Tips For How To Play Guitar Faster (Without Becoming Sloppy)

One of the most frustrating things about playing guitar at fast speeds is making sloppy mistakes that ruins your licks and solos.

Just one open string ringing out by accident can easily transform an otherwise killer lick into a terrible one.

Wouldn’t it be nice to eliminate sloppy string noise from your playing for good?

Good news:

Learning the fundamental ways to eliminate string noise isn’t hard.

It’s also easy to quickly begin implementing these concepts into your playing right away for immediate results.

Here are four ways to instantly clean up your guitar playing while playing guitar fast:

1. Mute Open Strings With Your Picking Hand Using Thumb Muting Technique

Many guitarists think that palm muting is the best picking hand technique to keep open strings from ringing out while you are playing a note.

Instead, try thumb muting.

This means using your picking hand thumb to mute any strings lower (in pitch) than the one you are playing on currently.

Why try this form of muting?

I’ll tell you.

Using your palm muting forces you to lift your picking hand up and away from the strings to move from one to the next. This leaves room for the string to ring our unintentionally and create mistakes that make your playing sound sloppy.

On the other hand:

Thumb muting does not waste this movement and keeps the strings from ringing out if they are below the ones you’re playing.

This makes your picking hand technique more efficient and locks down the lower strings to keep them from making sloppy noise.

Watch this video demonstration for a more detailed explanation of how this works to keep your guitar playing clean:

2. Mute Open Strings With Your Fretting Hand Using Your Index Finger

Muting the strings below the one you are playing on is only half of the equation.

Use your fretting hand index finger to mute the strings above the one you are playing on by lightly laying the side of it across them.

With both the fretting hand and picking hand muting in place, it is extremely difficult for any unplayed open strings to create noise.

You can take this to the next level as well by using any available fingers on your picking hand to lightly dampen higher strings. Simply allow them to see on the strings above the one you are playing on (while thumb muting), but don’t anchor them using a lot of force.

3. Improve Two Hand Synchronization Using a Lighter Touch

What is it that makes playing guitar fast feel effortless?

No, it’s not just moving your hands faster or having innate natural talent.

It’s keeping your hands in perfect synchronization together. This means you only pick the string at the same time as you fret it.

What does this have to do with playing guitar fast and clean?

Simple.

You make mistakes by misplaying notes or playing out of rhythm when you aren’t in perfect sync between both hands.

This makes playing in sync critical!

There are many different ways to play guitar with both hands in sync.

Here’s one:

1.   Play any guitar lick on clean settings using very light touch to fret the notes. Break the lick down into smaller segments of 3-4 notes to make it easier to do this without becoming overwhelmed.

2.   Use only as much pressure as needed to get the notes to sound with the fretting hand.

Then, pick heavily with your picking hand.

This forces you to pick very precisely in time with both hands in order to hear the notes without making a mistake.

When you return to playing the lick like normal (and with distortion), your hands become much more in sync and some of your previous mistakes disappear.

Watch this video to see the difference between guitar playing that is in sync and guitar playing that isn’t:

Other ways to improve two hands synchronization:

·         Double pick the notes in a given exercise

·         Pick with heavy articulation on clean settings

·         Accent the first note of any string change using heavier picking (similar to what you saw in the video)

4. Correct Sloppy Mistakes With Less Frustration By Practicing In Short Bursts

Practicing fast guitar licks in short bursts of notes at max speed makes practicing much more fun and less frustrating.

This makes it easier to spot your mistakes and correct them without having to play an entire lick or exercise note-for-note over and over

This video shows you how to do it:

To amplify the effect of this practice approach, try practicing your usual practice items in quick bursts of 10-15 minutes throughout the day. This ensures you stay completely focused throughout your entire practice time – getting the best results possible.

Now you know 4 powerful ways to play guitar faster and cleaner than ever before.

With that out of the way, how does increasing your overall playing speed sound?

Sound good?

Thought so!

Learn how to double your guitar speed by practicing more efficiently using this (no-cost) shred guitar speed resource.