The Shred Thread

donbot

Ok, here goes. I love a good shred album. Something I can listen to all the way through and be wowed! You know the thing; hairs on your neck stand up good. Shivers down your spine good. The ones that make you go ‘fuck me, this is utterly incredible’ good. 

What are you’re favourites? You can pick albums or individual tracks. Give me a top 10, top 5. Whatever really floats you’re Inner-shredder boat really. 

Here’s a few of mine. Pretty obvious ones to start us off but I’d love something new to inspire and wow me. 

Apologies, but I have to start with Passion & Warfare. So many superb tracks. The entire album is just brilliant. 

I have a real soft spot for Zack Wyld’s Pride and Glory album. The more people I can get to listen to this the better!

I think I’ll plug some Jan Cyrka next. Spirit and Beyond the Common Ground. Super emotional and I think the most visual tracks I can think of. Some of those tracks really conjure up some vivid images for me.

How about a bit of Yngwie? Amazing albums from the 80s. I remember when I were a lad, flipping out to Live in Leningrad. That Spacebo Blues track drove me wild. Rising Force, Odyssey and Trilogy are all pant wettingly good too.

I’ll go with a single track now. Vai’s The Moon and I. Sometimes I just can’t believe it’s actually playable by anyone. Gotta be a favourite track of all time. 

Anyone remember Helloween? Keeper of the Seven Keys parts one and two. Superb guitary, power metaly goodness. 

Going a bit more 21st century for some Aristocrats. All four of their albums are just sublime. A special shout out to the Tres Cabelleros album and the tracks, I want a Parrot and See You Next Tuesday. 

Jeff Beck; Who Else, You Had it Coming and Jeff. You all HAVE to listen to these three albums. Totally nothing like ‘em and nothing to compare them to. 

Last one for now, although I could go on for ages... Van Halen, Van Halen. Can’t think of another album that has stood the test of time so well. 

Ok one final odd-ball. The League of Crafty Guitarist’s Intergalactic Boogie Express. The acoustic guitarist in me loves this one. Not really a shredder but still stirs something inside me. 

Plenty more where these came from so let’s hear some of yours first... 

Stevepage

I don't really listen to instrumental/shred albums that much any more but these stuck with me

Satriani - Crystal Planet. Pretty much the whole album. Probably his most exciting, tasteful and well written album. Everything works.

Dream Theater - Under a Glass Moon. Mental solo and a perfect example of why Petrucci is a god.

Angra - their song Speed on the Fireworks album. My favourite Angra song. A vocalist with a huge range and incredible guitarists. Still gives me chills.

Megadeth - Ashes in Your Mouth. Considerably more dark and aggressive for a 'Deth song. But the solo section is incredible and drives the nail through with a 100 pound sledgehammer.

donbot

Yep, love Crystal Planet. With Jupiter in Mind is a highlight for me but the whole album comes together really well like you said. I’m a big fan of Flying in a Blue Dream and Not of This Earth too. 

I’ll definitely check out those other three. Never heard of Angra so intrigued by that one.

hairmetal

I love Vinnie Moore's first few albums, Mind's Eye, Time Odyssey and Meltdown are great.

octatonic

Guthrie Govan.
The guy is a genius.

donbot

Aye, Guthrie’s playing makes me giggle like a school girl. I attempted playing what I thought sounded a fairly easy track. Won’t make that mistake again! 

Edit: It was Pig’s Day Off. Monstrous stretches. Such a good tune though. 

@hairmetal, I’ll check those out tomorrow 

Branshen

Big fan of Guthrie Govan's Erotic Cakes.

Going to dive into Plini next, when I have the time. 

Jetfire

Plini is a modern dude who shreds and plays really beautiful stuff too

TTBZ

Satriani and Paul Gilbert for me. Not really into that sort of thing but these two stand out. Gilbert is just a monster but can also write super catchy stuff has a bit of a rawness to his sound thats better to listen to. I never got into Steve Vai much, not sure why. 

My favourite "shredder" these days is Brent Hinds. Instantly recognisable style, very fluid and melodic.

donbot

I’ve heard of this Plini guy. So many of these new guys leave me cold but I’ll add him to my list and check it out. Any recommendations where I should start with his tunes?

scrumhalf

One of the cruellest things to have happened is Jason Becker getting ALS, the boy was an unbelievable guitar player and who knows how good he would have become.

donbot

@TTBZ, I think I need Paul Gilbert In my life. A guy at work recommended Silence followed by a Deafening Roar. So I’ll start there. I do love his enthusiasm in interviews. Seems like a proper good fella. 

donbot

Holy moly, just listening to Kentucky Meat Shower by The Aristocrats. Superb playing. 

@scrumhalf, I watched the documentary about Becker a while ago. Inspirational but such a terrible affliction for an incredible talent. 

Philly_Q

hairmetal said:

I love Vinnie Moore's first few albums, Mind's Eye, Time Odyssey and Meltdown are great.

Beat me to it, I love Mind's Eye especially.  I bought a lot of shred albums back in the Shrapnel days.  I never learned to play any of it.... The others which spring to mind are US Metal Vol.1, Chastain/CJSS, Tony MacAlpine's first couple of albums and some Greg Howe/Howe II stuff.

donbot said:

I have a real soft spot for Zack Wyld’s Pride and Glory album. The more people I can get to listen to this the better!

I don't really think of it as a shred album, but it's one of my all-time favourite albums.  So much better than anything else Zakk has done.

I prefer albums with vocals, so I'll say all the Megadeth albums with Marty Friedman, the first Fifth Angel album with James Byrd, the first couple of White Lion albums with Vito Bratta, Richie Kotzen's Fever Dream... and Dawn Patrol by Night Ranger.

TTBZ

donbot said:

@TTBZ, I think I need Paul Gilbert In my life. A guy at work recommended Silence followed by a Deafening Roar. So I’ll start there. I do love his enthusiasm in interviews. Seems like a proper good fella. 

Haven't listened to that yet, Get Out of My Yard is a great album of his though. Some great PG moments on other albums/bands are Down To Mexico, Technical Difficulties, Scarified, Addicted To That Rush, Superheroes, Burning Organ. Name drop time, through work I've got to meet him, he is as cool and down to earth as you'd expect. Gave me a handful of picks too.

TINMAN82

A lot of good suggestions already.

I guess the scope is broadened if we’re including stuff like Jeff Beck.

Agree with Megadeth + Marty albums. Been getting into the Aristocrats lately too. Sophisticated shred for sure!

Obviously the Ozzy albums + Randy.

Most of Vai’s albums are rewarding although Flexable would be the last Id recommend as it’s too full of weirdness for a newcomer (and me). Alien Love Secrets is a good place to start, followed by P&W. Seventh song is a great compilation. Actually, the Essential Steve Vai album is well put together and the second disc covers some of his best esoteric stuff like Boston Rain Melody.

Surfing with the Alien is one of my top 10 albums of all time in any genre.

All pretty generic, sorry. Guess I’m more into blues these days. Walter Trout can shred with the best of them!

Grangousier

Intergalactic Boogie Express

Though if you want shredfulness, The Driving Force is probably the way to go - a cursory search turned up this video, which is the better of the two versions I found, though perhaps not the most interesting looking video ever. I've played both Intergalactic and Driving Force (bass part, I have quite a lot of limits) and they're amazing to play. For the basses, the most difficult bit of Intergalactic is the first note, as the lead part seems deliberately designed to mislead as to where the downbeat is. I've been lucky enough to play with people who are insane enough to get their chops to the point that they can play the Driving Force lead much, much faster than this, and it's kind of exhilarating. I think the hardest part to play isn't the lead so much as the kind of banjo-sounding drone throughout the second half.

/Tedious ex-crafty out. 



Intergalactic Boogie Express:

skullfunkerry

Loads of stuff in this thread that I've bookmarked to check out later.

Not really too much in my list that hasn't been mentioned already, but I'll add a couple of tracks:

Chords of Life by Joe Satriani: when the solo kicks in it gives me proper chills every time. It absolutely shreds out but doesn't overwhelm the song - and being Satch, you know it's not as simple as he's making it sound.

Prisoner by King's X: Ty Tabor is one of my favourite guitarists, and this is just the most perfect guitar solo 

carlos

No Shawn Lane? What are you guys smoking?

Also a fairly obscure one, Rob Johnson - https://open.spotify.com/album/2b5Ft0uZ97nia8M2rtTNLB?si=FrrSuAOGTpOidYZ4JJIzkw
Has all the hallmarks of the genre: OTT soloing, as many notes possible crammed into each bar, listless drums and bass. Completely tasteless and I love it.

Speaking of Rob, he made a huge Spotify playlist with shred guitar - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1hfFMqmrEpu580eL04yyy6

btw, Jeff Beck has no business in this list, just not in his thing.

Branshen

donbot said:

I’ve heard of this Plini guy. So many of these new guys leave me cold but I’ll add him to my list and check it out. Any recommendations where I should start with his tunes?

I like this! 

TINMAN82

Branshen said:

donbot said:

I’ve heard of this Plini guy. So many of these new guys leave me cold but I’ll add him to my list and check it out. Any recommendations where I should start with his tunes?

I like this! 

Had never heard this before, good tip. He’s clearly a student of Vai!