Fastest Guitar...Stuff

The other night, my friend Greg was over and we were checking out some videos on YouTube of these guys who play the guitar really, really fast. We found out that this can mean two different things:

1) You can play a lot of notes in rapid succession in a pleasing, or at least indiscernible, melodic pattern (indiscernible because it's too fast to even hear any one note)

2) You can play a few notes in rapid succession, focusing not on the progression of one note to the next, but rather the speed at which you can move your pick over a single string.

Here are some examples:

"Dave's Bar And Grill"
This video is of a dorky little guy in his basement; he's got a clock in the background to prove that he's not speeding up his video. He has a moment of pride when he says "if you can pick faster than that, I'm bowing down to you right now..." then he feels a little guilty for saying it, and follows it with "...anyway...and I hope I do find somebody..." Awkward little guy.


"Sunglasses and Tank Top Guy"
This guy tries to cover all the bases, and gives examples of each type, all the while maintaining an almost humorous sense of his own greatness. His sweet sunglasses and tank top alone have me totally convinced of his awesomeness.


"Tank Top Mullet Man"
This guy is actually my favorite of the group. You can actually hear the notes in his raging fast "sweeps" because he is a very clean and accurate player. I'm starting to think that wearing a tank top is a crucial element in this style of playing. I also like the way he looks at the camera in a sort of "oh hey, welcome to my trailer, I will now nonchalantly blow your mind."


"Axel"
Quoted from YouTube: "This rare footage of the Columbian Guitarist known simply as Axel documents record breaking guitar shredding speeds of neraly 10,000 notes per second. Current technology lacks the sophistication to fully dupliacte the rapidity of the finger motion or articulation of every note, as does human sensory perception, but the soaring spiritual essence is still captured in these few seconds of film..."

I like how it's "Axel" instead of "Axle"

This guy wins. Period.