I am not a fan of the word "shred" or "shredder" whether they are used as either a noun or verb. You could use either term to describe SRV in full flight or even guys like BB king.
I am part of the "started to play in the mid 1980s" demographic. My first guitar was a 1970 Kay Effecktor LP copy with built in FX. It took a year of saving before I got my Washburn GV8 and after that a yellow RG 550. The RGS are big on me and I got a FGM100. I was a huge DT and really nerded out on all their music and religiously followed JP Wild-Stringdom column in Guitar World which was an import here in the UK. Obviously all the REH videos became a huge part of my DNA.
I started to become more interested in finding my own path in the early 1990's. I had been called a JP clone and that bothered me but the discovery of players like Shawn Lane etc fuelled other interests and I decided to move away from Ibanez and find something that was uniquely me. I worked hard and scrapped the money together for my first PRS, a 1992 preowned Custom 24. I still played just as fast but I was gravitating away from the typical shred type playing where the fingerings and picking patterns are organised for ease of execution. I next got my Artist III and later my Tyler Studio Elite HD. I was doing a lot of teaching and some session work.
I decided to go to music college in 2003 to get a formal qualification but it kinda struck me that it was a waste of money and I was shocked about how most people on the course were just not putting the work in. round 2005 I had a musical midlife crisis and sold all my gear other than the Tyler and took up playing the saxophone. I started to get back into my guitar five years ago and I got myself a couple of BFR Majesty. I think they are super cool but I never sounded like me when I play them. I sold my sax and one of the BFR and came back to my PRS.
I love the tone of my Cu22 but the long heal makes playing the bass strings tricky in the upper registers. The Cu24s just hit a sweet spot for me.
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