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Shred guitar is a style of electric guitar playing in which rapid passages are performed using alternate picking, sweep-picking, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and other techniques. While shred guitar is mostly associated with hard rock and neo-classical metal, it is also used in some subgenres of fusion and bluegrass. Well-known shred-style guitar players include people such as Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen.

The most basic form of shred guitar are based on a two- or three-octave scale or mode, played ascending and descending at a fast tempo. This run or lick can be played by individually picking all, or a selection, of the notes, using techniques such as alternate picking, hybrid picking, or economy picking. Alternatively, the lick can be played by multiple-picking notes (tremolo picking), or picking just the first or second note of a string followed by a rapid succession of hammer-ons and/or pull-offs (legato).

Sweep picking is used to play extremely rapid arpeggios across the fretboard (sometimes on all strings). The tapping technique is used to play rapid flourishes of notes or to play arpeggios or scalar patterns using pure legato with no picking. Various techniques are used to perform passages with wide intervals, and to create a flowing legato sound. Some performers make complex combinations of tapping and sweep picking, such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Jason Becker.

By the early 1960s, rock guitar had distanced itself from its blues roots, and began to embrace a more jazz-based approach. By the early 1970s, a few guitarists began experimenting with a new fusion of jazz, rock and world music. In 1978, Eddie Van Halen merged fusion elements used by jazz fusion guitarists such as Holdsworth with the 1970s-era hard rock. Randy Rhoads and Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen incorporated classical influences with complex, virtuostic guitar compositions.

This fast playing style combined with the heavily distorted tone of heavy metal music resulted in a new nickname, 'shred'. Progressive rock, heavy metal, hard rock and jazz fusion have all made use of and adapted the style successfully over the past two and a half decades. In general, however, the phrase "shred guitar" has been traditionally associated with instrumental rock and heavy metal guitarists. This association has become less common now that modern, evolved forms of metal have adopted shredding as well. It can currently be found in almost any music genre, though its mainstream appeal (at least on TV and radio) has diminished greatly since the rise of grunge and nu metal.

Shred guitar players often use Fender Stratocaster-style electric solidbody guitars such as Ibanez, Jackson, B.C. Rich or ESP. Shred style guitarists often use locking tremolo systems, which stay more in tune when used for "dive bombing"-style sound effects. These guitars are commonly referred to as 'superstrats', and are generally high-end, expensive instruments. Some shred guitarists use elaborately-shaped models by B.C. Rich or Dean and modern versions of Flying V-style guitars. Superstrat-style guitars give performers easier access to the 24th fret.

Some shred guitar players use guitars with seven, eight or 12 strings to add more range of notes. Most shred guitar players use a range of effects such as distortion and compression to facilitate the performance of shred techniques such as tapping, hammer-ons, and pull-offs, and to create a unique tone. Often, shred-style guitar players use high-gain vacuum tube amplifiers such as Mesa Boogie, Laney, Hughes & Kettner, and Randall.

Shredding on bass guitar is less common. Manowar bass player Joey DeMaio used shred-style techniques in his performance of "Flight Of The Bumblebee", entitled "Sting Of The Bumblebee". Another example of a bass-shred musician is Billy Sheehan, who is known to incorporate many electric guitar techniques into his bass playing. John Myung of Dream Theater uses tapping, legato and rapid three finger picking.