“People said I was just jerking off on guitar. There was a point when I thought, ‘Oh, God, they’re right’”: Chris Impellitteri is one of the fastest guitarists of all time – but he realized there was more to life than shredding

Chris Impellitteri is sometimes regarded as a guitar magician left behind by the shred era. “I was doing that before they coined the term ‘shred,’” he tells Guitar World. “When I heard it for the first time I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You do that with a potato or cheese!

“I didn’t understand why they were calling it ‘shred.’ For me, being able to play fast can benefit the song when it’s heavy metal, because you’re trying to excite.”

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Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Bass Player, Guitar Player, Guitarist, and Music Radar. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Morello, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.