"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 poses with a Charvel electric guitar.

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.”