I want to shred

[Frost]

Hey guys,

Since a few months, I practice a lot, like 3-4 hours minimum per day, but I think that I hit a plateau for a while...

My alternate picking is stuck to 110 bpm at 16th notes... Nevertheless, i practice every song and exercises on metronome retardly slow....

I practice a lot of dream theater song, born of osiris and chelsea grin too (huge fan of jason richardson here ), but, i'm stuck at this plateau....

My practice routine is:

-Warm up/stretching: chromatic exercises, two hand synchronisation exercises, stretching
-Alternate Picking exercise: I take every day a new exercise (or 2 exercises sometimes) from dvd like rock discipline/Speed Kills/Intense rock and practice it like... 1 or 2 hours
-Scales/Arpeggios: every day new scales positions and arpeggios and improvisation on backtrack
-Sweeping exercise: same principle as alternate picking exercise
-Practice a new song, or jam..


If someone could help me and give me advices

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I think you're practice regimen looks like a solid one to me. How long have you been playing? If youve only started this routine recently, then I think you're doing fine and just give it time. Explore different music.

 

[HoneyNut]

^Great! How long though?!! How do you break past plateaus?

A: Keep at it. The muscles need to absorb the highest speeds you are comfortable playing before you can speed it up further. Just because you can play a certain lick at 100 bpm doesn't necessarily mean that your muscles have absorbed it as yet. I would go slower around 90 bpm and practice at that speed for 60% of the allotted time. I'll go slower around 60 - 80 bpm for 30%. And finally, I'll try pushing the limits for the remaining 10%.

This is how I am tackling it. But I know that I have to be patient and keep it slow for a long while before the speed becomes natural.

* You can only go as fast as your single-string-alternate-picking speed.

---

I have a similar schedule to yours as far as alternate picking goes.
1. Single string exercises
2. 2 notes per string exercises
3. 3 notes per string exercises
4. String skipping

Keep in touch and let me know how you are progressing!

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Yeah I kinda forgot to address the plateau in speed, and I definitely agree about muscle memory.

Most of my plateaus are in the form of writing, as I'm not really concerned with playing faster, but to each his own. Just don't fatigue your muscles!

 

[Solodini]

I'd suggest working on more music, or at least musical exercises in there. It's like the difference between being able to run like Usain Bolt when you've been doing an hour of warm up sprints before, or looking after kids and sprinting to catch one before they fall in the canal. (What are you doing taking kids near the canal. Bad parenting, OP. Tsk tsk.)

Unless you're just playing constant shreddery in your music, chances are the shreddy bits will be in context of less shred. Work on things with a bit of context so you can transition to and from the shred.

 

[Frost]

Thank you all for your answers

I play for approximately 5 years, but with interruptions. I play more seriously since July 2014 (I picked at the beginning, too many bad habits....)

Since the beginning of 2015, I take lesson with Patrick Rondat, so, yes, i've started this routine recently.

Solodini, recently i've started to incorporate licks of petrucci/richardson/gilbert instead of basic chromatic exercises, am I doing it right?

 

[WoodisWheretheMusicis]

The only thing i would say is don't learn that many new exercises every day. Always learn new stuff, but try to get a hang of things at least so that you think you can execute them at a level you're happy with (for now). And play more music, dude. Other than that, looks like a good regimen!

 

[Frost]

The only thing i would say is don't learn that many new exercises every day. Always learn new stuff, but try to get a hang of things at least so that you think you can execute them at a level you're happy with (for now). And play more music, dude. Other than that, looks like a good regimen!

So you recommend me to play more song by artist instead of simple exercises?
Song above my level, or song that i'm able to play if i practice them a little?

 

[Maniacal]

do both. Exercises are valid for isolating a technique. Especially if you want to get that technique to a super high level.

 

[Aion]

Keep in mind the definition of good musical technique, "doing the most amount of work with the least amount of effort." This comes time as well as practice. Don't rush yourself into trying to play fast. Do some speed exercises, but musicality is a far more important muscle to develop than speed alone. There are thousands of guitarists who can play blindingly fasts, but nothing they play matters. It's like being the person who can read a Shakespeare monologue the fastest, kind of misses the point.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

You'd be surprised at how just learning how to play songs adds value to your playing.
I've been playing for 41.5 years. For the first 7 years it was on the acoustic only. When I started playing electric, the theory is the same, but the techniques are drastically expanded. I had the same instructor from 7 to 17 years old and when I started having him teach me songs that I wanted to learn how to play, all sorts of techniques came into play, then came voicings, phrasing, and actually examining and disecting what I just learned how to play to find out "how" it works the way it does.

This taught me how to use the theory and techniques in a musical way, not just exercises and such. That's when riffs, songs, & lyrics started pouring out of me and hasn't stopped since.

Take what you've learned, and learn to make music with it. At some point, you may find contentment in the speed that you achieved, but you'll find inspiration to be ongoing.

Also, for my own example, I listen to many instruments other than guitar.
Put to case, when I grew up, everyone listened to Jimmy Page drag himself across the Pentatonic Minor scale. I didn't want to be like Jimmy Page, I wanted to be more like Randy Rhoads & Alex Lifeson, so I didn't relate to the pentatonic minor scale in its bluesy nature. I really dug the violin and wanted to sound like that on guitar, and I'm not just talking about the fast stuff, but the beautifully expressive melodies with such a passionate vibrato.

Only in the past 6 years or so, since I began listening to more heavily, and playing the Native American Cedar Flute, have I ventured into the Pentatonic Minor Scale, and even then, I don't approach the phrasing like most blues based guitar players do. I approach the phrasing like R. Carlos Nakai or Bill Miller do, from a Native style of phrasing. They have some similarities simply because they reside in the same scale formation, but they have their own identity within that scale.

And this is just one scale.

Imagine how your musical vocabulary can expand by exposing yourself to other instruments for inspiration. Just look at the saxaphone for instance. Same theory on paper, different phrasing.

You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

So you recommend me to play more song by artist instead of simple exercises?
Song above my level, or song that i'm able to play if i practice them a little?

Absolutely, you can use songs to set goals for yourself.

I remember setting the goal of being able to play "Eruption" by Van Halen within 2 years when I was 14. Not just "play" it technically, but PLAY it like I was channelling my inner EVH. I worked my but off on it, and had it down in a year. Also, I didn't do much else that year but play guitar, and listen to music. When I learned it, it was time to set another goal, and so on and so on.

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Here's a challenge for you. Write a song with the skills you have now. Learn how to play it note for note flawlessly. You'll be a better musician by the end.

 

[Solodini]

Here's a challenge for you. Write a song with the skills you have now. Learn how to play it note for note flawlessly. You'll be a better musician by the end.

This is GREAT advice!

Other people's licks are okay but context is important, so you don't end up as that guy with the sweepy song, the tappy song, the string skipping song et c. because you've only really learned to be good at a technique when you use only that technique. Learn people's solos if you're learning lead parts by them, not just single licks.

Try to write similar things: break down the solo into 3-5 note chunks and analyse each one: does it use notes of a particular chord, how do the notes relate to the tonic of the key, WHEN are the notes played? For how long? Does one passage immitate another; one goes DEDF, another goes ABAC, one goes GFGE (the same pattern but going down instead of up and vice versa)? Does the passage lead TO an important note, FROM an important note, THROUGH an important note.

Immitate these characteristics and see what techniques help you to play the notes you want and do so more efficiently, but also see what techniques help to give the notes the sound that you want. That's what technique is for: efficiency and timbre.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you want any clarification.

Adam

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

This is GREAT advice!

Other people's licks are okay but context is important, so you don't end up as that guy with the sweepy song, the tappy song, the string skipping song et c. because you've only really learned to be good at a technique when you use only that technique. Learn people's solos if you're learning lead parts by them, not just single licks.

Try to write similar things: break down the solo into 3-5 note chunks and analyse each one: does it use notes of a particular chord, how do the notes relate to the tonic of the key, WHEN are the notes played? For how long? Does one passage immitate another; one goes DEDF, another goes ABAC, one goes GFGE (the same pattern but going down instead of up and vice versa)? Does the passage lead TO an important note, FROM an important note, THROUGH an important note.

Immitate these characteristics and see what techniques help you to play the notes you want and do so more efficiently, but also see what techniques help to give the notes the sound that you want. That's what technique is for: efficiency and timbre.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you want any clarification.

Adam

Also great information! Don't let anyone tell you that the way they hold the neck is the "correct technique". Look at someone else's hands. Now look at yours. They're very different. They vary in size, shape, angle, etc. Some people can put their thumb over the top, some can't. It's a journey to find out what works the best for you, not a destination.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

There are many ways to physically play the guitar. Ultimately, it should be comfortable for you, and allow you to relax. I just recently did a vid-blog on this topic.
Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvbTRMZeuKI&list=UUW0yu2j4Iy5AqA276tSTk7g

 

[Frost]

Thank you for all your answers, this will really help me!

For the "musical" aspect of my routine, playing song that I want to play (but way above my level) will help me? Or i've got to play song of my level?

 

[Frost]

Ok, so I revised my routine.

Through your messages, I see that i'm doing technical exercises for technique, and not for musicality.
So, I thought of making this kind of routine:

-Warm up/stretching: chromatic exercises, two hand synchronisation exercises, stretching
-Alternate Picking exercise: I take every day a new exercise (or 2 exercises sometimes) from dvd like rock discipline/Speed Kills/Intense rock (increase 1 by 1 bpm) (focus on small movement of my pick and on my fretting hand)
-Learn a song way above my skill (if possible by ear) like Dream Theater/Paul Gilbert/Jeff Loomis/Guthrie Govan/Steve Vai songs (same song every day until i can play it, increase 1 by 1 bpm)
-Scales/Arpeggios: every day new scales positions and arpeggios and improvisation over entire album of my favorite artists
-Sweeping exercise: same principle as alternate picking exercise
-Practice a new song corresponding to my skills by ear

I have remove the time during exercises and scales/arpeggios practice, because I think it's my problem to fix me a time limit (furthermore, generally I have MORE than 3 hours a day to play guitar, so i'm going to make it by instinct)

What do you think about it?

 

[Solodini]

Thank you for all your answers, this will really help me!

For the "musical" aspect of my routine, playing song that I want to play (but way above my level) will help me? Or i've got to play song of my level?

Learning a song above your level will help if you learn it right and don't rush it. You want to have fun and enjoy what you can already do, probably, so learn songs at your level, play songs you already know, have fun, express yourself!

 

[asfeir]

My 2 cents,
Try doing this for a while:
Play the songs you are comfortable playing while trying to move your fingers as little as possible from the string. It may sound easy and dumb but when you concentrate and apply it you will find that it will unlock a lot of speed.. Let me know if you got what I mean.