How To Improve Guitar Speed While Moving Fast From One Side Of The Fretboard To The Other
One of the most overlooked skills in lead guitar is being able to play guitar with speed and accuracy while quickly moving from one side of the fretboard to the other. Most guitarists never practice this, so they are surprised by the mistakes they make while trying to play licks that start on the lower frets and move the higher frets.
Use these practice ideas to improve your guitar speed fast for moments when you need to quickly move up the fretboard:
Develop Excellent Fretboard Dexterity By Perfecting Single Note Octave Jumps
It’s common in guitar solos for the player to end their phrase on a high note that is an octave above the rest of the notes they were just playing. This sounds great, plus it’s fun and easy once you know how to practice it.
Play through the guitar lick below:
Play the octave jump cleanly by watching where you are about to move your fretting hand. Most guitarists make the mistake of watching where their hand is at the lower octave, but watching where it will be minimizes the potential for mistakes by helping you process the movement ahead of time (instead of an instant before you need to make it).
Improve your guitar speed while moving across wide fretboard positions using this exercise:
Set your metronome to a slow to moderate speed.
- Choose any scale, arpeggio or lick you want to practice.
- Play the first note of the practice item on the first beat, then quickly move up one octave (12 frets) to play that same note an octave higher on the next beat. Repeat this several times.
- Play the next note of the item in the same way and continue until you’ve played all notes of the pattern ascending and descending.
- Increase the metronome to a faster speed and repeat the process.
Doing this increases your ability to play guitar clean with speed while making big motions. This has the effect of making the normal pattern feel easier while also helping you to visualize the fretboard better.
Smooth Out Big Position Jumps Across The Fretboard Using Transition Notes
Getting better at moving up the fretboard doesn’t have to include sudden, huge leaps. Jumping to higher fretboard positions is easier when you have a middle transition point to help you get there.
Create a middle-point transition by playing notes from the scale in between the jump like this:
This helps you develop better fretboard visualization as you work up to making big leaps across the neck.
Improve Your Guitar Speed By Learning To Play Licks All Over The Fretboard With Ease
You have truly mastered the ability to make big position shifts on the fretboard when you are able to play an entire guitar lick in one octave, then immediately move it up to the next octave.
This idea adds even more intensity and expression to a phrase than the single note idea covered already.
This blues guitar speed lick demonstrates the concept:
Create your own ideas with this idea by simply moving every note in a guitar lick up 12 frets. Then use it to add tons of intensity to your soloing in an instant.
Make Guitar Speed Feel Smooth While Moving From Position To Position With Diagonal Movement
Most guitarists move only up and down the fretboard in a “vertical” manner. For example, this pentatonic minor scale moves vertically:
You add a new dimension to your guitar playing by adding “diagonal” movement into your patterns on the fretboard. This helps you smoothly transition from one position to another, making your guitar speed flow seamlessly while you solo.
Here is an example of diagonal movement:
This common three-note-per-string scale uses vertical movement (red dots) combined with diagonal movement (non-red dots):
Here is another scale that uses more diagonal movement on the fretboard than the previous example:
This pattern is in a group of 6 (meaning 6 notes/pitches are played before it starts over again). This is a great lick to play with tons of speed and makes your guitar soloing sound more unique.
There are many more ways to use this concept of “playing diagonally”. Create your own 3, 4 or 5 note groupings using the tab as a guide.
Playing notes across wide distances on the fretboard is just one of many ways to improve your speed and soloing. Learn more ways to play guitar solos with speed and creativity by reading this guitar soloing resource.