Your first shred guitar lesson

Eric Johnson
(Image credit: Scott Dudelson/WireImage))

Guitar lessons (opens in new tab): Everyone needs some shred in their lives. Technique-wise, it’s open season. You’ll need to hone your picking and legato skills, and a learn a good mix of scales and arpeggios. If you want to be a virtuoso player then you’re in it for the long haul, but learning these techniques is useful for any player. So let's get you started. 

Two techniques we're using 

Legato or, in other words, hammer-ons and pull-offs. Shredders play long runs with these basic techniques so make sure you’re playing cleanly.

Alternate picking: Pick with a ‘down up down up’ approach. Simple enough when you say it, but it takes practice to synchronise your fretting and picking hands.

Arpeggios

Arpeggios

(Image credit: Future)

Arpeggios are commonly used by shredders. Use these two major and minor shapes to mirror the chords of a progression.

For further development, we'd recommend exploring the harmonic minor scale (opens in new tab) and Mixolydian mode (opens in new tab)

Shreddy ready

Click on top right of tab for fullscreen view 

(Image credit: Future)
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Learn the essential scale for leads and solos (opens in new tab)

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