I need more speed!!

[Berserker]

I've been lurking round this forum for a while now and am very impressed with the standard of playing displayed

I started playing almost ten years ago, but I keep giving up every time I get frustrated because I can't play fast stuff. All of the music I listen to is rediculously fast (Dream Theater, Nevermore, Cannibal Corpse etc) and I would love to be able to play it. After ten years I can still only play two solos: Living on a prayer and Nothing else matters...that's how crap I am

I was just wondering if any of you could give me some tips on building speed...do you all sit doing scales with a metronome or do you have other methods? Maybe you could suggest some fairly easy but fast sounding solos for me to learn too?

I'd really appreciate any input from you guys

 

[Metaljim]

Practising with a metronome is the best method. Bursts will help a lot, play a measure of 1/8 notes, and then a measure of 1/16 notes. Or a measure of 1/8 note triplets, then a measure of 1/16 note triplets, etc.

 

[Mr. Big Noodles]

Just play fast, dude. Run some familiar scales or licks as fast as you can. It might be messy at first, but you can clean it up. Then, try to learn some fast songs. It's all about building muscle memory and becoming accustomed to fast picking.

 

[Waelstrum]

Scales + metragnome + commitment. Also, learn a Paganini caprice (pretty much any one) I don't know what it is, but something about what he plays seems to be really good for guitar techniques (?)

 

[Psychobuddy]

^the caprice thing made me laugh, get Becker's version of the 5th one, some cool licks in there. Yes a metronome is certainly the best way, a metronome and lots and lots of practicing fast stuff. Just do it till you get it down. Good Luck

 

[Arminius]

Don't give up.

 

[Fionn]

Go buy MABs first DVD, speed kills i think its call, I hae it somewhere and although most of his music sucks he is a wicked player and the DVD is wicked. Made me the guitarist I am today!!!

 

[Arminius]

Go buy MABs first DVD, speed kills i think its call, I hae it somewhere and although most of his music sucks he is a wicked player and the DVD is wicked. Made me the guitarist I am today!!!

I can vouch for Fionn, great player!

 

[Berserker]

Thanks for all the replies...I knew in my heart that scales + metronome was the best way, I was just hoping there was a less boring one! I'm determined to either crack it this time round or give up completely.

I will check out Speed Kills....heard nothing but praise for that DVD. Cheers

 

[synrgy]

I'm more of the school of thought that you should play to your strengths and not worry so much about your weaknesses. Everybody has their own talents. So you can't copy Petrucci, so what? I'm sure you could come up with some cool shit that's more your style that would make Petrucci raise an eyebrow. You don't play for 10 years and not have an idea of what your own voice is, do you?

Don't get me wrong -- I still aspire to some day being able to do sweep arpeggios properly and yadda yadda yadda (I've been playing since 1993 and still can't do that shit) but I spend far more time just working on what comes naturally to me, cause that's where the fun is.

Then again, that's just me. You do what makes you happy. Good suggestions already in the thread, in any case.

 

[Berserker]

Thanks synrgy, you make a good point. I can pretty much play blues stuff and most rock/metal rythm stuff but I would just love to be able to nail a fast solo or 2. I know I will never be half the player Petrucci is, because I don't have 10 hours a day to practice but I just get frustrated that I'm not fast enought to play even moderately fast lead guitar.

Can anyone suggest any fairly easy solos I could try to lear to help my technique? I'm not quite ready for Paganini yet though!

 

[Tyrant]

Also, learn a Paganini caprice (pretty much any one) I don't know what it is, but something about what he plays seems to be really good for guitar techniques (?)

Thanks for that tip, I checked out some stuff and found a tab for Paganinis 24th caprice that I think im going to try and learn.

 

[synrgy]

Here's what I would suggest, in a perfect world:

If you can 'acquire' the program Ableton Live, (preferably version 7 or higher, they're on 8 right now..) in that program you can record your own material, and manipulate the tempo without effecting the pitch. So you could lay down your own backing tracks, and make your own solos starting off at a tempo you're comfortable with and slowly working your way up. It's like a more advanced/modern version of the metronome method..

That's what I would do, anyway. I adore that program..

 

[Berserker]

Funnily enough, I have a copy of Ableton live 7! I'll give that a go...cheers synrgy

I just checked out some paganini vids on Youtube...can't believe somebody suggested learning that when all I can currently play is a Bon Jovi solo! It depresses me even more that some people think that is easy to play.

 

[N-j]

i am in the same boat as you my friend, i have been playing for years, but struggle to play fast solos. tight rythm i find easy, like fear factory and such.

so what i have been doing is as everyone has said befor, play to a metronome. but i have also been taking a good look at how i pick, for example trying to get my alt picking accurate then trying ecconomy picking, also look up inside picking.

another thing is try and get used to treversing your strings with speed, instead of trying to do a whole scale start with just 2 strings. for example try these patterns

e
b
g .........7 .............................7 ..7 ............................7 8 10 8 7
d 7 8 10 ..10 8 7 ..........7 8 10 ..10 ..10 8 7....... 7 8 10 ...............10 8 7
a
e

just keep repeating one of the paterns over and over, or mix all three.
a bit basic i know but might help you get your picking speed up. it helped me a lot.

 

[TraitorsEyes]

Jonathan Strange's Riff Training book. My lead work has improved drastically after practicing these rhythm exercises. You can apply these principles to practicing lead or just anything. Best $30 I ever spent .

Watching MAB lessons, you want to have a set angle in which you pick strings, which has helped me a lot as well. I always angle down and only change it for sweeps or down picking.

Another thing to keep in mind as well is to make sure you don't move your fingers holding your pick. I guess this goes together with the pick angle, but you really increase your speed and accuracy when you change this.

 

[Ryan-ZenGtr-]

For my Two Pence (cent's) worth, I'll add this:

If your trying to perform a song faster:
Break it down into sections which you practice with a metronome or drum machine and practice slowly until it is flawless, then bring it up to speed, skipping in tempo to where it collapses to mess then slowing it down until it is manageable.

If you are trying to improvise faster:
Basic finger excercises, slowly increasing the metronome. Petrucci's Rock Discipline has lot's of good content, as does Shawn Lanes REH Power Licks DVD (Hail the King of shred guitar!). Also, improving your listening (out there players' CD's) and understanding of theory; I do my best to follow this advice, although I create enough painfully pretentious noodling on my own without having to listen to someone else do it.

When I started out playing guitar I liked playing Rage Against The Machine, which I learnt, then Extreme (Nuno Bettencourt solo's still rock), which I learnt, then I got into metal with Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer etc. I wanted to play solo's about half as good as Marty Friedman, so I spent time listening to Satriani and Vai, learning bits but it was too hard as it's mostly LSD induced freeform mentalism captured in the late 80's. Once I found Dream Theater's records, I thought, here is rigidly structured material that can be studied slowly and learnt, allowing me to improve the content, quality and originality of my own playing. So I learnt as much Dream Theater as possible, as they market and produce a lot of tablature books.

Along the way I'd learned a big repetoire and found people liked hearing the simple, easy to play songs.

By the time I'd learnt a couple of DT albums, I could pretty much play whatever I could imagine, and I'd fed that imagination with all the most serious and dedicated players, so I was pleased. Then I realised that the whole world of civilians (non-guitarists) liked Nirvana... Oh well....

Long and short of it is: You can wail like a deadly ninja in a flurry of shurikens, or you can play a decent song that others want to sing a long with.

You will no doubt impress many women with an acoustic "Nothing Else Matters", yet your cover of Necrophagist's Extreme Unction, flawless no doubt, will only be met by the slamming of doors and banging on the wall.

The key, I think, is to be an entertainer, even if it's just your cat as an audience, and to focus the development of playing skills towards the goal of entertaining others yet maintaining your personal integrity as a player, and most importantly expressing yourself; as they say, playing from the heart.

One final thought on lead playing: I could play fast well before I could play slow well, and once I could play slow well, my fast got even better!

Melody + Attitude + Signature Flair = Musical Statement

Good luck.