Help improving speed and accuracy

[Cliff]

Thanks guys! Last night it really felt like the practice was paying off. Agreed, Javert - much of this may be arbitrary, and it's easy to think of excellent players who each have different techniques from each other, but I seem to have found something that's working for me for now.
I picked up the PRS used at a guitar show, so I got a chance to see it first and see that it'd hardly been used. Ideally I think it needs a pro setup - the action is a little too low at the nut, and a bit high at the 24th fret (it's much more even along the length of my SL2), but I've read that you shouldn't mess with the bridges on these if you don't know what you're doing. It plays really nicely, but when I went back to the SL2 to record that very last clip, I found it just a little bit easier to play. I do really like the PRS tone, though.

Trem - this is where I learnt the Joe Pass song from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5hJo8Xm-ws

He explains it really well, and also has some good theory pages that he links to if you're interested. Maybe it's time I restarted my project to do a jazz version of Mr Crowley? 'This is Spinal Tap, we hope you like our new direction...'

[BenoA]

Good job Cliff! Just watched the videos and you did very well. I'm a bit jealous! I should have kept practicing!!!

Keep us informed on your improvements. You're going in the right direction.

[Cliff]

Thanks!

[Cliff]

Hey guys. I just wanted to say again how much I appreciate the advice, constructive criticism and support. I hope very much I'm not the only one benefitting from this. You guys are awesome!
Thought I'd give a quick update - no videos this time.
So the night after I recorded those last videos I found I could get to more or less the same speed. I then decided to change to a different pick that was giving me a slightly fuller sound. In doing so, I lost maybe 10% of my speed, but decided it was worth it. The next night, I couldn't get close - I was struggling at 95bpm or (this is all concentrating on exercise 54). I realised my left and right hands were out of sync, so decided to slow down and try and work on that. I went to exercise 26, which is chromatic runs up and down one string at a time. I was surprised how bad I was at this, even at 80bpm. I've spent most of the week bringing this up to 105bpm or so.
Tonight I tried again on exercise 54, and I've just reached 116bpm again. My hands are too tired to go further, but I'm pretty sure it sounds more even and smooth than what I posted last week - I think the week's practice has payed off.
I discovered an interesting feature in Garageband. You can record yourself then look at the recording's waveform, and zoom in. It's useful for seeing whether those 16th notes are in time, and also seeing what Stetina calls the 'transition time' - the gap between notes. For smooth playing, the goal is obviously to keep the transition time short relative to the note time, but this gets more difficult as the speed increases - hence the 'bitty' character of what I posted last week.
I'd hoped to be able to practice Ex 54 from 105bpm and work upwards, but it seems I have to start slower than that. It's a bit frustrating, cause there's something different about my technique at 105bpm+ compared with slower speeds - I haven't quite been able to pin it down - but it's *that* that I need to practice. It's almost like getting into 'the zone', but I don't quite know how to get there. Some random thoughts that may or may not be relevant:
Angle of pick attack seems pretty important. When I was at 115bpm or so, I found I could make life quite a bit easier or more difficult for myself by just a slight rotation of the wrist
I'd thought light picking was the key, but now I'm not so sure - I've been able to play pretty fast with harder picking. That said, I think a light left-hand is essential. For me, it's hard to be light with one hand and heavy with the other.
Practicing the rhythm exercises (which I'm still doing with some success) seems to help with the lead playing too. Who would have thought it?

[Cliff]

Since I last posted, I haven't been able to get anywhere near my previous speed. Today I got back up to 120bpm for Ex54 - not sure what the difference is, maybe just cause I'd warmed up first. This time I tried with distortion, just so I can get a better handle on how much string noise I have to contend with. The best thing about playing clean is turning the distortion back on afterwards .
Anyway, here's Ex54, followed by a couple of the rhythm exercises. Apologies - they go on far too long:

I also did a couple of blues jams, again too long and rambling:

My wife says this one's awful and I shouldn't post it. Maybe I'm tone deaf as well as rhythmically challenged, but I like it:

Any advice or criticism welcome as always.

[ginsambo]

To me, I think your problem with speed and playing generally is that your right hand is not fully committed and up for it. You seem happily married, so I will imagine your right hand gets far less practice than mine and has forgotten what it is meant to be used for, so you need to work extra hard on committing it to picking the notes, hard, accurately and cleanly, or at least with equal force, accurately and cleanly, depending on your action/technique. You will then get to a stage where not only can you pick all the notes fluidly, but you can further choose which to pick harder and what accents to create on note runs in any position, ascending or descending.

Forget your left hand, especially difficult fingering positions, until your right hand is trained and up for it. Almost everything is really about your right hand.

First off establish if you can actually pick fast in the first place and fly pick. Just practice fly picking on one string (Easier if its bar fretted higher up to start with as there is less up and down vibration). You should be able to loosen up your wrist and fly pick consistently with equal force whilst picking up and down, whilst making the noise of a flys wings.

Once you have mastered this on one string, try skipping strings, playing groups of odd and even notes on each, whilst manintaining your alternating picking technique. Five picks on each string, three picks and then two picks. Now try the same whilst fly picking open strings. Once you can do this cleanly you know that your death metal / Stevie Ray Vaughan technique is evolving and you are ready to bring in your left hand.

The best thing I found to warm up is to sit down, loosen up and play a number of scales in the same position where the string pick count is DIFFERENT for each string. Basic Minor and Major scales in the fifth position are as good as any. DO NOT get only stuck on ascending and descending repeating triplets in scale patterns as these are easier to play, as your string changing picking sequence remains the same and so will cheat you right hand out of practice of picking different sequences for each string, (But do practice these as well!).

So you start out on a major C scale at the 8th fret, playing in the fifth position with your little finger on the 8th fret, then the A string 5-7-8, D string 5-7, G string 4-5-7 fret, B string 5-6-8, E string 5-7-8-7-5 and then back down again. Repeat with a A minor scale in the fifth position starting at fifth fret of the low E string (5-7-8) then basically repeating C major fingering.

Playing major scales in this way and getting them to sound fluid at speed is quite diffficult.

The old warm up favorite is a good one too. 4 picks in sequence with the chromatic scale. Low E string 1-2-3-4 then A string 1-2-3-4, repeating until you get to the high E and then descend 4-3-2-1 etc. then move up a fret and repeat using all your fingers on you left had for fingering. After mastering that you can try sliding up with your first finger, whilst picking groups of five, instead of four of each string (1-2) -3-4-5, then repeat util you reach the high E and then come back down again.

Three picks per string: Major scale in triplet sequence, starting on low E: 1-3-5, 1-3-5, 2-3-5, 2-3-5, 3-5-6, 3-5-6-5-3, 6-5-3, 5-3-2, 5-3-2, 5-3-1, 5-3-1.

Two picks per string sequence - try picking a skipped minor pentatonic going up and coming back down again, from low E to high E. 5-8, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, 5-8, 5-8, then come back down on B string 8-5, 7-5, 7-5, 7-5, 8-5. etc., or 5-8, 5-8, 5-7, 5-7, 5-7, 5-8 descending.

One pick per string sequence...ummm that's kind of like sweep picking or using rake techniques at speed so leave that out for the mo....

Always try and keep the same, consistent picking technique with upstrokes and downstrokes and don't end up raking the strings when moving up a string (Ie. repeating two downstrokes) as this will interupt your flow.

The Malmsteen repeating pattern lick thing where you fly pick on one string ascending is good also, based on a D major scale. Try on the high E string only: 2-3-5-3-2-5-2, 3-5-7-5-3-7-3, 5-7-9-7-5-9-5, 7-9-10-9-7-10-7, 9-10-12-10-9-12-9, 10-12-14-12-10-14-10, 12-14-15-14-12-15-12, 14-15-17-15-14-17-14- 17(19) bend up full step.

You can also play this without picking at all to practice your finger strength and left hand dexterity- you should be able to play it just as loud without touching the strings with your right hand.

Also ascending or descending variations with two strings or more. For example alternating between the B string and high E string, all on a variation of the D major scale notes: (B) 2-3-5 (E) 2-3-5 / 3-5-7, 3-5-7 / 5-7-8, 5-7-9 / 7-8-10, 7-9-10 / 8-10-12, 9-10-12 / 10-12-14, 10-12-14 / 12-14-15, 12-14-15 / 14-15-17, 14-15-17 / 15-17-19, 15-17-19 / 17-19-20, 17-19-21 / 21(22) Bend up half step.

These kind of ascending or descending sequential runs are useful for learning fretboard navigation and also for finding out what works and what doesn't also, and so are a first step in helping you make your own custom solo runs also. Notice for example how the 5-7-8, 5-7-9 passage just doesn't sound right, because the C# note freted on the 9th fret of the E string, even though all the notes do fall squarely within the D major scale...weird huh. The advantage of picking them is that you can more easily accent the notes to your choice, so rather than playing LA-la-la, LA-la-la, you can play la-la-la-LA-la-la. if you get me, but often this is more to do with brain control than picking or fingering..

One last little picking pattern that is useful to know and which will stand you in good sted in terms of keeping your phrasing right at speed is this sort of descending pentatonic lick:

-12-15-12----12------------------------------------------------E
------------15----15-12-------12-15-12----12-----------------B
----------------------------14-/----------14----14-12------------G
--------------------------------------------------------14 / etc.--D

Its sounds really easy to play and you can play it as hammer pull offs but that actually takes a lot more skill when played superfast and is kind of misleading. At first it is easier to retain the phrasing when played really fast by just picking everything flat out.

If you are struggling with doing new fingerings, first make sure you can actually cleanly pick the strings in sequence required, at the required speed in the first place! (Just bar a fret and practice the picking sequence) and second to that, make sure you can do the fingerings accurately (Practice pulling on/hammering on, without picking). Be sure to use your little finger and practice hammer/pull offs between that and your third finger to build up your strength.

Finally all it comes down to is adjusting your technique, pick force, right hand position between fretboard and bridge and palm muting technique for different guitars, tones, crunchy muted sounds and the required ascending or descending accents.

I find a nylon strung classical guitar will bring you left hand fingering technique and brain co-ordination and confidence on fast, as its a lot harder to play accurately and loudly with equal right hand finger plucking force and I find flamenco legato stuff is a good learning motivator. It doesn't matter that the picking technique is completely different, it is more about fine tuning your brain control and co-ordination over your hands and fingers, like learning to walk, talk, grip or learning depth perception for the first time or all over again.

Also learn all the standard blues licks fluently! Practice them until your strength can make them sound however you want them to sound, so it becomes easy to add loads of vibrato, speed or incorporate wailing 2 1/2 step+ bends into them, without using the whammy bar..

Anything is possible, as regards technique if you are committed. I think its more composition, note choice and phrasing that is more to do with experience, exposure or talent, it sounds like you got a feel for the music judging by the Since I've been loving you minor blues thing, so don't worry too much about it, just abstain from sex and shopping practice and practice your right hand more! Feel the beat and how notes and groups of notes drop against the beat and most importantly play at your own pace, start out slow and build it up, don't rush it, that way you'll learn better how runs of notes fit against the beat, rather than just learning some random fast stuff off the bat and having to guessimate how to fit it in to the beat, or phrase it properly. Players that learn the deep end stuff first often have to go back to basics to get a real feel for the basics, phrasing and rhythm, unless of course they are previously fluent in another instrument, trust me I was one of them as a teenager. Remember that players that can play really fast fluidly can usually play ten times faster than that, but they don't play at their edge all the time as it sounds shite! Do challenge yourself, and try new things but don't strain yourself, relax and play with more commitment and confidence, once you are better practiced.

If you are obsessed with speed which I don't rate as that important personally, then practicing groups of notes, again and again over a metronome or a foot tap, or writing them on to some free tab editing software like Powertab 1.7 etc, will help with understanding of phrasing, rhythm and fitting notes in. The best method by far is to play with other people though and have several stand up arguments with the drummer when he comes in on the off beat. I am still trying to write a group of five to the bar or twenty notes per four bars in 4/4 on Powertab. I know its possible. Chris Holmes could pull it off. What would that be then, my maths are failing me. Maybe its a Bluesrock timing signature thing. Yeah its quite good this Powertab stuff for writing random lead timing lines, but maybe not for learning basic rhythms though, like crochets and exponential hemidemisemiquavers, maybe stick to the foot first!

Oh.....and your wife has nice baps by the way.

Note to self: Got the day off to sort out a load of insurance and a load of overdue other shit and have so far spent half a day writing an essay and am now pissing about on Powertab editor...Ohhh.....FFS!

[horns666]

I'm fast as fuggin' hell!! I used to be faster. Do you know how I got so fast? I played fast ALL the time!! As fast as I possibly can for decades.

I don't know how to play slow, pretty and bluesy. I'm still teaching myself to slow the fuck down!

:idea:But why..that's how I play..fuggums.

[Cliff]

Hey Ginsambo, I appreciate you taking the trouble to write all that. As it goes, much of the practice you suggest is covered in the Stetina book recommended near the beginning of this thread by Javert.

The book also has a section on practicing rhythm, in particular on placing hearing/feeling different groupings of notes with reference to the beat. I'm spending more time working on this now, and also slowing down some of the faster stuff and trying to play it more cleanly.

I used to play with considerably more conviction than is apparent in these videos, but it used to be messy and out of time. Now that I'm trying maybe a little too hard, the conviction and confidence has gone. Hopefully it'll come back in due course along with an improved techniq.

[ginsambo]

Hey Ginsambo, I appreciate you taking the trouble to write all that. As it goes, much of the practice you suggest is covered in the Stetina book recommended near the beginning of this thread by Javert.

The book also has a section on practicing rhythm, in particular on placing hearing/feeling different groupings of notes with reference to the beat. I'm spending more time working on this now, and also slowing down some of the faster stuff and trying to play it more cleanly.

I used to play with considerably more conviction than is apparent in these videos, but it used to be messy and out of time. Now that I'm trying maybe a little too hard, the conviction and confidence has gone. Hopefully it'll come back in due course along with an improved techniq.

Really? Maybe I should write a book then, at least Chapter I. I made that shit up as I was writing it with a guitar on my lap, thinking of the best warm ups and simple pick training I could think with. Never really had a problem with pitch or timing from word go but creative spontaneous melodic rhythm licks were always my weakpoint.

These days I get as much satisfaction from playing Cavatina by John Williams on the classical as I do unwinding after work beating my aggressions out on the guitar like a drumkit. I sold my guitars off fifteen years ago and took about the same break from the guitar. I've only been playing again these last three years. I was fortunate enough to be trained on the classical to Grade four since I was thirteen, but after that my winging the site reading just wasn't cutting it and I'd bought a Les Paul copy, thinking I was gonna be the next Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, Rick Nielsen, Angus Young, Joe Perry, Chris Holmes or Slash! Those guys define Blues Rock Chatter!

Thing is a thin Jackson compound neck makes it so easy to play stuff so fast, you kind of loose the blues rock chatter and end up playing perfectly at lightening speeds if your not careful. Its the way I've been heading these last three years and to be honest I miss the Blues rock chatter. Personally I find it hard to bring in the vibe on thin necks. In fact I have my eye on the very guitar at the mo. thinner at the nut, a baseball bat neck, a Tom bridge, 24.75" scale and its a Jackson! Perfect. Do direly need a valve amp though.

It has brought my technique up to stratch though I suppose, going back to basics and all, but most of the speed stuff is just transferred from classical and I think I have lost my mojo in the process. I think alot of this speed stuff is actually a bad influence. Though I am probably not delicately skilled or creative enough to use it melodically. What I have learned around this time around though is that Eddie Van Halen is a definitely a Blues rock Chatter guy at heart though. People think he's another speed merchant, but he ain't, he has the chatter and the mojo.

Download a copy of that Powertab editor software and rather than use it to draw up tabs for people, use the software backwards, experiment with it and it will actually teach you a lot about music and rhythms.

That Troy Stetina book worth getting then?

I think I started out with one of his books. A technique one as I remember with 'To Valhalla' in it etc. I got so bored of it I gave it to a mate who had just started out on guitar literally a few weeks before. He was born with only one hand, so had a metal hook for a right hand, his mum was given Thalidamide by doctors during pregnancy. I saw him a month later and he got everything down in that book, speed perfect with equal note volume, back to back. His right hand didn't even pick anything. Damn, he must of spent every hour of everyday in that month practicing to the bone. Bloody amazing it was! That boy had no pain barrier!

Nah my problem now is a creative one. I only listen to one or two LP's back to back for days on end. 'Under the blade' by twisted sister or Live in the Raw by WASP mainly. I need to open up more and get a recording device, I'm getting like a broken record. Maybe I'II get the old mic and stand out of the loft and plug it in to the separates tape deck and play nit back all hissy with farting and planes flying overhead in the background. Hell of a bind though. How do you record your backing tracks/ideas? Software?

Writing is easy, saying something of any significance and not boring people to death talking about your own ego or bitching about the world is hard!

Like Satriani says, you should play as efficiently as possible!

[ginsambo]

Not speed and accuracy so much as rhythm and confidence! This simple vid is spot on, inspired me! That and playing Rude Mood Stevie Ray Vaughan also making stuff up as you go along, helps to loosen up and tighten down your chops too.

http://www.youtube.com/v/FCojcP_6AkI?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swsTOB7TnZg

How do you embed video?

[horns666]

[ginsambo]

He's a cool looking guy...but why does he have to dress like some Tarot reader at the gypsy fairground?

....Are those.....sequins? WTF? And these same countrymen run the EU?

He looks like my gran did when she went down to the Bingo on an evening. Stereotypical Deutsch Fashion sense.....

[Cliff]

What are you talking about? He looks super-cool. That guy with the head-band looks pretty hip too

Yep, Paul Gilbert is amazing, and a great teacher too. If anything, I prefer watching his tuition videos to his actual music .
I seem to remember reading a *long* time ago that EVH said he basically played Eric Clapton licks, but faster. So definitely a blues influence.
The Stetina book is great, but maybe not what you're looking for, since it mainly focuses on exercises to help with speed and accuracy. There are many many great licks buried in those exercises, though, and the last chapter - which I've only read and not put into practice, emphasizes originality in soloing, so maybe that would be something of interest to you. Personally, this is of secondary importance to me - for now, I just want to be able to play back the music I really love, which involves both fast and slow passages.
If you have a reasonably modern computer, you already have a recording device - most soundcards now have analogue to digital converters so you can record direct to disk. There's a sticky around somewhere that gives some basic advice in that direction.
Here you go, courtesy of NewC:

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/24055-Newc-s-Home-Recording-Handbook-Lvl-1-Beginners

[javert]

Uli rules and doesn't get half the recognition he deserves for his contributions. Paul is great too and I love his sense of humor and relaxed personality.

[horns666]

Uli rules and doesn't get half the recognition he deserves for his contributions. Paul is great too and I love his sense of humor and relaxed personality.

Check 'em jamming on Youtube..fun stuff. Uli encourages Paul to go off, and he does!!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNEBaJ8FiAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16zj_Otk7yY&feature=related

wow..here'a new one..watching it now..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geOmS...eature=related