Hammond Music

I get a lot of questions about what it takes to become a faster guitar player. My answer is always the same, practice. Of course that answer doesn’t always go over well with beginners it’s the truth. In order to get great at anything you must first be able to do it slowly, then add speed.

In this article I cover three practice exercises you can start doing now to improve both your accuracy and your speed. If you consistently do them you should start to see results after the first week.

NOTE: If you’re currently taking guitar lessons you may want to discuss these exercises with your teacher. The same goes if you’re using a learn guitar dvd or similar self study product consider skipping ahead in your lessons to see if there are any exercises for playing faster coming later on. The course developer or your instructor may prefer you follow different methods to play faster

Exercise 1 – Practice Scales

Understanding the important major and minor scales, along with notes on the neck is something you should learn. If this is something you haven’t yet learned don’t panic. Using your favourite search engine search for Pentatonic Scales, or visit a beginner guitar website and search for pentatonic scales. What you’re looking for is an image of the first pentatonic position.

You’re going to take that first pentatonic position and memorize it. Don’t worry yet about what scale you’re playing the shape is what you need first.

Now start at the first fret on your guitar and play the scale starting on the low E string down to the high E string. Now play it backwards. Next slide up to the second fret and do it all again, then the third fret, fourth fret and so on.

The key here is to learn accuracy with hitting the frets and the notes as you move up and down the neck forwards and backwards through the scale position.

Exercise 2 – Increase your Pace

Now we want to do exercise 1 again, but this time move things a little quicker. Using a metronome find a pace that is comfortable for you to play the first pentatonic shape. For some that might be 60-70 BPM for others it might be 100. The key is to find a comfortable speed to start at.

Start your metronome and once again on the first fret play the scale position forwards and backwards. Now this time when you slide up to fret two increase the beats per minute on your metronome by one or two and continue to do this all the way up the neck.

This exercise allows you to “warm up” to the idea of playing faster while maintaining accuracy and skill. Once you make it all the way up the neck you’ll have increased your speed by 12-16 beats per minute and hopefully maintained your accuracy and technique Ideally do this exercise for a few weeks maintaining the same starting tempo for at least a few days to ensure you’ve mastered it, then increase your starting tempo.

Exercise 3 – Picking Up and Down

Most beginners only hit the string on the down stroke with their pick. How ever as you speed up, especially in exercise #2, you’re going to find that hitting the string on the way down just isn’t enough. It’s time to start plucking the string on the way down and up. In the beginning this may feel strange so again starting slowly and getting the right technique is key.

First on the open low E string pluck up and down with your pick. Next move down to the 5th string, then the 4th and onwards all the way down to the 1st string. Then go back up. This exercise will help you feel comfortable picking up and down on all the strings and changing strings.

Finally add in the same pentatonic shape we’ve been using in the first and second exercises. This might feel strange at first, down pick for note one then up pick for note two and switch strings. Getting the right timing between your picking hand and fretting hand is tough but start slow, master it then add speed just like before.

If you consistently do these 3 exercises for a period of four weeks you will get faster. I’d urge you to also ensure you’re practicing the other new material and concepts you’re learning as well. It’s important that you keep up with your guitar lesson dvd or guitar lesson plan Learning guitar is fun but to be good it takes practice and work. The great thing is if you put the work in then you’re almost guaranteed to come out a better guitar player then you were going in.

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