How can I increase my speed??

[jeff_farkas]

My teacher wants me to start to increase my speed. He told me to use the natural scale to get my speed to increase.


What do you guys do to increase your speed. I'm doing a bit better but I just feel that I've hit a wall and I would like some advice. I try to keep my fingers as close to the fret board but I just can't seem to keep my third finger as close as I would like.

TIA
Jeff

[River]

All I can say is practice, practice, practice. My greatest speed impediment is my picking, not my fretting. There, the right pick for me (not the "right pick" according to others) really helps. When I want to go really fast, I resort to hammer-ons and pull-offs.

[mobprop667]

keep playing scales over and over and over. i know that this seems like a dumb answer, but it is the most effective way.

[jeff_farkas]

Thanks for the advice... I will keep up with the practice.

Jeff

[b-squared]

If I have a run I want to speed up, I play it about a thousand times; then it becomes second nature.

I can play faster when I'm relaxed; if your hand is tense it's much more difficult.

Using a metronome helps as well.

BB

[JM Vasek]

All of the above!

Plus, don't be afraid to play intricate parts slowly many times. You'd be surprised how fast you can play when you KNOW all of the notes and don't use speed to cover mistakes.

[Deftone]

A good set up with low string height helps too.

[fatb0t]

Warm up your fingers when you first pick up your guitar by practicing three note per string major scale shapes. Make sure you practice both alternate picking & legato techniques. Always use a metronome and monitor how many bpm you gain weekly.

Here's the fingering, though the description of the modes is slightly mis leading.

[jerryo]

Its a matter of accuracy...

Right hand and left hand in sync...and knowing where you want to go on the fretboard

PS:Thanks much for the mode picture...

[AngryHatter]

Originally Posted by River

All I can say is practice, practice, practice. My greatest speed impediment is my picking, not my fretting. There, the right pick for me (not the "right pick" according to others) really helps. . .

^^^Truth.

When you can pick quickly and accurately the fingering hand will keep up.
It's the picking hand that limits your speed.

[jerryo]

Originally Posted by AngryHatter

^^^Truth.
It's the picking hand that limits your speed.

+ 1

[BEDLAM_1]

in the late 80`s early 90`s if you coudnt play at the speed of light it was really hard to get into a metal band. I was a huge rush.Dc,and zappa fan ..so i found it really hard to play fast.

All of above is true, i found to get a run or lick down the trick for me was to start realy slow and know the notes and the string as more of a relex action..and then just pick the speed up with a metronome. The bit that i used to get stuck on was how the feeling changed as you got faster, i would start to over play with the right hand pick to quick.
DONT PANIC!,,relax and keep doing it over and over and over...it wll happen!

I remeber learning minds eye by vinny moore, i thought it was impossible!..but i got there in the end. and so will you ;-)

[LiveOak]

Relax your arms and neck muscles as much as you can when doing a solo. I used to "cringe up" those muscles, quite unknowingly to me by the way, during my solo's until a friend pointed that out. I now concentrate on my fingers, wrists, etc., works for me. Also, my speed increased dramatically (although no where near shredder speed) when I mastered back and forth picking. Whip that pick like the wings of a honey bee, back and forth, rather than all down strokes or up strokes, practice with a metronone and practice scales back and forth, using up and down strokes for each note and you will sound killer on your leads soon!

[BEDLAM_1]

oh yeh, the other thing i used to do was play the same run/lick starting from a different string or fret. That really helped alot i found. Made me think more about the strings i was picking.

[jeff_farkas]

Thanks so much for the great information!! This has been a huge help!'


Jeff

[dennistruckdriver]

Originally Posted by jeff_farkas

How can I increase my speed??

[jeff_farkas]

[mattsblues]

Originally Posted by b-squared

using a metronome helps as well.

+1

[ryanmichael95]

+1 on the practice man....the ONLY way!!

[80's Rocker]

I practice scales to increase my speed like others in this thread do. It is very effective and if you really start playing them up and down the neck fast, with some distortion and a neck pickup it can sound really cool and its fun to play. Picking is not my speed drawback at all, I can pick like crazy. When I had been playing for 2 weeks I wanted to learn Zeppelin's over the hills and far away, and so I really needed to pick up and down alot instead of just down. So I practiced that like crazy and then my picking skills improved alot with that and crazy train, learning them so early on in my playing and all so it got my picking speed up.

[ledlover01]

Agree with River

[fenicenera]

you may practise in sweep picking too, but I guess learn alternate picking first

[mattsblues]

Originally Posted by 80's Rocker

It is very effective and if you really start playing them up and down the neck fast, with some distortion and a neck pickup it can sound really cool and its fun to play.

Don't practice with distortion, it hides your mistakes to easily - that is why a lot of guys always play with a lot of drive/distortion, it hides their sloppy playing.

Practice clean, start slow and try to hit every note perfect and slowly speed up until you hit your wall but don't go sloppy. It takes time but you will benefit more from it later on down the road.

[Rikochet]

Originally Posted by 80's Rocker

I practice scales to increase my speed like others in this thread do. It is very effective and if you really start playing them up and down the neck fast, with some distortion and a neck pickup it can sound really cool and its fun to play. Picking is not my speed drawback at all, I can pick like crazy. When I had been playing for 2 weeks I wanted to learn Zeppelin's over the hills and far away, and so I really needed to pick up and down alot instead of just down. So I practiced that like crazy and then my picking skills improved alot with that and crazy train, learning them so early on in my playing and all so it got my picking speed up.

vid's or it didn't happen

[Wizzle]

The first to third fret is obviously the widest one tone stretch on the fretboard, try playing the open string followed by a C then a D at the 8th and 10th frets for a while, gradually moving down the fretboard til where you want to be. Then try just concentrating on getting the three notes on the low E string right for a couple of minutes til you get fluent at it, then just the E and A string notes for a while, then the E, A and D etc. until you can move across all the strings.
You can also try not to hit the string with too much pick, that'll slow you down. Something that really speeded my right hand up was tilting the pick forward slightly and hitting the string with the pick at an angle to it instead of holding it parallel and hitting the string with the flat of the pick.

[River]

Originally Posted by Wizzle

<snip>You can also try not to hit the string with too much pick, that'll slow you down. Something that really speeded my right hand up was tilting the pick forward slightly and hitting the string with the pick at an angle to it instead of holding it parallel and hitting the string with the flat of the pick.

Yes. Hold the pick at a slight angle, and alternate between down and up in a circular motion. There's a name for the technique, though it's not coming to mind right now. Much more fluidity of motion.

[*~{OneSilverBurst}~*]

try doing a triple hamer-on on every string, just keep rolling your fingers rolling down then all the way back up. try doing it with these frets:12h14h15

Or this helps, do this tab over and over:

B|9h11h12--------
e|--------9h11h12

and eventually whenever you want to add a little more rhythm to give you a rest on the fingers AS YOU DO THE EXERCISE, after doing that tab about 4 times and you get back to the B string, JUST HIT 9 and move it up and down for like 2 or 3 seconds, then continue doing all that over and over and over and over again
until its so easy you can do it MEGA FAST, if u want to stretch farther fingers farther apart for practice, then do these frets: 3h5h7
ooh yeah super hard isn't it? lol. you will get better at it trust me.

[AngryHatter]

Notice the picking hand.
From the pinky in...
Two fingers
Middle finger is out a bit
Two fingers holding the pick


Notice the picking hand...same technique.

Two incredibly fast pickers - same method of holding the pick, which by the way is very small and hard such as

The hand is balanced - two folded fingers separated by the middle finger acting as a counterweight and then two folded fingers.

I learned a long time ago to emulate those players I admired in all aspects - even if I didn't understand why.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by AngryHatter

Notice the picking hand.
From the pinky in...
Two fingers
Middle finger is out a bit
Two fingers holding the pick


Notice the picking hand...same technique.

Two incredibly fast pickers - same method of holding the pick, which by the way is very small and hard such as

The hand is balanced - two folded fingers separated by the middle finger acting as a counterweight and then two folded fingers.

I learned a long time ago to emulate those players I admired in all aspects - even if I didn't understand why.

I use a regular sized pick, medium to hard, but I choke up on it and just leave the very tip exposed. Same principle. I prefer mediums because I like the little bit of "snap" after they flex just that tiny bit. I can pick fast as hell, but coordinating that with the other hand is another story!

[River]

I couldn't pick fast with a heavy pick to save my life.