3 Practice Routines to Become a Faster Guitar Player Now
I get a lot of questions about what it takes to become a faster guitar player. My answer is always the same, practice. Of course that answer doesn’t always go over well with beginners it’s the truth. In order to get great at anything you must first be able to do it slowly, then add speed.
In this article I cover three practice exercises you can start doing now to improve both your accuracy and your speed. If you consistently do them you should start to see results after the first week.
If you are taking guitar lessons from someone right now I suggest you print this off and bring a copy to your instructor. They have have similar or better exercises they’d like you to do. The same goes if you’re using a learn guitar dvd or other home study program consider skipping ahead in your lessons to see if there are any exercises for playing faster coming later on. The course developer or your instructor may prefer you follow different methods to play faster
Exercise 1 – Practice Scales
UnderStanding the important major and minor scales, along with notes on the neck is something you should learn. f you don’t know your scales yet don’t worry. Do a quick search online for pentatonic shapes, or visit a beginner guitar lessons website and search for pentatonic scales. What you’re looking for is an image of the first pentatonic position.
You’re going to take that first pentatonic position and memorize it. Don’t worry yet about what scale you’re playing the shape is what you need first.
Start playing that first shape on the 6th string all the way down to the 1st string Once you reach the 1st string play the scale backwards up to the 6th string. Next slide up to the second fret and do it all again, then the third fret, fourth fret and so on.
The key here is to learn accuracy with hitting the frets and the notes as you move up and down the neck forwards and backwards through the scale position.
Exercise 2 – Playing Faster
Next you want to repeat the first exercise but we want to increase how quickly you’re doing it. Using a metronome find a pace that is comfortable for you to play the first pentatonic shape. For some that might be 60-70 BPM for others it might be 100. The key is to find a comfortable speed to start at.
Click start on your metronome and starting on the first fret play the scale forwards and backwards. You’re going to next slide up to fret two again but this time increase the tempo on your metronome by one beat per minute and continue to do this each fret all the way up the neck of your guitar.
This exercise allows you to “warm up” to the idea of playing faster while maintaining accuracy and skill. Once you make it all the way up the neck you’ll have increased your speed by 12-16 beats per minute and hopefully maintained your accuracy and technique Ideally do this exercise for a few weeks maintaining the same starting tempo for at least a few days to ensure you’ve mastered it, then increase your starting tempo.
Exercise 3 – Picking Up and Down
Most beginners only hit the string on the down stroke with their pick. As you advance in your speed exercises you’ll probably find that hitting the string on the way down isn’t enough to play as quickly as you’d like. You need to hit it down and up so you get two plucks of the string in the same time you used to only get one. This can feel uncomfortable at first but we’ll work into it slowly.
Before you trying playing a scale start by just hitting the first string, low E, up and down a few times to get the feel Next move down to the 5th string, then the 4th and onwards all the way down to the 1st string. Now do it in reverse from the 1st string to the 6th string. This exercise will help you feel comfortable picking up and down on all the strings and changing strings.
Finally add in the same pentatonic shape we’ve been using in the first and second exercises. You will probably find it tough to play fast right away. Moving your fretting fingers and remembering to double pick up and down at the same time takes some getting used to.
By practicing these exercises a few times each week for about a month you’ll find yourself becoming faster and faster. Of course don’t abandon your other practice exercises. You must maintain pace with your guitar lesson dvd or guitar lesson plan Learning to play the guitar is fun but it does take work. Rest assured how ever if you put the work in you will become a better guitar player.