Beware the Dangers of Shred Guitar

Most guitar players absolutely hate “shred guitar” or absolutely love it. Those against shred will argue there’s no feel in the notes; it’s just playing fast for the sake of playing fast. Those who love shred will say that anyone who doesn’t like face-melting licks simply can’t play fast themselves.

Whatever your opinion is, the danger of shredding is often overlooked, so I’m here to warn you about what could happen if you decide to crank your metronome past 200 bpm.

When you reach a consistently clean rhythm at a high tempo, you’ll notice it right away: something isn’t right. Unfortunately, you’re concentrating so hard you might overlook the fact that your guitar is starting to smoke. If you experience this, it might already be too late.

You’ll watch in horror as your guitar eventually bursts into flames beneath the flurry of frantically picked notes. At this point, you’ll be lucky to escape with your hands intact. Your guitar might take on a burning red form as this phenomenon happens, altering the very reality you think you know.

Beware, my friends. Should you choose to shred, be sure to do it with caution.

Tyler Larson is the founder of the guitar-centric brand Music is Win. His insightful, uncomplicated guitar lessons and gear demonstrations along with entertaining, satirical content about life as a musician receive tens of millions of video views per month across social media. Tyler is also the creator of the extremely popular online guitar learning platform, Guitar Super System. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Tyler has been teaching guitar for over a decade and operates a production studio in Nashville, TN.