“John Petrucci inviting me to Guitar Universe was insane. I thought it was someone impersonating him”: Is Baxty the future of shred?

Bastian Martinez, aka Baxty, pictured with his Kiesel 7-string.

In any discussion concerning the greatest alternate pickers to walk the earth, names like John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Al Di Meola, Jason Becker, Chris Impellitteri and Shawn Lane will never be far from guitarists’ lips.

These are the players that set the bar impossibly high with their near-perfect storm of precision, dexterity and control – at times often sounding like they’ve beamed in from a different planet altogether.