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  • Total Guitar

    THE A-Z OF THE SHRED GUITAR

    May 08, 2020 12 minutes

    A ALTERNATE PICKING

    SPEED THRILLS!

    The most common approach to technical guitar playing is to use strictly alternating down- and upstrokes, aka alternate picking. The strength of the technique lies in its pure simplicity, and it remains the best way to articulate riffs and scale-based runs with unflinching metronomic accuracy. Some of the most proficient pickers are John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse and Rusty Cooley.

    A IS ALSO FOR…

    Tosin Abasi, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Michael Amott

    B JASON BECKER

    MASTER SWEEPER AND INDOMITABLE SPIRIT

    Jason Becker’s two solo albums, Perpetual Burn and Perspective, earned him god-like status in the guitar community. The likes of Serrana and Mabel’s Fatal Fable showcase Jason’s incredible sweep-picking technique, which allowed him to traverse the entire fretboard with apparent ease. Two albums with fellow shredmeister Marty Friedman as part of Cacophony laid the foundations for the teenage Becker’s legend, but his playing on David Lee Roth’s album A Little Ain’t Enough (replacing Steve Vai in the line-up) cemented them.

    Tragically, at the age of just 20, Jason was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a degenerative neurological condition that left him paralysed. However, he still composes music using his eyes to input notes via a specialised computer system, and his amazing story has now been committed to film in the full-length documentary, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet (read more on p10). As Jason writes on the Perspective album: “I have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It has crippled my body and speech, but not my mind.”

    B IS ALSO FOR…

    Michael Angelo Batio, Nuno Bettencourt, Buckethead, Bumblefoot

    C RUSTY COOLEY

    THE PURE, UNBRIDLED MONSTER TECHNICIAN

    The Houston-based shredmaster is regarded as one of the fastest metal players in history. Rusty had some success with his (now disbanded) progressive metal outfit Outworld, but he is best known for his online videos, which serve to demonstrate his amazing combination of superhuman picking speed and laser-guided fretboard accuracy. His status as an internet phenomenon brought him to the attention of more established players such as John Petrucci and Mark Tremonti, who have praised both his playing and specialised instructional material. If you’re after a few tips from the man himself, Rusty’s books, such as Shred Guitar Manifesto and The Art

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