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Is there a pattern when shredding?

Home › Forums › Active Melody Guitar Lessons › Is there a pattern when shredding?

Tagged: pattern, Shred, shredding

  • This topic has 7 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 10 months ago by Klickitat Jim.
Viewing 7 reply threads
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    • August 14, 2019 at 4:27 am #141380
      Abdelhamid B
      Participant

        Hi Brian,

        I love to learn and understand the ‘how’ behind a melody, just like you present it, so that I can reproduce it in other conditions.
        So I was admiring some crazy shredders and I was wondering what kind of pattern or scale could be behind. May be an idea for a future lesson.

        Cheers,
        Hamid

      • August 14, 2019 at 11:02 am #141392
        BluGenes
        Participant

          “shredding” is actually a magic trick that falls into the category of “slight of hand”. It’s basically a picking pattern pattern that involves more of a strumming technique. Anyways, the best I can describe it. The technique takes practice, but, JUST MY OPINION, it’s a meh technique. meaning, to me, it is a “so what” venture. sounds great and all, but, my experience, don’t really care. like I said, just my opinion.

          Don't practice till you get it right, practice till you can't get it wrong.

        • August 14, 2019 at 2:55 pm #141397
          sunjamr
          Participant

            Just search Youtube for fast guitar picking, and you will find hundreds of tutorials on how to shred. The problem is, pretty much the only people who like to listen to it are the people doing it. Most women especially hate it, including my wife, so I like to play stuff that appeals to her. That leaves me with blues, jazz, reggae, house, afro-pop, ambient, rock, folk, etc…stuff where you can actually hear the individual notes. Still, you need to know how to play fast so that you can do the fast runs that happen from time to time, so it’s worth it to practice and learn from the shredders.

            Sunjamr Steve

          • August 14, 2019 at 3:41 pm #141399
            David O
            Participant

              Hi there Hamid. There is no particular scale or pattern shredders use, You can use Pentatonics, Blues, Diatonics, you could mix some Arpeggios in there, they sound very melodic, you would have to be a very competent player to use those unless you slowed things down, but that’s one of the things I love about guitar It’s all about Imagination. For shredding most guys stick with what they know so they can move quickly around the fretboard, a lot of guys use the Pentatonics, or Diatonics, even a combination. Personally I think it is good to learn as many different scales as you can, then you become versatile and you can use any pattern you choose. All the best with it. Enjoy!

            • August 14, 2019 at 4:35 pm #141402
              JoLa
              Participant

                Hi Hamid,

                That’s actually a good question and I think you got some good answers here. My guitar tech is a “shredder” and that’s pretty much all he plays and composes and from what I noticed while watching him, it is mostly just technique, just like David above explained. A quite incredible fast finger technique that he developed over many years. So I admire his shredding fingers but after a minute of it, I run and hide 😉

                As for future lessons, trust me, you won’t see Brian shredding any time soon. It’s just not his style 🙂

                🎸JoLa

              • August 14, 2019 at 5:09 pm #141403
                BluGenes
                Participant

                  as everyone says, lol.. really though, in actuality, it’s a strum. many many many videos out there on the technique. It can be useful, but, if overused, it gets annoying fast. Jola points it out nicely. Kinda sad too, because it takes so much time to actually accomplish it, then, when you do it, nobody really cares.

                  Don't practice till you get it right, practice till you can't get it wrong.

                • August 14, 2019 at 5:21 pm #141404
                  Billy
                  Participant

                    Oh wouldn’t it be great to see Brian wearing a head bandana, cut wastecoat and shredding the heck out of gypsy waltz..

                    Great question Hamid and all music and musical styles must be explored to find where our abilities and likes really lie.
                    Sadly though I am not in the position to give any advise on how shredding is done or why it’s done, I find it for me falls ìnto the same category are rap music in that it has no melody and there for no draw to my taste.
                    Search YouTube for tutorials on shredding, I’m sure there must be many out there.
                    But you have to remember sunjammer Steve’s advice, shredding doesn’t attract women, imho you would stand more of a chance playing bass…

                    ..Billy..

                  • August 15, 2019 at 9:25 am #141442
                    Klickitat Jim
                    Participant

                      Sweep picking is actually a pretty useful technique if you think of in terms of technique only. To me shredding generally means a solo compromised entirely of sweep picking. But when sweep picking is used tastefully its pretty cool in lots of styles. Brian actually uses it once in a while but pretty sparingly. One example is measure 17-19 in EP308.

                      I like the technique for short fast bluesy phrases, but i would not personally invest the time it takes to be capable of playing speed metal. Its a personal tastes thing. I imagine there are guitar players who have no interest in bending strings or using the blue notes either…

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