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The key ingredient in improving guitar speed is practice. Sounds like the most common, clichéd advice you’ve ever heard, right? Well it’s a bit more complicated than that. How you practice can be just as important how much you practice, though there will be plenty of practice required as you learn how to improve your guitar speed.
Getting Started
Relax. The idea of improving your guitar speed can cause your entire body to tense up as you hold the guitar and have visions of being able to play the solo from “Voodoo Chile” like Jimi Hendrix did. But before you even play a note, take a breath and relax your body. Keep the fingers on your left hand (for right handed guitar players) alert and angled over the neck, but don’t try to choke the neck of the guitar, either. The same goes for the right hand: you don’t want to hold on so loosely that you risk dropping the pick, but a relaxed grip will help immensely as you work at improving guitar speed.
There is no secret method as to how to increase guitar speed other than tried and true practice. The hours sometimes will be grueling, but the pay off will be more than satisfactory. Start by keeping it simple; improving guitar speed comes one note at a time. Pick one note to finger with your left hand (the fifth fret on the G-string, for example), and begin picking that note with alternating up and down strokes. This will not only warm up your right hand, but it will get you into the habit of always picking alternating up and down strokes, something you should continue when you begin playing notes on different strings. This also will help you practice not hitting any other strings with your pick except the note you want.
The Metronome
Now that you’ve got the correct form and picking pattern, it’s time to bring out one of the most essential elements of guitar speed exercises as you work on improving guitar speed: the metronome. A metronome is a device that produces regular clicks to mark constant tempo. The speed of a metronome is notated as beats per minute (BPM). To begin using the metronome, let’s start with a simple riff to get used to playing in time with the clicks.
E --7--5------5---------
B ---------8------------
G -----------------------
D -----------------------
A -----------------------
E -----------------------
Before you turn on your metronome, play the run on your guitar a few times to get used to the riff. Then, when you are comfortable playing the notes, turn on your metronome and set it at 60 BPM. Play the riff as quarter notes, meaning you will play one note along with every click of the metronome—and remember to alternate your picking of the notes in an up and down pattern. If you have never used a metronome, it will take some getting used to before you can play in time with the clicks, but when you have done it for a while, it will seem very natural.
Playing at 60 BPM may seem slow, but the key to improving your guitar speed is to start slow and be sure you are playing accurately and cleanly. If you start to fast, your form will suffer and become sloppy. When you are comfortable playing the riff at 60 BPM, turn the metronome up to 65 BPM and play the notes at this speed. Continue to repeat this process; turning the metronome up 5 BPM each time, until you reach a speed where you can no longer play the notes cleanly and accurately. Remember not to move to the next speed until you can play the notes clearly!
Next, let’s do the same exercise with a scale. This will not only be a help in improving guitar speed, but also will teach you a useful scale that will be helpful in your guitar playing for years to come. Let’s start with a simple Blues scale in E (known as the E minor pentatonic scale, first position):
E ---------------------0-3--
B -----------------0-3------
G -------------0-2----------
D ---------0-2--------------
A -----0-2------------------
E -0-3----------------------
Repeat the steps we used with the first riff, remembering not to increase the BPM until you are comfortably and consistently playing the scale clearly. Once you have reached a BPM that you can’t surpass, decrease the BPM 10 beats and play at that speed for a while. As you go to the edge of your limit and then come back to what you can play comfortably, you will find your limit will soon increase to a higher BPM.
Don’t stop with these scales—repeat this process with different riffs (scales are always good riffs to learn on, as they also provide a foundation for solos that you will eventually write). For example, play the above E blues scale, but “return” to the low E string, like this:
E ---------------------0-3-0--------------------
B -----------------0-3------3-0-----------------
G -------------0-2--------------2-0-------------
D ---------0-2----------------------2-0---------
A -----0-2------------------------------2-0-----
E -0-3--------------------------------------3-0-
The more scales and riffs you master, the more you’ll find yourself improving guitar speed. It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick, but as you find yourself constantly improving guitar speed on more complex guitar riffs, the reward will be well worth the effort.
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