whole lotta shreddin' goin' on

September 19, 2007 8:50 AM

Jake E Lee shreds, Steve Vai shreds, Eddie Van Halen shreds, many others shred.
posted by hellbient (57 comments total)

shred or dead!
posted by Mach5 at 8:57 AM on September 19, 2007

Jesus, these aren't mortals, they're shred-o-sauruses!!

I've been thinking about making this post for a while, by the way, but I kept betting that Poolio would end up making it first (and better). Plus, I keep nickel & diming away portions of the post in different unrelated posts.
posted by jonson at 8:57 AM on September 19, 2007

Joe Pass
posted by chuckdarwin at 9:05 AM on September 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

Nice. Still, the best guitar solo of all time is Johnny Ramone's one-note ripper in "I Wanna Be Sedated".
posted by psmealey at 9:06 AM on September 19, 2007

I've been thinking about making this post for a while, by the way, but I kept betting that Poolio would end up making it first (and better).

The good news is that you can still save 15% or more on your car insurance, jonson.
posted by Poolio at 9:12 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

ah, I could have thrown that in there as a punchline, psmealey.
posted by hellbient at 9:12 AM on September 19, 2007

Those guys were exciting because they were innovative and sounded new... but we're at least two generations past them in technique, now; whether that makes for better music or not is debatable, but the level of technical expertise that guitarists are just routinely deploying as a matter of course now is amazing.

More on this later...
posted by Wolfdog at 9:14 AM on September 19, 2007

Heh... great stuff. Also seems to prove that no one actually clicks on links before commenting anymore...
posted by gwint at 9:17 AM on September 19, 2007 [7 favorites]

hey - gwint is totally right, I didn't watch enough of each of those (although I did click on them, I only watched a second or two before clicking on the next, etc) to realize it's all one guy dressed up like each of the shredosauruses and that guy can't actually play guitar very well. I feel dumb, and amused. But mostly dumb.
posted by jonson at 9:25 AM on September 19, 2007

Holy crap, Ozzy clapping in the Jake E. Lee clip is possibly the best thing I'll see all day.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:26 AM on September 19, 2007

Hi-larious! Highly larious. Funniest fucking thing I've seen in ages. I only got halfway through the Steve Vai link, & had to come back in here to say thanks. I'm wearing headphones and my co-workers think I've gone nuts, laughing at a guy playing guitar. Can't wait to watch the rest of the links.
posted by sleevener at 9:27 AM on September 19, 2007

whoever makes those does a great job syncing. the Vai one is much more entertaining than the original

give me keef over these guys any day
posted by bhnyc at 9:30 AM on September 19, 2007

yeah sleevener - I'm at work also and it took me 15 minutes just to get through the Ozzy link the first time. Pausing and laughing...pausing and laughing some more...
posted by hellbient at 9:37 AM on September 19, 2007

I remember a cover story in Musician magazine about Steve, asking "Will he be the best guitarist of his generation or will he play bad metal for big money?"

Dude has freakishly long fingers, never noticed that before.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:39 AM on September 19, 2007

See, I remember these guys being really good. I guess my tastes have changed over the years.

They need some lessons from this guy.
posted by LordSludge at 9:40 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

They need some lessons from this guy.

Damn, I better sell my guitar on eBay. I'll never be able to play 5 billion.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:46 AM on September 19, 2007

SHREDDER
posted by poppo at 9:54 AM on September 19, 2007

So fucking funny! This one is particularly hilarious.
posted by interrobang at 10:10 AM on September 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

No man can punish a triple neck like Steve Vai. This has been the greatest rock youtube thread ever. I'd like to spark one up for all of you.
posted by sleepy pete at 10:12 AM on September 19, 2007

Holy shit this is the best post ever, period. There's no point going on. This is what it's all been leading to: this is the myth, the legend, the end of the quest -- the best of the web and its logical conclusion. Thank you and good NIGHT.

Ozzy, would you mind taking us home?

clap:clap:clap:grrr:clap:clap:yeah:clap
posted by melissa may at 10:38 AM on September 19, 2007

I think they finally found a proper use for YouTube.
posted by psmealey at 10:44 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'm glad you folks explained this.
I thought I was in the guitar store after middle school lets out.
posted by MtDewd at 10:45 AM on September 19, 2007

Fred Durst is way better than any of these losers.
posted by abcde at 10:46 AM on September 19, 2007

Absolutely awesome. But it's definitely Eric Clapton for the win!
posted by Duug at 11:14 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

(It's important to note that my link is not a dub.)
posted by abcde at 11:18 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

This was seriously messed up.

Dude from Complete/Hoogie Boogie Land looks like my brother-in-law, and I'm not sure who that's more of an insult to.
posted by jennaratrix at 11:25 AM on September 19, 2007

Am I the only one who was kinda hoping we'd actually see videos of a bunch of guitar legends feeding paper into a shredding machine?

Also, man did it take me a long time to figure out what was going on here.
posted by chrominance at 11:37 AM on September 19, 2007

I went for the Van Halen one and was absolutely appalled for about 10 seconds before I figured out it was a joke.
posted by tomcooke at 11:43 AM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

that slash one struck me as so funny that I seriously had to wipe a tear away.
posted by vronsky at 11:44 AM on September 19, 2007

still laughing...

nigel tufnel.
posted by vronsky at 11:48 AM on September 19, 2007

I love how all the utube haters are gonna miss this. Nice fake out hellbient.
posted by vronsky at 11:57 AM on September 19, 2007

yeah, vronsky, I was also thinking this should be on the side bar as the perfect example of what happens when people don't click the link.
posted by sleepy pete at 12:34 PM on September 19, 2007

I'm gonna go ahead and just post the rest of them here.
Steve Vai shreds (again)
Metallica shreds
Angus Young shreds
Gary Moore shreds
Marty Friedman shreds
posted by hellbient at 12:34 PM on September 19, 2007

I love the audio sync on the Jake E Lee vid, Ozzy's handclaps are perfect!
posted by Ber at 12:41 PM on September 19, 2007

Similarly, We Will Rock You.
posted by hellbient at 12:43 PM on September 19, 2007

Hours later, and I am still walking around the house laughing from time to time at the very idea of these videos. Thank you so much, hellbient!
posted by interrobang at 1:03 PM on September 19, 2007

Me too, interrobang! I don't even have to watch them anymore and they're cracking me up.
posted by hellbient at 1:08 PM on September 19, 2007

I am slain.
posted by Atom Eyes at 2:43 PM on September 19, 2007

Some Charlie Byrd to go with your Joe Pass chuckdarwin:)
posted by vronsky at 3:32 PM on September 19, 2007

Holy hell that Metallica one had me rolling.

Steve Vai and Clapton too.

Great post.
posted by lazaruslong at 3:36 PM on September 19, 2007

This kicks ass.

Though I gotta ask, when did EVH play with Tony Levin? I mean, Tony Levin is everywhere!
posted by Eekacat at 3:41 PM on September 19, 2007

Ahh ok, I found the original EVH one here.
posted by Eekacat at 3:47 PM on September 19, 2007

Tony Levin is everywhere

From which we can reliably conclude that Tony Levin is God.

I can think of worse gods.
posted by Grangousier at 4:00 PM on September 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

(By the way, I followed the link to the fake John Petrucci and stumbled across a real John Petrucci video - It's kind of like the music they play behind the voiceovers on cheap late-night programmes about extreme sports. Perhaps it is.)
posted by Grangousier at 4:00 PM on September 19, 2007

It was two seconds into the Jake E. Lee video that I realized it was faked. And two seconds later that everyone in my office was in tears. Fucking rad.
posted by eyeballkid at 4:16 PM on September 19, 2007

It's too bad someone hasn't thought to do the reverse: dub in some burning riffs over a guy that can't play at all, like, for example, The Edge.
posted by psmealey at 4:24 PM on September 19, 2007

Too funny. I like in the Clapton one when the other musicians enter the shot, they suddenly join in the sonic slaughter. Perfectly synced.
posted by parm=serial at 4:58 PM on September 19, 2007

laughing n coughing n coughing
posted by toma at 5:13 PM on September 19, 2007

Great post.
posted by psmith at 7:01 PM on September 19, 2007

That's some soulless music allright.

Viva Django cabrones!
posted by 4Lnqvv at 9:20 PM on September 19, 2007

That Clapton one is so bad, it's almost good. It's like some super avant garde jazz piece. Almost.
posted by psmealey at 3:05 AM on September 20, 2007

-Last Comment-

One of the important factors that make these sound so goofy is the guitar sound used for the clips. These guitar gods are masters of distortion and sustain. The clips have a silly reveb tone that makes the playing style look rediculous. The clumsy pic work helps sell it. Plus the whoever layed down the dubs obviously knows the guitar. The fingerings were real close and the timing spot on. Good chance he/she's a fairly accomplished musician with a sense of humor.

I laughed (and posted) way too much about this.

My wife didn't really get it.
posted by parm=serial at 7:23 PM on September 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Hilarious. I could watch that Clapton clip all day.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:02 AM on September 24, 2007

The Slash video had both me and my two-year old nearly in tears. Thanks.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:18 PM on September 25, 2007

The funny thing is that Eddie Van Halen didn't really play much better than this back on the 2004 VH reunion tour.
posted by melorama at 4:52 PM on September 29, 2007

And this clip of Eddie Van Halen in 2004 is NOT overdubbed by Mr. StSanders, amazingly enough.
posted by melorama at 4:55 PM on September 29, 2007

He recently put up Santana shreds.
posted by hellbient at 10:18 AM on October 3, 2007