I want to play the solo of Stairway to Heaven. I know how to play it, but I play it way to slow. Can someone give me some hints and exercises that could help me play faster? Thanks.

Check out the tips in the "Some Q's about speed" thread in this section of the Forum. It's all good attitude/approach stuff. I have no way of knowing what you're doing that needs 'fixing', but try this.

Hold your pick at a bit of an angle, so that you STROKE the strings, instead of 'plucking' them. Try strumming chords like this:

On the downstroke, lead with your hand. Your knuckles should skim just above the strings, with the pick trailing along behind your hand. On the upstroke, your thumb should almost touch the strings as the pick follows.

Get a sense of the sound and feel this produces. Then pick single notes, teying to reproduce that feel. You will find that you're moving the pick up and down by rotating your forearm. It works.

Yes, try alternate picking, it's usually the best way for beginners to get faster.
Then, try to play the solo in bars. Like, play the first part on the first 4 beats, 1..&..2..&..3..&..4.
I remember Stairway to go in F and G for one bar, then a hole bar in A minor.
So pull out the pieces and play one part till it flows, then move one to the next. In the end, you'll be able to play it at the right speed.
Problems about speed is often, that you don't know what you're playing, therefore you start think to much, hitting wrong notes, getting off beat and actually rehearsing the wrong stuff.
So, know what you play, do it slowly and someday you'll forget about it and play just what pops to your head.
Also, as I've mentioned here before, try sing the notes you play, i.ex. sing the Stairway-solo while playing. This will develop your ear and make you much stronger, musically, in a couple of years.

Some of the best players claim that they do some of their best practicing in their minds, (which is the process of visualization. Apply this old age concept to your practice rountine and you can produce amazing results. Look at the transcription and follow along in your mind, it definiteky works wonders in preparing yourself mentally. No matter how many years we've been playing guitar, when we hear a solo that absolutely love we just have to learn it, but sometimes with our excitement the whole experience can get too overwhelming, to the point where we try toi learn evewrything too fast and too sloppy. Of course you know that you should work on your problem areas, whatever they may be, and if you're not sure practice your scales. However, If you have learned the solo entirely, (but very slow), good, thats a good start. The trick with playing it much faster is that you have to listen with your ears, figure out which bars you're really having trouble with, and whether or not its the slides or the hammer ons, once you figure that out, you're on your way.

-Joseph, .

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