see the patterns emerge.
> 
> But in general:
> 
> ...



I will have to try your suggestion! I've always wanted to really shred. I want to play some Plini type material. Is that what you mean by pretty fast solos with melody and unique motifs that weave in and out?


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## Mathemagician (Sep 30, 2019)

Yeah man. Just sit down with the tabs and set it to however slow you need to. 50%? 30% 15%? It’s all good. 

Now when you play slow and are carefully trying to learn the technique AND memorize the notes it likely won’t “sound right”. And that’s normal. 

Just keep playing slowly and carefully and in time with the click. Consistent good practice.


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## Darchetype (Oct 1, 2019)

^ I'm not so sure that will work for everybody. (Building up slowly). You'll find that your technique changes a little when you are playing fast. The mechanics of your wrist movement changes etc..


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## Nicki (Oct 2, 2019)

How I've learned to play faster is basically sitting down with either the pro version of Ultimate-Guitar or Guitar-Pro 6, grabbing tabs to a song and start playing the solo slowly. I'll usually find one way to play it that works, but only at a slow speed, then I'll have to find another way to play it that works at faster speeds. Learning by trial and error has always worked best for me. My general rule is that I'll play it at 40% speed, then make sure I can play it 3 times perfectly in a row, then speed it up by 5% and repeat.


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## will_shred (Oct 2, 2019)

I probably can't add anything that hasn't already been said. 

There is no secret. You either practice a fuck ton or you don't. There are nuances about picking technique that can sorta be taught, but you'll also figure out a lot by yourself during practice. I got my skills by just learning songs. It took me 9 months of daily practice to be able to nearly flawlessly execute the first two and a half minutes of Fuzz Universe. also, there are differences in techniques. There's tapping, sweeping, string skipping, and there's economy picking (think Yngwie) Legato (Jason Becker) and just straight stupid fast alternate picking (Paul Gilbert). Troy Grady does an amazing job of breaking down the different picking styles of great guitar players and explaining how they play so fast and accurately.


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## rik aragoza (Oct 14, 2019)

Thanks for all the input in this thread!


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## Metropolis (Oct 16, 2019)




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## Mathemagician (Oct 23, 2019)

That’s what speeding up is for. You also start adjusting your technique as you progress in pace. I feel like people are missing this step. 

It only feels like a completely different way of playing if you’re playing outside your skill level, and thus it will come off as sloppy/notes will ring out/etc.


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## Thaeon (Oct 23, 2019)

Do not underestimate the power of economy picking for fast runs. Tons of shred players also employ a crap ton of legato. Satriani for instance. Dropping a Lydian or Mixolydian mode over Root and picking once on each string while your left hand has fits is automatic Satch.


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## Tuned (Nov 6, 2019)

ok, I have 2 things to offer that I actually use a lot:
1) youtube has a .5 speed option wich is a great thing to dissect your favorite leads, including very minute details;
2) then again, youtube has a .75 speed option which is great to play along once you've learned a dissected favorite lead.


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## HungryGuitarStudent (Mar 5, 2021)

Thread necrosis: with more experience now, I don’t agree with my earlier advice haha.

To pick fast, I suggest looking up Martin Miller’s advice on the topic.

Following it helped me improve my alternate picking way faster than the « build slowly with a metronome » advice.

A metronome practices timing (very important) and the end goal is to play fast on time, but to get there you have to experience a lot of parameters (pick grip, arm angle, etc.) at max speed. It’ll be sloppy, but you’ll figure out what works with a lot of trial and error at those speeds, not at slow speeds where you’re in total control. 

My picking still sucks, but drastically less thanks to Martin’s advice  Anyhow, it worked for me and the many students of Martin (and Andy James), but obviously ymmv.


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## StevenC (Mar 5, 2021)

HungryGuitarStudent said:


> Thread necrosis: with more experience now, I don’t agree with my earlier advice haha.
> 
> To pick fast, I suggest looking up Martin Miller’s advice on the topic.
> 
> ...


Robert Fripp recommends a similar thing when attempting to learn Frakctured: pick an open string for a year.


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## gnoll (Mar 6, 2021)

Wow, it's my thread lol.

So might as well give an update on how things have gone.

I still suck and I never practice.

My strategy right now is to wait until I have to record a super fast solo, panic, practice like hell and hope to nail it.


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## Flappydoodle (Mar 6, 2021)

gnoll said:


> Wow, it's my thread lol.
> 
> So might as well give an update on how things have gone.
> 
> ...



Or do what studio musicians do. Record it in tiny little segments, and possibly record at 0.5 speed and speed it up


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## gnoll (Mar 6, 2021)

Flappydoodle said:


> Or do what studio musicians do. Record it in tiny little segments, and possibly record at 0.5 speed and speed it up



Nooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! I shan't do it!!!!!


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## Tracker_Buckmann (Mar 12, 2021)

I've recently discovered that it is a combination of how you move your wrist and your elbow. Pick slanting helps, using the correct intonation and string guage and a pick that you are comfortable all matter, but nothing matters as much as what you do with your wrist and elbow. And your shoulder to some extent (especially when sweeping arpeggios).

When i first realized how much moving my thumb and forefinger independently from my hand was slowing me down i tried to minimize all but my forearm movement believing this would solve the issue. Instead my guitar was constantly bouncing around uncontrollably. Clearly it was not the answer to move only from the elbow. 

That's when i noticed something that Tom Huss was teaching that I'd never seen emphasized before: you can pivot from the wrist and this is the fastest way to play say, three notes on a single string in rapid succession. Think tremolo picking, then play three notes. Don't move your elbow, don't move your thumb and forefinger, pivot from your wrist. BANG, BANG, BANG!

Now the trick is to get to the next string. Pickslanting and two way pick slanting do help, but it isn't the smoking gun everyone thinks that it is. This is where your elbow comes in. You will play three notes while pivoting your wrist as previously stated, then you will push only your elbow down which will slide your forearm and position your picking hand over the next string quickly with the least movement. Then you will not move your forearm. Pivot from your wrist and play three notes, then push your elbow down until your picking hand is over the next string, pivot from the wrist. POW, POW, POW. move your elbow, slide down or up or wherever. 

This will feel extremely counterintuitive at first. The best way to practice it is to play unisons and skip strings. For example, play the 12th fret A string and then go to the 14th fret G string. Tremolo pick the same note three times, "A, A, A" then move from the elbow and then pivot from the wrist without moving your elbow. Play the 14th fret G string "A, A, A." Slide your elbow back up and play the original note, or work your way up and down the fretboard doing this.

Do this until you become very fast at it. Once you have the feel for it you won't have to skip as many strings or repeat the same notes. You can play three notes, move from the elbow once, pivot from the wrist and play three more notes on the very next string.

I did this wrong for 20 something years. Taking the time to fix the problem now has me playing with more speed than i ever thought possible.


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## BenjaminW (Mar 12, 2021)

gnoll said:


> Wow, it's my thread lol.
> 
> So might as well give an update on how things have gone.
> 
> ...


It’s ok I still suck and never practice too.

Your strategy is a hell of a lot better than what I do. I just poorly attempt to learn fast runs and hope to God I nail something close to it.


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