Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

[jumble jumble]

So we all know how to develop speed right? Play exercises with a metronome and when you can play at a certain speed reliably, accurately and without mistakes, bump the speed up a bit. Or similar method.

I see a lot of people saying they hit a wall at XXXbpm. I also see lots of people on youtube or whatever, who have clearly gone through, over or around that wall, as they're now playing the sorts of things I can only dream of (and of course they're 20 years younger than me, just to salt the wound).

What I never seem to read about, is someone acknowledging that the wall exists, and that they hit it, and talking about what they did that eventually resulted in the wall going away, or at least moving a bit further.

Has this happened to you? Did you get stuck at 130bpm and now you're at Petrucci levels? Can you remember how you got through? Please share!

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

The key is really just consistent and regular practice with a metronome. Some days you will play more smoothly/fluidly than others, but after months and years of consistent practice you will increase your control. You might get stuck for weeks at a time working on a guitar part. Keep playing it in perfect time with your metronome slightly slower than the point that you make the mistakes and your fingers will figure it out.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

Well I know for a fact that I personally keep track of Buckethed's bpm everytime I go to his concerts.

If at any point he plays less notes per second than Yngwei Malmsteen or Herman Li, i walk out in disgust.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

Poke a stick into a wheel...and turn the wheel around real fast

 

[Koreth]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

There is one exercise I've been doing a lot lately. It goes as follows:

|---------------------1-2-2-1---------------------|
|-----------------1-2---------2-1-----------------|
|-------------1-2-----------------2-1-------------|
|---------1-2-------------------------2-1---------|
|-----1-2---------------------------------2-1-----|
|-1-2-----------------------------------------2-1-|

Start at the 1st fret, and play that pattern for all finger combos, 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, 1&3 and 3&4. Then slide up one fret and do it again. Do this to a metronome. When practicing this particular exercise, I'll play it as 8th notes, but there's no reason you couldn't play it as quarters or sixteenths, whichever works for you.

It's been slow going, but I have been getting ever so slightly faster these past couple months. It used to be my hard limit was 330 notes per minute, and that was sloppy as is. Didn't matter if I was playing sixteenth notes at 83bpm, eights at 165, or triplets at 110, any faster for anything more than a short and very sloppy burst and my hands would go "Haha, you're funny. Um...hell no." Now, my hard limit is somewhere up around 360. It's still sloppy getting up that high, but the point is I *can* get that high where I couldn't before. And my guitar instructor commented last week that both my individual left and right hand technique and my synchronization has become a lot cleaner.

Another exercise I use came from Petrucci's book Wild Stringdom, which Grumptruck mentioned earlier. It makes use of steady playing at one speed then short bursts at a higher one. It is essentially just the 2nd verse rhythm guitar part from Voices, starting at 3:26. However, with sixteenth notes for 3 measures, then a burst of sextuplets to finish of the 4th, it is a perfect example of the steady speed + short bursts technique. I started out at around 25bpm, and last time I did that exercise, I was up to about 55. (Don't laugh! Sextuplets at the original 135bpm is 810 notes per minute!)

All that aside, GuitarStv is right. Regular, consistent practice is the key. Yeah, I know progress can feel abyssally slow, but I know I've progressed further speed-wise those times when I regularly set aside an hour or two and had the discipline to stick with the metronome. Those times when I'd get in an hour or half-hour here or there as was convenient, and noodled around without the metronome? Not so much.

 

[El Dunco]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

Examine your picking more closely. This is what a lot of players seem to ignore but if you're taking big "swings" at the string, you're wasting energy and risking the left and right hands not correlating. Try picking lighter, tighter and more importantly make sure that hand is nice and relaxed. As soon as you untense that hand, your wall will melt away.

 

[jumble jumble]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

Interesting stuff, keep going!

I know "speed isn't everything", I didn't say it was. I've been playing 20 years and so I've had plenty of time to develop good phrasing, tone, vibrato - basically everything that doesn't involve much speed! I'm also not hoping to head for Satriani-level stuff (although of course if I could press a button that would make me able to play that stuff, I'd be pressing it RIGHT NOW). But, as an example, I'd like to be able to get through Sweet Child of Mine from start to finish.

 

[jumble jumble]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

My hard limit at the moment, to reliably play notes correctly, is somewhere around 260-280 notes/minute. And even then it can get sloppy.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

maximum speed and TIME FEEL. what separates the children from the pros is a consistently tight TIME FEEL. How much do you honor the bpm and keep relative rhythm from one note to the next? Margin of error?

Take it down to 30 bpm, keep your fingertips within a centimeter of the strings and focus hard on keeping it relaxed and on the money. Practice EARLY IN THE MORNING with your rudiments, already be HOURS DEEP into a warmup before you expect to tear things up.

 

[mirkok1]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

i've never used a metronome but i hit a wall as far as speed goes. i didn't break through that wall until i saw a frank gambale dvd on economy picking. some people love economy picking and some don't. that was about 15 years ago and i've never used alternate picking for shredding ever since.

 

[novacekn]

Re: Developing Speed - and Hitting the Wall

I think everyone will hit a wall eventually. But, as others have said, keep at it. Eventually you'll just pickup your guitar and be amazed, cause you'll all of a sudden be able to play better. Also, one thing that made my speed get better rather quickly was a little weird piece of advice I heard in a Paul Gilbert video. He said playing fast is like scratching a dogs stomache. Almost that same flick of the wrist kind of movement. It actually did help me out.