Two-String Classical Shred - GuitarPlayer.com

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Study the music of the great baroque-period classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach and you’ll discover that, in addition to being a master of harmony and composition, the legendary maestro knew how to exploit the unique characteristics of each instrument he wrote for. A case in point is the Prelude to his Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major. As the piece climbs toward its exultant finale, Bach scores some breathtaking passages that feature alternating open-string drones pitted against broken, step-wise scalar lines that climb the neck at a furious pace. The result sounds much more orchestral and harmonically compelling than just playing scales in one position. In this lesson, we’re going to be taking a page from the Kapellmeister’s playbook and look at some ways to create similarly-structured “classical shred” licks on the guitar that set linear scalar movement against ringing open strings.

To begin, familiarize yourself with Ex. 1, which delineates an ascending E major scale (E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#) played up the high E string in an eighth-note-triplet rhythm and three-note groups that we’ll refer to as “shells.” Starting from the second triplet onward, approach the first note of each new shell with your first finger, shifting your hand up the neck for each new shell. For shells that stretch over five frets, such as the A, B, and C# in the last beat of bar 1, I recommend using your first and second fingers for the first two notes. You’ll need to make a two-fret stretch with adjacent fingers to tackle these shells, and it’s easier to place it between the first and second notes (the A