playing fast and stuff

[danglybanger]

sorry if this thread is a repeat of a million others, but... has anyone been able to teach themself shredding? I am self taught as a guitarist, and missed a lot of stuff I could have got through lessons and wound up having to learn the hard way. I have Petrucci's rock discipline video, (for what that's worth) and I've improved my technique immensely just through the warm up exercises (shows you just how bad my technique was before). But I'm still disappointed in my lack of coordination.

Any other suggestions for learning to play fast? What was your progression from a beginner guitarist to the kickass shredder that you are now? (if that's not too hard of a question.) Can some people just not shred?

So basically I just need encouragement and advice. Anyone willing to help me out? or am I a lost cause.
dan

 

[kelvin]

Re: playing fast and stuff

i am not a shredder yet.
and i am also self taught.

i think the picking technique is most important for a shredder ^^ ..
also know your "reference point" which he talked about in that video ^^..

or else i think using a methrome will help a lot.

 

[Davey]

Re: playing fast and stuff

start slow, learn building your speed, coordination, articulation and accuracy by playing slow and then faster and faster

great advice huh? i wish i did what i just said >.<
i dont consider myself a true shredder. i can play fast but i got 0 technical knowledge and thats the reason my lead lines are out of key most of the time ... also my scale knowledge sucks major ass

learn scales, bolster your technique. LEARN the fretboard and let it become a part of yourself

 

[BS123]

Re: playing fast and stuff

IMHO, there really is no science about it. There's no secret way of doing anything that will get you there. It's just constant and consistant persistance through any of the hard spots. It will come in time. It does for anyone who practices. You yourself may not hear the subtle differences you're making by practicing; but others will. Usually, the only time you notice something about yourself is when you have learned a col lick you've been trying to master.

 

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: playing fast and stuff

the key to so called "shredding" is alternate picking. without it, you just sound sloppy. so you gotta work on your alternate picking, then of course you gotta work on your hand coordination. if you can alt pick very very fast then your still nothing unless you can actually hit the notes.
so, take the excercises in the rock discipline dvd(not just the warm ups) and practice them all. you'll get frustrated, and thats natural, but just keep on keepin on
practice everything at a slow speed with a metronome, and gradually increase(i increase by 5) untill you reach a nice speed.
and like JP says, you can work on subdividing your patterns like in quarter notes, 8th notes, 16th notes, triplets, 16th note triplets, etc. this way you can be playing at a slow tempo(say like 100bpm) and it'll sound faster. but always remember to start slow and build up slowly.

 

[Paul S.]

Re: playing fast and stuff

8 years ago I thought that I could play fast. Then I met Dave Uhrich and started taking lessons from him, and I realized that I wasn't playing fast at all. Dave definitely changed that for me. Now, I gotta say that there's a hell of a lot more to playing guitar than playing fast, but it sure doesn't hurt to be able to pull it off.
As someone else said ALWAYS use a metronome when practicing. Practice your exercises by alternate picking every note, and then going back and playing the same exercise in a legato fashion, picking only the first note on each string. (This works much better when playing 3 notes per string, as opposed to pentatonic licks)
Picking technique is key here, and it helps to have your pick angled a bit towards the bridge - NOT parallel to the strings.
Always play your licks ascending and descending.
If you want to use videos for learning purposes, the best one that I ever saw to build up picking coordination was Paul Gilbert's video.

Good luck, and take it slow!

Paul

 

[danglybanger]

Re: playing fast and stuff

Thanks for the support! That's all I really needed. I'll have to buy a metronome. I'm no big shred fan truthfully, but I see it as part of "mastering" the guitar, and building skills I can use in general. And after all, I'm a pretty slow player as it is now, I'd be happy if at least trying to shred made me about as quick as a "normal" person. I'm fine with alternate picking... My left hand is fairly quick too, the coordination between the 2 however... that needs work, as well as really getting to know my guitar and the fretboard.

thanks!
dan