Any shred experts here?

[CFH]

I have been playing guitar for eleven years, and the weirdest damn thing just happened: All of a sudden, I can play chords insanely fucking fast completely out of nowhere, yet I've been tearing my fucking hair out trying to shred for over a decade, and I still can't do it.

Sure I know theory inside and out and all over the fucking neck, and I can play moderately fast lead runs, but no matter what I try, I can never rip it up the way I want to when I play single notes.

With that said, are there any shred experts who can lend me some insight, or should I just become a hardcore rhythm guitarist?

[Replica]

I'm confused. Are you saying you can play the fast wheedly-wheedly solo stuff but you can't play rhythm? That seems totally backwards. I've been playing close to 20 years and I can't play a solo to save my life. Rhythm always seemed easier to me because of fewer notes and more repetition.

[CFH]

I'm confused. Are you saying you can play the fast wheedly-wheedly solo stuff but you can't play rhythm? That seems totally backwards. I've been playing close to 20 years and I can't play a solo to save my life. Rhythm always seemed easier to me because of fewer notes and more repetition.

No, it's the fast wheedly-wheedley shit that's still eluding me.

To sum up where I'm at as a guitarist right now, I'm rhythmically sound in terms of both rhythm and lead playing, I know theory inside and out, forward and backward, up and down, etc..., I can play leads/solos moderately fast, and suddenly I can play chords insanely fast, but I still can't quite hit the "last gear" when I play a solo.

With that, the point of this thread was to see if anyone could enlighten me on how to hit that gear when soloing.

[Xir0n]

It's all about the hours and hours of tedious metronome practice. And I mean hours! Start slow and then work your way up. I forgot what famous guitarist said it but "Speed is the result of accuracy", and I guess that would be rather true. Start off extremely slow, at about 64 bpm and pay very, very close attention to how you are playing. A lot of the problems that I had was a lack of "conservation of motion". Try to keep as little motion as possible going on with the pick. If you know what economy picking is, that's a good example of this. Once you are certain you have the best picking pattern, move the metronome up in tiny increments of about 6 bpm to begin with and once you get to around 90 bpm move in 4's. Another good thing to do is practice picking in different divisions of the beat (quarters, eighths, triplet 8ths, 16ths, etc.) They'll help you keep your place when traveling at high speeds. Another thing to try and work on is accentuating the down beats. It helps, too.

The key thing is just practicing like a madman. There's a lot of work to it and it's boring as hell. You might also feel like you're going crazy, too. Sometimes I think the doorbell rings or the dog is barking when I'm using the metronome for so long, so that's normal.

Hope this helps.

[CFH]

"Conservation of motion". Try to keep as little motion as possible going on with the pick.

It looks as if you also have Speed Mechanics for Lead Guitar by Troy Stetina.

Also, I must say that you made a good point about the need to practice for an insane amount of time, which reminded me of what Pat Metheny said in an interview about how "there are no shortcuts to becoming a master guitarist." However, I sometimes forget that concept since it seems as if I've already been playing forever.

Thanks.

[Xir0n]

I actually don't have that. I just know what people have told me, but I've been looking to get some good guitar books/dvds. Would you recommend it?

Also, I heard someone say that you reach your basic peak at guitar at around 3 or 4 years or so and it's really slow going up from there without a lot of practice.

[CFH]

I actually don't have that. I just know what people have told me, but I've been looking to get some good guitar books/dvds. Would you recommend it?

Yes.

[Vertigo]

Also, I heard someone say that you reach your basic peak at guitar at around 3 or 4 years or so and it's really slow going up from there without a lot of practice.

Hahaha, that's funny, because I've been "playing" for 13 years and I still mostly totally suck.

I've been playing a lot more since I got my awesome guitar though - it's just hard for me to be inspired to practice alone - I do a lot better playing with other musicians and learning from them.

[Xir0n]

Jam CDs. ;)

[StonerMafia]

John Petrucci's "Rock Discipline" dvd made me the player I am today. I would always hick up when turning on the turbo on a solo. Talk about being frustrated.