I pulled up Google and put "guitar" and "shredding" in the search box and came up with all kinds of stuff. Wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive article, complete with links explaining the techniques used. Most interesting. Very flashy. A few tricks that can be translated to other kinds of music, but other than playing within the genre itself. . . .

Well, I think I'll stick to the Shearer, Parkening, and Noad technique books, Ricardo Iznaola's Kitharologos, and studies by Sor, Carulli, and Aguado, along with Scott Tennant's instructional DVD, "Pumping Nylon." These, plus a few things on folk guitar techniques I've picked up along the line, keep me in pretty good shape for what I like to play.

Don Firth

P. S. I was just about to post this when I checked the link to the Roy Buchanan video. Ah, SO! He's not using the shredding techniques just to impress the rubes; he's actually playing music. Now that does impress me!