Re: Strats Are Just Fine For Shred
Someone please explain to me, and perhaps the rest of the forum, why there's apparently some absolute about shred requiring paper thin necks with flat radii.
It's clear to me that a guitar doesn't play itself, and the guitar's ability to cover a certainly style is dependent more on the player's ability. I can't shred, but I've never been so arrogant or overconfident in myself to blame that on my gear. That's nothing short of foolish.
I agree to a point. In the end, you have to pilot whatever you're using. but...
For a couple of years recently my two main gigging guitars were a vintage-style strat and tele, and to be honest they were difficult to play ay kind of complex lead guitar on. Now the stuff I was playing on them was a million miles away from typical 'shred' music, but on the rare occasion where I wanted to shift a gear in a solo, it was, well,
pretty hard.
One night around then I playing an out of town festival gig, and the support band had a young guy on lead guitar who was absolutely outstanding. I mean, this kid was up there with Greg Howe. Every kind of chops, great note choices, natural phrasing, everything fitted together musically. Of course (as usual for such a 'notes' focused player) his tone was a bit rubbish and didn't do his very musical playing justice, but it struck me that I used to be able to play a lot of the same stuff he was playing, and I would really struggle to pull any of it off with my current guitars.
After that gig, I got my tele refretted and I couldn't believe how much easier it was to play. It's still not the most totally shred-friendly guitar out there (after all, I want it to sound good), but it really has helped me play more fluently.
Real high end shredders of the super-uptight kind are essentially sportsmen. So they need a high performance instrument. Stuff like ultra-flat radiuses and thin necks do make that extra yard of difference when doing thumb-behind-the-neck stuff like triad sweeps and string skipping with tapping. And it works because those guys are making tiny, precise movements with relative flat dynamic range.
The trade-off is that a super flat radius, low action popsicle neck is generally going to sound thin and is going to be an absolute hinderance if you want to bear down, grab onto that neck and play some greasy rhythm for two hours at a stretch.
So while I'll always want a guitar that sounds good first, and I need it to be able to take a beating, a little playability can go a long way. I got TOO vintage-snob there for a bit.
