whats the best way to increase my playing speed. is there any certain riffs that aregood to help with this or what?

thanks
_rob

start slow, and use a metronome.
they really do work :)

Try a lot of pulling off and hammering on; in a legato technique, that tends to be the source of a lot of speed.

Just practise your picking licks over and over again...(metronome!)

If your are looking for a book, get speed mechanics for lead guitar from troy stetina. It's a fantastic book with a lot of great exercises (legato & picking)... :)

thanks

I just wanna say i have that book, and it really *is* awsome. i got it like yesterday, so i havnt looked at the whole thing yet. theres a whole bunch of useful stuff in there. Highly recomendeble :) .

I've said this before but it bares repeating: Drink A Lot Of Coffee! And when you think you've drank enough - make another pot.............
Speed is all about a light touch, economy of motion and being relaxed as you play. Any tension in your arms will slow you down. Practicing with a metronome starting at a low speed and gradually upping the tempo works best. Start at 60 - 80 beats per minute and go up about 6 bpms at a time until you can play with out mistakes. Whenever practicing your technique make sure to use perfect form at a slow speed without mistakes before speeding up. When you have hit your top speed, up the tempo about 20 bpms and work at that. This is where you will make the most gains in speed. To play consistently fast you will need to practice legato patterns in time to a steady beat. Just don't make the mistake of playing only one or two patterns because that will creep into your playing and limit your creativity after a while. These are the basic patterns that I use and they seem to warm me up and get my fingers moving. Triplets: 413431 134314 412141 Quads: 4131 3141 4231 1432 1423 etc. You get the idea. I use these fingerings while playing through the different modes on as many strings as possible. Also trilling in time to a metronome helps a lot. Hope this helps................

Do you think that playing with a wrist technique or more of a full arm picking technique will affct my picking ability?

I found with speed , apart from the metronome way of doing things is a much more fun way of doing it - grab yourself a copy of Guitar Pro and checkout www.mysongbook.com , it takes getting used to - but you can play your favourite songs ( whatever band ) @ 75% , 50% and 25% of the original speed - which is absolutely awesome when building up speed - picking , or H-ons / P-offs

When I was doing it I found it soooo monotonous to just bash out scales to a metronome - was much more fun building up speed to your fave songs :rolleyes:

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should try that sometime.

yep.

all i can say take of advantage of the time that u have guys to practice cuz once u start working or goin to school those times will take over ur practice

How does drinking mass amounts of coffee have anything to do with it? If anything, it will make you more shaky and tense...You don't need to start at 60 to 80 bpm increasing 6 beats at a time, or practice legato patterns like this guy says...it's too specific of a routine and it's personalized to his playing style...every player is different and the only thing you should really make sure to do is to not play something fast that you cannot play slowly and perfectly....and using a metronome AND tapping your foot without one is key. Increase the BPM's at your own pace and comfort level..... Be persistant and the speed will come...As Joe says, it's quality before speed every time.

It's also important to have your guitar set-up properly. Having low action makes playing a lot easier.

I have to disagree slightly here. yes lower action is "easier "to play...but ..
if you "practice" on a tougher playing guitar it will dramaticaly improve your practice results , the extra concious effort it takes forces you to focus on execution ,clarity ,and helps develop finger strength and muscle memory a bunch.
lots of player s (including me) warm up /practice on acoustics and higher action insturments, then pick up your "A" guitar (if you have that luxury) and see what happens. then...its like butter....
but to each his /her own. good luck.

----(quote)
Do you think that playing with a wrist technique or more of a full arm picking technique will affct my picking ability?
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use both , i find that when playing /stumming chords i generaly use a arm motion, when picking faster individual notes i "wrist twist". altho ive seen some fast shreders use the "tight wrist arm" technique. but you will find that you have to use both im sure .

------(quote)
I've said this before but it bares repeating: Drink A Lot Of Coffee! And when you think you've drank enough - make another pot.............
------
did "tweak "(south park) write this? :hyper:
that is one of the most dumbest things ive heard ... . coffee WILL NOT naturaly increase your playing speed what so ever.
you must be RELAXED!,. it must flow thru you naturaly and effortlessly. and when you do it right it will. like bruce lee said ..."be like water"

Not specifically to do with speed , but playing with higher guage strings will really increase your finger strength in the long run...depends if you want to suffer really hehe <_<

ok here's my suggestion...

practice on what u want to end up playing on. like someone said earlier, playin on a guitar with high action makes playing faster. you'll have problems when u shift to a lower action guitar after doing that. same goes for acoustic or electric guitar too. play the one you wanna end up playin.

about gaining speed....

try to play slowly, basically licks and triplets kinda thingie's, and try to get the notes to sound clean. and relax both your hands and fingers. dont strain them when you're trying to play/pick a lil fast.

practice your licks and exercises separately, till when you can play them without any strain, them mix n match these licks and make ur own runs(they dont need to be really technical, or even follow a scale, for now). vary it with a lot of picking patterns and playing them on diff strings.

so....pts. to remember

-relax
-get your desired guitar setup
-always aim for clean notes. muted, dead notes are the last thing you wanna play.
-developing speed doesnt take place overnight, so have A LOT of patience. Patience, perseverance, dedication and hardwork pay off in the end.

While that IS true, to an extent (especially with regards to action - I really can't bend on anything below 2mm), I've found that when I practice on my acoustic for a while and then go back to my electric, I can just burn.

That said... A lot of practice is muscle-specific, and if you're not working the muscles in the same way from one guitar to another, you won't make as much progress. So, practicing an acoustic sitting down gives you a very different wrist/arm position than an electric standing, and the direct applicability won't be there.

Of course, practicing both will have advantages for either, andI try to balance the two, doing most of my technique work on my seven string but every once in a while sitting down with my acosutic to keep the muscles fresh so I can translate what I'm doing on electric to acosutic. I've found that while it's not exact, if I practice both, I get better on both than I would if I practiced either alone.

Aside from that... Building speed is best pursued through efficiency of motion. Focus on staying relaxed and being perfectly accurate, and eventually the speed will follow.

And remember, at the end of the day, it matters far more WHAT you play than how fast you play it - speed's a little overrated. ;)

The better you know something, the faster can you play.
Imo, speed i mainly down to your thought process, when you get to a point where you don't have to think about what your playing (as intencely as when you first learn something) then the speed will come with it.
It simply is practice makes perfect.

I second that...gotta practice and practice and practice til you get it perfectly

Always found the scales and speeding them up + down makes for good practice on speed technique. As in all cases though, diffrent ppl have diffrent methods of doing things :lol:

ur right bout the muscles. also, take care of minor details like type of pick ur using. also the position u rest ur picking hand over the strings or above the bridge. and also resting ur hand over the pickup or scratch guard. all these help in picking faster and with much more stability.

try these one at a time and find out which position is best suited for ur comfort of playing(and not really playing fast).

thanks for all the info people! i do have the guitar i want and i have doing some legatto stuff but also i have been learning to do all sorts of differnet stuff. i picked up the guitar secrets by satch and its a great book it teaches alot of stuff. i think the best thing is learing stuff accurately and after a while of playing it speed increases.

how about time just stick w/ the metronome or is there other stuff i can do?

To keep things interesting, you can use jamtracks or drum software. It's much more fun and keeps you motivated. Leaf drum is a good choice, if you're looking for an easy to use drum machine... :)

Try some wrist and finger exercises from a physiotherapist, use a metronome (increasing tempo when needed) and play clean. Visualization is very important too.

remember to use speed wisely and economically, otherwise it will lose it's impact. one note played beautifully can have a much bigger impact on a listener than a thousand notes played badly.

I'll leave you with a quote from one of the true greats, Les Paul:

"My chops were not as fast... I just leaned more on what was in my mind than what was in my chops. I learned a long time ago that one note can go a long way if it's the right one, and it will probably whip the guy with twenty notes."