Top Speed?

[Konfyouzd]

Ok... So I've been spending a little time on the other forums lately and I recently felt like I've been smelling a lot of bullshit elsewhere so I figured I'd ask people that I trust.

Top speed... How many bpm can you play? I saw a thread on ultimate guitar the other day where some guy says he needs a metronome that goes up to 600 bpm.

If my math is right that's 10 notes/second. I called bullshit. Another guy says that he can successfully play 12 notes/second. Again, if my math is right that would put him at 720 bpm.

These numbers seem incredibly high to me seeing as I've seen people do like 2 - 300 and MAYBE 400 and those are REALLY fuckin' fast.

Are numbers like 600 and 720 really possible or is this just people talking out of their ass to sound cool?

-KJ

 

[s_k_mullins]

I've often wondered how full of shit some players are, but i can't call bullshit on anyone, cuz obviously i don't really know their skills. So i would never call them a liar.

But i do know that Maniacal (the guy that recentely posted the Blackmachine 8-string) has posted some youtube vids of himself playing Flight of the Bumblebee at 240bpm, which he says is 16 notes per second, and he does it very well...

 

[distressed_romeo]

Fastest I've ever clocked myself with straight alternate picking (playing cleanly; no random tremolo picking bullshit) was about 16 notes per second a few years ago, but that was only playing simple repetitive patterns along one or two strings, so I don't really count it. There's no way in hell I could do it with anything involving intricate string-crossing.

 

[Maniacal]

You are referring to total notes in a minute. On a day when I actually get to play guitar I can pick 240bpm 16th notes quite easily so.... 960 notes per minute. But that isnt bpm. Simple legato lines I can play as 16th note triplets at 180bpm, so 18 notes a second.

A second is a lot longer than you think, and most players can pick 10 notes a second after a year of playing.

 

[Scali]

I'm not sure who or where it was, but there was this guy who slowed down recordings of famous guitarists to try and analyse their speed.
He had this list of notorious 'fast' players (eg, Michael Angelo, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rusty Cooley etc), and their note-per-second score, as well as some comments on how tight they sounded and such.
I recall that quite a few guitarists were in the 15-16 nps range, some even reacing 17 or 18 nps.

Here's a thread discussing these results, although it's not the original list (not sure where that is):
http://www.petrucciforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59998

 

[Cadavuh]

I was doing 16th note sextuplets at about 215bpm running up and down scales. I reached a limit where my right hand couldnt move any faster. I have no idea how people can have their right hand go so fast. You need note value too man not just bpm...or are you just assuming its 16th notes?

 

[Scar Symmetry]

I can do 13 notes p/s legato but I can't pick that fast for shit.

 

[Maniacal]

215 sextuplets?
Thats ridiculous. Please video that, not because I dont believe you but because it would be impressive to see.

 

[Scar Symmetry]

nah more like sextuplets at 130bpm.

what does that work out to?

like you said, a second is a long time, a lot of notes can fit in a second.

 

[Maniacal]

sextuplets at 130 is 13 notes a second. It wasnt you I was doubting, it was the guy who said he can play 21.5 notes a second with scales.

 

[Scar Symmetry]

ah sorry misread your post.

I think he means 16th notes at 215 in groups of six.

 

[Maniacal]

phew.

 

[Cadavuh]

Yea thats what i meant . I guess i just have some wrong terminology. Sorry for the misunderstanding man

 

[Harry]

Back in the days (well, only about 10 months ago) when I used to practice alternate like a man gone insane, I could hit 16th notes at 240bpm, 16 notes per second doing patterns across all six strings very cleanly.
Legato, I was hitting a sextuplets at 180 bpm (18 notes per second).
I still practice the legato stuff because I love it, but I gave up on practicing alternate picking so much because I wasn't able to make music out of my speed using alt picking. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I can hit 12 notes per second alternate picked cleanly.

 

[Scali]

Back in the days (well, only about 10 months ago) when I used to practice alternate like a man gone insane, I could hit 16th notes at 240bpm, 16 notes per second doing patterns across all six strings very cleanly.
Legato, I was hitting a sextuplets at 180 bpm (18 notes per second).
I still practice the legato stuff because I love it, but I gave up on practicing alternate picking so much because I wasn't able to make music out of my speed using alt picking. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I can hit 12 notes per second alternate picked cleanly.

For me it's the opposite. I used to play lots of legato (Satriani-style) because my picking wasn't fast, clean and controlled enough to make music with. But as my picking got better, I started using it more and more, and these days I don't really use legato much anymore.

 

[ShadyDavey]

Scali - you're referring to Willjay and his list covered strict alternate picking.

Shawn lane resided at the top hitting 18 nps, a few guys just under him (Lake Palmer from this forum was clocked at 17 nps off the top of my head) with the majority of really World-Class shredders at 15/16 nps. There's a different list over at UG covering sheer NPS regardless of technique (Freepower mods there so he can set you straight if there are any questions) but thats by the by (and also a discussion we've had here many times )

Its been years since I actually practiced with a metronome but as far as I remember it was 16ths at around 240 with alternate picking, maybe a bit faster with economy picking (but of course, only licks where the formula fit in) and I have no idea what my legato was

At the moment I can claim a grand speed of 0 nps.

 

[Excalibur]

I hit OVER9000 bpm all the time

 

[Konfyouzd]

damn i guess it actually is possible. and maybe a second is a little longer than i had it made out to be in my mind. it just seems crazy. i've never clocked myself it'd be interesting to see now...

 

[ShadyDavey]

Here's a metronome if you're feeling inquisitive

METRONOME ONLINE - free!

 

[Konfyouzd]

Here's a metronome if you're feeling inquisitive

METRONOME ONLINE - free!

well everyone here sounds so damn fast. i don't wanna disappoint myself just yet.