This exercise is for those of you are on the path to becoming shredders and are already making good progress by working on scales and arpeggios using the bread&butter techniques like sweeps, hammer/pulls, taps and alternate picking.
It starts out as a workout to pull these strands together for the big solo, but it is actually intended to guide you in safely, but then the hope you will avoid the mind-numbing version of this style where a flash technique is applied ad infinitum & nauseum, as if the chords below and the melody of the notes are both irrelevant. Coltrane and Van Halen showed us how it can be done by making the shred parts cool and serve the music. Check out Naima and Jump respectively for examples of tasty intricate playing in the solos.
So the idea is to learn how to use the skills and the shapes in this formal way but to not confuse this 'playing by number’ with the real thing, which is where we let the imagination and the song guide our choices and draw on the training appropriately. This part is subjective and personal but if the intention is there then the muses and hopefully the audience will be pleased.
If it sounds good to you then it is good, and always make every note count.
