Is a Flatter Neck Radius really any better for Shredding?

[dave_mc]

Maybe I missed it because of the high speed!  :oops:  :lol:

I said I didn't know anything.

:lol: no worries :)

it might be in my head but i think a flatter radius makes sweeping easier, too.

[Philly Q]

Maybe I missed it because of the high speed!  :oops:  :lol:

I said I didn't know anything.

:lol: no worries :)

it might be in my head but i think a flatter radius makes sweeping easier, too.

That's what I was thinking about when I made the comment about string bending - all those YouTube clips of people (often South American, for some unknown reason) sweeping at 1,000 notes per second!  Strange thing to want to do....  :P

[dave_mc]

i wish i could sweep pick that fast :lol: I suck at it :oops:

But yeah I mean it depends on what you mean by shred. I'm no fan of the "fast for the sake of it" stuff either- I like the more melodic type of shred. Sure, there's fast playing too in parts, but there's a melody too.

[Philly Q]

i wish i could sweep pick that fast :lol: I suck at it :oops:

Don't laugh.... but I have made a few attempts to learn sweep picking.  :oops:

It felt totally unnatural to me.  And I didn't really know why I was trying to do it.  Never again.

[JDC]

took me 6 months to sweep pick, badly, another year for it to be acceptable then another year of fine tuning it

only reason to I'd want to do it at "sounds like a laser gun" speed would be to make it easier at a slower speed, still can't economy pick for toffee!

[dave_mc]

i wish i could sweep pick that fast :lol: I suck at it :oops:

Don't laugh.... but I have made a few attempts to learn sweep picking.  :oops:

It felt totally unnatural to me.  And I didn't really know why I was trying to do it.  Never again.

oh i know why i'm trying to do it, just i never feel that confident with it :lol:

[fltlll]

Pretty sure it's all about preference. I can play just as fast on my flat-radius classical as I can on my acoustic, on my JPM, Ibanez, Schecter, Squier, etc...

That being said, the guitar has to be set up to your liking; I think that's more important and allows you to play more comfortably than specs in general (like how y'all mentioned Malmsteen uses 8's tuned down a half step).

I do not like... sweep picking. I've been dabbling in economy picking for more EJ-style phrasing, but I just can't get into the long, overdone sweep picking.

[Matt77]

All my guitars are different radius ranging from 9.5 to flat
I think fret size and quality of the work on them might be marginally more important than neck radius.
The back of the neck's shape / size rather than radius is also a big factor.
Then there's string spacing. I still haven't worked out what suits me best after 17 years  :?

[Ratrod]

I've played a couple of Jacksons as well as some vintage Gretsches with a 12-18" compound radius ending with 20" at the bridge. I'm no shredder even hardly a solo guitarist but I love how those feel.

I also really like the 16" straight radius on my DeArmond.