Troy Grady demonstrates the science of shredding
Photo: MTV News

A few years ago, when Troy Grady's relationship with his longtime girlfriend ended, he decided to start his own band — thinking, of course, that it would be an excellent way to pick up girls. But it had been years since he had even touched a guitar, having shelved his mighty ax for most of his college years at Yale University.

Before heading to New Haven, Connecticut, to hit the books, Grady had spent years practicing the guitar. He worshiped the masters — guys like Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert — and had studied their instructional videos in pursuit of playing perfection. But in time, Grady realized he'd plateaued. He'd gotten as good as he was going to get, and no amount of practice was going to make a dent.

But his renewed interest in the instrument, following what he called his "girl drama," inspired him to ask a number of questions: First and foremost, why isn't everyone who picks up a Strat able to shred as fiercely and adroitly as Malmsteen? It was a question that plagued him. Why was it, he wondered, that with the guitar, there were the greats and the schlubs, but no one in between?

"The basic idea is that lots and lots of people struggle with developing really good guitar technique, and a lot of people come to the conclusion that they just don't have it," he explained. "[But] the reality is Yngwie is doing very specific things that you don't know about. What's weirder is he doesn't know about them either — or he knows about 50 percent of them.

"The problem with guitar," Grady continued, "is it's not a level playing field. In piano, for instance, it's much more level. People go to music conservatories and study piano their entire lives, and they all kick ass — even the ones that felt they weren't competitive enough. In guitar, there's actually just a big difference between people who couldn't even play the stuff at all. You don't see that in other instruments; some people may have that mythical talent thing going on, but they can all at least play the stuff. Maybe someone can play stuff faster or slow, but most people would be able to develop a technique that would be considered impressive in your typical guitar store showoff kind of thing. Most people could develop a level of skill where anyone would listen to them and know they're good."

So three years ago, Grady set out to discover just what set guys like Malmsteen apart from dudes like, well, himself. He bought a $2,500 slow-motion camera and created a computer program called ShredCam, which helps Grady use the video he's captured to painstakingly analyze the moves of various shredders. He plans to release a documentary titled "Cracking the Code" in which he'll attempt to isolate the mechanics virtuoso guitarists use to skillfully rock out, and to determine what constitutes efficient shredding. He'd like to finish the project next year and screen it at film festivals.

The ShredCam can be affixed to the body of the guitar, and is aimed at the pickups. Grady hasn't yet been able to film Malmsteen or Gilbert's riffing, but he has captured the work of experts like Texas-based guitar prodigy Rusty Cooley, Berklee College of Music professor Joe Stump, fusion player Marshall Harrison and bluegrass master Orrin Star — all at 120 frames-per-second. And what the camera reveals is the technique these players have developed, but never realized they had.

"With this high-speed camera, we can actually reveal what those things are, and playing will become a lot more straightforward for everybody," theorized Grady, who owns a headhunting business in New York. "This camera's revealing stuff that hasn't been revealed yet, because these guys don't even know it. They're maybe 40 to 70 percent aware of what they're doing at any given time. If you're a guitar player, you'll be like, 'Holy sh-- — I had no idea that's what was going on.' "

So what are these secrets? Grady said at the heart of virtuoso shredding is "economy of motion." He said guitarists like Malmsteen have developed various methods to get more from their picking.

"The issue of playing fast and clean is moving the pick across the guitar's strings at a high speed. But there's a quarter inch of space between each string, and you're moving this piece of plastic across each string and then you have to move to the other one, without banging into any others," he said. "That's a major source of inefficiency. There's a simple way to avoid that, by not switching strings, moving up and down on a single string to create different sounds."

With his findings, Grady hopes to help fledgling shredders synchronize their right- and left-handed motions when playing even huge numbers of notes and maintaining pick direction. With odd-numbered riffs, which make switching strings more difficult, Grady said he's discovered a picking technique called "scooping," a more effective way to get that pick across strings. Most of his subjects also utilize "sweeping," where one pick stroke darts across two different strings, making it easier to play guitar faster.

"Generally, guitar teachers will tell you to practice this lick over and over again, and you'll get better," he explained. "It's not that simple. You'll just end up playing it a million times before it gets better. With this video, novices should be able to pick up a guitar and use these tricks to significantly improve their playing."

• Yngwie Malmsteen

Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil (file)
Photo: Getty Images/Donald Weber

The last seven months have been rather eventful for Mötley Crüe, and with a 55-date North American summer expedition — with openers Sum 41, the Exies and Silvertide — set to kick off July 24 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, it's only going to get more hectic for the ripe hair-metal legends.

The Crüe — who'll get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 — couldn't be more excited to get back on the road. "My bags are packed," frontman Vince Neil said. "I'm standing by the door."

According to bassist Nikki Sixx, the second time around the continent's going to similar to their last outing. "We'd initially planned on changing the show quite a bit and then, in just talking to fans, and knowing that we're going to so many cities we haven't been to, we decided that we're going to keep it pretty much the same," he said. Once again, they'll mix older material and newer stuff and, of course, killer clowns and almost-naked aerialists. "We might play some different songs here and there, but at this point, it's a pretty labor-intensive show, and we decided to just take it around one more time."

Response to the Crüe's first spate of dates was so overwhelming that they just had to give it another go. "Vince has said over and over again, 'Rock and roll never really goes away,' " Sixx said. "Pop artists come and they go, but they never really come back. Rock bands, we go through phases of being more or less popular. ... We've been discovered by a new audience, a younger audience."

But those who missed the band's most recent reunion trek — and, for some inexplicable reason, commit the ungodly gaffe of missing the guys on this forthcoming tour — will still be able to experience the madness of the Crüe live. Carnival of Sins, a special double-disc DVD, hits stores October 4 and features footage from a concert in Grand Rapids, Michigan, along with behind-the-scenes footage, in-depth interviews, a Claymation film, music videos and more.

"We shot it in high-def, we had 18 cameras, and it has a lot of the behind the scenes, putting together of the show," Sixx said.

"It shows every guy doing their, like, ritual or whatever, like [drummer] Tommy [Lee] blasting music, or me kicking back or meditating or whatever — how each of us prepares to go onstage," guitarist Mick Mars added. "Me putting on makeup and all that kind of crap. I'm the only guy who wears makeup. The rest of the guys have natural beauty."

The Crüe are even planning to record new material soon.

"We look forward to creating some new songs," Sixx said. "It won't be this year. We're definitely going back to do an album. The hard part is finding the time. This tour keeps adding dates and adding dates, so it's hard to pinpoint when people ask, 'When are you going into the studio?' The only thing you can say is 'When the tour ends.' We don't know when it will end yet. It's more important to have a great record than to rush getting it out. It's important for us to put a great record out."

The rest of the week's metal news:

"Viva La Bam" and "Jackass" cast members Don Vito and Ryan Dunn have assembled a new tour that will wed extreme antics with extreme-metal performances. Open Hand, Fight Paris and Disengage will play sets during shows that will also feature acts of self-abuse and other tomfoolery. The tour launches August 3 in Austin, Texas, and runs through September 11. ... Thine Eyes Bleed, a thrash/death-metal band that features John Araya (brother of Slayer singer/bassist Tom Araya) and ex-Kittie touring guitarist Jeff Phillips, will kick off their summer North American tour on July 19 in Rimouski, Quebec. Dates run through August 5 in Ottawa. ... Swedish death-metal veterans Hypocrisy will release their 10th studio album, Virus, on September 19. The disc was produced by frontman Peter Tagtgren in his Abyss studio and includes the tracks "Warpath," "Let the Knife Do the Talking" and "Blooddrenched." ...

The fifth album by Soulfly, Dark Ages, is due October 4. The disc was produced by frontman Max Cavalera, mixed by Terry Date and includes embellishments by musicians from Serbia, Turkey, Russia and France. Tracks include "Inner Spirit," "Corrosion Creeps," "Stay Strong," "Fuel the Hate" and "Molotov," which features guest vocals by M.O.D. frontman Billy Milano. ... Finnish melodic death metallers Omnium Gatherum have booked studio time for next spring to record their third album. ... Swedish operatic metal marauders Therion will invade North America this fall for the first time in more than a decade. The band will begin the crusade August 29 in Portland, Oregon, pillaging and plundering through October 6 in Utica, New York. ...

French-Canadian extreme death-metallers Cryptopsy are nearly finished with their still-untitled fifth album, which will come out in October. The band entered Vortex Studios near Montreal on May 16 with producer Sebastien Marsan. Cryptopsy will tour with Suffocation and Aborted starting September 28 in Farmingdale, New York. ... Rollins Band drummer Jason Mackenroth will release the eponymous debut from his new band Mack on September 13. The power trio features Mackenroth (drums/vocals), Jacques Wait (guitars/vocals) and Dan McNay (bass/vocals). Mackenroth has played on seven Rollins Band albums and was also in Mother Superior. ... Guitar virtuoso Yngwie Malmsteen and his Rising Force will issue their new album, Release the Fury, on July 26. ... Speedy death-metal merchants Nile recently filmed a video for "Sacrifice Unto Sebek," a track from the band's recently released Annihilation of the Wicked. Shot on location in Atlanta with director Chad Rullman (Mastodon, the Agony Scene), it features the band rockin' hard inside an Egyptian burial chamber, "replete with actual design motifs of ancient Egyptian culture," according to a press release. ...

The Number Twelve Looks Like You hit the road on August 1 in Topton, Pennsylvania, for a 14-date tour that wraps on August 31 in Wilmington, Delaware. ... Blessing the Hogs' forthcoming opus will boast ex-Coalesce vocalist Sean Ingram's pipes on at least two songs — covers of Quicksand's "Fazer" and the Melvins' "Hog Leg." Called The Twelve Gauge Solution, the July 26 release will feature "Let's Play Doctor ... Kevorkian," "That New Car Smell," "Chemical Equalizer" and "Selficide." ... Floridian hardcore act Until the End have lined up two September shows, which will be the band's last. Both will go down in the Sunshine State (in Miami and West Palm Beach) and will feature both current vocalist James McHugh and original singer Mean Pete. ... Dutch death metallers Gorefest will start recording their reunion album soon at Excess Studio in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The group, which broke up in 1998 following the release of Chapter 13, have written 15 songs for the effort, 10 of which will make the disc, which Iis due for release by year's end. On August 23, the band's entire back catalog will be re-released on three double-disc sets with bonus tracks.

• Mötley Crüe
• Soulfly
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Open Hand
• Fight Paris