Help improving speed and accuracy

[Cliff]

Twitch - you've inspired me to try some blues jamming too. (You're rhythm is awesome btw, wish I could play as tight as that.)

The rhythm part of exercise #142 from Stetina's book. I've been working on it for a while, and this is the best I've managed so far (recorded in the early hours of this morning).

Today I tried jamming over the top, and throwing in one or two licks that I've learnt from the book. Not perfect, by any means...

[Twitch]

Thats pretty good. A little hectic(seems theres two solos over top of one another), but good. Keep it up and youll get tighter. Though Im not sure I understand which part of my playing you were complementing, the timing with no tempo reference, the actual rhythm of the song or the note definition, but thanks for the compliment, muchly appreciated. Ive got a long way to go though myself as far as precision at faster tempos goes. Im lazy, I practice maybe 3 or 4 hours a week, not counting rehearsals.

[Cliff]

You're welcome . I was talking particularly about the timing with no tempo reference, and the fact that you seem to hit those beats very precisely - I've noticed this on other clips you've posted too. You're right about my stuff being too hectic. Listening back, I think the rhythm track is too busy to have a solo going on over the top of it.

I've had a lot of time on my hands today, so I just recorded this. It's a run-through of pretty much all of the Stetina exercises I've been practicing. It's at 80bpm (to a drum machine, though you can't here it because I was miking up the amp). I'd be interested in folks' honest opinions: is this good enough for me to move ahead and up the tempo, or do I need more practice at this speed or slower. Thanks!
(BTW Sorry about the lack of synch between video and sound - as soon as I started editing the clips, iVideo managed to mess it all up.)

[micha]

Regarding repetitions, the thing that worked best for me was the method Stetina outlines on page 17. So if on a given day I'd hit 120bpm with exercise 25, the next day I'd start 20bpm slower, then move up by 2, down by 1, until I reached my limit, then worked from 20bpm slower than that the next night. For any given speed, I'd do the exercise for very few repetitions - just until I felt I was more or less comfortable with the quality.
Having said all that, I reset the clock on myself two or three times and restarted at 80bpm, because each time I felt that I'd got to a point where the quality just wasn't there, and I realized I hadn't been practicing a technique that was sustainable at higher speeds.

Yes, I thought about going -20BPM like Stetina said as well, but I fear I just had a completely wrong way of picking for many years, it's such a nasty habit, I'm in danger of falling back to this all the time.
So building speed up from a low tempo every time seems to be right for me, but maybe I should give this -20BPM-method a try again. Maybe I'll do a couple of reps at really slow tempo to get the movement right again and then start out at -30BPM or so...

And I agree, the legato exercises really rock. I like them especially because my picking is so crippled, I need a couple of exercises promising some progress, to keep me motivated...

But I see you're stretching fingers 2-4 on your right hand as well.
It doesn't look too bad, I've been really cramping these fingers a whole lot more, but isn't this a problem for you?
I had to mess a while with where to put them, but now I finally found a position where it seems to work for me.
I used to prefer (and still do if I don't pay attention ALL the time) to stretch them as well, since it seemed to help my muting, but somehow I figured it out now I think.
The advantage seems to be it's easier for me to move my hand across the strings to keep my picking angle even.
Before that the high strings always got in my way picking the A for example, so I had to adapt my picking angle to allow my fingers to stay where they are. You know what I mean?
With fingers curled in, I'm much more independent with which string I'm playing and I feel like my hand has less momentum when alternate picking...
Just an idea... I'm not done with that at all yet...


But your jam sounds pretty good! Some fillers, but some nice licks as well! Good work!

[Twitch]

Cliff, example 33 was probably your best there. Youre not precise with the timing, but I think you could step it up a bit. Sometimes speeding it up a little will help take your mind out of it and let your fingers do the walking. My only complaint here, and dont take this the wrong way, just being honest like you asked, work on keeping strings youre not playing from ringing out. The best I can explain how to do this is by letting where your fingers meet the palm of your hand on your fretting hand rest on the strings below where youre playing. In addition, let where your pinky finger on your picking hand where it meets your palm rest on the strings below where youre playing. You dont have to cram your hands down on them, just so there touching enough to deaden the strings not being picked. It can be difficult at first, but it will become second nature. You may even have to slow down a bit at first while you figure out how to do it.

Also, heres just another general tip for note definition. Do your exercises on the clean channel. If you have miss a note or not nail it the fret exactly, youll get nothing, where as with distortion, youll still get a sound that could fool you into believing you actually hit the note well. If you can do a run on the clean channel and clearly here all the notes, solid, full notes, then it will be even more clear with distortion.

[Cliff]

Micha - do you find curling your fingers in creates more or less tension in your right hand? Or is this just not a problem for you. (I too am trying to overcome years of bad picking habits.) I guess with the fingers curled in, analogous to a figure skater bringing their arms and legs in to spin faster, you get the same angular velocity for less angular momentum, which might help at faster speeds. With my fingers outstretched, I've noticed my 2nd finger sometimes catches the top E by mistake. Other than that, I haven't really noticed a problem. Which isn't to say there isn't one, 'cause my picking still leaves a *lot* to be desired. Like you I want to keep the picking angle the same across strings. I'd be interested to see a picture or better yet a video of you picking. Thanks for the compliment on the jam. I played it to my wife, who's just got back from an overnight trip, and the first thing she said was: "is that two tracks playing at once?" Then, "you shouldn't have put that on the forum without me hearing first."

Twitch, thanks - I really appreciate the honest criticism and advice. Example 33 is my favourite, so it's a bit more practiced than the rest. I have been trying to work on my string damping, but have a way to go. I've been trying to do what you suggest with the right-hand, but the left-hand idea is new to me - I'll definitely give it a try. As for the timing, it's really getting to me: I'm beginning to think some people just have it, and others don't. And I don't. I wonder if it's even a thing that can be learnt. And yes, I'll be sure to practice on the clean channel.

[Twitch]

As for the timing, it's really getting to me: I'm beginning to think some people just have it, and others don't. And I don't. I wonder if it's even a thing that can be learnt. And yes, I'll be sure to practice on the clean channel.

The timing will come. You think its bad doing it to a beat track, wait until your jamming with other people and its four of you all off time a little. It takes time and practice to be tight with the tempo. Maybe try a metronome instead of a drum track.

[micha]

Micha - do you find curling your fingers in creates more or less tension in your right hand? Or is this just not a problem for you. (I too am trying to overcome years of bad picking habits.) I guess with the fingers curled in, analogous to a figure skater bringing their arms and legs in to spin faster, you get the same angular velocity for less angular momentum, which might help at faster speeds. With my fingers outstretched, I've noticed my 2nd finger sometimes catches the top E by mistake. Other than that, I haven't really noticed a problem. Which isn't to say there isn't one, 'cause my picking still leaves a *lot* to be desired. Like you I want to keep the picking angle the same across strings. I'd be interested to see a picture or better yet a video of you picking. Thanks for the compliment on the jam. I played it to my wife, who's just got back from an overnight trip, and the first thing she said was: "is that two tracks playing at once?" Then, "you shouldn't have put that on the forum without me hearing first."

It's cool your wife wants to get involved into your playing guitar that way.
Somehow cute she wants to be the first listening to your stuff...

I think that curling my fingers decreases tension.
But I've been stretching them really bad and the faster I played the worse it got.
I'm not talking stretching them a bit, more like stretching them like I lay down my hand flat on a table. That's when my forearm got into play as well. The whole arm was cramped up in no time, and the whole motion came somewhere from shoulder and elbow, not much wrist-work anymore...
But even more important to me than the decrease of tension and momentum seems to be some independence from which string I'm playing.
Just give it a try for a while, maybe you'll notice some benefits for you as well.
I don't know how big your problems with tension are...

What also helped me a lot with regard to this was getting a plec with more grip.
I used to play Jazz IIIs for years, and now I found these max grip version of the Jazz III.
It's the same shape, but the rough surface really helped me to lower the pressure I need to keep the plec from flying away. It really took a lot of tension out ouf my whole picking.
Huge effect for me.

I think I'm still far from showing anybody how to pick, but I'll try to film a clip next time I go through the exercises.
Here's an example on how to do NOT anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-tGqJ5DelM&feature=related

I'm the guy on the right. It's mainly downstrokes, but that's about the tempo where I get into trouble with tensing up. At around 1:10 the cam gets a bit closer.
Maybe you see what I mean, stretching out these fingers...
With gallops things start to get really bad, but I rarely have clips of my playing at the moment.
Well, I'll try to load something up next time.

[Cliff]

Twitch - thanks for the encouragement. A long time ago I used to jam with a drummer who was just starting out. He wanted to play like Neal Peart, I wanted to play like Van Halen. Every time he went for a drum roll, he'd come back in on a different beat and a different tempo. Same story with me going for a solo. Anyway, there are some pretty good rhythm exercises in Stetina's book, so I'm going to hammer away at those for a bit.
Micha - it's not that my wife wanted to be first to hear it - she meant she would have told me not to put it up because it wasn't good enough. She *is* very supportive when I make music, but also honest. The Stetina exercises drive her up the wall - she simply won't listen to them.
I tried curling my fingers in like you suggested. It's certainly no worse for me than stretching them out but, as you say, makes palm muting harder. I can't tell yet whether it's going to work for me, cause it definitely feels a bit odd at first to have the hand fully floating above the strings. I can appreciate what you're saying about being able to move across strings faster. I'll keep at it and see how I get on. I have big problems with tension - I hold the pick much tighter than I need to, and it causes my wrist and forearm to cramp up. I'm pretty sure this is what is limiting my speed and making my timing off. I guess you have to be relaxed to stay in time. Regarding picks, I've started using a Sik Pik from a couple of weeks ago. A few people have mentioned they may not be very durable, and I can see that could be a problem, but the difference in tone (especially with a clean sound) is incredible, and I find they move more evenly across the strings also. I definitely recommend you try them.
Nice clip! Shame about the sound quality, but I especially like the scale run you use to finish your solo. The solo for Sweet Child Of Mine is sweet too. To my mind, putting videos up on this thread should be as much about showing current progress as saying: "this is how I think it should be done."

[javert]

Hehe, Cliff, my girlfriend started complaining a lot when I started working seriously on sweep picking last spring and would close all the doors between us. She said those notes went straight into her head and made her brain hurt Thanks for the encouragement! When I was practicing the Stetina exercises every day, I was forbidden to do so watching tv as it drove her nuts.

[Cliff]

Hard to believe what sounds awesome to us might not be music to others' ears, eh?
C'mon Javert, how about posting a clip of your sweep picking?

[BenoA]

Hard to believe what sounds awesome to us might not be music to others' ears, eh?
C'mon Javert, how about posting a clip of your sweep picking?

well said!

[javert]

Hmmm, allright then. We've got a song on our facebook page (the first one we recorded) that's got a bit of sweep picking in it.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fears-Unfolding/208661459157179?sk=app_2405167945

[Cliff]

Whoa! Absolutely awesome! Which is you in the band picture? (None of you look like a typical college prof )

[javert]

Hehe, thanks. I'm the grumpy guy on the left...