How to Improve Speed on Guitar?
Most new guitarists equate playing fast with being a good guitarist. Unfortunately, this can lead to frustration and even a lack of accuracy. They spend a lot of time trying to play faster in order to improve their skills, and this is not just because of speed. Many factors go into playing fast, and it’s not just about speed. Guitar players often go to considerable lengths to get speed. When those fingers soar and the fretboard flame up, there is no replacement for hard practice. Playing fast became apparent when Eddie Van Halen arrived on the scene. His incredible technique and two-handed tapping skills caught the attention of guitarists everywhere. In the 1980s, the generation heavily influenced by EVH started their shredding guitar revolution.
Although some of the most prominent guitarists, such as Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert, held down the fort for metal players, the rise of shredding guitar caught the attention of mainstream audiences. Steve Lukather was able to fly the flag for shredding while he was playing for Michael Jackson. The most critical factors that guitarists should consider when improving their playing speed are patience, precision, and practice. If you cannot play something at a high enough level, it might be because you are not using the proper technique or are not using practical approaches. In this article, we’ll discuss critical insights that will help you improve your playing speed.
How to Improve Your Guitar Playing Speed?
Playing guitar, like any other instrument, is an art that cannot be taught overnight.
With that said, I must stress that following this advice puts you in a better position, but it is not something you do once and then forget about.
Our goal with this piece is to encourage you to create good guitar-playing routines, so think of it as something you should do every day, or at least every other day, as part of your usual routine.
1. Stretch your fingers
While working out, stretching is also beneficial. It can help maintain the strength and flexibility of your fingers and hand, making you tired after playing for a long time. Stretching can also help deal with various issues, such as the synchronization between your hands and the movement of your fingers. It can also improve the blood flow to your muscles and prevent injuries.
It can also help prevent injuries and strengthen the muscles that you’ll need to play guitar properly. Stretching helps prepare the muscles for the movements that you’ll be performing with your hands. Stretching can help you release some of the tension that’s building up in your muscles. It can also help you play more efficiently.
If you’re not feeling tense on your fingers and hands, you might need to practice stretching to develop muscle memory to play well. Tension can also build up in different parts of your body, such as your shoulders, wrists, and back. It can affect how you feel when playing the guitar.
How to Improve Speed on Guitar? | 2. Practice as much as you can
It is essential to talk about this, as it is often the case that people tend to assume that they should only learn something if they are good at it. It is because many people believe that they should only get good at it if they are already good at it.
Consistency is one of the most important factors people should consider when learning how to play guitar. This is because the regular practice can help them improve their skills and make them more successful when they try to play fast and clean. I would rather spend 30 minutes a day practicing than spend 3.5 hours a week on it.
Good guitarists have a lot of passion, dedication, creativity, and patience. These qualities help them play cleaner and faster. In addition, they allow them to increase their speed.
3. Begin softly and gradually increase your speed
The key to winning the race is to play steady and slow. It will allow you to create a smooth start and maintain good hand synchronization. Doing so will allow you to avoid getting carried away and playing music that doesn’t correspond to your expectations.
Although most people know this is good practice, only a few of them stick to it. Learning to walk is similar to running, as it requires adapting to a certain pace before you can start. Just like walking, playing slowly is also important to ensure that you can play fast.
How to Improve Speed on Guitar? | 4. Practice multiple guitar exercises to enhance your speed
If you are looking for ways to improve your playing speed or how to play the guitar fast, then you have probably come across some exercises that are designed to help you do so. These are great exercises that will help build muscle memory and accuracy.
One of the essential factors that you can consider when it comes to improving your playing speed is having the ability to remember all of the notes that you are supposed to play. This practice helps you increase your accuracy and allows you to play faster. Another important aspect of this process has the ability to choose the correct position and placement of the strings to allow you to perform any transition seamlessly.
If you take a break from playing and analyze yourself, you might be able to tell which of your hands is faster. There are two scenarios that can happen, and one of them involves either your picking or your fretting hand. It is essential to improve both hands, but sometimes it is necessary to work on one hand, causing you to play slowly.
5. Sync Your Picking and Fretting Hands
Even if your pick is fast, playing guitar slow will not be possible if your fingers can’t keep up with it. This is why terms such as synchronization exist. Learning how to play guitar fast and clean involves having the right synchronization.
Many new guitarists are not able to play certain songs or lick because they don’t understand the concept of synchronization. One of the most common reasons these guitarists fail is that they can’t coordinate their movements. This is because they can’t pick and fret simultaneously, which can lead to inarticulate notes. Having the right synchronization helps prevent these kinds of noises from coming from the strings.
One of the most effective ways to improve your hand synchronization and fretting is by doing simple exercises at least once a day. It will help you avoid making mistakes that can affect your progress. Another important aspect of this technique is ensuring that your hands are synchronized when playing chord progressions. It will allow you to make the transitions in the songs more precise.
How to Improve Speed on Guitar? | 6. Use alternate picking
Alternate picking is the most often utilized picking technique for plucking strings quickly and smoothly with the least amount of effort. It will aid in speed and reduce arm strain. In a continuous run, you choose one note with a downward stroke and the next with an upstroke, as the name suggests. You may quadruple the number of notes you play in the same amount of time by alternating downward and upward pick strokes.
7. Use economy picking
The importance of economy picking is that it allows you to build speed without too much effort. This hybrid of sweep and alternate picking is used when changing strings. In this case, the guitarist chooses to pick in the direction of travel, which means that an upstroke is used if the string is at a lower pitch, and a downstroke is used if the string is at a higher pitch.
The goal is to minimize the movement of the hand while picking a specific string. Doing so will prevent you from jumping over it, which is typically the case with alternate picking. You should also avoid passing over a string you’re planning to pick.
How to Improve Speed on Guitar? | 8. Use sweep picking
The sweeping technique involves working in sync to achieve the desired effect. It involves playing arpeggios, which are notes of a chord arranged in a sequence. The notes sound out individually rather than like a chord. Rather than lifting your pick for each note, just let it glide across the strings and articulate each note as if you’re playing a song. This technique ensures that your hand’s pick and fingers simultaneously make contact with the string. To achieve this, you must synchronize your hands so that they make contact with the strings at the same time.
9. Use a metronome when you’re exercising
A metronome is a device that can be used to produce a sound or click at regular intervals. The user can set it, and it can be used to train one’s playing skills. For guitarists, a metronome is a great tool to practice playing regularly.
There are plenty of free metronome apps that allow us to have these features without having to spend a lot of money. Even if you don’t want to download any of these apps, you can still use Google to find one that fits your needs.
A metronome can help you play at a slower tempo, allowing you to focus on your form and accuracy instead of trying to go faster all the time. It can also help you maintain a consistent playing speed.
A metronome can also help you improve your overall sense of timing, allowing you to play with other people and be in a band in the future. It will let you know what BPM you can play a specific song or melody. Additionally, it can allow you to track your progress quantitatively.
If you plan on playing a song at 120 BPM or higher, you can add 1BPM to your metronome daily to help you reach your goal of playing at 160 BPM. This method is more effective than just jumping from 120 BPM to 160 BPM in just a single day.
How to Improve Speed on Guitar? | 10. Record yourself and evaluate your development
Every time you practice, analyze your playing. You can download Deplike and use it for recording yourself now. Anywhere and anytime you want, you can practice as many songs as you want. By receiving instant feedback from 3D tutor of Deplike, you can rate your progress on any exercise or song. It will help you identify areas where you can improve and might come up short.
Write down your observations and come up with a solution or exercise that will improve your performance. For instance, if your fingers are too weak to speed up, try performing training on just those two fingers.d
By taping yourself playing on digital studio of Deplike’s Learning App. It will allow you to take a close look at your posture and hand position, which will enable you to identify areas where you can improve. It can also help you keep track of your progress and identify areas where you can improve.
11. Patience, patience, patience
There are many ways to improve the speed of your guitar playing, but it’s also important to remember that specific processes can’t be rushed. For instance, there are plenty of ways to avoid common problems that can slow down your progress, but there isn’t much that you can do to prevent them from happening.
One of the most critical factors that you should consider when it comes to developing your musical skills is to be patient. There will be many new things that you will learn in the process of becoming a musician, and it’s also important to remember that there are still many steps that you must take to reach the level that you want to play.
How to Improve Speed on Guitar? | Final Thoughts
One of the most critical factors you should consider is patience. For most people, reaching their goals in music will only happen if they stick with it for a long time. Don’t get carried away by pushing yourself too hard, as this can make you lose motivation and eventually get frustrated. Instead, enjoy the process and remember that everything will get better.
