Originally printed in Guitar World Magazine, July 2008
From Les Paul to Paul Gilbert, Johnny Winter to Johnny Hiland, and Paco De Lucia to Al Di Meola, fleet-fingered guitarists have made their mark in every genre throughout the modern history of the guitar. Guitar World exceeds the legal limit with this roundup—in no particular order—of the 50 fastest masters of the fretboard.
Trey Azagthoth
SIGNATURE SONG: “Summoning Redemption”
Gateways to Annihilation (MORBID ANGEL)
When a guitarist cites Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and Mozart as influences, you could probably bet your life savings he’s a shredder. But guitarist Trey Azagthoth is not the typical fret burner, preferring the brute force and bludgeoning energy of death metal over the more rarified air of instrumental rock. Azagthoth’s rough and raw solos sound completely spontaneous, eschewing the technical precision of a prewritten solo for sheer emotion that comes directly from the gut.
Mick Barr
SIGNATURE SONG: “P art 1”
Annwn (OCRILIM)
He may look like some geek from a Tolkien fest who has an unhealthy obsession with Gollum, but precious few players can match Mick Barr’s intensity and speed, which has reportedly been clocked at up to 24 notes per second. The music that Barr records under the pseudonyms Octis, Ocrilim, Or:12r3 and Orthrelm is challenging, to say the least, for its avant-garde atonal melodies. But although it may sound like noodling to the untrained ear, Barr’s bizarre scales and lack of repetition prove that he’s working on another level altogether. It’s rock, Jim, but not as we know it.
Michael Angelo Batio
SIGNATURE SONG: “Full Force”
Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity
Michael Angelo Batio encompasses everything a shred guitar hero should be. Renaissance-inspired name? Check. Insanely fast, overthe- top (literally) ambidextrous technique? Check. Wacky, unconventional dual- and quad-neck instruments? Check and check. Casual music fans may consider Batio little more than an oddity or cult figure (allmusic.com didn’t even bother writing a bio for him or rating any of his seven albums), but real guitar fans know and appreciate him as the shred god he truly is. As generous as he is gifted, Batio has revealed the secrets of his incredible technique to players like Tom Morello and Mark Tremonti as well as to readers of his Guitar World columns. Even with his help, we still can’t figure out how he plays so friggin’ fast.
Jason Becker
SIGNATURE SONG: “Seranna”
Perspective
A titan of neoclassical shredding, Jason Becker’s astounding arpeggios made him a youthful champion of the Shrapnel Records stable in the late Eighties. He went on to play with David Lee Roth but was stricken with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) while working on Roth’s 1991 album, A Little Ain’t Enough. The condition has left him almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak, but he continues to compose music via a computer program that can track the movements of his eyes and head. His courage, determination and continued creativity in the face of extreme difficulty are every bit as inspiring as the dazzling virtuosity of his youthful guitar work.
Buckethead
SIGNATURE SONG: “Nottingham Lace”
Enter the Chicken
He may wear a KFC bucket on his noggin, but that ain’t no chicken pickin’ emanating from Buckethead’s amps. The guitarist known to his parents as Brian Carroll is one of the most eccentric players to ever master the six-string, one whose playing can shift in a 32nd-note triplet from downright weird computer meltdown noises to hauntingly beautiful arpeggios. While he’s become known to the general public through his soundtrack work on major films like Saw II and his collaborations with Guns N’ Roses and actor Viggo Mortensen, Bucket’s three dozen or so solo albums remain the best source for experiencing his mad genius.
Dimebag Darrell
SIGNATURE SONG: “Cowboys from Hell”
Cowboys from Hell (PANTERA)
Dimebag grabbed the baton from players like Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads and proceeded to shove it up the ass of pretentious neoclassical guitarists with his incredibly heavy, unapologetically raw pentatonic shredding. The solos that Dimebag recorded with Pantera and Damageplan are impressive, but his true talents exploded on the concert stage, where he could let loose with wild abandon, inspired by hell-raising crowds and shirt-raising hotties. While most thrash bands did away with solos during the Nineties, Dimebag kept the shred flag flying like the stars and bars over the South Carolina State House.
Paco de Lucia
SIGNATURE SONG: “Rio Ancho”
Almoraima
Born into a family of Spanish flamenco performers, Paco de Lucia came to the international guitar arena with a background rich in colorful history, artistic passion and centuries of mesmerizing guitar technique. A traditional flamenco performer from the mid Sixties to the late Seventies, he crossed over to fusion, jazz and world music audiences via virtuoso collaborations with Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Larry Coryell. What De Lucia brought to the party was the rhythmic fire of flamenco, a stunning five-finger picking style and a dizzying repertoire of rasgueados, picados and other flamenco techniques. His forays into jazz, classical and other genres have also enriched his expressiveness within the flamenco idiom. In any genre, Paco de Lucia can make those nylon strings burn like molten lava.
Marty Friedman
SIGNATURE SONG: “Hangar 18”
Rust in Peace (MEGADETH)
Marty Friedman played dueling neoclassical leads with Jason Becker
in Cacophony before going on to make thrash metal history as the lead guitarist for Megadeth on their classic albums Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, Youthanasia and Risk. His shredded arpeggios, hyperactive sweep picking and winning way with exotic scales have stood him in good stead, both in his Megadeth work and his current incarnation as an American expatriate who is definitely big in Japan.
Synyster Gates
SIGNATURE SONG: “Eternal Rest”
Waking the Fallen (AVENGED SEVENFOLD)
It’s easy for critics to dismiss Avenged Sevenfold because they look like a bunch of emo-punk kids who raided Axl Rose’s wardrobe, but no other band has done as much to introduce Generation Y to the shock and awe of a brilliant guitar solo. Justin Timberlake may be bringing sexy back, but Synyster Gates brought almighty shred to the forefront with his numerous extended no-holds-barred solos on A7X’s albums. A GIT graduate, Gates is a surprisingly versatile guitarist influenced by players ranging from Django to Dimebag.
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