Originally Posted by: bkwWhen and by who and using what standard.

There is a person who has spent the past few years working up the fastest guitarists using 'Strict alternate picking' and Shawn Lane was clocked as the fasted. His finding were published in Guitar World earlier this year. He has posted samples for people who were interested. (it's a huge thread... but worth the read) http://deb13.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=2676&page=1

Hey man cool post to a serious speed picking forum;-) Just to let you know though, Lane is referenced throughout as alternate picking at 19nps but the vid of this guy playing Flight of the Bumblebee at 320bpm is consistantly 22nps from start to finish over all strings (it was only recorded this year too so it would be interesting to see what those guys think about it!).
I do believe that if Shawn Lane was still alive he would probably play it faster - to my knowledge he never set out to record 'the fastest solo inthe world' so we don't know what his true potential for speed really was. I also agree 100% that he was probably the most gifted and unbelievable guitarist who ever lived. In fact if he played the same song he would probably go off on a tangent with some of his own 'outside' lines thrown in before finishing it off at around 26nps :eek: