Shredding Techniques: Speed Picking, Legato, and Sweep Arpeggios

1 What Shredding Really Means

Shredding is the art of playing at extreme speed with precision, clarity, and musical purpose. It emerged in the 1980s when guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, and Steve Vai pushed the boundaries of what was physically possible on the instrument. Shredding is not just playing fast. It is playing fast with every note articulated, in time, in tune, and in service of the music.

The techniques that define shredding, including rapid alternate picking, legato runs, tapping, sweep picking, and string skipping, each require months or years of dedicated practice to execute at the speeds shredders demand. There are no shortcuts. Every great shredder put in thousands of hours of disciplined, metronome-based practice before their technique became effortless.

The backlash against shredding in the early 1990s, when grunge and alternative rock displaced technical metal, missed the point entirely. Shredding was never just about speed. Players like Jason Becker combined breathtaking speed with deeply emotional composition. Guthrie Govan shreds with jazz-level harmonic sophistication. Tosin Abasi uses shred technique within progressive compositions that push the boundaries of the instrument.

This guide breaks down the core shredding techniques, provides structured practice approaches for each, and shows you how to integrate speed into musical contexts. Whether you want to play neoclassical metal, progressive shred, or simply add fast passages to your rock and metal solos, these techniques are the building blocks.

2 Alternate Picking at Extreme Speeds

Alternate picking is the most fundamental shredding technique. It involves strict alternation between downstrokes and upstrokes at speeds exceeding 160 BPM in sixteenth notes. At these speeds, the picking motion must be tiny and purely wrist-driven. Any involvement of the forearm or elbow introduces excess motion that caps your speed ceiling and causes fatigue.

The three-note-per-string scale pattern is the shredder's primary alternate picking vehicle. Unlike two-note-per-string pentatonic patterns, three notes per string maintain consistent picking direction across string changes, making it easier to maintain speed. Each string gets a down-up-down or up-down-up sequence before crossing to the next string.

String crossing is where most alternate picking breaks down at speed. When you finish three notes on one string and need to cross to the next, the pick must "escape" the current string without hitting adjacent strings. The two main approaches are outside picking (the pick escapes away from the body of the guitar) and inside picking (the pick escapes toward the guitar body). Most shredders favor one approach and arrange their scale patterns accordingly.

Pattern 1: Ascending Groups of Six
e ||--12-13-15-13-15-12-13-15----------||
B ||--12-13-15-13-15-12-13-15----------||

Pattern 2: Four-Note Sequence
e ||--12-13-15-13--13-15-12-13---------||
B ||--12-13-15-13--13-15-12-13---------||

Picking: D U D U D U D U (strict!)

Start at 80 BPM sixteenth notes.
Every note must be crystal clear.
Increase 4 BPM per session when clean.
Target: 180+ BPM for shred-level speed.

3 Legato Shredding: Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs

Legato shredding uses hammer-ons and pull-offs to produce rapid, smooth lines where only a fraction of the notes are picked. The result is a fluid, singing quality that contrasts with the more aggressive, articulated sound of alternate picking. Players like Joe Satriani, Allan Holdsworth, and Brett Garsed built their reputations on legato mastery.

The standard legato approach picks only the first note on each string and hammers or pulls off the remaining notes. For a three-note-per-string ascending run, you pick the first note and hammer on twice. For descending, you pick the first note and pull off twice. The challenge is maintaining consistent volume across all three notes. The hammered and pulled notes must be nearly as loud as the picked notes.

Building hammer-on strength requires daily practice. Place your fingers on a string and practice hammering each finger individually from a height of about one centimeter. The fingertip should strike the fretboard like a tiny hammer, not press gradually. Pull-offs should pluck the string slightly downward as you lift, giving the next note a clean attack. See our speed building exercises for progressive legato drills.

P = picked, H = hammer-on, PO = pull-off

Ascending:
e ||-----P--H--H-----------------------||
B ||--P--H--H--------------------------||
G ||--P--H--H--------------------------||

e ||-----12h13h15-----------------------||
B ||--12h13h15--------------------------||
G ||--12h14h16--------------------------||

Descending:
G ||--16p14p12--------------------------||
B ||--15p13p12--------------------------||
e ||--15p13p12--------------------------||

Start at 60 BPM triplets. Each note must
ring with equal volume and clarity.

4 Tapping Techniques

Two-hand tapping was popularized by Eddie Van Halen on "Eruption" in 1978 and has since become a staple of shred guitar. The technique uses a picking-hand finger (usually the index or middle) to tap notes on the fretboard, extending your reach beyond what the fretting hand alone can cover. This enables wide intervals, rapid arpeggios, and patterns that are physically impossible with one hand.

The basic tapping motion is a hammer-on with the picking hand followed by a pull-off back to a fretted note. For example, tap the 12th fret with your right-hand index finger, pull off to the 7th fret (fretted by your left-hand pinky), then pull off to the 5th fret (left-hand index). This three-note tapping sequence forms the foundation of most tapping licks.

The pull-off from the tapping finger is the most critical part. You must flick the string slightly downward as you lift, not just release it. Without this flicking motion, the next note will barely sound. Practice the pull-off in isolation until the lower note rings as loudly as the tapped note. Muting unwanted string noise is also essential: use your fretting hand's unused fingers to lightly touch adjacent strings.

Advanced tapping includes multi-finger tapping (using two, three, or four right-hand fingers), tapped arpeggios across multiple strings, and tapped scale patterns. Players like Tosin Abasi and Yvette Young use eight-finger tapping to create piano-like passages that redefine what is possible on the guitar. Start with single-finger tapping and expand as your coordination develops.

5 String Skipping and Wide Intervals

String skipping is the technique of jumping over one or more strings rather than playing adjacent strings in sequence. This creates wide intervals, unusual melodic shapes that break away from the scalar sound of step-by-step scale runs. Players like Paul Gilbert, Nuno Bettencourt, and Steve Morse use string skipping to create angular, exciting lines that surprise the listener.

The technical challenge of string skipping is accuracy. When your pick must jump from the 6th string to the 4th string and back rapidly, the margin for error is tiny. Hitting the wrong string is a constant risk, especially at speed. The solution is slow, deliberate practice with a focus on pick accuracy. Use a metronome and do not increase tempo until every string skip lands perfectly.

Combine string skipping with the pentatonic scale for immediate musical results. Instead of playing the pentatonic in its standard box pattern, play it by skipping strings: play notes on the 6th string, skip the 5th, play the 4th, skip the 3rd, play the 2nd, skip the 1st, and then come back down. This takes a familiar scale and makes it sound completely different.

Skip one string between each pair:

e ||--5-----------8-----5-----------||
B ||--------------------------------------||
G ||------5-----------7---5---------||
D ||--------------------------------------||
A ||----------5-----------7---------||
E ||--------------------------------------||

Picking: D   U   D   U   D   U
Each skip must be clean. No unwanted
string noise from the skipped string.
Start at 60 BPM and build accuracy first.

6 Whammy Bar Techniques

The whammy bar (tremolo arm) is a dramatic tool that adds screaming dive bombs, subtle vibrato, and pitch-shifting effects to your shredding vocabulary. Players like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Jeff Beck have elevated whammy bar use to an art form. A Floyd Rose or similar locking tremolo system is essential for aggressive whammy techniques, as standard tremolo systems go out of tune with heavy use.

Dive bombs are the most recognizable whammy technique. Play a natural harmonic at the 5th or 7th fret, then push the bar down to slacken the strings completely, dropping the pitch to a rumbling low. The harmonic gives the dive bomb its piercing starting pitch, and the gradual descent creates the classic "falling bomb" effect. Dimebag Darrell was the undisputed master of this technique.

Flutter is a rapid oscillation of the bar that creates a shimmering, almost tremolo-like vibrato effect. Lightly tap the bar with your picking hand and let it bounce freely. The result is a fast, shallow pitch wobble that adds texture to sustained notes. Steve Vai uses flutter extensively to add an almost vocal quality to held notes.

Whammy bar bends can push notes up in pitch as well, reaching intervals that string bending alone cannot achieve. Combined with tapping and harmonics, the whammy bar extends the pitch range of the guitar dramatically. Always ensure your floating tremolo is properly set up and your strings are stretched thoroughly, or these techniques will leave you hopelessly out of tune.

7 The Shredder's Practice Blueprint

Shredding demands a systematic, patient approach to practice. You cannot rush the development of speed and precision. The following 45-minute daily blueprint covers all the core shredding techniques and builds them incrementally over weeks and months. Track your tempos in a journal to measure your progress objectively.

Warm-up (5 minutes): Chromatic runs across all six strings at a moderate tempo. Four notes per string, ascending and descending, with strict alternate picking. This wakes up both hands and establishes clean coordination before you push for speed.

Picking speed (10 minutes): Three-note-per-string scale runs with a metronome. Start at your current clean maximum tempo and play for two minutes. Increase by 3 BPM and play for two minutes. Continue until you hit a tempo where errors creep in, then drop back 5 BPM and play for the remaining time. This edge-of-ability practice is where speed grows.

Legato (10 minutes): Hammer-on and pull-off patterns on unplugged guitar for five minutes (strength building), then plugged in for five minutes (musicality and control). Focus on volume consistency across hammered, pulled, and picked notes. Use exercises from our speed building exercises guide to target weak fingers.

Technique focus (10 minutes): Rotate weekly between tapping, sweep picking, string skipping, and whammy bar work. Dedicate a full week to each technique before rotating. This depth-first approach is more effective than spreading ten minutes across four techniques in a single session.

Musical application (10 minutes): Solo over a backing track or learn a section of a famous shred solo. Apply the techniques you drilled earlier in a musical context. This is where the mechanical skill transforms into actual music. Record yourself and identify one specific area for improvement next session.