speed and accuracy

[Krystof01]

Out of interest, what techniques did/do you employ in order to increase the speed of picking notes (scales up and down the neck etc) and also on the accuracy of your picking (hitting the right string 99.9% of the time)?

I ask this because me and three other guitarists got together last week and we all had different styles of playing, which when we talked about seemed to be derived from our learning days.

 

[El Barto]

Practice practice practice practice practice practice.

It takes lots of practice and lots of time. Eventually you'll work up your speed and accuracy. I've been playing 5 years, I'm by far not the greatest guitar player, but I rarely hit the wrong string, and I am pretty fast. I never did anything in particular except practice some riffs over and over, mainly lead riffs. After a while you'll get used to it...it's like riding a bike with training wheels, then without...then riding the bike without your hands! The guitar becomes an extention of you...as crazy as it sounds...you get used to the feel and the motion of playing that it just comes naturally to you, and you progress all the time. I'm now playing riffs that I attempted before and failed...I don't even know how I couldn't play them before! It just takes time and practice...don't rush anything. I'm as impatient as the next guy. Perfect what you are good at right now...then you'll be able to move to the next level.

 

[Col_Forbin]

anything you want to play fast you should be able to play slow...it's all about developing muscle memory...even with things i can play fast, if i'm warming up i start playing slow....i play very slow chromatic scales using every fret on the bass...(i try to pluck with the same r/h finger i'm fretting with on my l/h) then i do major scales, modes, jam a little, all that warmup shit and then by the time i'm finished i'm playing pretty fast...
with something you're having difficulty playing, i always find it good to start out at the speed you WANT to be playing it, then slow it down until you can play through it sounding clean...
using a metronome doesn't hurt either especially for playing slow...try setting it at like 30 beats per second and play scales in time with it...it's hard as shit! LOL

 

[monty]

Ya...I find it begins to become difficult around 97 beats per second.

 

[dabluesman]

Hammer-on's, pull-off's, alternate picking, and muscle memory, as Col_Forbin suggested, I feel are the basic things that one needs to know to master faster soloing or faster playing in general. I think that it is something that you can always get better at and improve on. I doubt that anyone can do it as fast as humanly possible, and most of the time its not how fast you play but what notes you choose to play that makes the difference. Its kinda like what Gene Simmons said, that he'd rather hit one huge open E cord than a bunch of notes buzzing around like bees.

 

[Col_Forbin]

when victor wooten came into town a few years ago, he set his metronome so it sounded on the first beat of the first measure of every four...that was it....and kept perfect time the whole time he played....

 

[Jon X]

About two years ago I starting looking for very fast guitar parts that when I heard them I would say "Whoa, I hope I can play like that someday." Then I took the time to learn them, playing them about 1/10 the speed or less, so I could hit each note correctly. Eventually I would work up the speed over time to where I could play it almost as fast as the original. All I do to warmup now is play a few fast pieces slow at first, and build up the speed until I can fly through whatever it is I want to do. I use various stuff, from corny rock guitar solo junk to sections of classical pieces moved to the guitar. I've never had a lesson, don't know anything technical about music, and wouldn't be able to practice scales even if I wanted to.

The main thing is I enjoyed playing these pieces, even at slow speeds to start with, so I kept it up and before I knew it my playing speed and accuracy increased noticeably.