building up speed.
Hello, I was practicing on some scales yesterday and get really frustrated it feels like its not possible to get any faster. How did you guys build up speed over time? any special techniques?
# 1
The biggest thing here to keep in mind is to NOT expect too much too fast. You said it best in you question "over time". You have to start slowly, and work consistantly. Never try to advance too quickly. It takes alot of time and hard work. I think the reason most peeps fail is because they are not willing to put in the hard work. Work slowly woth a metronome, and build up over a series of months (not days)
There is no silver bullet here. It all comes down to blood,sweat and tears. If you put the time in, you will develop speed.
There is no silver bullet here. It all comes down to blood,sweat and tears. If you put the time in, you will develop speed.
# 3
I agree strongly. The main thing here is practice. The only way you can get better, or faster for your sake, and to practice your heart out. No one just magically can play fast over night. I takes time and a whole crap load of practice.
# 4
And don't forget fret-hand dexterity. Its best to work on dexterity now before you get any permanent habits formed... my greatest regret as a player is not building up enough dexterity between my ring and pinky fingers back when I was beginning; now it cramps my speed and style. I'm still working to loosen those fingers up a little.
# 5
There's really no special technique other than hard work and time.
What helped me is to break down a lick into smaller parts, then work on each part individually.
What helped me is to break down a lick into smaller parts, then work on each part individually.
# 6
Originally Posted by: GargyAnd don't forget fret-hand dexterity. Its best to work on dexterity now before you get any permanent habits formed... my greatest regret as a player is not building up enough dexterity between my ring and pinky fingers back when I was beginning; now it cramps my speed and style. I'm still working to loosen those fingers up a little.
Don't overlook your thumb over the top, either. Many do. Start practicing with triplets. Just get the feel with three notes. Then add more, one at a time as you get comfortable.
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# 7
Just to add a little bit here, also work on getting your tremolo picking smooth and run chromatic scale patterns to make sure one hand doesn't get ahead of the other.
# 8
Also try to break out of regular patterns, you will have to do this slowly at first! This article shows you the concept, it's taken from Steve Vai's 30 hour workout (or something like that?!?!) and is a chromatic scale which alternates finger sequences, 1234, 2341, 3412, 4123 etc then moves on to string skipping.
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/article/143/1
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/article/143/1
# 9
Chromatic exercises (1234, 1234, or 123, 123 etc) up and down the 6 strings to get the rhythm of alternate picking (left and right hands working together in time while picking up and down). Then a lot repetition of the scalar patterns to get muscle memory. That's the only way to get fast. Out of time speed can be achieved easily, don't fall into that category. Play as fast as is comfortable to a metronome, continuously increase the bpm by 5 whenever you can handle it. Eventually you will hit high speed with accuracy.
# 10
Originally Posted by: freaksauceAlso try to break out of regular patterns, you will have to do this slowly at first! This article shows you the concept, it's taken from Steve Vai's 30 hour workout (or something like that?!?!) and is a chromatic scale which alternates finger sequences, 1234, 2341, 3412, 4123 etc then moves on to string skipping.
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/article/143/1
Thanks for the link
# 11
# 12
and finally a 3 note per string approach with respect to scales and modes, which will increase your fluidity and make it easier to go faster!
# 13
