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Melodic Rock Guitarists

by Lori Linstruth

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While browsing the various instructional web sites geared towards rock/metal/shred guitarists, I've seen countless lessons and tutorials devoted to speed picking, arpeggios, tapping, and other shred techniques. But I've yet to see a site devoted to examples of tasteful, melodic, moving guitar work. These pages are an attempt to fill this void. Warning: if you are totally into über-technical, flashy "shred" guitar, and if you play really, really, fast most of the time and never slow down and bend an note, you may find what I say here offensive. It's not meant to be. And I don't "dislike" the shred stuff, but am just attempting to show that there is more to a guitarist than the ability to play fast and clean. Much, much more.


Michael Schenker

In the quest to develop a "shred" style involving impressively fast playing, many guitarists focus on speed and technical precision and neglect other aspects of playing such as melody and vibrato. Many top-rated shredders possess absolutely terrifying technique, but are conspicuously lacking in "goosebump factor." Of course, we have now planted our feet firmly into the murky swamp of matters of taste. Most things are matters of taste when it comes to music and the arts: what moves and inspires me may make you yawn. Additionally, words like "melodic," "moving," and "feeling" are completely subjective and open to personal interpretation. So rather than depending on words to describe the guitar passages that inspire me, I've decided to make them available as Mp3s so that you can listen and draw your own conclusions.

Disclaimer: The musical passages presented here are for the purpose of scholarship and study only. If you are the copyright holder of these works of art and wish to have them removed from this site, all you need to do is inform me and they will be removed immediately.

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