What Is Shred Guitar?

Shred guitar is the name of a guitar playing technique in which technical proficiency is used to optimise, and at times purposely to exhibit the speed, usually in a neoclassical structure. This style of playing started in the eighties, appearing in a sub genre of heavy metal called as neo classical metal, as it often entailed phrases and methods from Classical music.

Yngwie Malmsteen is regarded to be the pioneering of this guitar style, he was the one who laid down the foundation of shredding, after which the term started being used in connection with fast playing.

Some of the genres of music which have effectively adopted the style include progressive rock, thrash metal, death metal, hard rock, and even jazz fusion. The methods usually included in shredding include: Alternate picking, Legato, String skipping, Tapping  etc.