10 Fastest Shredders List

[estranged88]

We're talking about THE FASTEST shredders in the world.... Er, Mustaine and Friedman don't hold a candle to these guys... And Hammett? Don't get me started... 

excuse me but Marty Friedman CERTAINLY holds a candle to everyone on that list, you clearly have never listened to his non megadeth work.  His band Cacophony with second guitarist Jason Becker is absolutely amazing and displays skills that match and even surpass many on that list.

[Slashly]

I dont really pay much attention too shredrs.
I mean, shure, you listen to it a couple of times and iit`s like:Wow, son of a bitch!
But after that, it gets boring not to have a melody in the songs, and sometimes they play so fast you cant distinguish one note of the other.
The only guy on that list I really care about is Paul Gilbert, but after 10 osongs of him it hapens again, I get bored.
You know, I`d rather listen to an hour of Richie Blckmore,Joe Perry and Slash than one our of Malmsteen, Angelo and Buckethead.
Just my 2 cents.



Baby Slash//

[November Rain 91]

Marty Friedman definitely needs to be on that list, he kicks fucking ass, just listen to Cacophony and you will be blown away man. And I'm gonna assume this list is of people who can still play, cause if not, it's complete shit since Jason Becker was not included. Jason Becker could destroy all of those guys.

[Genesis]

Yeah, Jason Becker could have been on the list. Hey, I didn't make it. 

[James_Ramone]

i saw malmsteen live this year

HE DIDNT PLAY VENGEANCE - SHOCKING

he got boo's because the fans really wanted this song

[Thorazine Shuffle]

Michaelangelo is certainly the fastest.  He is also the only guitarist I've seen play in 64ths for long periods of time.

[Genesis]

Michaelangelo is certainly the fastest.  He is also the only guitarist I've seen play in 64ths for long periods of time.

He also does something called piano tapping. Incredibly fast.

[Queen of Everything]

I dont really pay much attention too shredrs.
I mean, shure, you listen to it a couple of times and iit`s like:Wow, son of a bitch!
But after that, it gets boring not to have a melody in the songs, and sometimes they play so fast you cant distinguish one note of the other.
The only guy on that list I really care about is Paul Gilbert, but after 10 osongs of him it hapens again, I get bored.
You know, I`d rather listen to an hour of Richie Blckmore,Joe Perry and Slash than one our of Malmsteen, Angelo and Buckethead.
Just my 2 cents.



Baby Slash//

You make a good point!!! 

And that is what i was trying to say - Shreaders are cool - but not as cool as Slash or Mick or anyone like that... coz they just don't have the hard rock n roll attitude about their guitars - they are just playing it as fast as they can.

[Slipdisc]

Let me first say that just playing fast without letting the speed serve the music is just crap (in comes Angelo). Speed can be a great thing, but not every name on that list is an example of that. Buckethead, Stump and Lane are probably the three names on the list (and early Malmsteen) of players who can use speed to really add something to a song. Shawn Lane is/was without any doubt the fastest guy on that list. I really don't care what other names people could come up with: Paus, Becker, Friedman, Bellas, Rhoads, Guthrie Govan, Ferarri, Morse.......

No guitarplayer past or present could/can stand in Lane's shadow in terms of technique and Speed (and songwriting, after all he was a genuine genius). Denying it is just plain and utter BS. Michael Angelo (who is very fast yes) even said he thought that Lane on fire was something he couldn't top or even match. Lane already crushed Malmsteen when he was just a little kid. Malmsteen's bassplayer saw him play in a local guitarshop in Memphis and decided to bring him to the Yngwie-concert, basically to insult Malmsteen. Buckethead can also be a lot faster then Malmsteen if he wants to (he should easily be top 4 on that list), but Lane was without any doubt the fastest -most effici?ntly playing- technically advanced - guitarplayer ever. Angelo's theatrical guitargymnastics just seem faster to an untrained eye and ear. However, amongst virtuosos and fans of the instrumental genre around the world there's only one name who should top that list:

http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2LYR6YAIZRX0I1HE6PTKSCDNQ9

(Lane playing at about 70% of his speed, I've seen him play even faster then this)

RIP Shawn

-PEACE-

PS:BTW, that list is very incomplete and some names shouldn't be even on there looking just at the speed (Gilbert, Katherine Thomas- they simply aren't that fast).

[Genesis]

No guitarplayer past or present could/can stand in Lane's shadow in terms of technique and Speed

I'll agree with that. I'm assuming u've seen Lane's Power Licks Instructional video. The way he talks about intervals, grouping of 4ths and augmented and diminished scales is incredible. Musical Genius!

[November Rain 91]

i don't know who shawn lane is, could you maybe link a video that isn't 70 megabytes though? no sarcasm, just curios to see...since is pretty much the only guy out of the ones you mentioned that i really know well, ill argue for him...you don't think he used speed to add to his music? Have you listened to Perpetual Burn? That CD is incredible as far as the writing goes (IMO). As far as writing talent goes, as long as? you're not writing complete shit, i really think it's jmust a matter of opinion. For example, i think buckethead is amazingly fasst, but i also think he's pretty boring to listen to.

Check out this video of Becker:
http://stu.westga.edu/~jmatthe2/WebPages/Videos/BeckerPaganini.mpg


The whole video is pretty sweet, but the last 20 seconds or so are the fastest i have ever seen anyone play guitar. If you could link a shorter video to lane, if he can play faster than that, i will be amazed.

[Slipdisc]

i don't know who shawn lane is,

No disrespect, but those seven words alone show that there?s a lot left for you to discover? (I really mean this in the nicest way possible).

He really was without any doubt the best guitar player ever. Lane is called the Bach of our time. When he was fourteen years old his chops were already so insane that people treated his demotapes like the holy grail?. His IQ was estimated to be as high as of any other of the great thinkers of our time. His understanding of music and his technical ability where of the scale, second to absolutely none?

?His mother, Diane Lane, recalls that he played "The Tennessee Waltz" on the family piano after hearing it only once or twice. He was 4 years old.?

"Shawn spent the following two years writing, arranging, and recording POT in his home studio. The album was released in 1992, immediately leading to a Best New Talent award from Guitar Player Magazine and a second place in the Best Keyboard Player category in Keyboard Player Magazine. (All instruments on POT where played by Shawn)"

"Stories about Lane's musical gifts have achieved the status of folklore: how he upstaged Ted Nugent at one concert or how Billy Gibbons heard him and fell off his chair."

"Anders and Jens Johansson, who were the drummer and keyboardist for Yngwie Malmsteen. They told me about this monster guitarist they had met one day while doing their laundry in Memphis. Apparently, there was a music store right next to the laundromat, and they went in there to kill some time while their clothes were drying. Jens got on a keyboard and started playing a UK song called ?Presto Vivaci and Reprise,? and this young guy comes over with his guitar and says, ?Hey, can I jam with you?? He starts playing that very complicated song note-for-note, and then he plays them something from Frank Zappa?s ?Black Page.? Jens and Anders were so blown away that they brought Shawn to the gig that night, basically to insult Yngwie."

"He was an important figure in music," Bays says. "Two hundred years from now, they will still be talking about him. He was just inspired, always connected. You can't even say that about Hendrix, because sometimes he was uninspired."

?"He was by far the greatest guitar player that ever lived," wrote Buckethead."

?At the age of 21, he was married, a father, and apparently on the path to a celebrated career. He was known for his "shredding," fast-playing guitar, as well as his versatility. He was playing with legendary bands and artists, among them Deep Purple, Joe Walsh, Ringo Starr, and on the Highwaymen 2 album that featured Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. ?

?As his friend and one-time manager Scott Quinn put it: ?Shawn?s reputation was that of a speed monster, and, indeed, he could play faster than just about anyone. But he never wanted to be pigeonholed in that category.?

Excerpts Taken from ?Memory Lane? by GEORGE SHADROUI, ?Requiem for a Master? by Art Thompson and the Tarsun Biography (check out the links down below)

could you maybe link a video that isn't 70 megabytes though? no sarcasm, just curios to see...

Sorry man, Lane videos are just as rare as plutonium. I have other vids, but all are quite substantial volume-wise?

since is pretty much the only guy out of the ones you mentioned that i really know well, ill argue for him...you don't think he used speed to add to his music? Have you listened to Perpetual Burn? That CD is incredible as far as the writing goes (IMO). As far as writing talent goes, as long as? you're not writing complete shit,

I think Becker is an amazing guitarist, who without any doubt understands the art of letting the speed serve the sound (one of the best of our time, yes). I totally agree with the things you?re saying about him there, amazing talent?.

i really think it's jmust a matter of opinion. For example, i think buckethead is amazingly fasst, but i also think he's pretty boring to listen to.

Sure it?s a matter of opinion as well. I for one think that Buckethead is one of the best songwriters in the instrumental genre. His songs (especially since Colma, Population Override and Monsters & Robots) are among the best I?ve ever heard, absolute instrumental brilliance? Songwriting I really don?t see matched by any other guitarplayer out there at the moment.

The whole video is pretty sweet, but the last 20 seconds or so are the fastest i have ever seen anyone play guitar. If you could link a shorter video to lane, if he can play faster than that, i will be amazed.

I already know that video and although I knew what to expect from it, I watched it again. The speed Becker achieves in the clip is high, but nowhere near Lane?s. Really, when on fire (Lane wasn?t exactly the type that got easily carried away in some sort of craze) Lane could be at least 50% faster, then Becker playing that Paganini-bit. The video I posted in my previous thread in which Lane plays ?Purple Haze? (which I strongly suggest you should download) is already a great example of that. Lane?s effort to effect ratio is so absurdly high and the speed he achieves in that clip alone, is eons ahead of anything I see Becker do in his clip or any footage I've seen from Becker. Then keep in mind that Lane could play even faster then that?

Here it is again, in case the other one is expired:
http://s41.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0IMCFHNPSCFYB0GV2UDYKGPTFC

Here?s an mp3 of Lane playing ?All along the Watchtower?. Notice the ?swarms? of notes he plays at the end; --from 4:25 till the end, with an dramatic increase around 4:54 (that increase is very short though, until 5:00)-- just try to hear how many notes he?s playing right there (try to hear the detail), that?s the kind of speed I?m talking about (I suggest you crank up the volume to really be able to hear the detail):

http://s42.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2OWT59DHGSKFZ13PDWGG2ENY3Y


-PEACE-


PS:
Since speed is the topic in this thread I really enjoyed discussing it. So please for those who want to start a discussion comparing shredders to blues based players, please spare me of it. This thread is about speed. Coming in here and saying how you prefer Slash above any of those guys because of his individual relationship with separate notes, is the most ignorant thing you can do (We ?re not discussing blues vs. metal, you know?)?. We already have had enough of those threads, just check out the dead horse section, for once stay on topic? And please let?s all agree that there?s more to music then just speed, Shawn absolutely hated it when people only noticed his speed.

PPS:
Let me first say that these four ?articles? should be read by anyone with a serious interest in guitarmusic. Not knowing about Lane is like being a jazzfan without ever having heard of Miles Davis. Totally understandable though because Lane always kept a very low profile (many people never heard about him) and operated on a level not many people in our throw-away-pop-society could understand and appreciate....

http://bardorecords.com/Shawn.html
http://www.memphisflyer.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A9997
http://www.tarsun.net/bio.htm This one needs to be copied into a new browser, they hate linking...
http://archive.guitarplayer.com/0104/0104_Features3.htm

No guitarplayer past or present could/can stand in Lane's shadow in terms of technique and Speed

I'll agree with that. I'm assuming u've seen Lane's Power Licks Instructional video. The way he talks about intervals, grouping of 4ths and augmented and diminished scales is incredible. Musical Genius!

?

[Genesis]

Hey Slip, did u know Shawn Lane played a tribute song to Jason Becker (or wrote/played the song with him)? It's called Mabel's Fatal Fabel.

[Slipdisc]

Hey Slip, did u know Shawn Lane played a tribute song to Jason Becker (or wrote/played the song with him)? It's called Mabel's Fatal Fabel.

Yup, me knows...

It's very sad that Becker had to stop so soon. Becker's illness (let's edit that ) and his too thick roots in a neoclassical background where the two main factors why he never grew as much as a player like Shawn. There was still a lot of potential in Becker that we never got to see, Shawn saw it and appreciated it. Just imagen where Shawn could have been ten years from now, he was already in a league of his own....

-PEACE-

[Slipdisc]

Or didn't he die? Some people at the Lane board seem to think so.... Wasn't he struck by some crazy disease? Well, whether it was death or not... it's always a tragedy when somebody as able as Jason somehow has to stop playing...

-PEACE-

[Genesis]

It's very sad that Becker had to go so soon. Becker's young death...

Jason Becker is thankfully still alive. 

[Slipdisc]

Great, but he was struck by this terrible disease, huh? Now, Shawns tribute makes even more sense.... as Shawn suffered from various illnesses throughout his own life....eventually leading to his death...Sorry for the mix up, just heard so little about Jason during the past years (and never was one his biggest fans, a litlle too neoclassical for my taste), this along with the mixed messages at the Lane board lead me to believe that Jason had left us as well shortly after he was brought down by his illness....

-PEACE-

[November Rain 91]

Becker is alive yes, but he has ALS, i think he can only move his head. I don't think Lane played on Mable's Fatal Fable. It's not on a tribute album, it's on Becker's solo album Perpetual Burn. As far as i know, he alone wrote MFF. Only him and Friedman played on Perpetual Burn. I checked the liner notes and Lane isn't mention in relation to MFF nor is he thanked in the thank yous. Maybe you guys are thinking of another song?  Maybe something off Warmth in the Wilderness, im pretty sure that's the tribute album, but i don't know any songs off it or it Lane contributed or not...

[Slipdisc]

I don't know if Lane's tribute was ever oficially released on an album, maybe Genesis knows? I do know however that I've heard the song being mentioned before when Shawn Lane was the topic of conversation. Maybe it was just something Shawn did live? I just didn't realize it was Becker's song back then when I first heard about it all, since I knew Shawn way before I decided to explore Becker's stuff. As you could see in this thread, I'm not exactly the Becker-connaisseur (just saw a couple of clips of 'm and listened to Perpetual Burn alot a few years ago). Now looking back on it it makes perfect sense. Lane was very limited at times by his own physical hardships. I can only assume that he was very touched by Beckers faith and saw a lot similarities in it concerning his own problems in life...?

-PEACE-

[Slipdisc]

Wait a minute folks....

I Did some research and the following appears to be the case:

On the internet there's a version of Mabel's Fatal Fable floating around in which a part of the song is replaced by a part of "Lane's Blitz". The song is credited to Jason Becker & Shawn Lane. Since it is done very convincing it fooled a lot of people (apparently including me and Genesis ). Word was spread then that Shawn recorded a tribute to Jason, based on this hybride. I really think this is the thing were talking about here...

-PEACE-