How To Play With Excellent Guitar Speed Picking Technique By Identifying & Correcting Big Mistakes

It’s nearly impossible to have guitar speed picking technique that is clean when you unaware of the mistakes that are ruining your playing. This makes it critical to develop the skill of being able to identify and listen for these mistakes, so you are able to fix them quickly.

Guitar players who become great players fast are excellent at identifying their mistakes.

Use the information below to learn how to identify and correct your mistakes and develop clean speed picking technique:

Many Guitarists Fail To Make Progress Because They Don’t Pay Attention To Their Mistakes… They Avoid Them

Let’s face it, it doesn’t feel good to make mistakes. This is why most guitar players find ways to work around or avoid their mistakes while playing fast… massively slowing down their progress and making their technique more sloppy over time.

Making mistakes actually becomes a good thing when you take a proactive approach to getting better on guitar. This is because you learn exactly what to practice to get better rather than having to guess or practice random exercises.

How To Listen For And Fix Mistakes That Hold Back Your Guitar Speed

Listening closely to your mistakes while practicing guitar is a skill in and of itself. The more you do this, the faster you correct the problems that keep you from improving. This makes the process of becoming a fast and clean guitarist much less frustrating.

Here are some of the fundamental skills that make up solid speed picking technique and how to identify when you’re making mistakes that hold you back from getting faster:

Two-Hand Synchronization – Both hands play together in perfect unison. You fret notes at the exact moment you pick the string.

How To Spot Problems With This Skill:

Struggling with two-hand synchronization is commonly experienced by feeling like playing fast and clean is difficult. One or both hands makes many mistakes and it is difficult to play something perfectly several times in a row.

Picking Hand Muting – No noise is generated by open/unplayed strings lower (in pitch) than the one you are playing. The best way to prevent string noise in this manner is to use thumb muting technique.

How To Spot Problems With This Skill:

You hear noises of open strings ringing out when they shouldn’t be. You may also hear scratching or muffled noises if you are moving your picking hand around too much.

Fretting Hand Muting – No noise is generated by open/unplayed strings higher (in pitch) than the one you are playing. This is achieved by lightly laying the side of your index finger across the strings.

How To Spot Problems With This Skill:

You hear noises of open strings ringing out when they shouldn’t be. You may accidentally play muffled notes or fretted notes too if you are pressing down too hard with your finger.

Efficient Speed Picking Technique – You use the least amount of motion in your picking hand to get the result of playing the note. This applies to all areas of guitar playing, whether it’s playing scales, tremolo picking or sweep picking.

Learn how to pick as efficiently as possible in this guitar technique article.

How To Spot Problems With This Skill:

This often makes playing with two-hand synchronization feel much more difficult than it should be. You also may experience feeling “stuck”, like you can’t play any faster than a certain speed.

Note Articulation – Each note is played with enough power to articulate it cleanly and clearly. The best speed picking technique uses a lot of power in the pick attack to achieve this result.

How To Spot Problems With This Skill:

Notes sound muffled or unclear. You notice a big difference in how clean your playing is while playing with distortion versus on clean settings.

Now learn some practice approaches to improve your guitar speed by fixing your mistakes:

Play Slightly Faster Than What You’re Used To

Playing at a guitar speed slightly above what you’re used to exposes your mistakes like how an old-time detective finds a clue with a magnifying glass. It also helps you reach outside your comfort zone and improve your mental processing speed.

Practice in this manner for just a few minutes when you struggle with a specific lick to quickly see what you must practice to improve it.

Isolate Problem Notes And Fix Them Using Short Bursts Of Speed

Break down any speed picking lick you struggle with into smaller groups of notes. Then practice them at fast speeds continuously while looking for mistakes. It’s much easier to improve your guitar playing while working with a small group of notes, because it’s easier to pinpoint your focus.

This video demonstrates how to improve your speed picking technique by applying this practice method:

Find Hidden Mistakes By Recording Yourself Listen Back To What You Play

It’s sometimes hard to hear mistakes in the moment while you practice. Recording yourself while you play gives you the ability to listen back and identify subtle mistakes you may have never noticed before.

Once you’ve identified your mistakes, fix them as quickly and efficiently as possible:

Fix Mistakes To Quickly Improve Your Guitar Speed By Creating A Practice Schedule

The best way to improve your guitar playing is to create a schedule centered around your specific goals while practicing the right things to help you reach them fast.

Once you’ve discovered the mistakes holding back your guitar speed, organize your practice time around correcting them. For the best and fastest results, use this guitar practice scheduler.