how to get to 180 bpm?

[wannabecomedeat]

hey,

I've been playin (the wrong way) for 5 years. I'm now learning alternate picking via scales. after a week i am at 115bmp and am kinda stuck there. If i go faster, i start making mistakes and sounding like ass.

I wonder if i should keep it at 115 until the "way to do" is perfect or if i should force things a bit.

and at 3-4 hours a day, how long will it take about to get up to 180 bpm speed?

thanks

 

[exojjl]

how ever long it takes. Dont rush it, and make the practice efficent, often times 1 hour a day can be better than 5.

 

[Purge]

Play at 125 bpm and just fuck it up. Then slow it down to 120 and you'll find it much easier. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[Gorty]

The correct technique and execution of alternate picking if kept will see you advance in your speed picking a lot quicker than blazing away and not executing all your picked notes correctly.

However as Purge mentioned to advance in bpm you will benefit by playing along at a faster tempo and then drop back if you can't execute all the notes cleanly!

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained!

Practice Practice Practice...............It won't happen overnight, but if you persist it will happen!

 

[Purge]

I got that idea from watching a Petrucci video, and it really helped. I had never practiced with a metronome before. Once I started doing that, I realized I was doing a lot of things before that just sounded like crap. I slacked off from it a bit lately, but by playing a little beyond my means and then backing off, I can hit 165-170 fairly comfortably.

Keep hitting that metronome, it'll help. Also, pay huge attention to your picking economy. Pattern your runs in a way that crossing over to the next string will make sense with the motions you're already doing. You'll find that some crosses will be much easier than others...

 

[Feanor IV]

Still, don't just jump to 180bpm. I wouldn't. Purge's technique is right, but the steps have to be small. In fact I don't think it's really "...and just fuck it up." That would be wrong. But I would agree on "...and make some mistakes."

 

[Dani Pace]

Practice at a speed you are comfortable with to work on accuracy and technique, then bump the speed up for a while (maybe 10 bpm) and work on increasing your speed, then drop back again. Alternating between working on speed and accuracy will improve both. Don't expect overnight success, it takes lots of practice to gain speed with precision, be patient and keep practicing and it will happen for you. Remember to work on expression too, being lightning fast is great but some of the best guitar is when the licks convey a message or mood, and speed dosen't allways say it best.

 

[metalhead28]

When you say 180 bpm, do you mean 1/4 notes? 1/16 notes? 1/64 notes ?

Just curious.

Anyway, what these guys are saying is good advice. Just bump it up a little at a time. Just be sure to make your practice really count. Really concentrate on what you're doing. Be very deliberate and sure with your movements. Keep excess finger movement to a minimum. Keep your pick movement compact and efficient. Don't use a flimsy little pick that will destroy your accuracy. Like Purge said, arrange your picking patterns to make jumping from string to string as easy as possible. When alternate picking becomes more second nature, you wont have much trouble with odd patterns and string crossing, but for now keep them easy. That's about all I can add.

 

[wannabecomedeat]

thanx for all replies,

i'm playin on 1/4 notes (4 notes per beat)
Today i was able to play at 125bpm, but only 2 times (scale up and down twice), after that my right arm starts to fuck up so i guess the hint about practicing speed and going back slower to practice accuracy is a really good hint

cheers

 

[Gorty]

thanx for all replies,

i'm playin on 1/4 notes (4 notes per beat)
Today i was able to play at 125bpm, but only 2 times (scale up and down twice), after that my right arm starts to fuck up so i guess the hint about practicing speed and going back slower to practice accuracy is a really good hint

cheers

You've got it wannabe!.....Hang in there!

 

[Purge]

It's been a few days since I've practiced (spent all weekend in the mountains), but I was thinking about this thread. I turned on the metronome to see how I was doing and my 1/16 notes at 165 sounded like a lawnmower taking a shit, but with much less talent. Moral of the story...keep at it. Sounds like you're making progress, and when you stick with that metronome, you'll be able to see instant results. Looks like you already have...keep up the good work!

I, on the other hand, am now going to soak my entire arm in Icy Hot.

 

[wannabecomedeat]

ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

to anyone beginning at guitar:LEARN ALTERNATE PICKING RIGHT NOW!!!! don't wait five years like i did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and thanx gorty for the 55 rep points!

 

[Gorty]

ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

to anyone beginning at guitar:LEARN ALTERNATE PICKING RIGHT NOW!!!! don't wait five years like i did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and thanx gorty for the 55 rep points!

You're welcome!

 

[Farview]

i'm playin on 1/4 notes (4 notes per beat)

4 notes per beat is 1/16 notes.

Along with the advise above, make sure you are making the shortest movements you can. You don't need to pick your fingers way up off the neck and you don't have to move your pick very far. Economy of movement is very important in gaining speed. The rest of it is just time.

Someone told me a long time ago. "Speed is easy to get, control is the hard part" That helped me because I focused my efforts on control instead of speed. The speed just happened.

 

[scrubs]

I don't know what you guys are griping about. I can play whole notes at 180 with no problem. That's right, not just fractions of notes, but whole notes. Take that, shredders!

 

[lovegoodsoul73]

This all sounds really tough.


I'll just let my drum machine play at 180 bpm. I'll catch up later.

 

[Codmate]

4 notes per beat is 1/16 notes.

Along with the advise above, make sure you are making the shortest movements you can. You don't need to pick your fingers way up off the neck and you don't have to move your pick very far. Economy of movement is very important in gaining speed. The rest of it is just time.

Someone told me a long time ago. "Speed is easy to get, control is the hard part" That helped me because I focused my efforts on control instead of speed. The speed just happened.

I agree with this approach.
Concentrate on accuracy and speed will follow.

I start off with a slow bpm, playing one note per beat.
Then I up it to two notes per beat, then three, then four, then five (which is hard), then six - at which point it starts getting fast but sloppy (for me - maybe others can do it fine ).

Then I raise the bpm and start over.

When I'm done with alternate picking I start the whole excersise again, but this time using fingerpicking.

It's good to use a variety of scales/fingerings with this excersise or it can get dull fast!

Try singing the note names as you go (this is hard at higher tempos so don't bother when you're playing fast). This also helps your ear and helps you learn the fretboard.

Like the guy said - concentrate on accuracy. Without accuracy speed is pointless and will just sound like a mess (i.e. - like my version of shredding, which sounds like somebody dropping a guitar from the top of a tower-block).

I've never really concentrated on this aspect of my playing before (naughty me ) - but rest assured, practicing in this way pays dividends *really* fast.

 

[wannabecomedeat]

4 notes per beat is 1/16 notes.

Sorry for the mistake, not familiar with english cotation. Here we say ronde, blanche, noir, croche, double-croche, triple-croche, etc!

thanx everyone, great info here, couple of hints.

i got 2 other questions though.

when doing the arpego, do you keep doing alternate picking or start sweeping instead? probably both is best i guess?

and suppose you do this major arpego

-------------3-
-----------3---
--------4------
-----5--------
-2-5----------
3-------------


do you play the two "5" with the same finger (aka third finger) or play the lower one with 3rd finger and the other one with small finger??

thanx again everyone, I gave rep points to everyone here I think!

 

[mikemorgan]

This is not my idea, but something I read in a guitar mag lately. Speed and accuracy are not connected in any way. You can learn speed by practicing speed. Concentrate on your picking hand only until you can achieve 180. Without the ability to pick that fast, your fret hand can never catch up. This is why you are stuck, you equate left and right hand accuracy together. If you separate the two in your practice, then fitting them together later is not only possible, but easy!

I have seen the Petrucci videos as well, and I know it can be achieved in that manner. But mastering individual talents on the guitar can be done in much less time than mastering the entire gammut of techniques.

 

[wannabecomedeat]

thanx mikemorgan,

I'm doing this right know.

and just to let everyone know, a jackass gave me neg rep point for this thread writting: "I gave rep points to everyone here as well...for wanting to learn how to play garbage at 180 bpm. Try playing something that sounds good instead."

I don't think I deserve negative rep points for this thread, as I don't think mastering an instrument is something wrong. Ask anyone that went to University in music how much time they passed playing scale...This noko didn't even sign.

At least he didn't have a lot of power, considering that I lost only 1.

anyway, the 2 questions 2 posts upper still needs some answer!