The pursuit of playing fast!

[Christian Schulze]

My beloved family of Synners

I am tired of playing slow, therefore I took it upon myself to find ways to become faster.

I tried my luck with the metronome...got my quarter notes up to 330 Bpm ( which now I know is just 165 eight notes....metronome newbie over here). I tried to work myself up to speed, alternate picking though.

On this quest I stumbled upon the videos of Troy Grady and Martin Miller.


Also a masterclass of mutant Michael Angelp Batio.

And all 3 of then basically said: don't work yourself up to speed ..start with it.

Which to me is kinda crazy. Then I saw this exercise of Carl Brown to increase speed..which basically confirmed this alternative method.


To all my shredders out there!

How did you get faster on guitar? Does this method resonate?

Thanks for your help as always.

 

[Ekrem Taha Ünlü]

Thank you! These videos are helpful!

 

[Jak Angelescu]

You know, Hector actually mentioned the same thing. Not to work up to speed but practice speed itself. I think there is a pro and a con to it. You can easily damage your tendons and your muscles if you play something you are not muscularly ready to. This is almost the same kind of concept like somebody who is just starting out with weight lifting attempting to bench press 250 pounds. I would take this advice with a grain of salt because I have tried this attempt many times and ended up with strains that took several days to heal. I know a guitarist that actually suffered a repetitive stress injury from playing something faster than what she was ready for. What this advice says is the absolute opposite of what Syn has tried to teach on this school. And both methods work great for both many different types of people! The great thing about this though, is that you may have found something that works for you. And that's all you need! There are some people where this is how they have to do it. And the short bursts exercises of speed is what I do as well. I practice endurance and speed. All that matters is that you get where you need to go! Happy for you man!

 

[Manvir B]

it's weird but i never remember trying to play fast, i always have done for some reason. I think i might of just went all out when i started playing and this developed a super fast speed from the beginning. I don't recall working my way up to it. I've always had like scrawny fingers and i tend to do everything quickly, I type way too fast.

 

[Christian Schulze]

it's weird but i never remember trying to play fast, i always have done for some reason. I think i might of just went all out when i started playing and this developed a super fast speed from the beginning. I don't recall working my way up to it. I've always had like scrawny fingers and i tend to do everything quickly, I type way too fast.

You lucky!

Im just way too slow sometimes. For the time being im gonna work my way up and do that carl Brown exercise

 

[Kai C]

Hmm interesting things here to think about I'm away for work right now with no guitar to play on so I'm worried any progress I have made might diminish, but that just means there's something to work up to again. As someone prone to muscle tension and the pain resulting, I'm going to stick with increasing the bpm as I go, but it might really be up to the player. Some people have been playing long enough to where the speed came naturally without them trying. You and I started a bit late though so we gotta make those "important" decisions lol. Thanks for sharing, bro.

 

[Manvir B]

You lucky!

Im just way too slow sometimes. For the time being im gonna work my way up and do that carl Brown exercise

You got this!

 

[Christian Schulze]

My beloved family of Synners

I am tired of playing slow, therefore I took it upon myself to find ways to become faster.

I tried my luck with the metronome...got my quarter notes up to 330 Bpm ( which now I know is just 165 eight notes....metronome newbie over here). I tried to work myself up to speed, alternate picking though.

On this quest I stumbled upon the videos of Troy Grady and Martin Miller.


Also a masterclass of mutant Michael Angelp Batio.

And all 3 of then basically said: don't work yourself up to speed ..start with it.

Which to me is kinda crazy. Then I saw this exercise of Carl Brown to increase speed..which basically confirmed this alternative method.


To all my shredders out there!

How did you get faster on guitar? Does this method resonate?

Thanks for your help as always.

After Jak mencioned it, I found it:


Regarding this method, I do remember when i learned the solo to disturbeds strickend, the hard part for me (the fast lick) each time I repeated the lick I would consider a unit, not thinking about every note, but as whole repetition of a lick. So there is actually more to this than I thought.

Just thought I would share

 

[Lucas Weiman]

Whatever method you end up perusing, just remember to:

A) ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE BREATHING WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING, BUT ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING FOR SPEED! If not, you will tire yourself out faster, and make injuries occur more.
B) Measure and track your progress so you can see if for yourself if you are improving.
C) Like Jak said, you must know the difference between muscles being sore and tired (good) and muscles that hurt or have a stinging, tense, or painful sensation (bad). A good fast-practice session will make you SORE, NOT HURT.
D) Practice for speed early in your practice sessions right after you warm up, as that is when you have your most mental and physical readiness and alertness. In my experience, if I warm up for too long playing something slow-medium speed, my stamina for playing phrases lightning fast is greatly diminished.
E) Reps, reps, reps. Put in as many reps as you can without hurting yourself. DO NOT SACRIFICE TECHNIQUE FOR SPEED! If you notice you start having to "force" a certain phrase, slow it down slightly and keep up the good-technique reps.
F) Take time to isolate and play with each hand, one at a time. Focus on JUST picking your fast phrase, then take time to practice JUST the fretting. This will help you identify problems faster and focus on specific parts of your technique better.

Good luck

 

[Nocturne]

Interesting, I always thought you had to build up your speed by starting slow and try to play faster when you are comfortable with what you are playing. I think that's the best approach for me as I can see right now while I'm practicing sweep picking, but I will watch these videos. Thanks a lot for sharing!

 

[Christian Schulze]

Whatever method you end up perusing, just remember to:

A) ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE BREATHING WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING, BUT ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE PLAYING FOR SPEED! If not, you will tire yourself out faster, and make injuries occur more.
B) Measure and track your progress so you can see if for yourself if you are improving.
C) Like Jak said, you must know the difference between muscles being sore and tired (good) and muscles that hurt or have a stinging, tense, or painful sensation (bad). A good fast-practice session will make you SORE, NOT HURT.
D) Practice for speed early in your practice sessions right after you warm up, as that is when you have your most mental and physical readiness and alertness. In my experience, if I warm up for too long playing something slow-medium speed, my stamina for playing phrases lightning fast is greatly diminished.
E) Reps, reps, reps. Put in as many reps as you can without hurting yourself. DO NOT SACRIFICE TECHNIQUE FOR SPEED! If you notice you start having to "force" a certain phrase, slow it down slightly and keep up the good-technique reps.
F) Take time to isolate and play with each hand, one at a time. Focus on JUST picking your fast phrase, then take time to practice JUST the fretting. This will help you identify problems faster and focus on specific parts of your technique better.

Good luck

Saved...Thanks mate!

 

[Christian Schulze]

Ever since I decided to make this post, I've been discovering more videos on that topic here is a 2 part series that is a gem!