Hi Abnmabe -

Welcome! That's awesome that just starting out you've had the opportunity to play with other musicians on stage!

The fact that you can play rhythm guitar really well and manage open and barre chord changes well is a great foundation.

What exactly are you trying to speed up...are you learning or improvising solos? Are you trying to add little runs inbetween chord changes?

Speed is one of those things that comes with time. It's a paradox...to speed up you must slow down. It's about efficient movement and economy of motion...of both the picking hand and the fretting hand. If you look at any speed development methods, this is what is being focused on.

In developing speed, it's helpful to use a metrenome or a drum beat and slowly incremement the tempo. Find where you are comfortable and put it *a little bit beyond that limit*. Over time, you'll find that boundary moves further and fruther up.

To a point, your fingers will figure out what they need to do, but focusing on technique can be helpful too...ensure proper body posture and positioning, employ appropriate picking technique (alternate picking, economy picking, hybrid picking etc.)

For myself, my speed has come naturally from just playing my guitar a lot. I'm certainly not what you would call a fast player, but there are runs I can pull off now that I couldn't a year ago. I always make sure that I have some challenging runs or solos under my fingers that I practice all of the time to develop coordination and speed.