Shredding, playing fast, whatever

Hey people I was just wondering if any of you could give me some pointers on shredding. I'm slowly getting up to a decent speed but whenever I turn on my distortion and just let it flow I get all of these strings ringing. I thought it was because my fingers werent musting the strings enough, but now I think it's the harmonics at 5,7,and 12 that do it. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Toe-Knee

If you mute with your picking hand (fingers or palm) , there won't be any harmonic noise.
I usualy use combination of both picking & fretting hand muting , but you should develope each on it's own first.

I use mostly my picking hand to mute the strings I'm not playing. Just try to keep the strings you're not playing muted and over time, it will come naturally just to mute them. This also cuts down on feedback.

I figured out some ways to shift muting functions between the two hands while playing fast + incorporating harmonic material -- the results are pretty wild.

You can find a lot of this stuff in the lessons section of my site
gtr oblq
http://kronosonic.com

I bet your practising with distortion on. If so, my advice is to stop, and practise clean. It'll be much easier to hear the exess noise your making and eliminate it. Then, put distorion on, then it'll sound real nice, and there will be no need for muting, which will free you hand up to move a little more.

Yes, practice with a clean amp

Also, one thing I've noticed that helps out a lot is that single coils or dual coil pickup settings can cut a lot of the lower mids out and muddy up the tone

My Nitefly M has dual hummers but also coil-splitting switching and you can clean up the sound quite a bit by going into single coil mode

http://kronosonic.com

Practice Slow.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO...
WAY slower...
Accuracy is the key to speed. Once your muscles are fit, they require less motion, hence increasing speed.

Ok I do Always practice on clean, but every now and then I feel the need to just let loose and see what I can do. But lalimacefolle are you saying that I keep going at it even slower that the ringing will stop? What about every time I lift up from 12th fret won't it ring? I'll try incorperating my right hand more. But thanks everybody for helpin a fellow musicisian. Also what kind of picking motion do you guys use, Like up and down from the wrist, left and right from the forarm, or up and down from the elbow (like jacking off!) just looking for a comparision.

Thank you much,
Toe-Knee

Not THAT slow, but you'll see that it is quite difficult to play a scale at 60 BPM.
I personnaly use as little motion as possible to alternate pick, so only my hand moves, not my forearm.

Some players even restrict the picking motion to their thumb and intex finger. That can be tough, but it'll limit the movement of your hand allowing more speed.

Originally posted by Josh Redstone
Some players even restrict the picking motion to their thumb and intex finger. That can be tough, but it'll limit the movement of your hand allowing more speed.

Yep, Steve Morse is one of them. Not the worst...

I usualy use strict finger (thumb and index) motion for picking , sometimes use wrist , and never use elbow or forearm unless I'm strumming easy chords or so.
One thing's for sure , I never think about it , nor try to force myself to use one way... You should always use what makes you comfortable and faster.