One thing is very likely. It is very likely that you will not get any faster on the guitar than you are right now unless you practice. You will need to practice a lot. It will not come to you in your sleep. There is little to no chance that you will ever wake up one day and be a better, faster guitar player. Only with practice will you get faster, and with enough practice you well become greased lightning. Still, you will want to make good use of the following guitar speed exercises. They should become the cornerstone of your daily practice routine.
As you begin to develop a practice routine, consider the equipment you use. One central piece of equipment you should own is a metronome. These are devices that help you keep a steady beat and various beats per minute. A metronome should be owned by you, so if you do not own on take the time to get one. They are truly invaluable as you effort to learn the guitar.
So to get started, set your metronome to a relatively slow speed that is appropriate for your skill level. Using the up and down picking method, play the top string in the first fret, then the second, then the third, and finally the fourth. Next move down one string and do it again. Do this until you reach the bottom E string and then progress back up. Increase your metronome by a few beats per minute and do it again. Do this until you are going as fast as you can. Then slow back down to finish the exercise. This helps to prevent the burn and promotes accuracy.
Next pick your favorite scale and play it in triplets. Start each new triplet with the second note from the previous triplet. Again, start slow and increase the speed until you can no longer keep up. Do this in both directions by first going up the scale and then coming back down. Remember to finish slowly for the sake of being precise.
Next is finding that note! Pick any string and strum it anywhere. Then, find that same note on the same string either higher or lower. This will help with speed but will also develop strength. An added benefit is that you will become more familiar with where notes are on particular strings, and this is a good thing.
To help develop speed with your strumming hand, return to the first exercise presented here and, rather than double-picking up and down, try the same exercise using only the down stroke going one way and the up stroke coming back the other way. The will help your coordination and thus your overall picking speed will increase.
Not every exercise will work for everyone, and of course some of these exercises will work better for some than for others. What is as important as the exercise is a regular practice routine. Even the guitar gods keep their chops up to speed by practicing each and every day, and while you may or may not become the next jukebox hero, to become a better guitar player you will need to practice.
So there are some exercises you can try and some advice you may find useful. The guitar is probably one of the world's most popular instruments, and it is not as hard to learn as you may think. Mastering it, however, requires some natural talent, hard work, a near spiritual devotion to practice and paying some serious attention to the guitar speed exercises that you determine work best for you.
As you begin to develop a practice routine, consider the equipment you use. One central piece of equipment you should own is a metronome. These are devices that help you keep a steady beat and various beats per minute. A metronome should be owned by you, so if you do not own on take the time to get one. They are truly invaluable as you effort to learn the guitar.
So to get started, set your metronome to a relatively slow speed that is appropriate for your skill level. Using the up and down picking method, play the top string in the first fret, then the second, then the third, and finally the fourth. Next move down one string and do it again. Do this until you reach the bottom E string and then progress back up. Increase your metronome by a few beats per minute and do it again. Do this until you are going as fast as you can. Then slow back down to finish the exercise. This helps to prevent the burn and promotes accuracy.
Next pick your favorite scale and play it in triplets. Start each new triplet with the second note from the previous triplet. Again, start slow and increase the speed until you can no longer keep up. Do this in both directions by first going up the scale and then coming back down. Remember to finish slowly for the sake of being precise.
Next is finding that note! Pick any string and strum it anywhere. Then, find that same note on the same string either higher or lower. This will help with speed but will also develop strength. An added benefit is that you will become more familiar with where notes are on particular strings, and this is a good thing.
To help develop speed with your strumming hand, return to the first exercise presented here and, rather than double-picking up and down, try the same exercise using only the down stroke going one way and the up stroke coming back the other way. The will help your coordination and thus your overall picking speed will increase.
Not every exercise will work for everyone, and of course some of these exercises will work better for some than for others. What is as important as the exercise is a regular practice routine. Even the guitar gods keep their chops up to speed by practicing each and every day, and while you may or may not become the next jukebox hero, to become a better guitar player you will need to practice.
So there are some exercises you can try and some advice you may find useful. The guitar is probably one of the world's most popular instruments, and it is not as hard to learn as you may think. Mastering it, however, requires some natural talent, hard work, a near spiritual devotion to practice and paying some serious attention to the guitar speed exercises that you determine work best for you.
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