The Truth About Improving Your Guitar Speed
The Truth About Improving Your Guitar Speed
Yes! We’ve all done it. We sit in front of that TV or browse YouTube videos watching our favorite guitar players rip off insane guitar solos pretending that’s us in front of that screaming crowd. It almost seems real doesn’t it? The truth is many of these guitarist have been playing and entertaining for a long time. They just didn’t get there in a few months or even years. Playing incredible fast solos comes with a lot of hard work and determination. Many will never get there from just trying to play too fast too quickly. Let’s take a look at a couple of techniques that are absolutely necessary to play with such precision and speed.
#1 Play at slow speeds
You must start out playing at slow speeds. If you have a metronome? Start out playing at about 60 bpm. This is quite slow and it will help you with your precision and timing. I cannot stress the importance of this.
When I was starting out I thought I had the scales and alternate picking down good enough. I then started to try to play at higher speeds (250 bpm). Well, that didn’t sound quite right. So, what did I do? I tried to play even faster! This went on for months and months until I had ingrained some really bad habits. This has taken me years to over come since the muscle memory in my picking and fretting fingers was already formed. So, again, play SLOW until you have it perfected. Then, and only then, play at a little higher speed.
#2 Play with a light touch
Beginners as well as most intermediates till fret their guitars with quite a bit of pressure. This is normal. However, we want to get to a point where we are playing with as little pressure on the frets as we can while still maintaining clear notes. This comes with great practice. Start out playing the Am Pentatonic scale over and over again. With each progression try playing a little lighter until you the notes are not coming clear (muted) anymore. Take the pressure back to the last it was clear. This is the lightest you can play while maintaining clear notes. This is where you will try to play each time. Practice this over and over. Believe me. This will take much time. However, it is imperative that you implement this process if you want to gain speed.
Until the next post…. Practice, Practice, Practice!
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