Shred Guitar Maturity - Part 1

Written by Angel Zamora

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www.angel-zamora.com

How many times have you heard someone saying these sentences? :

"I was into shred when I was younger but now I’ve matured and it is boring"
“I was a shredder and now I’m into Jazz because I’ve matured”
“I was a really good technical player but now I’ve matured and play with my heart”
“You bore, play some Jazz or Blues”
“It doesn’t matter if you can play fast, what matters is the music”
“The shredding has no feelings”
“All shred sounds the same”
“The shred is boring, predictable, repetitive, the notes are not understandable, …”
“A shredder is not a guitar player”
“Why do you want to be fast or faster? There’s no point with playing fast”
“The shred is just gymnastics for the fingers”

Well, I’ve heard/read those sentences A LOT and you know what I think? All these people have SERIOUS misunderstanding.

Let me explain you why these sentences are NOT WISE. In fact they are old bad “advice”. Unfortunately many guitar players have been, are and will be influenced by those people who “almost” claim themselves guitar/music “experts”. Ok, I know some recognized shredders from the 80’s say similar sentences but I bet they have been placed out of context or they have misunderstanding too, like an obstinate old man.

Also some people do not really understand what shred is and they just repeat what they have heard/read from the media without asking themselves – “Is this REALLY true?” -. In addition, these people are just trying to look wise or intelligent or mature guitar players repeating what they hear or read.

Ok, now I’ll take these sentences and explain why they are not wise.


“I was into shred when I was younger but now I’ve matured and it is boring”

Probably this guy had a frustrated experience and he’s taking an unconscious revenge for that reason. Shred is not boring, perhaps he never liked shred and he just wanted to attain skills (because shred needs many skills to be expressed). Shred as any style is a matter of taste. So this guy is confusing maturity for sincerity to himself, also he’s not better he’s just different.


“I was a shredder and now I’m into Jazz because I’ve matured”

It has nothing to do if you’re a shred lover or jazz lover about being mature, both music lovers are different and not necessarily better than the other technically or theoretically. It’s a matter of taste. So this statement is completely immature. Quite often age has nothing to do with maturity.


“I was a really good technical player but now I’ve matured and play with my heart”

Again, some guitar players seem to confuse sincerity for maturity, don’t get confused. If somebody ask me if I am playing with my heart when I’m shredding I’ll say OF COURSE!!!!! Now MATURITY REFERS TO A GOOD JUDGMENT NOT JUST TO A CHANGE OF OPINION, so it doesn’t matter if someone with 20 more years of life or experience tells you that shred is not a style played with the heart, if you FEEL and play shred then you’re playing with your heart. Some feelings demand techniques to be expressed.


“You bore, play some Jazz or Blues”

DON’T GET ME WRONG, I like jazz and blues but some people are too close-minded and/or speak faster than what is needed to think and talk like “everybody feels like me”. Ok perhaps your current music is boring even for you but you know what you want and you’re developing your compositional skills. It’s different if someone says that your shred is boring than you say that your shred is boring. If your audience is opera lover, it doesn’t matter if you play shred or jazz or blues you’ll bore them. So you have to choose between play what you like or play what others like.


“It doesn’t matter if you can play fast, all that matters is the music”

Do you want compositional boundaries? If your answer is yes then support such sentences. Do you want performance boundaries? If your answer is yes then support such sentences. We know the music matters (rhythm, melody and harmony) but the speed matters too. Imagine the “Flight of the bumblebee” played at 30bpm, it’d lose its feeling. Now imagine any musical piece played at 1/10th of its “normal” speed, it will lose its feeling. And yes the speed is not much without a good composition and clean technique but the fast playing matters.


Ok, I hope this is opening minds because sometimes is unbelievable how many people are influenced by the wrong people or by the correct people in the wrong moment.


See you later!

Angel Zamora
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