Playing Shred Guitar - Your Number One Enemy

Shred guitar is a term that many people are familiar with, but not quite certain what it means. Basically, when someone is playing shred guitar they are playing really really fast. There is a debate about just how fast a guitarist needs to play in order for it to be considered shred. It is commonly thought that anything over 10 notes per second is shred guitar. This is most commonly associated with metal music and hair rock of the 70's and 80's. I have been a fan of shred guitar for quite some time now. I even take a shot at playing some shred guitar. I'm not great, but I have picked up a few things over my playing career and I wanted to impart a piece of wisdom on beginning players today.

My most important piece of advice to beginners is to AVOID TENSION. Tension will be your worst enemy when playing shred guitar. You simply cannot go fast without tension. This is a bit counterintuitive for a lot of people. To illustrate, start playing a scale. Any scale, it doesn't matter. Play it at a nice comfortable pace.

Now, start to increase your tempo until you are playing it at top speed. I am willing to bet that as you speed increased, so did the tension in you arm, shoulder, hand and fingers. Now, try the scales again and instead of increasing tension as tempo increases, consciously focus on decreasing tension. It will be difficult and you will feel like you are holding back but trust me. You need to learn this. Think of the experts in anything, guitar, piano, tennis, whatever. Isn't one thing that they have in common that they make whatever they are doing look easy? This is because they are doing it without tension. All their actions appear to flow effortlessly. I am not trying to get all Zen on you, but this is so important.

On top of that, tension will not only keep you at a slow pace but it will also cause injury. I knew a guitarist who absolutely loved playing but had to quit because the tendonitis in his wrists was so bad. He was also one of the most tensed players I have ever seen. It crushed him. Don't let this happen to you. Avoid tension and start playing shred guitar!

Stop wasting your time and start getting better at guitar! How good could you be if you had the right tools? Come learn to play the guitar by ear [http://www.theguitarprofessor.com] with The Guitar Professor. It's free.

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