Shredding Sorta Exposed Again 2006-12-04 by Jom | 9 Comments | [Editor's note: by no means am I saying that you will read tell-all information or learn anything new from the man in the article - he talks about sweep picking in his dialogue, for instance - but it's nevertheless interesting discussion, specifically about the ShredCam, and his story may be familiar to you if you feel you've ever "plateaued" while practicing.]
Courtesy of, surprisingly, MTV.com:
A few years ago, when Troy Grady's relationship with his longtime girlfriend ended, he decided to start his own band — thinking, of course, that it would be an excellent way to pick up girls. But it had been years since he had even touched a guitar, having shelved his mighty ax for most of his college years at Yale University.
Before heading to New Haven, Connecticut, to hit the books, Grady had spent years practicing the guitar. He worshiped the masters — guys like Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert — and had studied their instructional videos in pursuit of playing perfection. But in time, Grady realized he'd plateaued. He'd gotten as good as he was going to get, and no amount of practice was going to make a dent.
But his renewed interest in the instrument, following what he called his "girl drama," inspired him to ask a number of questions: First and foremost, why isn't everyone who picks up a Strat able to shred as fiercely and adroitly as Malmsteen? It was a question that plagued him. Why was it, he wondered, that with the guitar, there were the greats and the schlubs, but no one in between?
"The basic idea is that lots and lots of people struggle with developing really good guitar technique, and a lot of people come to the conclusion that they just don't have it," he explained. "[But] the reality is Yngwie is doing very specific things that you don't know about. What's weirder is he doesn't know about them either — or he knows about 50 percent of them.
"The problem with guitar," Grady continued, "is it's not a level playing field. In piano, for instance, it's much more level. People go to music conservatories and study piano their entire lives, and they all kick ass — even the ones that felt they weren't competitive enough. In guitar, there's actually just a big difference between people who couldn't even play the stuff at all. You don't see that in other instruments; some people may have that mythical talent thing going on, but they can all at least play the stuff. Maybe someone can play stuff faster or slow, but most people would be able to develop a technique that would be considered impressive in your typical guitar store show-off kind of thing. Most people could develop a level of skill where anyone would listen to them and know they're good."
So three years ago, Grady set out to discover just what set guys like Malmsteen apart from dudes like, well, himself. He bought a $2,500 slow-motion camera and created a computer program called ShredCam, which helps Grady use the video he's captured to painstakingly analyze the moves of various shredders. He plans to release a documentary titled "Cracking the Code" where he'll attempt to isolate the mechanics virtuoso guitarists use to skillfully rock out, and to determine what constitutes efficient shredding. He'd like to finish the project next year and screen it at film festivals.
The ShredCam can be affixed to the body of the guitar, and is aimed at the pickups. Grady hasn't yet been able to film Malmsteen or Gilbert's riffing, but he has captured the work of experts like Texas-based guitar prodigy Rusty Cooley, Berklee College of Music professor Joe Stump, fusion player Marshall Harrison and bluegrass master Orrin Star — all at 120 frames-per-second. And what the camera reveals is the technique these players have developed, but never realized they had.
To read more about the ShredCam, how it works, why it's helping Grady (and potentially others) play better, and what Grady means by "economy of motion" as the integral reason for shredding, hop on over to the following link:
http://www.mtv.com/news/#/news/articles/1546888/20061130/malmsteen_yngwie.jhtml
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Tagged: Various Artists
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lol wankery
EDIT: I heard if you attach this camera to Herman Li's guitar, the camera meltsThis Message Edited On 12.05.06
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nice avatar cayoneer :D
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This actually sounds rather intriguing. I'm going to have to keep track of this.
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Shredcam. That is such a sweet name.
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This is neat.
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Sounds Sweet! am going to keep track of news about this!
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I'm actually very interested in this. Maybe the shredcam will be able to find out that Yngwie's right hand is really a machine.
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the who's bassist atached a cam to the top of his guitar in the past, he shreds (sorta) even on a bass.
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This is tight.
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