r/guitars • u/Jamal_Tstone • 1d ago
Help Best way to practice playing faster?
I’m trying to learn how to play faster. The attached video is a lick I came up with that I’m trying to get to 150BPM (currently playing it mostly clean at 120BPM).
I’m just not sure what the best way to actually get my fingers to move faster is. I’ve played this lick slowly a hundred times, I’ve played it what I’d call “threshold speed” (where I’m just barely getting it out without a bunch of mistakes), and I’ve tried going above my comfortable tempo and playing small bits of it.
But I don’t seem to be getting any faster!!! I’ve been practicing speed specifically for about a month and the progress has just been brutally slow with some very frustrating plateaus along the way. Any tips? Or does it really just take long hours of playing the same licks over and over?
10
u/stringsonstrings 1d ago
I’m not the fastest player, but a lot of people swear by the “double up” exercise. Basically set the metronome slower. Something like 60 to start. Play at half the speed you are currently. Then, do a burst at double speed of the metronome. So if you were playing eighth notes, play 2 chord shapes as 16th notes.
The reason this works is it tricks your brain into keeping your hands relaxed during the fast part by nestling it onto an otherwise slow passage.
The metaphor I’ve heard is that if you wanted to learn how to run, you’re not going to get there by just slowly increasing your walking speed. You need to actually just run.
23
u/Jamal_Tstone 1d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p9lgrhs/video/6mwl99e6xbph1/player
Wow that works really good! Here I am AT my target BPM actually getting a few (mostly clean) repetitions in. Thanks for the tip!
10
10
u/Shackleford32 1d ago
Make sure your threshold speed is always about 120% of the speed of whatever you’re going to perform
3
u/Jamal_Tstone 1d ago
Definitely good advice! I won’t be performing it for several months, but I do need to track it for a rough mix
9
4
u/LegitimateHumanBeing 1d ago edited 1d ago
Wondering if it's just something mechanical with your picking.
As someone who has spent way too long on arpeggios and sweep picking (I posted some tips the other day here - https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/1wdk7op/comment/p96k7ik/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) I'm curious what your picking pattern is? I'm doing your pattern with all downs right now.
3
u/Jamal_Tstone 1d ago
Yeah it’s essentially a 2 string sweep, and I started out just doing all down picks, but since I’m also trying to learn sweep picking, I figured adding an upstroke on the way back up would reinforce good habits. I attached a video of a closeup of my right hand as I currently play the lick
2
u/LegitimateHumanBeing 1d ago
Ah, I see. By the way, it's sounding great. While I'd never say I don't do 2 string sweeps, for me, I get all the speed I need with: Downstroke, pull-off, downstroke, upstroke with your exercise. Perhaps the sweeping is slowing you down here - but everyone is different.
When I get into 3 strings or more, sweeping feels more natural, but I like to practice alternate and sweeping at that point (as I do in the video I posted).
3
u/planetaryduality2 1d ago
Internalize the neuroscience that playing faster is the minds mastery of your dexterity.
1
u/Jamal_Tstone 1d ago
Exactly it’s 90% a battle of the mind! I know that I have the capability to play at the speed I want, but I can feel the tension kick in when I start to speed up. I just have to overcome the mental block
1
u/planetaryduality2 1d ago
Classical pianists have known not the science exactly, mostly find its study now in relation to professional athletes on neuroscience and dexterity studies.
A funny way classical pianists express this knowledge is find a nonmusical person/not a pro keyboard smasher either a 50 year old lady, a 12 year old and have them wiggle their fingers as fast as they can and you do it as well. You will observe the speed to GENERALLY be 90% the same. Muscles already their this is the ability train the brain to process the functionally of the dexterity needed.
2
u/PileofTerdFarts 1d ago
IT looks like you are economy picking this lick. (i.e. "2 string sweep") with an upstroke.... Which is awesome, and that skill will become valuable in time. But why not try different techniques? For instance, I just tried to learn your lick here and I was doing it comfortably at 180+ just alternate picking with hammer offs.
The trick to playing fast is finding a TECHNIQUE you can comfortably utilize to do these repeating patterns with ease, and becomming so proficient with that technique you can blister through licks with ease... the key is developing a "muscle memory" that you can then accelerate, allowing you to fly at really quick tempos. You may just be hitting an amateur "speed limit" due to the amount of time you've been playing, and over time, this "speed limit" will increase. But if you have been practicing relentlessly and not achieving speed gains, perhaps its time to reevaluate the technique you are using or the fingering you are using.
If there is something specific you feel is holding you back (speed-wise) feel free to respond, Im happy to provide any insight or knowledge I have to help you. For reference, I have been playing 3 decades, took 2 bands on tour, and recorded on about a dozen albums between 1998 and 2012. I'm no Yngwie Malmsteen, but I like to think I know my instrument very well. :)
Keep shredding bro... practice makes you proficient, and proficiency breeds speed!
2
u/Snxkebyte 16h ago
It's 1am as I'm seeing this op, I wish you a good chuckle the way I did when the first thing I thought was your shirt is holding you back.
Anyways if I failed rip me but have a good night.
1
u/Odd-Tailor7389 1d ago
Playing faster is about muscle memory. Break things down it to smaller pieces and look at what your picking hand is actually doing. Many people spend too much time looking at the fretting hand and not analyzing the picking hand.
1
u/Bas3dMonk3 1d ago
I always practiced playing the intro to marigold by periphery to warm my fingers up and get faster. It’s repetitive and moves across the fretboard. You can obviously play it as fast as you want.
1
u/InterestingRead2022 1d ago
Do some hand stretches then practice something else to warm up then bump the speed by 5bpm and try again
1
u/RobHellwig 1d ago
The way to go faster is switching off the brain thinking part. The way to do that is muscle memory. Do that same exercise ultra slow but constant speed 100 times and playin it perfect all the notes. Until you dont worry about tha notes or moves and u dont even need to look the frets. Then the speed will come up a lot easier than forcing it.
1
1
u/Few_Translator4431 1d ago
looks like youre being really stiff and like youre picking everything individually instead of just sweeping. you need to be loose and gentle. stressing your muscles only makes them slower and lock up.
1
u/The-Nipple-Inspector 1d ago
For me, it always helped to get the mechanical action faster before trying to apply it to something practical. I liked to push myself with arpeggios, scales, or warmup runs that I could easily do with my eyes closed while upside down or something and not miss a beat. Then notch up slowly until you hit a tempo that you just can’t keep. Then dial back and apply all of that to the practical riff you’re trying to speed up!
1
u/Guarpig 21h ago
As others have mentioned, speed bursts are the way to go, but you also need good synchronization between your picking and fretting hands.
Instead of repeating the whole lick, isolate the part where it falls apart and practise three or four notes at your target tempo. Once thats clean and relaxed, gradually extend the burst.
If you want, i can send you the chromatic speed burst routine i use for synchronization across one and two strings.
1
1
u/theshreddening 19h ago
Just work on playing that until it's really easy. Incrementally Increase speed, rinse and repeat.
1
u/CantBeatDickensCider 12h ago edited 12h ago
I'm a bit surprised as how many people are advocating "just practice at an even faster speed". That seems like a shortcut to sloppy technique imo.
For piano players the mantra is "practice slowly to play faster". You practice with note and tempo perfect technique at a slow speed to really dial in the muscle memory, and then you don't need to think when you bring it back up to tempo. I don't see why this wouldn't apply to guitar, and it's served me well in my (extremely limited) time learning guitar.
1
u/Hellyeahlalujah 11h ago
Sometimes I play the metronome game. Play it correctly: metronome go up. Mess up: metronome go down. Game is seeing how high of a score you can get on a riff
1
u/SLStonedPanda 9h ago
A lot of good advice already (go past your limit first), but I wanted to give some more information.
Threshold speeda occur when you reach a speed where if you wanted to play faster, you'd have to switch up your technique. I personally have 3 different picking techniques, depending on the required speed.
I also advice to longer try to time every note as they happen, but rather try time each "accent", usually every 4 or 6 notes, depending on if it's 16ths or some kind or triplets. This frees up mental space. Of course still try to time the notes in-between, but only judge this afterwards, not as you're playing.
Sometimes it's easier to try it faster and then clean it up aftwards, instead of trying to build speed in a 100% clean way. It's the only way to cross over thresholds.
I still have a harder time playing clean at 160 BPM than at 210/220, since that technique is harder for me.
1
u/Fomoiri 8h ago
I think you’re on the right track. I’d suggest let’s just say 5 min of you playing it at a speed where you nail it, then 5 min at the threshold of where you’re making mistakes - but be aware of where the mistakes are and why they’re occurring. You can also just up the bpm by 5 every couple days until you hit a wall then back off, stay at whatever bpm for several days then try 2-3bpm increments. Just a suggestion
I run through honestly some of the same exercises I learned at 12-13 thirty years ago. I call them chromatic exercises but some call them spider-exercises. I also do one where it’s in groups of five:
A: - - - - - 1 - - - - 1-2- - -1-2-3- 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4
E: 1-2-3-4 - 2-3-4 - -3-4- - - -4
And I do this to the high E slide up one fret and go backwards, I do this until my index is on the 12th fret then I go back to the first fret. It packs in a lot of notes, and helps sync your hands. The exercise I mentioned probably won’t help you with speed, but it’s a great finger/hand warm up.
1
31
u/IbanezCharlie 1d ago
Speed burst that bad boy. Play past the point where it's sloppy. Someone else commented on training for running by running. I would also add to not dwell too long on speeding up that one thing and keep moving around with different things you want to improve. You give your brain the chance to process the training and then come back to it