When did you hit your breaking point?

[Mr. Vai]

Greetings, im back.

So now that its summer and school is out I have a LOT of time on my hands, so tell me, i've been playing with my metronome and I really wanna increase my speed and accuracy, can I do this with just doing chromatic scales up and down the neck (with my met.) or is there any other exercises that helped you guys?

[IamBurnout]

Strict alternate picking helps, as does legato technique.
I can effectively double my speed playing legato.

[Mr. Vai]

Whats the legato technique if you dont mind me asking, hehe

[fendermonkey77]

I'm not familiar with the techinique...but the term legato just means smooth...or flowing...so all the notes would be attached very smoothly with no breaks or pauses.

[Christoph]

Yes, in general music terms, legato means smoothly connected, flowing notes. When guitarists use the term, they're usually referring to playing with a lot of hammer-ons and pull-offs (with very little picking).

If you've heard Satriani, you should have a good idea of what legato technique is.

[Mr. Vai]

satriani's my middle name. hehe

[^Chacron^]

'That sounds like noise, Mr Vai!'

Hey there, seeing as I haven't met you before....nice to know you're into Satch and Vai....if you havent already, check out Paul Gilbert....he should be next to 'legato' in the musician's dictionarry. I'm currently learning how to do tapping so i can increase my range with speed. I can play fast but I always feel i keep everything very compact, i havent mastered shredding from one end of the guitar to another. Just thought I'd share that :)

[lalimacefolle]

Well, Gilbert is rather an alternate picking freak... Allan Holdsworth is so good at legato he sounds the same when picking notes or when he legatoes them.

[aiwass]

And Shawn Lane.... "ONE HANDED TAPPING!!?" F*CKING FREAK!

[nechako]

a Budhist monk asked me "what is the sound of one hand clapping?",a legitamite Zen Koan(unanswerable question for meditation), I answered by playing guitar with one hand, and replied, "same as one hand tapping", he then hit me with a stick and made me wear a funny yellow hat at the metal gig we played later.

[aiwass]

Lol.

[MikeP.]

I was tought an excercise years ago (That I still use today) from my old guitar teacher that I posted here at guitartricks a year ago:
http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=2410
I used a C Major scale as an example. You can use it with any scale (The exercises). This will develop finger independence,speed, and chording all in a simple scale pattern.

[nechako]

my favorite solos of Vai are on the album "Joe's Garage", Frank Zappa. He was 16 at the time, lots of lydian...

[MikeP.]

Try these exercises I wrote on the forums:

http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/search.php?input=MikeP.


I'd especially reccomend the exercises in the key of C Major for both speed and finger coordination located here:
http://www.guitartricks.com/2000/trick.php?trick_id=2410