I've been playing guitar for about 7-8 years now and I am starting to get into some more complex stuff. Ive noticed though that i am pretty limited by my left (finger) hand speed. Ive been doing basic drills to a metronome and have noticed slight improvement. But if I want to be able to play lightning fast licks how far away/ how long will it take for me to build up some real speed. For context, my alternate picking for 16th notes falls apart around 100-110 bps.
I need help with playing faster (shreddingggg)!!!
- Thread starter Slime Tone
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key to speed is....
to relax your muscles, not just your arms but your whole body (don't be tense)
only ever applying just enough necessary force to play the note
and minimizing distance away (all if not most of the time) from the strings as much as needed
as your fingers gets used to the repeated motion (practice with a metronome to keep in time!)
you''ll naturally get faster as long as you're not tensing up as you raise the speed
to relax your muscles, not just your arms but your whole body (don't be tense)
only ever applying just enough necessary force to play the note
and minimizing distance away (all if not most of the time) from the strings as much as needed
as your fingers gets used to the repeated motion (practice with a metronome to keep in time!)
you''ll naturally get faster as long as you're not tensing up as you raise the speed
I think practice some legato stuff to make the fret hand faster and also slow the metronome so its done well and takes not too much effort, then move up again and keep syncing. Sometimes go way faster and mess up but kind of get the feel
and try bursts of notes then pause, I can't do it but I think that's how
and try bursts of notes then pause, I can't do it but I think that's how
My best advice is really to just take your time and not focus on how long it’s going to take and try not staying hyper focused on wanting to shred.
No one can really tell you how long it’s going to take. But if you really want it it’ll happen.Try your best to not get discouraged and if you believe in your self you'll 100% be shredding.
take it slow, don’t press the strings too hard and try not to get tense. Take a moment to loosen up and then go into practicing. If you notice yourself getting tense or hand getting tight take a second to breathe and shake it off then continue
you mentioned noticing slight improvement which is a big thing! Learning new techniques takes time. It’s still improvement even if you moved the metronome up just a tad even if it doesn’t feel like it.
good luck
No one can really tell you how long it’s going to take. But if you really want it it’ll happen.Try your best to not get discouraged and if you believe in your self you'll 100% be shredding.
take it slow, don’t press the strings too hard and try not to get tense. Take a moment to loosen up and then go into practicing. If you notice yourself getting tense or hand getting tight take a second to breathe and shake it off then continue
you mentioned noticing slight improvement which is a big thing! Learning new techniques takes time. It’s still improvement even if you moved the metronome up just a tad even if it doesn’t feel like it.
good luck
Everyone has pretty much hit the nail on the head but here's a few tips anyways (All advice is from my subjective experience) :
1. Practice Slow, clean & controlled - Whatever you want to play quickly, you want to be able to play it cleanly (I.e no unwanted string noise/sloppiness). The best way that I've found to get this to fruition is to take the thing you want to speed up and look at all it's small moving parts when slow. Make sure you could play the lick at less than half speed, confidently and without mistakes. If you don't feel 100% in control of what you're doing, it's not the right time to play it fast.
2. Push in slightly harder when practicing slow -
This is something that I found fast tracked certain licks for me. The way I make sense of it is this: If you put in 200% strength slow, then when you play fast, you can ease up completely and still hit the 100% strength needed to fret every note. Fast playing should be relaxed/controlled.
3. Don't go fast too early -
Most, if not all Guitar players that are interested in more technical styles have what I like to call the 'inner speed gollum' that just wants to play at full speed *now* I am living proof of this
You're practicing away and you feel the lick *click* a bit and you think (This is my time - full speed - ...aand it falls apart) - try to recognise this compulsion when it manifests and squash it. Most things require a gradual speed up process. This step will stop any undue tension in your playing at a high speed and save you any frustrations.4. Weirdly - try not to get too hung up on your speed BPM -
This may seem counterproductive, but worrying about how fast you can play can strangely inhibit how fast you can play in the long run. The reason (at least from my own experience) Is that you get into a mindset of I'll respect my chops/have worth as a player when I get to *this* speed - and you start pushing too hard into that/basing your worth off of the results. For me personally it bred a lot of frustrated, negative practice sessions and hoenstly time wasted trying to strain to the point that I was only going to arrive at patiently, in my own time - not saying this would happen to you or that you would think this way, but it's a mindset I'd definitely watch out for - it creeps in!
I tend to write loads in response to speed posts because I remember the frustration myself - take your time and enjoy the process. Patience and persistence will convert to progress - just dont put a date on it !
I personally increased my speed thinking of it like a workout.
Choose one lick to work on either legato or alternate picking and yeah you have to practice slow at first but once you have the lick down then what I recommend is finding your limit on it like set your metronome to 180 or whatever your goal is and keep decreasing by 5 until you find your current max speed.
Then decrease your newly discovered max speed by a few bpm and then start playing it over the metronome until you can do it clean like 3/5 times in a row, and increase speed anywhere from 1-5 bpm and keep repeating.
So for example if your current max speed is 110 with lets say the first alternate picking etude, set your metronome back to 95 play it perfect at least 3 times back to back before you move on to 100 bpm and repeat the process. If you find that when you slow down you aren't playing the lick perfectly it just means you need to dial back on the bpms a bit more and work your way up from there.
I know this type of practice isn't for everyone but it did help me get a lot faster when that was my specific goal.
The relation to me and your third point crazy! It's one of the most discouraging feelings. But these are some really good tips I will be sure to update my practice routine thank you!Everyone has pretty much hit the nail on the head but here's a few tips anyways (All advice is from my subjective experience) :
1. Practice Slow, clean & controlled - Whatever you want to play quickly, you want to be able to play it cleanly (I.e no unwanted string noise/sloppiness). The best way that I've found to get this to fruition is to take the thing you want to speed up and look at all it's small moving parts when slow. Make sure you could play the lick at less than half speed, confidently and without mistakes. If you don't feel 100% in control of what you're doing, it's not the right time to play it fast.
2. Push in slightly harder when practicing slow -
This is something that I found fast tracked certain licks for me. The way I make sense of it is this: If you put in 200% strength slow, then when you play fast, you can ease up completely and still hit the 100% strength needed to fret every note. Fast playing should be relaxed/controlled.
3. Don't go fast too early -
Most, if not all Guitar players that are interested in more technical styles have what I like to call the 'inner speed gollum' that just wants to play at full speed *now* I am living proof of this
4. Weirdly - try not to get too hung up on your speed BPM -
This may seem counterproductive, but worrying about how fast you can play can strangely inhibit how fast you can play in the long run. The reason (at least from my own experience) Is that you get into a mindset of I'll respect my chops/have worth as a player when I get to *this* speed - and you start pushing too hard into that/basing your worth off of the results. For me personally it bred a lot of frustrated, negative practice sessions and hoenstly time wasted trying to strain to the point that I was only going to arrive at patiently, in my own time - not saying this would happen to you or that you would think this way, but it's a mindset I'd definitely watch out for - it creeps in!
I tend to write loads in response to speed posts because I remember the frustration myself - take your time and enjoy the process. Patience and persistence will convert to progress - just dont put a date on it !
How do I reduce the string noise?Everyone has pretty much hit the nail on the head but here's a few tips anyways (All advice is from my subjective experience) :
1. Practice Slow, clean & controlled - Whatever you want to play quickly, you want to be able to play it cleanly (I.e no unwanted string noise/sloppiness). The best way that I've found to get this to fruition is to take the thing you want to speed up and look at all it's small moving parts when slow. Make sure you could play the lick at less than half speed, confidently and without mistakes. If you don't feel 100% in control of what you're doing, it's not the right time to play it fast.
2. Push in slightly harder when practicing slow -
This is something that I found fast tracked certain licks for me. The way I make sense of it is this: If you put in 200% strength slow, then when you play fast, you can ease up completely and still hit the 100% strength needed to fret every note. Fast playing should be relaxed/controlled.
3. Don't go fast too early -
Most, if not all Guitar players that are interested in more technical styles have what I like to call the 'inner speed gollum' that just wants to play at full speed *now* I am living proof of this
4. Weirdly - try not to get too hung up on your speed BPM -
This may seem counterproductive, but worrying about how fast you can play can strangely inhibit how fast you can play in the long run. The reason (at least from my own experience) Is that you get into a mindset of I'll respect my chops/have worth as a player when I get to *this* speed - and you start pushing too hard into that/basing your worth off of the results. For me personally it bred a lot of frustrated, negative practice sessions and hoenstly time wasted trying to strain to the point that I was only going to arrive at patiently, in my own time - not saying this would happen to you or that you would think this way, but it's a mindset I'd definitely watch out for - it creeps in!
I tend to write loads in response to speed posts because I remember the frustration myself - take your time and enjoy the process. Patience and persistence will convert to progress - just dont put a date on it !
You would do this by utilising both left & right hand muting, simultaneously
Basically, whichever note you're playing should be the only note able to ring out on the Guitar (most of the time)
For example, say you only want to hear the G string:
Since there are the lower strings ( D, A and Low E) above the G, you would rest your right hand palm gently on those strings to dampen them, while playing the G ** not like palm muting** further forward so that if they are played, they are deadened completely and you only hear the scuff of the string being plucked.
For the higher strings below the G string (B and High E) you could use the bottom/length of your 1st finger on your left hand to gently dampen them. This situation can change based on the playing situation but I find it's mostly 1st finger.
I always tell my students to imagine they have an annoying friend that will try to ping all the strings they aren't using - this usually does the trick.
Great question too! I think string muting is truly what makes fast guitar parts impressive, knowing the sheer control that the player has over the string noise, aswell as the fretboard
Hope this helps
That’s very helpful but I was thinking more about when you pick a string, and that string has a sorta vibration in it you can hear.You would do this by utilising both left & right hand muting, simultaneously
Basically, whichever note you're playing should be the only note able to ring out on the Guitar (most of the time)
For example, say you only want to hear the G string:
Since there are the lower strings ( D, A and Low E) above the G, you would rest your right hand palm gently on those strings to dampen them, while playing the G ** not like palm muting** further forward so that if they are played, they are deadened completely and you only hear the scuff of the string being plucked.
For the higher strings below the G string (B and High E) you could use the bottom/length of your 1st finger on your left hand to gently dampen them. This situation can change based on the playing situation but I find it's mostly 1st finger.
I always tell my students to imagine they have an annoying friend that will try to ping all the strings they aren't using - this usually does the trick.
Great question too! I think string muting is truly what makes fast guitar parts impressive, knowing the sheer control that the player has over the string noise, aswell as the fretboard
Hope this helps
Absolutely using the "Annoying friend" idea in future. Or even better, annoying sibling or relative, from experience of course... LOLYou would do this by utilising both left & right hand muting, simultaneously
Basically, whichever note you're playing should be the only note able to ring out on the Guitar (most of the time)
For example, say you only want to hear the G string:
Since there are the lower strings ( D, A and Low E) above the G, you would rest your right hand palm gently on those strings to dampen them, while playing the G ** not like palm muting** further forward so that if they are played, they are deadened completely and you only hear the scuff of the string being plucked.
For the higher strings below the G string (B and High E) you could use the bottom/length of your 1st finger on your left hand to gently dampen them. This situation can change based on the playing situation but I find it's mostly 1st finger.
I always tell my students to imagine they have an annoying friend that will try to ping all the strings they aren't using - this usually does the trick.
Great question too! I think string muting is truly what makes fast guitar parts impressive, knowing the sheer control that the player has over the string noise, aswell as the fretboard
Hope this helps
great advice as always mate 
Ah gotcha! This sounds more like a fretbuzz or intonation issue - I'd suggest taking your instrument to a Guitar Shop or Luthier than can give the Guitar a good setup - this should sort any noise that comes from just picking a note.
Ps. If you get time, feel free to post a video of what's happening, just so we can give you the right advice
Haha! I can relate alsoAbsolutely using the "Annoying friend" idea in future. Or even better, annoying sibling or relative, from experience of course... LOL
I appreciate that, man. Glad to be of help!
It could be me hitting too hard but even when I am just randomly strumming it’ll have that weird buzz sound like the string is hitting the fret as it moves. If that makes sense
Okay so where exactly do you put your finger in between the frets?Ah gotcha! This sounds more like a fretbuzz or intonation issue - I'd suggest taking your instrument to a Guitar Shop or Luthier than can give the Guitar a good setup - this should sort any noise that comes from just picking a note.
Ps. If you get time, feel free to post a video of what's happening, just so we can give you the right advice
The best place is usually on the right hand side of the fret for the clearest note
I think its intonation, theres videos on youtube, either try how to guitar intonation or fret buzz.
Its good if could show the issue but maybe you can relate it to the intonation or fret buzz video
Sometimes I forget the correct wording so maybe its not intonation but similar
Thanks mannnnnThe best place is usually on the right hand side of the fret for the clearest note
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