Building Speed with exercises

Hey. I've been trying to build speed for quiet a while. It's been about 8 months of 3-5 hour practice every day, but no matter how many times I do an exercise, when I start building up the speed on the metronome, I always hit the same block, and can never advance any more. I've been learning quiet a few songs lately, but always have to stop/skip parts because of my lack of speed.
Here's some exercises I've been working on:
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=1423
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=10918
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=8394
http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=9963

Any tips on building speed/how to practice etc. is much appreciated.

Originally Posted by: HaykEsaAny tips on building speed/how to practice etc. is much appreciated.

Look at these:
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=287

Note the part about emphasizing working on either your left or right hand separately; then later together.

Also, in my experience one of the biggest physical-mechanical problems people have is they are too tense (their fingers, hands, even arms and back). They are squeezing the strings, neck and, or pick SO HARD that there is no way for their fingers and hands to physically move any faster. Hence, a "wall" or barrier". So, relax, let the pick glide over the strings, and only fret the notes as hard as necessary in order to cleanly sound the note. Any harder and it's wasted effort that is only slowing you down.

Totally agree with Chris - especially on being relaxed. Just to add:

- make sure your picking is truly alternate - flipping in to economy picking when moving between strings is common, really ruins the flow and consequently speed.

- It's also psychological - if you think you can't do it, you're already beaten.

Before I could play fast, I pretty much didn't believe it was possible.... they must be cheating or something... even now, I play waaaaaaaay faster when I'm playing the kind of mindless runs I've done for years.

Thinking slows you down. I'm not advocating not thinking, just you need to get to the point where it's second nature and the thought process isn't realtime.

Originally Posted by: renTotally agree with Chris - especially on being relaxed. Just to add:

- make sure your picking is truly alternate - flipping in to economy picking when moving between strings is common, really ruins the flow and consequently speed.

- It's also psychological - if you think you can't do it, you're already beaten.

Before I could play fast, I pretty much didn't believe it was possible.... they must be cheating or something... even now, I play waaaaaaaay faster when I'm playing the kind of mindless runs I've done for years.

Thinking slows you down. I'm not advocating not thinking, just you need to get to the point where it's second nature and the thought process isn't realtime.

If thinking slows you down, I should be the fastest player in the west! Oh wait, you meant thinking about your playing huh? Ohhh, I understand now. :)

Originally Posted by: renThinking slows you down. I'm not advocating not thinking, just you need to get to the point where it's second nature and the thought process isn't realtime.

This is good point! The goal is to automatize your physical movements. Just like walking. If we had to consciously think about all the motions required to get up out of a chair walk across the room, it would never happen!

Very specifically, you want to increase the range of your thinking. When you start you have to think about every note. The goal behind practicing is to gradually increase the amount of notes "contained" in ONE thought.

In order to play fast, you have to build your physical skills to the point where you only have to essentially think, "C major scale, 3 notes per string, up in 4s ... NOW!". And your brain sends the instructions to your hands and fingers which then carry out the "orders".

But that won't happen until you've practiced enough for it to be "second nature", as Ren mentioned.

Originally Posted by: CSchlegelThis is good point! The goal is to automatize your physical movements. Just like walking. If we had to consciously think about all the motions required to get up out of a chair walk across the room, it would never happen!

Very specifically, you want to increase the range of your thinking. When you start you have to think about every note. The goal behind practicing is to gradually increase the amount of notes "contained" in ONE thought.

In order to play fast, you have to build your physical skills to the point where you only have to essentially think, "C major scale, 3 notes per string, up in 4s ... NOW!". And your brain sends the instructions to your hands and fingers which then carry out the "orders".

But that won't happen until you've practiced enough for it to be "second nature", as Ren mentioned.

That's a very Zen like approach. Nicely said - both you and Ren. I really like that idea. Good advice.

Just thought I would chime in as more of a novice that has been working on the same thing. Just in the last week I have broken through to what I like to call the next level in my speed building Quest. Yes I like to think of it as a Quest :) The reason I wanted to reply is because I started with CSchlegel's Speedy Ideas. And Benoits picking drills. And I still use my own altered forms of those more than a year later. Just keep after it!! My latest breakthrough happened after playing nothing but acoustic guitar for about 3 weeks. But still practicing all my speed drills on the acoustic. To me this was like the affect you feel after wearing angle weights all day and then after taking them off you feel like you can jump to the moon!! This was the affect I had when I finally allowed myself to go back to the electric guitar It was amazing how much cleaner each note sounded and how effortless it was. After a couple of days of getting used to the change. My speed increased by about 10 to 15%.
Also I changed from economy picking to strict alternate picking all the time and this helped a bunch also. I had to slow down for awhile to make the change but in the end it cleared up a big roadblock that I had hit in my Quest for speed. If you watch anything by John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert etc. They always say to use strict alternate picking. And I always thought I could be faster using economy picking instead but in the end it caused a disruption in the flow that you get when you use strict alternate picking. Kinda like getting out of step when you are marching... I am getting long winded but I am just excited about the subject since I have seen good results over the last couple of weeks. :rolleyes: P.S. USE A METRONOME!!!!!!