The complaint I hear most often about shred guitarists is that they don’t play tastefully. Of course, shred players vary tremendously in how tastefully they play and it’s also a subjective thing. Someone I consider tasteful is someone you might not think is tasteful. In your opinion, who are three of the fastest guitarists who still play tastefully? By shred players, for the purposes of this thread I’ll say that a “shred player” is someone capable of playing 16th notes at 220 on the metronome at least.
My three choices are:
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Yngwie - especially his playing in Alcatrazz and his first few solo albums. I think his vibrato is the classiest, most beautiful vibrato of any shred player. Yngwie’s vibrato is one of the things which truly sets him apart from the crowd.
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Vinnie Moore - I have his first solo album and he plays some beautiful melodies in his solos. I think his playing even when he’s shredding is some of the most melodic fast playing I’ve heard.
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Al Dimeola - He’s my favorite jazz player, even more than John McLaughlin who I like very much. Al writes and plays some truly beautiful music and when he plays fast, it’s still beautiful. I especially like his “Elegant Gypsy” album. The latin influence he adds to the jazz music he plays really makes his sound unique and wonderful. He’s great at both electric and acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar playing on the albums he made with The Trio is probably the most impressive acoustic guitar playing I’ve ever heard!
