Great video! Honorary mention to Michael Lee Firkins. I love that guys playing. There’s a wonderful Tatum influence in Marchbank’s phrasing. I saw him 2 decades ago with some folk band and his acoustic rhythm playing was just as insane.
I was lucky enough to see Shawn in Soho a few years before he passed away. One of the amazing players I have ever seen. One of my favs is Temporal Analogue of Paradise. Just beautiful improvisation from everyone.
Thus is a great list. I probably would have included EVH and Randy Rhoads because of what they did to put shred on the cultural radar, but I get your rationale. Well done and thanks.
"The children of their shred". Very good! A great list. The most interesting guy on the list is Buckethead. Probably because of his connections to the avant garde and folks like Bill Laswell and Derek Bailey.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I will. I have that Arcana album with Derek Bailey, Tony Williams and Bill Laswell. Pure avant garde bliss. I cannot believe Tony Williams made that album.
I was waiting for him to be mentioned but noooo... he was at the time my favorite metal shredder with probably the greatest sense of melody of all of them. Clearly inspired my Malmsteen but kinda taking it to the next level. Should have been on that list...
Your title doesn't indicate that you limited this to the 1980s. I think this should have been top twenty list. There are several you mentioned that did not appear. Some of MY favorites: EVH, Rangy Rhodes, Steve Lukather, Eric Johnson, Vinnie Moore, Jake E Lee, Kiko Loureiro, Warren DeMartini, etc. I'm sure there are at least two more out there. Glad to see Nuno made your list, he's finally getting some mainstream recognition. Your guy Roy Marchbank deserves world-wide attention; I absolutely love what he's doing. People have asked me who my favorite guitarist or band is and I say I can't give you an answer, because I don't have a favorite, only admiration for fantastic vitrtuosos and composers. Thanks for all your efforts. Love your channel.
It's hard to describe how big it was when the instructional videos of Gilbert, Vinnie Moore and Steve Lukather (etc) came out. Before that, the best we had when it came to figuring out what these shredders were doing was slowing down vinyl records or tapes, or getting up close at a gig.
Damn. Your list is MY list. Except for your #10, we are nearly identical! The Mancuso mention as well as your homage to Al, John, Alan. You nailed each shredder's nuances and basically spoke on MY behalf in extolling these greats. Many comments seem to agree. Well done.
I only got into Buckethead about a year ago. The dude is just amazing! The guy can play anything. I don't like all his solo stuff (some of it is too out there for me), but there's so much of it that it's easy to find tons of his stuff that is indescribably good. I hope he keeps pumping out music....
Search Buckethead Brain Brewer. Brain and Brewer are the drummer and bassist. He sounds much better playing with real people than a backing track (although I have to admit that my favorite version of Soothsayer is a performance with a backing track 😀)
Some nice pointers in there Andy, I missed EVH, was he in there? Roy Marchbank's technique is so refreshing and unique. I'm still getting my head round it all, his compositional and improvisational abilities are completely off the charts!
Another fun list Andy, I really enjoyed this one. I had the great fortune, along with a couple of musician buddies of mine , to see Frank Gambale at a very small jazz room in L.A. about 30 yrs ago...totally face-melting! Cheers!
I saw him with Chick Corea 30 years ago. The band was incredible and opened up with a Return to Forever tune, but it was Gambale that stole the show....
Dude, my first jazz/fusion live show was the Chick Corea electric band in '87 and the next time I saw Frank G was at that little jazz club in L.A. I also had Frank's guitar instructional/ workout video! Good stuff.
That would have been at The Baked Potato in Studio City, if I'm not mistaken. I saw Frank play there in the early 80's and it was the very first time I saw the sweep technique in person. Needless to say, it was an experience I've never forgotten.
Shawn Lane as the jumping off point for a rant about aesthetics and moral frameworks for artistic appreciation and discussion; good on you sir ! Off to check out Buckethead and Arcana.
There can be emotional intensity in music that is slow and spacey. There can also be emotional intensity in music that is fast and dense. There is artistry in the balance of these things. Through out the history of music there has been a whole world of music that reaches for an emotional apex through density and speed. Vivaldi, Mozart, Paganini, Conlan Nancarrow, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, John McLaughlin, Napalm Death, Squarepusher...all different music forms, all utilising dense fast music. The idea that the quality of speed in music is somehow aesthetically bad seems like essentialism to me. The idea that a quality itself is essentially bad. It is from that aesthetic that all the predjudice in the world comes. Some musicians play fast, some don't. Some are good and some aren't. But these do not correllate. I would love to hear the argument that they do.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I have no problem with shredding and i don’t doubt that there can be a lot of emotion involved when your fingers run like hell over the fretboard - and it’s impressive too, but for me all that overdriven speed just makes me wanna turn it off and go home. It’s just a matter of taste really. There are exceptions of course (Coltrane, McLaughlin, Bird, Tatum and others), but in general when it comes to shredding in heavy metal, i feel like i want to disappear. Anyway, this was a fun show to watch (as usual), and i’m already looking forward to the next.
@@OMW66 "I'm no fan of shredding" - "I have no problem with shredding" "When a guitar player goes shredding, there´s not much more going on"" - "there can be a lot of emotion involved when your fingers run like hell over the fretboard". ????
@@biscobisco1882 I am no fan of shredding, but let the kids shred as much as they like, that’s no problem for me. I get nothing out of it, even if there’s some emotion in there i don’t feel much of. This is not a competition, just taste and feelings, so there’s no need to be a politician about it. Well, you can if you will. It’s a free world… No, wait. It’s not a free world. It’s a complicated world
It's great to see King Edward residing upon high on the shelf behind you. His true genius was creating guitar wizardry that millions upon millions of people actually wanted to listen to, while also having such a major impact on music in general moving forwards.....and making it look super cool too while he was at it! I agree that Nuno has a strong EVH influence in him and has the similarity of being a guitar god within an actual band that has commercial appeal.
Andy, I absolutely agree - Shawn Lane is an innovator technically and musically more diverse ranking him so higher in many musical categories. His explorations into Indian music were fantastic. Luckily with Shawn there is so much unreleased material that will hopefully see the light of day at some point.
Di meola has to be on this list. Just think of hearing his playing on romantic warrior. At that time it must have sounded like an alien had landed. Truly super human. No other shredder does and sounds like him
Wonderful video Andy ! Thanks so much. I like how you have our fusion pioneers hovering above, ha. You reminded me of another great guitar player from my home town who never seemed to bother with marketing himself. Have you heard Danny Gatton? In particular his live at Gallaghers video? There is something about his playing that I find interesting and a bit different than any other player I know. Not a shredder, you just reminded me of him when you were talking about Lane.
I would like to see Guthrie (so and so) Goven on some kind of list. He is a guitarist that guitar fans either want to make him into a guitar god or he gets slighted to death. I think that he plays with jaw dropping skill and a ton of unique invention.
When I do guitar ranking videos it's always 'where is Shawn lane'. So I do a video to celebrate him and everyone is asking about Guthrie...he's a fantatsic player if a little lacking in personality...but that is a complaint I have of a lot of modern guitarists. I will do my favourite contempoary guitarists at some point and he may well make the list.
I watched an interview with Gilbert in which he explained his earliest approach to guitar-first all on one string and all upstrokes. Just very very self effacing and down to go earth. I don't know how you could work him in, but some list mentioning the great Hans Reichel would be fantastic! Hans seems outside idiom. He, like Derek Bailey and Fred Frith, are fantastic experimenters.
I'm glad to see Shawn Lane on your list. His live albums with Jonas Hellborg like Personae and Time is the Enemy are amazing. It is some of the most unique and technically scary guitar playing I've ever heard. Shawn had the balance of being able to hold back and give a some some space and then rip a ridiculous string skipping solo with accidentals at lightning speed. He also was an accomplished pianist.
To my mind, 'shred' isn't just confined to rock, metal, jazz and jazz fusion but I'd include players from country, bluegrass and the acoustic finger picking and flat picking worlds. There are many brilliant players but tops for me...Danny Gatton, Scotty Anderson, Brent Mason, Albert Lee, David Grier and Pete Huttlinger.
Still working through your very inspiring videos, hence this late suggestion for an honorable mention: Bumblefoot (who, I think, was also connected with Guns and Roses at some point). Very happy with your list, I knew most but not all of the players mentioned and especially like the Shawn Lane albums with Jonas Hellborg a lot.
Trivia: a song entitled 'Vikings' by Australian band Kahvas Jute on their rare and expensive sole album Wide Open (March, 1971) with stellar bass playing by Bob Daisley with 17 year old lead guitarist Tim Gaze. Jimmy Page was a fan of the album - melodic proggy hard rock with pop flourishes.
Steve Vai is my fav too. I was lucky enough to see him play his Passion and Warfare ( in all its glory) a few times a few years back. It was incredible just to be present. I got the t shirt and a plectrum.
I was so moved when my tough guy friend James Rhodes called me back in the early 2000s to tell me that Shawn Lane had died. He had known him personally and humbly expressed his awe at Lane's willingness to jam with him. He introduced me to videos of this otherworldly lyrical, deep souled shredder who would sometimes sing the lines as he improvised. My friend's voice cracked on the phone when he said, "Shawn Lane was a Superhero..." What did this say about how fragile the rest of us must be?
Thinking about this further, in the movie "Summer of Soul" about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival near the end there is a snippet of Sonny Sharrock, absolutely jaw-dropping. I have some of his late-80s -- early 90s albums: Seize the Rainbow, Guitar and Ask the Ages. I also like James "Blood" Ulmer, starting in the late 70s with albums "Tales of Captain Black", "Are You Glad to be in America" and "Freelancing" and then many more; I first heard him on Arthur Blythe's Illusions, where he plays on 3 tracks (my favorite: "Bush Baby"), and had a chance to see him live with Calvin Weston and Amin Ali in Minneapolis, probably 1980. Among the left-field "skronk"-guitarists one also has to mention Arto Lindsay, out of the New York no wave scene and briefly part of John Lurie's "Lounge Lizards". A side-man with a highly distinctive tone was Robert Quine, responsible for the solo on Lou Reed's "Waves Of Fear" and also member of Richard Hell's "Voidoids".
I saw Shawn Lane live twice… once with a small group of Memphis musicians playing fusion and once with Hellborg and co playing the Indian/ Pakistani influenced music… great stuff!
I like this list and Vai is my favorite as well.. I had a feeling Shawn lane would be #1 when you asked us to guess, my honorable mentions would be Tony Mcalpine , Andy Timmons , Guthrie Govan .Scott Henderson and Kiko Loureiro off the top of my head. of course theirs so many more but this was fun.
Kiko Loureiro is excellent at occupying that middle ground between pushing the envelope and sweet melodies. His album 'Sounds of Innocence' is superb - the best in the genre for many years IMO.
Another great video. I think you were exactly right to separate for the purposes of this video McLaughlin, Di Meola, and Holdsworth as the godfathers of shred. I think the players who are here are deserving (though there were a couple I wasn't so familiar with). By the way...he's not really a guy I'd have on this particular list, but Scott Henderson of Tribal Tech and solo is someone whom I've not heard you talk about on your channel. I'd have thought that his fusion style would be up your street.
I would give honorable mentions to Vernon Reid, Stevie Salas and, in a fusion / avant rock context, Henry Kaiser. I think Buckethead would be my top pick from your list Andy. He did some great stuff with Laswell and some of his solo albums are excellent (he might have a ton of excellence in his solo catalogue but it's impossible to keep up!)
Have to smile at some of the comments that dont want jazz guys on a list of shredders - therefore no Gambale or Holdsworth even though they appeared together on a Mark Varney Project album called Truth in Shredding 😆 thta came out before the one with Gambale and Shawn Lane - Cetrifugal Funk. Gambale also went on to do a few fine albums with Stu Hamm and Steve Smith - under the GHS moniker. I have a compilation album from Shrapnel Records 1989 called Guitar Masters that includes Gilbert,Howe, Friedman, Becker as well as others like Joey Taffola, and groups Vicious Rumors, who Vinnie Moore was once in,Apocrypha with Tony Fredianelli, Dr Mastermind who featured Kurt James. Some of those interestingly ended up playing either with the Graham Bonnet Band or in Alcatrazz - the last Alcatrazz album with Bonnet on it has a few shredders including Chris Impellitteri who you briefly name checked (albeit missing a few vowels and consonants - you'd be no good on countdown!) and has Yngwie clone Joe Stump flying all over the place. Theres also loads of guitarists that are in the power metal scene who will have been influenced by many of those mentioned including guys like Luca Turilli of Rhapsody or Timo Kotipelto of Stratovarious. I was once heavily onto shred haowever after a whie you have to have the tunes not just the wank, whihc is why I still like to listen to guys like Satriani, Vai, Howe. I blow hot and cold these days with Malmsteen - currently I just wish he wouldnt sing. I still think his debut solo album is his greatest though and have no trouble giving thata spin every now and again. lastly I think you could possibly add a couple of names to the three godfathers of shred - Uli Jon Roth and Edward Van Halen? If not EVH , Roth maybe?
I never got into shred, but Satch and Vai had musicality that hooked me. So, its about the music. The music press (used too and probably still does) are the unlicenced gatekeepers. In the late 70s and early 80s, anything with a synth or only synths wasn't real music by real musicians. Whilst at the same time ignoring jazz fusion and prog, because it was no longer fashionable. Music isn't a fashion, its a time capsule. There is something about the recording techniques of the 70s, 80s and 90s, where you can hear the difference. I struggle to hear the differences and passion in modern releases. Its there, you have to dig.
Love your coverage. A couple of suggestions, if you don’t like ranking your top tens, maybe list them in Alphabetical order. Unless of course it is a top 10. Also, maybe list the musicians or albums you discuss as a lead post. And finally, I’m curious to hear your opinion, good or bad about the playing of Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd on Television’s debut album Marquee Moon. I’m not a musician but I have, since that album was released been mesmerising by their swirling guitars lines on that album.
Im glad you got Frank Gambale so high on your list and as you said he can play anything. Im suprised that you dont have Guthry Gowan on any list. He can play anything and that might be his problem because its harder to identefy him. On the other hand you got all these great players with their own signature but many off them just repet them selves. Im not saying tha Guthry Gowan dont have his own style its just not easy to hear it because he play so many different genres. David Killminster is allso a fantastic player. Ironicly Killminster was more loyal to Guthrys studio versions than Guthry Govan was when they toured with Steven Wilson. Love your channel 🤘
Robert Fripp. His playing on Larks Tongues in Aspic (all parts) & Fracture is, imho, just as shreddy & technically diffiicult as anything any of the Mike Varney discovered players ever produced.
I like your point that virtuosity, in itself, is not enough. One reason I prefer old school guitarists like Page and Hendrix is you can hear the mistakes, the human element, the soul and feel. 1980s shredders, to me, sound like flawless, mathematical scale exercises copied from the same template.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Andy, I listened (with headphones) to the studio version and a 1993 live version. Very tasteful, expressive and NOT what comes to mind when I think 80s shredders! I’ve been vaguely familiar with Vai over the years, but never done a deep dive on his work. I will now!
Off topic. Suggestion for video. I wonder if Alex Lifeson ranks with progressive guitar greats. Many say as a guitarist, he's just ok. Many say he's actually underrated. Is he an imaginative guitarist? I like him. I'm glad he picked up on a more post punk sound. Give him credit there. So, my question is, does your Yes elitist fan look down on him?
prepost: Alphabetic list: Batio Becker Calderone Darrell Friedman Gilbert Govan James Johnson Lane Malmsteen Rhoads Satriani Vai Van Halen Wylde Choose ten ;-)
Cool thing you have that Satriani LP with the Silver Surfer. I have heard, on SoT(?), they are OOP. I know a guy in-town that played with Shawn Lane in BOA. This guy, in his own right, was a child prodigy on piano and violin. I think playing with Shawn rekt him...mention a guitarist to him & he'll say "...yeah? Is he as good as Shawn"? :-)
@@Johnnysmithy24 Yes Zappa Guevara's brother, Che Zappa. They were born in Baltimore. Good taste in musicians Arian. Or is that Ayreon? You should listen ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oFuMKdrzPqU.html
Hey, Andy. Any chance you can do a video talking about the process of finding other musicians to play with? I’ve been feeling really siloed on my musical journey. My area is very well known for being cover bands only, to the point that it’s a big joke in the community. In fact the primary way to find other musicians locally is via Craigslist. Every single post there in the last few months is someone looking to play a bar band. There is a small group of academics at a local university into jazz, but they aren’t very welcoming. It’s frustrating that everyone wants to play “up” but no one wants to play “down”, or with less skilled musicians. I’m even guilty of this myself. I’ve played with a few people and just been extremely underwhelmed. And I don’t think I’m pretentious about it at all, I’m not even that good myself, I just want to play with people that can keep time and know a bit about chords and stuff. On top of all that, how will I even know when I’m ready to transition from being a bedroom musician to actually playing out? Or should I give up on that idea and just stream or something? Id love to hear your personal history of how you found folks to play with and if you have any tips for the modern era.
Truth-be-told...my Halloween get-up is Buckethead. Wife bought me a decent Michael Myers madk and a Rock Star wig. 4 years ago, I ate lunch at a KFC on 10/31 & it hit me. They gave me a plastic KFC bucket. Tell ya what, this scares the crap outta kids (one started crying) & some teens. It is disturbing. Some of the parents do get who it is. Can't wait!
Ironically, among my fave Satriani moments is the solo on a rare vocal tune, Big Bad Moon. The solo starts 55 seconds into the song. The vid is a hoot, too.
Perfect that JM, AD, & AH are not included, since they are transcendent. One more recent fella should either be #1 or included among the transcendent: GG (Guthrie Govan). BTW, don’t know about Roy Marchbank. This is my takeaway. Will check him out.
The whole Buckethead/Guns N' Roses thing was downright bizarre and destined to fail. I would love to know all the details and the truth behind it. I really hope Buckethead made out with a large sum of cash which I imagine would have been a significant motivating factor for him to begin with. But who knows how these Hollywood Rock Star deals go down!?
US pronunciation... Not AR-KAN-SAS it's actually AR-KAN-SAW Which is weird because the other state IS pronounced KAN-SAS I thought you might find this interesting
Joe satriani is the best guitarist. Of. All time, I know people. will say. Hendrix but for pure output, Joe has rocked for over 20 years,check out love thing he invented rock guitarist instrumentals. just. because he is without singers, does not diminish his greatness.
Thanks Andy, that was fun and enlightening with plenty of top suggestions for further exploration; especially Buckethead and Shawn Lane, I feel. Always appreciate your insights and humour, and when you start getting into moral philosophy and aesthetics. Has to be said, though, I'm just appalled that you didn't even give honourable mentions to Bill and Ted's 'excellent' air shredding... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AKecz2ak78Y.html
Van Halen is the original 80s shredder... Di Meola - best technique... Holdsworth - most ridiculous.... Gary Moore - Best sustain and vibrato..... But there were many shredders before tapping - Reinhardt, Les Paul, Charlie Christian, Hendrix, Beck, Page, Blackmore, Fripp, Mclaughlin, Metheny......
Technique is methodology. It is the method used to get a certain aesthetic result. There can be no best. The most ridiculous skill is Roy Marchbank. I included some astonishing footage of him at the start of this video. No one has mentioned it. Best sustain? Carlos Santana takes some beating.
