How To Use Guitar Speed Building Exercises For Maximum Results

Not all guitar speed building exercises guarantee big results for your playing. This is because most exercises are practicing ineffectively in a directionless manner.

Solution:

Find ways to make your guitar speed exercises as efficient as possible for generating the shred speed you always wanted.

It’s actually easy to do this too, when you know how.

There are four simple ways to get maximum results from any speed exercise you practice.

Read about them below and start playing guitar faster than ever.

Set Clear Goals And Update Them Every Couple Of Months (As Necessary)

You want to achieve your musical goals as fast as possible, right?

Good.

You’ll need to set clear goals and update them every couple of months to make sure everything is heading in the direction you want.

This is how guitar players gain tons of speed faster than other players – because most guitarists only make progress at random in an uncontrolled manner.

Here are a few variables to add to your guitar playing goals that make them more specific and achievable:

·         Time limit (deadline)

·         Specific tempo to set your metronome at in order to measure your speed

·         Ability to consistently play something without mistakes over the course of several to many repetitions

·         Ability to play something with perfect synchronization between hands. For example, how many times you are able to double pick the notes of a lick without making mistakes

There are many more ways to make your guitar playing goals more clear. Think of some on your own or work with your guitar teacher to determine new ways to set your goals.

Update your longer term goals every couple of months by seeing how close you are to achieving them, if you still want to pursue them or if need to update your practice approach to achieve them faster.

Practice In Shorter Sessions With Intense Focus

It’s a terrible myth that you must practice 5-10 hours a day (or similar) just to become a fast guitar player.

It’s terrible because…

It’s simply not true!

Why?

Getting faster results is about efficient practice, not “more” practice

For example:

Practicing guitar speed exercises for just 15 minutes several times during a day can be massively effective for getting results versus practicing 5 hours straight!

Want to know how this is possible?

Make your practice time more efficient to get bigger results with less by using the concept in this video:

Now that you’ve seen the video, think about how this applies to the things you practice and arrange your practice accordingly to get the most results possible.

 

Practice For Both Usable Speed And Raw Speed

We all have two categories of speed on guitar:

1.   Raw speed

2.   Usable speed

What do these terms refer to?

Raw speed means how fast you are able to play while practicing any given exercise in isolation.

Usable speed means how fast you are able to play during musical situations like playing a guitar solo or improvising.

Your goal should be to transform raw speed into usable speed. This helps you to actually use the skills you develop so you don’t struggle to play actual music (versus just exercises, scale patterns, etc.)

What are some good ways to do this?

·         Practice things like scales or arpeggios while improvising and integrating other techniques into your practice (such as vibrato, bends, or slides)

·         Improvise consistently to backing tracks and in isolation with your practice materials

·         Use sequences of notes to begin making scales sound more musical:

Single String Speed Guitar Lick
Combine different techniques together such as scales with arpeggios, vibrato with bends, tapping with arpeggios, etc.

Create Your Own Exercises From The Ones You Learn

What do most guitar players do with speed exercises?

They practice the exercise until they are finally able to play it perfectly, note for note.

Sound good?

Well, it is… but it could be much more productive!

How so?

By creating your own unique variations of the exercises you practice.

By thinking creatively, you activate your brain in a way that helps you learn faster and learn how to use the movements you develop in your fingers much more musically.

Here are some examples of how to create an exercise from something you learn:

·         Double pick every note

·         Create guitar phrasing 10 variations of the lick or exercise

·         Tremolo pick every note

·         Pick notes using only upstrokes

·         Transpose the notes to play them on a different part of the fretboard

·         Play using clean settings instead of distortion

·         Any combination of the above (and/or other approaches)

Now you know some excellent ways to practice getting faster guitar speed while also improving your overall musicianship in the process.

Now, it’s time to learn a powerful way to DOUBLE your guitar speed.

Learn how to get two times faster while practice less using the ideas in this free guitar speed guide.