In terms of the neo-classical influence, I would say Jason Becker or maybe Randy Rhoads. As far as pure shred goes, Jason Becker would be the first of the modern day players in my opinion, then again he got his influences from guys like Ritchie Blackmore and other completely unshred related players... he also said he was influenced by early Vai and Van Halen but I would'nt categorise either of them as shred.. fast as hell maybe but not "shred".
If you want to talk about the shredders of yore, yeah Paganini was one, as was Tchaikovsky, Bach (main influence for modern day "Bach 'n Roll") and of course the ultimate shredder Franz Lizst (check him out if you want to hear an insane amount of notes per second in a very musical context)