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Posted by: Jartski May 22 2009, 02:19 PM

I would like to know, what you guys think is the best lesson for building up speed in here GMC? Also i would like to know some must know how to play songs (i know smoke on the water, rock n roll, trooper atleast) and some easy/intermediate solos.

Sorry for my english, and if this is been posted already.

Posted by: sted May 22 2009, 02:24 PM

dont obsess over speed, concentrate on timing and accuracy and speed will come as a matter of course.

Posted by: jer May 22 2009, 02:43 PM

Hi Jartski,

Welcome to GMC!

Hang tight for some recommendations. I'm sure you'll get some here real soon. There are some helpful folks here.

Posted by: Jartski May 22 2009, 02:45 PM

Im not really obsessed with speed (well, maybe a little. ) speed isnt everything, comes with time, i know. I would just like to be able play my favorite songs (and to play them, i need some speed), thats all, i dont want to be a hardcore shredder or anything .
Offtopic: I have a les paul too , a copy through.
EDIT: Thanks, jer. Good to be here, its a really cool site .

Posted by: jer May 22 2009, 02:54 PM

We're all on our own guitar journey here. No need to justify what you are after. With the thousands of lessons here I'd be looking for some direction too. How that gives somebody the idea that you are "obsessed" is beyond me. I dont think even Yoda has that much insight to size someone up in a single post.

Dont want to be a hardcore shredder? Cool. Want to be the baddest shredder to ever walk the face of the earth? Cool. Its your hobby man. Do what you want to do.

Sorry I cant recommend anything. I havent spent any time on speed myself. But I'm looking to. Thats why I popped in after reading your post. Then I saw that the first response you got wasnt one of help, but of discouragement. Sorry to see that. This is usually a great crowd.

Keep your eyes peeled. Ivan, Muris, Lian, and the other uber helpful dudes will be here in no time with some ideas for ya. In the meantime enjoy the forums!

Posted by: Jartski May 22 2009, 03:13 PM

Yeah, i agree with you man, cant wait to see the awesome lessons someone will post.

Posted by: TheOldOnes May 22 2009, 03:42 PM

There are lots of great exercises here that will help out with your agility, accuracy and timing - all very important in developing speed.

I would highly recommend the Palm Muting exercise by Dejan Farkas:

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/palm-mute-workout-lesson/

I have always thought it has an Iron Maiden feel to it which I really liked but more importantly, it really helped me out with my fretting hand agility. Although I still only play this between 80-90 percent of the lesson bpm's, I feel that it is sufficient to play most things for now and the rest of the speed will come eventually (I seem to be much more limited by my picking hand speed). To me, I don't notice the increased speed but my friends tell me I am alot smoother and faster now.

Another recommended lesson would be Trond Vold's Picking Exercise - a little trickier and also pretty cool sounding.

Posted by: Jartski May 22 2009, 03:47 PM

Yeah, thanks man.

Posted by: berko May 22 2009, 03:49 PM

Hi man!

I think sted referred to one of the most important aspects of increasing speed and that is accuracy. It's important to remain accurate, to be in total control of both of your hands. However, concentrating on accuracy doesn't always instantly include any extra speed, you'll have to gradually build it up as a technique.

Btw, speed can be achieved through various techniques. Legato, sweeping, alternate picking, tapping. Be sure to practice them parallel to each other because although they may seem totally different as technique, all of them together can greatly help your hand coordination. If you achieve a good technique in only AP but your legato sucks, then it will be very hard and frustrating later on to build up your legato licks from zero... you'll feel like a beginner although your picking is good.

For me the real inspiration was completing solos that included at least one faster passage. I isolated that passage and practiced it until I got it right. Well, it sometimes took me weeks, but I always practice all different kind of solos and rhythm passages at the same time so I don't get frustrated when the "shreddier" stuff seems out of my reach.

Use the advance search bar to search for stuff in your style and I'm pretty sure you'll find what you need. Don't hesitate to start practicing a high level lesson - it will only be for your benefit.

Posted by: Jartski May 22 2009, 04:05 PM

Thanks man, i really need to check those out.

Posted by: Muris Varajic May 23 2009, 03:01 AM

Hello.

IMO everything that you practice somehow helps you with speed,
not directly as some focused exercises for sure but it does help.

Now talking about speed, there are MANY different speeds!!
Ultra fast legato, great execution of Alternate Picking over all 6 string
or just rapidly fast Tremolo Picking on one string etc.

I do have couple of lessons technique based,
check them out and let me know of any specific technique
that you're interested in.

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/sweep-picking-lesson/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/muris-varajic-alternate-picking/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/legato_and_picking_intermediate/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/sweep-etude/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/hybrid-picking-intermediate/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/alternate-workout/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/country-picking-advanced/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/c-minor-picking-etude/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/sweeping-with-tapping/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/legato-lesson/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/alternate-picking-thirds/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/stamina-lesson-speed-bursts/
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/fake-picking-lesson/

Posted by: Santiago Diaz Garces May 23 2009, 03:56 AM

Whatever you're playing, never, but NEVER!!, forget to play with a metronome. First slow, then speed up little by little. That's the best way to make your playing faster and cleaner.

Posted by: John In Socal May 23 2009, 05:51 AM

one thing you might want to try that helped me after being stuck for a while and not improving with getting any faster. And that is to slow down. If you are playing near your speed limit and are tense then you will never get faster, slow down, possibly way down until you are compltely relaxed, play it compltely clean, play it compltely in synch, and with an economy of movement with your picking hand. It's normally the picking hand that screws up speed (at least for me). Repeat this for a while until that feeling of easy playing while being relaxed and clean becomes second nature and then you may notice your able to play much faster than before.

If you notice when you see guys like muris and some of the other speed deamons on here laying down a flury of notes that it seems real easy for them, the little secret is that it is easy for them. So what ever speed you can play where it's easy at stick there for a while and only slowing bring up the speed, being sure that it continues to be easy. You can push every once in a while to get the feeling of going faster but do not practice speed picking beyond what you can play with ease and relaxed.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 23 2009, 02:25 PM

As people nicely stated, you are building speed with every exercise you do. Take a metronome, start from slow tempo and go up while maintaining accuracy. This is the only way to become fast over time. There are many different techniques that you can use to play fast, and lots of different stuff, so perhaps narrowing down to some music style, or technique can help us to determine what exactly are you looking for.

Posted by: Vasilije Vukmirovic May 24 2009, 12:34 AM

You build speed with metronom, that is THE best way!

Posted by: Braer May 25 2009, 03:46 PM

this guy kinda helped me out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GaryEddyEdwards

check his shred lessons

Posted by: lcsdds May 25 2009, 03:54 PM

There are LOADS of lessons on GMC that will help you build speed. First thing you need to do is figure out what techniques you want to work on. Then look for lessons with those techniques in them. Muris, Emir, Jose and Marcus are the resident shredders here IMO. Look at their lessons and get to work. Keep this in mind though.....

NO METRONOME=NO PRO SPEEDS----Kristopher Dahl

Posted by: Braer May 25 2009, 04:55 PM

IF you guys just have to choose ONE lesson that you would recomend for fast alternate picking, wich lesson?

bad english

Posted by: Mark. May 25 2009, 06:19 PM

Alternate Picking 4 by Pavel. Started learning it more then a year ago and still use it to see what my max speed is at

* Here's the link http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/alternate-picking4/

Posted by: Keilnoth May 25 2009, 07:27 PM

I am currently training my fingers on this one :
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/alternate-picking-etude-with-string-skipping/

Posted by: djohnneay May 25 2009, 10:08 PM

I agree that is a good lesson. In addition, I think all Pavels lessons are good for alternate picking, as well as learning scales . It sure helped me alot !

Posted by: Jartski Jun 7 2009, 07:56 PM

thanks everybody for your answers, i feel like im getting faster already.

Posted by: Alexiaden93 Jun 7 2009, 10:04 PM

Useless comment coming up !

I think constantly learning new scales helps your fingers getting used to new patterns and positions. Playing each scale in 16th notes starting at 30 bpm, then increasing the speed in intervals of 2-5 bpm can actually have insane effects on your finger-strength and speed ! Try it, and don't be afraid of stretchy scales : diminished ones can be a bit weird, but they help you jump around the fretboard with more easy and accuracy !

Hope this somehow helps !

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 11 2009, 11:41 PM

Just take it slow. Work with a metronome. You can do simple exercises to get the hands to work together. Check out Danilo's exercise lessons. Those finger independence and hands sync exercises will help you with playing fast : http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/instructor/Danilo-Capezzuto

Cheers

Posted by: Braer Jun 15 2009, 11:14 AM

ok, so i have started practing a yngwie speed run, goes like this:

13--14--13--10-------------------------|-------------------|------------------|
------------14-12-10----------------|-------------------|------------------|
---------------------13-11-10-------|-------------------|-------%----------|
------------------------------12-11-|-9-----------------|------------------|
------------------------------------|---12-11-9-8~------|------------------|
------------------------------------|-------------------|------------------|

The first line(13--14--13--10), how is the fingering, is it hammerons/pull off?

tips?

Posted by: Pedja Simovic Jun 15 2009, 12:22 PM

Use metronome and gradually increase speed 4 to 8 bpm !
I recommend playing something at least 15 to 20 times in a row without any mistakes, before moving to a new tempo.
Good luck and have fun with it, its a great process !

Posted by: Paiva Jun 15 2009, 12:53 PM

If you don't know how to use the metronome use this lesson

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/how-to-use-a-metronome.htm

It helped me a lot

Posted by: Braer Jun 15 2009, 09:18 PM

Where should the click from the metronome be when i play the lick?