To think of shredding conjures up images of famous guitarists like Ulrich Roth, Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen, just to name a very small few from the world stage.

Alberta has its very own league of shredders that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Joe Sikorski, guitarist for Calgary grindcore act Exit Strategy, has been known to shred things up a time or two.

“Cornflakes, guitars, paper, miscellaneous odds and ends, you know,” laughs Sikorski, who was also a member of Thorazine, Caveat and Blacksky.

But what about shred guitar?

“I can give the clinical definition, which would probably be the ability to exercise one’s knowledge of scales and speed and feel and encompass it all into one particular momentary lapse of musical notes,” Sikorski continues. “The other way of looking at it is: how to wank off on the guitar as efficiently, as cool, and as fast as possible.”

“Hitting a whack of notes really, really fast – so fast that it sounds like a blur of sound,” chimes in Collin Wo, one half of the dual guitar leads in Calgary’s Sacred Ally, and the riff-ripping mastermind behind Orphan Hammer.

So it seems that speed is definitely of the essence. But with feeling and the “cool” factor also on the radar, what really, then, is the difference between shredding and really stellar solo?

“You don’t need break neck speeds to make a really cool solo,” Wo explains. “A cool solo is in the context of the melody and phrasing.”
Sikorski agrees, “If something is executed with blinding speed, that could be considered shredding, whereas a really cool solo would be something that actually feels and involves a certain level of playing.”

But that’s not to say a certain level of playing isn’t on the shred map, or that it lacks emotion. Quite the contrary.

“Shredding is a form of expression of the individual’s creativity,” defends Wo, who emphasizes the infinite possibilities when it comes to shredding. “As long as you are innovative and know different scales, there are no limits.”

“Shredding is definitely an art, but what makes it an art,” Sikorski questions. “The ability to do something with a certain level of uniqueness, to be technically proficient as well as emotionally attached in the sense of how you play something. Do you play with feel, or do you play with speed and technical nature or have the ability to hybrid it all together? Everyone is going to have their own definition, but shredding is really the ability to pull it off to the point where you’re satisfied and you’re happy with it.”
And the audience digs it.

“Exactly. It’s nice to have someone applaud you when you play something like that. So is when the people are like, ‘Uhhh… what the hell was that!’”

Both Sikorski and Wo stress the importance of learning and rehearsing – whether guitar or bass, or even keyboards – for those interested in mastering the art of shred.

“Start off by learning a few scales, and practice” suggests Sikorski. “Theory gets kind of boring, but once you get to a certain level, you really do need theory to excel. Although usually, for what I do day-to-day, you don’t have to ‘learn’ to write a good lead, by any means.

“Also try learning leads from guitar players you admire,” he continues. “Maybe not necessarily at the same speed, you can slow it down to get a better idea of what they’re playing.”

“Start slow, then progress faster and faster,” Wo says. “Warm up with patterns and stretch your fingers. Stay relaxed and coordinate your left hand and right hand. Use your neck pickup.
“And don’t expect to shred on a crappy guitar, it will only frustrate you. Spend some cash and get yourself a quality guitar, and have a guitar tech set it up for you,” he quickly adds.

But remember this: “Speed for the sake of speed, speed kills, in a manner of speaking,” Sikorski says.

“Just because you can play fast, does not necessitate you know what you’re doing. If you listen to Dimebag Darrell, he didn’t play at radical speeds; he played with a lot of feel. Where if you look at one of the guitar players from Nitro, Michael Angelo Batio, he played really fast and he played on two guitars at the same time. It looked cool. Was he that great? I don’t know.”

Wo counts Batio as one of his favourite shredders, and counts his precision, technique, speed, and phrasing amongst the traits that make the guitarist a great shredder.

“I have seen Micheal Angelo Batio twice, and each time I shat myself,” says Wo, who first discovered shred through Van Halen’s “Eruption.”

“One minute and 47 seconds of pure shred fury,” Wo smiles, and recalls learning to shred along with Kirk Hammett and Rhandy Rhoads solos.

Sikorski considers Alex Skolnick, Marty Friedman, and Yngwie Malmsteen amongst his influences, from a metal perspective.

“They’ve developed and honed their own sound and skills independently of what their main influences were necessarily. Alex Skolnick brought a certain amount of jazz feel and eventually a lot more jazz; Marty Friedman developed a feel based on a whole bunch of different exotic type patterns; and, Yngwie’s style developed from the classical. They’re three very different shredders, but they all play very quickly and they all have a certain feel amongst them.”

And as different as Sikorski and Wo’s influences truly are, they’re both quick to point to Alberta’s stages for some of their current favourite shredders.

Wo recommends the guitarists from “Inspected By 40, Striker, Order of Chaos, Viathyn, and Power of Murder.

“Divinity,” Sikorski nods.

“Sacha (Laskow) is a madman on the guitar. He’s got magic fingers, I swear. He’s very original in his writing style, and it shows through in his rhythm playing as well. If I had half as much skill as that guy as well the knowledge base, I’d probably be a little bit farther along.”

Hmm, that’s humble if I ever heard it. Sikorski and Wo have some mad skills of their own and both recorded some shredtastic video footage. Check ‘em out below!

Exit Strategy is set to play Noctis III Metal Fest on October 3 at MacEwan Hall in Calgary, AB, while Sacred Ally will be performing at the same festival on the second stage in The Den. Sacred Ally will also be performing at Calgary’s Big Al’s on Oct. 31 with Phantom Limb and Gales of Avalon.