Originally Posted by: Fret spideri think speed is due to three main fasctors.

speed of picking hand
speed of fretting hand
co-ordination betweent he two hands.

practice just picking one note and just doin legato to isolate each hand then cmbine them.

now u can improve all the above with better technique. to play more notes per second there are generally 2 things you can do. move more quickly, or make the movements required to pick the string smaller.

im not familiar with your condition so i dont know how much this applies. normally to move quikly one has to be as relaxed as possible. if you are tense then some of your muscles are acting against others. i would suggest playing as fast as you can without tensing up. as soon as there is tension relax. another trick for this is unplug ypur guitar and take it with u all over the place. if u watch tv sit there picking one note over and over again. the fact that your mind is not on your fingers should help you relax a bit more.

so the other way of increasing picking speed is to reduce the movement required to pick the note. try to pick with wrist movement rather than elbow movement. there are other benefits for picking from the wrist (they allow you to place a part of your hand on the strings above the one you are playing, muting them so you can play cleaner) but as speed is your concern i wont go into them.
also they way you grip a pick, and what pick you have may have something to do with it. some people hold the pick in the fingertips. firstly the pick. if you have a soft pick, it will bend more as you push it over a string. this means that you have to move your hand futher. solution use a thicker pick. also try to use the smallest amount of pick when playin. eg dont dig it a centermeter under the string. also some people hold the pick between the thunb and first finger finger tip. i would suggest you hold it between the 'pad' of the thunmb and the side of the ast digit of the first finger. as the pick is now closer to your wrist, less movement is required as any twisting in the wrist will not result in reduced motion of the pick.
other than the above try to make the movements as small as possible.
(also as a note pick witht he wrist, but change strings using the forarm muscle)

on the fretting hand side. the same thing applies to tension, play as fast as you can without tension. again try and make movements as small as possble.

co-ordination is about practice, start slow and work your way up.

as to scales etc any will do. i always like goin 1234 on each string then moving up to 2345 etc.

hope thuis helps

This does indeed help! Thanks for the advice man!