At its worst, shredding is a low brow pursuit; the playing of meaningless meandering scale and arpeggio passages as fast as possible, simply because one can. This not-very-musical form of music is in fact, little more than a supremely boring and egotistical display, a wanking session, simply put.
However, at its best, shredding enters the realm of true virtuoso musicianship; the expression of intricate, imaginative, and fantastically difficult melodies and compositions. Extreme speed is often required for this, but it might be more accurate to say that a thorough knowledge of guitar techniques and compositional skills is the real key. Of course, this kind of knowledge requires an awful lot of time and effort to acquire, and persons with the degree of drive and discipline needed to go the distance are rare.
Shredding is not the exclusive domain of distorted electric guitars. Mozart was a shredder. Paganini, Liszt, Segovia, Django Reinhardt, Carlos Montoya, and even Les Paul were all shredders. Yeah, there are flamboyant jazz and classical players too, though they would likely be offended to be labeled shredders. This is because; the term shredder has, frankly, been demonized by the press, and by those-who-can-not-shred.
The major guitar magazines have been fair-weather-friends at best to the shredder. In the 1970s the players of long solos and of prog rock were lionized. In the 1980s shredders like Van Halen, Vai, Malmsteen and Satriani were the darlings of the press. But, since 1992, the same journalists that supposedly loved this music have had a change of heart. They began to praise what had become commercially popular instead: grunge.
They then proceeded to mercilessly attack shred for over a decade. To sell physical magazines, I suppose, requires putting the most currently popular guitarist on the cover, weather or not he ever practices or puts any real effort into his guitar playing. The irony here is that these same publications are now beginning to smile on shredders again, simply because it will soon pay them to do so.
True artists will always continue to peruse their great work regardless of insignificant factors like who puts them on a magazine cover or weather or not anyone even notices what they are doing. The goal is not egotism, as many insist. For the same reason that Van Gogh painted and repainted over his canvases in confinement until his dying day, the shredder shreds away in his basement with no one listening year after year. No one will see many of Van Gough’s paintings; though they may have been great masterpieces. No one will hear the shredders melodies, whether they are gibberish or genius. The artist is driven by the desire to perfect his art, and the trick should be to define and push the limits of his own potential, not to beat someone else’s.
The shred movement is a steady musical undercurrent which only occasionally breaks through the surface of pop, thank god, and therefore pays no heed to radio or press trends. Because of its underdog status, which is actually a strength, shred need not cram itself into the tiny box permissible by major labels and corporate radio play-lists. As Terry Syrek has proclaimed: “Shred is not dead,” and I now declare: “It has been alive and well all along!”
Shred on!!
