These days if you play electric guitar and you play fast leads, people will tend to call you a “shredder.” Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a historical precedent for this: For a musician to tend to be put into a certain category based upon how rapidly he plays. Are any of you aware of a historical predecessor to “shredders”? Historically speaking, the closest thing I can think of to shredders are the bluesmen who competed in “head cutting” contests such as the one that takes place in the movie “Crossroads” with Ralph Macho and Steve Vai. Were those guys called “head cutters” or some other name that classified them as a certain type of blues guitarist based on their affinity for competing in head cutting contests?
