I love this guy:

Bucket

Mentioned him on the HS guitars thread but I felt he should have his own thread - Syu from the Japanese metal band Galneryus.

He's one of the best shred guitarists I've ever heard, sounding almost like a supercharged version of Michael Schenker here:



His big thing, though, is neoclassical shred and I think he's one of the best guys ever to do it. His chops are Malmsteen-level or beyond, but he actually plays with something approaching taste as well.




And his band are gloriously mad - just epic. The studio version of this track has these kind of rinky-dink sounding synthesised orchestral parts, it's amazing hearing it with a real orchestra. Amazing solo at 8:00...

Fez

Not got time to play all the clips at the mo but that first one sounds more "musical" than many shredders I here.

axisus

My listening to shred phase was basically done by the end of the 90s, but I still appreciate that stuff for the technique and skill level. Watched the first clip and I liked it, I'll try and come back for the other two later. I do get somewhat irked that shred is so universally derided, especially when Rap gets so fawned over by the media but hey, that's life I guess.

I realised a long time ago that I would never play like that!

Sassafras

Only listened to the first one.
It was like an ice-pick through my brain and absolutely exhausting.
Otherwise, I liked it.

tony99

axisus said:

I realised a long time ago that I would never play like that!

Did you realise that although it sounds great and really technically proficient, it's not what you actually want to hear when you play your guitar ???

skunkwerx

Excellent. This reminds me of a few years back when I discovered Gentaro Satomura. 

I remember seeing this video: 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qqNKEnj2saw

That melodic part at 1:06!! 

You may have heard of this already but around the same time I discovered a band called Pergamum who have a song called Classical Metal X, which is half their work mixed with half classical tunes but done in a metal format. 

Heres that vid: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b6iRe1HFp-g

axisus

tony99 said:

axisus said:

I realised a long time ago that I would never play like that!

Did you realise that although it sounds great and really technically proficient, it's not what you actually want to hear when you play your guitar ???

No, but that did come later!

digitalscream

About half way through, it started to remind me very much of when I first heard Fire and Ice.

Also, the first thing that came to mind, given his accuracy and how clean his playing is, was "Skill level: Asian". Most impressive

Finally, talking about that...



As the American dude says - "I can't even comprehend what's going on on that screen".

EDIT: Before the inevitable flag reports for racism, that's purely a reference to the fact that Asian folk seem to have a far higher ceiling for hand-eye coordination than us European-types.

Adji

I used to be huge into power metal. Galneryus' first record is still awesome, I had it on the other day.

Bucket

I can't get over this live video:



It sounds even better than the studio version. The strings sound great, the singer absolutely belts it, Syu is note-perfect and the crowd going wild just makes it even more fun to watch.

Philly_Q

I watched a few of those clips yesterday, following on from the other thread.  And things like "Syu vs. Hizaki".

It's cool and the playing is amazing, but the music is a bit too power metal for my liking.

Arktik83

I've always really liked Japanese/asian shred guitar/bands as it's a lot more melodic whilst being technically demanding, I guess that's why Marty Friedman is such a big thing over there.  It's not just the speed Olympics.

Bucket

Philly_Q said:

It's cool and the playing is amazing, but the music is a bit too power metal for my liking.

It's about *the* most power metal thing I've ever seen, so if you're not into that then I can see why it wouldn't appeal

Philly_Q

Bucket said:

Philly_Q said:

It's cool and the playing is amazing, but the music is a bit too power metal for my liking.

It's about *the* most power metal thing I've ever seen, so if you're not into that then I can see why it wouldn't appeal

You have a point.  I don't listen to much power metal... probably because I don't like it.

They're nowhere near as ridiculous as DragonForce, but maybe DragonForce go beyond power metal into... farcical metal?

guitarfishbay

That clip with the Orchestra is pretty epic.

Bucket

Philly_Q said:

You have a point.  I don't listen to much power metal... probably because I don't like it.

They're nowhere near as ridiculous as DragonForce, but maybe DragonForce go beyond power metal into... farcical metal?

DragonForce are a tricky one - I guess they're power metal, but maybe with more thrash influence hence the breakneck tempos etc... Galneryus are much more traditional, as power metal goes, full of neoclassical ideas and what-have-you, but they're one of the best bands in that style anywhere in the world. I actually think they're more ridiculous, but in a different way - their music is not quite as much of an assault on the senses, but it's even more overblown.

It's hilarious, yeah, but it would be a lot more hilarious if they weren't so fucking amazing as well.

Philly_Q

I've watched all those clips now.  He is terrific - I'm not remotely qualified to say if one shredder is better than another, but he's melodic, I like his tone and he actually has some attitude and dynamics in his playing.  I particularly like that first clip, the Digitech demo(?)

Can't watch too much of this stuff though, it starts to feel like sensory overload!

Bucket

Philly_Q said:

I've watched all those clips now.  He is terrific - I'm not remotely qualified to say if one shredder is better than another, but he's melodic, I like his tone and he actually has some attitude and dynamics in his playing. 

This is what I like about him - it's where my comparison to Schenker comes in. He has some fire in the belly, it never sounds like he's just going through the motions. And his technique is staggering - I've spent a long time building up my shred chops, but every time I watch him it makes me feel an inch tall. I am consistently incredulous at the things he can do, and how easy he makes it look - while rocking the fuck out on stage as well and looking like he's having a great time, never standing there navel gazing.

There isn't so much of it in the song I posted just above, but his sweep picking is a sight to behold - the speed is so enormous you'd think it was studio magic, if you weren't watching him do it with your own eyes...

LuttiS

He is fantastic! Watched those clips and really impressed, will be checking out moaarr!

I like quite a few Japanese bands (particularly big fan of X-Japan & Loudness) and i think reason they so good is that it's an asian take on western music? Not really sure where i'm going with this, but it's a genre that i like but slightly different to make it really interesting. 

Akira Takasaki (loudness) was one of my first guitar loves... If you fancy check out the song  S.D.I  skip to the chorus at around the 1min mark... it's just a melodic tapping run which works really nicely with the vocals, but again not something that is "normal" to do in a song.