Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Guitar Speed and Dexterity

"Position, relaxation and attack all have to be taken into consideration and have to be trained in order to achieve your desired guitar speed but there are other techniques that help as well. Guitar speed should never take priority over purpose. Use it only to enhance melody."

To begin with, let me give you a couple of rules that I go by and then a few guidelines that help when you think about using guitar speed as a guitar technique.


Rules for playing guitar fast
Rule 1:
You won't play fast with your thumb over the neck. You've got to stay in the light touch position as much as possible.
Rule 2:
You won't improve guitar speed with your wrist contorted.

Guidelines for playing guitar with speed
Guideline 1:
Place your notes well and use dynamics. Short bursts of speed well delivered sound as good if not better than long shredding solos.
Guideline 2:
Speed is relative. There are always faster players. Don't obsess over it.
Guideline 3:
Use a metronome as much as possible. Not only will it help your speed. It will help immeasurably with rhythm, timing, and clean technique.

1 comment:

lonesome music said...

I'm trying to increase my speed of playing, but cannot seem to get the angle of my wrist right to enable trills with the 3rd & 4th fingers in light touch position - any pointers?

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