Step One: Pinpoint Your Highest Speed

Find your current max speed using a metronome to build up to the speed at which you can rarely play a guitar phrase many times without making errors.

Here are samples of how to recognize your highest speed using assorted guitar exercises:

Sweep picking– Try to find the fastest pace at which every note of the phrase sounds plainly, without merging together while preserving a constant rhythm.

Scales – Watch for the fastest speed at which every note sounds with cleanliness, and both hands stay correctly in sync when changing positions.

Certain guitar solos – Seek out the fastest tempo at which every note sounds accurately, and you are able to play the phrase without losing rhythm.

After identifying your current highest speed, go to this step:

Step Two: Create Specified Guitar Speed Practice Intentions

The more particular your goals are, the more substantial the chances you will achieve them. Many guitarists aren’t able to become fast players because they practice for guitar speed without any objectives.

Here are a number of concepts for guitar speed objectives you can contemplate for yourself:

Play at a precise speed.

This is a basic goal for certain patterns, licks or solo parts. If you just want to play a technique a lot quicker, take a look at the goals below.

Play at a speed 10 times without problems.

This is a more exact goal that helps you improve massively at something by concentrating on consistency instead of only being able to play something precisely once.

Improvise quality ideas at a specific tempo.

It’s typical for players to want to play “with speed”, but practicing to improvise without errors at particular speeds helps you evaluate your complete guitar speed in a more specific way.

Document your goal and figure out the amount of time you want to invest practicing weekly to realize it. If this is a very vital goal, set aside a large chunk of your time and don’t practice less valuable things in its place.

Unsure how to construct your guitar practice? Get help making the most effective and efficient guitar practicing routine.

Question: “What easy thing can I do to get better at playing guitar solos?”

Answer: Practice improving your phrasing by starting from a smaller level.

For instance:

Just try to make a few notes sound more expressive before moving onto an entire solo.

Focusing on your vibrato technique goes a long way towards helping improve the quality of your solos.

Invest about 10-15 minutes developing your vibrato technique every day.

Do this by grabbing a metronome and setting it to a slower tempo.

Then start the vibrato on beat 1 by bending to the target pitch. Bring the string back to the original pitch on the second beat. Do this until it becomes a breeze to make your vibrato sound perfect.

Step Three: Track Your Progress Regularly Until Your Goals Are Achieved

It’s not enough to merely have goals and practice eventually reach them (although this is still good).

Measuring your progress helps you recognize the mistakes that are important to fix, so you upgrade your weaknesses and become a speedier guitar player in less time.

As you practice the targeted item to move towards your goals, pay very close attention to the blunders you are making. To track your mistakes as closely as you can, record yourself while practicing.

Make a note of which mistakes are giving you the most issues and how many times you made those mistakes during a certain session.

Note: The more meticulously you track your mistakes, the faster you can take care of them and play guitar at the speed you want.

Step Four: Set Fresh Guitar Speed Targets

Your guitar speed objectives will evolve over time as you meet them or contemplate new ones. Don’t make the typical mistake other guitarists make of not changing your goals (modifying the way you practice).

Review your guitar playing and upgrade your guitar speed goals every few practice sessions or so to keep developing.

Bonus Guitar Soloing Tip Of The Day:

Take a phrase that you are going to repeat many times in your solo and practice creating variations with it by: changing the rhythm while keeping the notes the same, changing some of the notes but keeping the same rhythm, changing the pitch register and/or playing the notes with different phrasing. This will help you to make your phrasing ideas more creative and less repetitive ‘without’ having to fall into the other extreme of always fishing for new ideas to play and having the solo lack cohesion as a result.